My experience with Reptile Basics / Cold Blood Novelties

I have never threatened to go to NC.

I am keeping these animals because obviously they were not being taken care of - or they wouldn't have shown up in such terrible shape.

This is not fun and I don't play games. When I ask for something specific and pay for it - then I expect to get it.

Pictures don't lie. The skin folds are unmistakeable in both animals. The tail kink in the female is unexcusable and should have been disclosed prior to shipping. No excuses.

Rich, no hard feelings. I will not do business with someone who can't take care of their snakes or anyone such as yourself associated with them.

wes,

did you ask for pictures prior to the snakes being shipped to you?..

So, you are saying you won't send them back.

Every once in awhile I come in contact with someone who is simply not happy no matter what. Snake I saw go into the box did not have any such kink. Albino is in shed. Take a decent picture. You say otherwise. Fine.

Lets save some time. Lets assume that all of this is true for a moment. Send them back. I can assure you your money will be refunded as soon as those two animals show up in a box. While none of the rest of this is under my control, that is. If you say no then I can only assume you want the animals. Now come the excuses as to why they are not coming back-right?

I just listened to a saved message of yours from the tracking number confusion you seemed to be experiencing Thursday. To be clear, in that message you did not specifically say you were coming to NC- my mistake- you are right. You said you would "get back at him", used examples of past history "getting back" at people and used about all the unprintable language you could fit into the message as well. How should that be interpreted exactly? Did that help your situation out any or make it worse? Why won't anybody talk to you when you call?

Sounds like you were a bit frustrated that you were not getting an immediate response. I would point out that you are a couple of hours behind us and not everyone on the east coast sits by their phone waiting for your call at 9pm. A little patience can go a long way. My understanding is he did contact you that night and got you squared away on your tracking #, is this not correct? In fact, every time you have had to talk to him you have been responded to? Am I wrong? I guess it is just not fast enough for you.

Did you provide an email address for the UPS tracking number to be automatically emailed to you to avoid the possible confusion caused by a long string of mixed numbers and letters? I heard you did not have access to a computer to receive the email? Is this true? I heard that conversation.

By the way- Frank spent much of the weekend in AL at the Birmingham show. Might have influenced his response time along with your abusive messages from the previous day.

I know as soon as I heard that crap on his phone the next morning my reaction was simple- Wes who? If you left that on my phone there would be no further discussion of anything at any time for any reason. Just no reason for it and no amount of discussion would advance the conversation with you anyhow. Once it degrades to that why waste time with it. Delete.

The little bit of your messages I listened to on my phone seemed pretty polite. But I was not going to waste my time with you due to your tracking messages. Delete.

So now you have all kinds of problems. Who would have guessed?

What Frank does with this is up to him. I doubt you will hear from him here or anywhere else. I would not bother with you either. If your tone changed and you stopped with the " I want them, then I want $50 off, then I don't want them but won't send them back" routine you might get a satisfactory response.

You dragged me into this- otherwise I would not have much to say to you either. Here or any where else. Again- how will talking to you advance this when you will not send them back? Maybe it is the NY'er in me- I just don't get it.

i have dealt with frank. never rich. i can only post my own experience.
with all due respect to chris brown from BA reptiles, he is as good as they come.
I contacted frank (back earlier this year) about some snakes he had for sale, his ads always state, phone calls get priority, so i called. he told me that he was at a show and he could not tell me what he would have available after the show.....even though i said i would paypal him for what i wanted immediately (sight unseen). the following weekend he was travelling to the columbus ohio show saturday, and on to cleveland sunday for a show. after the show he was attending i called to see if he had the animals i still wanted, his response was i am way to busy to see how many animals i have left, when i get there you can see what i have.......
i went to the columbus show, bought one snake from him......did not mention that i had talked to him previously, and have no respect for him. came across as very arrogant. not surprised that he screwed somebody, doesn't have the testicles to defend himself, but somebody named rich is here to defend him........frank, grow a set......rich you try to divorce yourself from this situation, but obviously you have been a part of the entire deal, you were there for all the phone calls, shipped from you, what the heck????????
i have no respect for frank from cold blooded novelties.
mike mcmullen
why can't frank defend himself?

I dot think frank needs to defend himself in anyway. If we'd wants the snakes then he keeps them. End of story. If he doesn't want them then he should simply ship them back.
Frank said he would refund the money if the snakes were returned. And it seems to me Wes never asked for pictures...that's te first thing most people do when they buy reptiles online..

Alejandro,
I agree, if you do not ask for pictures you should expect to be sent crap.......i did not come here to help somebody else, just to explain my dealings with frank. obviously you agree with the theory that people should expect to get unhealthy snakes that do arrive as described if they do not recieve pics in advance.
mike

.....rich you try to divorce yourself from this situation, but obviously you have been a part of the entire deal, you were there for all the phone calls, shipped from you, what the heck????????

Fair enough- He helps here a few hours a week on various things. Much of the time he is well within hearing distance and gets to hear quite a few of my phone conversations as well. That day he was picking up various items to bring to Birmingham and was answering emails on my computer when he took the payment phone call. I was waiting to use my computer as is often the case . I also have a daily pickup at about 5pm everyday, last stop before the truck goes to the terminal everyday. About as good as it gets for shipping so why not use it? Not an uncommon practice and I have offered that up to a few others over the years. Problem?

CC was a matter of convenience to help expedite a deal which is also how I can back up the guarantee Wes will get refunded if the animals come back. In retrospect no good deed goes unpunished. I should know better and yes, I am more involved than I would like to be. But here we are with a guy who likes to leave threats on the phone because he can't figure out a tracking number, does not have a computer handy to receive tracking info or pics but is buying over the net and posting here and also has not accepted about the best possible solution anyone can be offered- the whole thing never happened.

I heard one half of a few phone conversations on Thursday and a few phone messages left Thursday evening-the evening the animals where shipped. I saw the animals sitting in a cup before they were packed. I did not ask to be dragged into this, have never spoken to nor emailed with Wes to the best of my knowledge on any topic. I have offered my assurance that if the animals find their way back here I will make sure he is refunded (because I know he will be anyhow) - same offer Frank made to him by his own account. Thought maybe if I backed it up??? But as is often the case we seem to have only problems, no solutions.

Was any offer made by the seller to refund the purchase price plus return shipping? Not seeing pictures before purchasing does not negate the fact that he received a sub-par animal (the kink - I can't see much in the photo of the other one). Their are several breeders that do not offer individual photos of animals because their reputation alone does not require they do so. I wouldn't find returning animals because that were not as described and having to pay return shipping a satisfactory resolution. If I was going to be on the losing end by having to fork out money to ship them back, I would find that unacceptable.

rich, i was not trying to drag you into this, it seems that you were already here. i just wanted to make everyone aware of my personal dealings with frank of cold blooded novelties. life goes on....i purchased an awesome animal from frank that is thriving and locked up with my albino male as we speak. i just do not understand why he has nothing to say in his own defense????????
wes, i hope you work this out with frank/rich to your satisfaction.
thanks to the BOI,
mike mcmullen

What Frank does is up to him. I for one am finished unless something new comes up to advance the ball. To debate this endlessly has no purpose. I avoid forums like the plague.

I KNOW FOR A FACT that the best possible offer has been made to make Wes happy. He turned it down. No- "who pays shipping", discussion or anything else as far as I can tell. Once his initial messages were listened to he lost all credibility with me and I would guess with Frank. So whats the point in continuing the debate? What is there to defend? Wes's own post says he was offered that deal. I think the animal with the kink had some type of "accident" after the fact and now we want a better price myself or we are trying to build a case for a refund. Otherwise why not return them? They are more than healthy enough for a return trip.

Honestly, if Wes was told to screw off after his tracking number messages I would not have a lot of argument with it but that's my opinion and very likely what I would be doing......

Sorry you didn't hit it off with Frank and I am glad the animal you got from him is doing well which is the most telling thing I think. He was a NY cop for 20 years- many of them don't hit it off with everyone all the time I have the same problem- I spent half my life around NY city cops and firemen and many people do not hit it off with me either I should have taken the test when I was 19..............