Snakes at Sunset

I should have headed the warnings I found on this very site. I was in the market for a Lavender California King snake, and found Snakes at Sunset had both banded and striped listed as available for purchase on their website. I sent them a message to verify that they had a striped female in stock, that I needed to know asap (the 12th of March), and that I would later txt for a photo of the animal. I needed tl know asap. At the time I was making arrangements to travel out of state to acquire another animal that I was interested in. I received a response from MikeB saying they had one in stock, so I placed faith in Snakes at Sunset and replied that since I have bad cell reception that I would trust him to select the animal. I then proceeded to order a female striped lavender cali king AND a male banded lavender cali king. I also cancelled plans to drive out of state to purchase the other animal THAT WAS VERIFIED BY PHONE! I wrote in the special instructions box to please wait until Tuesday the 15th of March to send the animals so I would be home to sign for the animals on Wednesday the 16th personally. I received an email from FedEx with a shipment notification, (and now looking at that again, they were sending that on the wrong day!).
Today, the 15th I get an email saying my money was refunded to paypal. I thought that it was some type of error, since I did not use paypal. I checked FedEd, and my shipment was not cancelled either. I emailed MikeB and messaged Snakes at Sunset, since a phone number is not provided o their site. I get a response from MikeB stating they did not have them in stock at all, and it was the site's fault for letting me buy something out of stock.
Let me say this, I have been collecting snakes for 40 years, and rarely buy from anyone other than a breeder. I have made one purchase in the past from someone that also had bad reviews on this site, and they came thru for me. I believe in giving someone a chance, but this time, and its a first for me, I got screwed. Snakes at Sunset can blame the web site, blame the store sales mixed with the online sales, blame the man on the moon if you want Snakes at Sunset, but the result remains the same. POOR BUSINESS ETHICS.
Emails will be posted if anyone has doubts. I have spent enough time on these jokers this week.

So they screwed up and made a mistake and gave you your money back? Not really poor business ethics. A mistake. People sometimes get their lines crossed. If you aren't fighting to get your money back and were refunded in full, why the big deal?

Seems he's upset because the he was told the animals were instock and even cancelled a trip to go pick up a male someplace out of state. So in the end, he could have at least had a male by keeping his plans to travel out of state for it. I'd be upset too. These reptile stores are shortly at best. I just had a really bad experience with underground reptiles. But for me, lesson learned. I won't be using these retail stores again. Stick with breeders

Yes, we refunded him and sent him a message.
Seems he misunderstood us.

He was told we would check for him availability on his first email, but somehow never got back to him. I am unaware and will check if we texted him any info or pics (I doubt as we didnt have) but via email I never sent him a confirmation.

Meantime,the inventory onsite was incorrect, as when we did have in stock, they were sold in store and no one removed from site. He ordered and we refunded him. We are working with a tech company to synchronize it all with our point of sale system in our brick and mortar store as we have grown as a business to a point where it is needed as we dont have HUNDREDS of the same thing but hand picked select few of each for both online and instore sales. We do our best to keep inventory up to date while also updating new items, and removing items we no longer carry. He never got confirmation from us, and he ordered anyways, because of site error.

Below are exact emails,none omitted between us.


look man, I emailed you and asked if you had one in stock, and needed to know asap, you responded yes. I said I was going to txt for a picture the next day, then emailed you and I said I would just let you pick and ordered. I did this after reading all the negative reviews about you on faunaclassified. I have been in snakes 40 years now, and this is pathetic! I guess you know where this is going now!!! You not only sold me something you didnt stock, you cost me getting one from another seller with this crap.



RE: 'moonshinecapital@msn.com' submitted the form from your 'Contact Us' page

Erik Hager 3/12/16
To: MikeB

I do not get very good cell reception where I live, so I will just let you select. I will also be ordering a male banded lavender as well, but can you wait to ship until Tuesday the 15th, as I will be home all day the 16th to receive?

Thanks,\
Erik Hager

From: albinoturtles@comcast.net
Subject: Re: 'moonshinecapital@msn.com' submitted the form from your 'Contact Us' page
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2016 07:06:10 -0500
To: moonshinecapital@msn.com

Yes text tommorow and we can look for you

Sent from iPhone MikeB

On Mar 11, 2016, at 10:49 PM, Contact Form <contactform@bigcommerce.com> wrote:

'moonshinecapital@msn.com' submitted the form from your 'Contact Us' page
A user has submitted the contact form on your store.
Here are their details:
Full Name: Erik
Email Address: moonshinecapital@msn.com
Order Number:
I am interested in a female lavender striped California kingsnake, and I want to make sure you have one available before I place my order. I will also txt for a picture tomorrow, but I need a response on availability as soon as possible tomorrow the 12th.Thanks in advance

Also our phone number is on the site as well as the text phone number for quick responses. Just click "contact here" or "showroom".
He also thinks a created label is a shipment, it is not. It is just that a label has been made for your order and pending shipping date. Doesnt mean it is going, was sent, or being delivered. "Shipping label has been created. The status will be updated when shipment begins to travel."clearly on the notice from fedex.

Erik, sorry we couldnt fulfill your order. It is not a common thing to not be able fo fulfill an order as most inventory is pretty accurate as things sell usually quite fast and we need to re-add inventory to it.

Also Erik- we should hatch a few dozen in a few months, if you havent found any, I will gladly offer you some from different clutches at 50% off for your troubles.

I don't see how this thread deserves a bad guy title, human and technology errors do happen. I can understand that he would be disappointed and annoyed that he didn't get what he sent a payment for but the funds were sent back to him quickly, I could see making a bad guy post if they refused or took a long time to refund his money but that doesn't appear to have happened here. When deciding which title to give a thread I would suggest thinking it through more before posting and not doing so when your pissed off because you may get labeled as someone who is a "problem customer" and should be avoided.

Erik Hager, you will have a PM shortly. I highly recommend you address it immediately.

As you can read in my email response to you on the 12th, I told you I was going to order both on the 12th, which I did. The only updates I received was a shipping confirmation from FedEx on the 14th, and a simple refund with no explanation on the 15th. I had to contact you to find out what happened! Since I responded directly to your email on the 12th telling you I was ordering not one animal, but two, why did it take 3 days for you to tell me they werent in stock?! The day they were supposed to ship is when I was notified of a refund.

I agree, business do have issues with inventory. However, having owned and successfully ran my own business for many years now it is up to you, the business owner to make sure your inventory is correct and up to date, especially when you only have a phone number for txt messages for pictures of animals. I paid under mis-representations, and it was not a deposit. You could, and should have told me you did not have these animals in stock at least when I told you my plans on the 12th. It took 3 days after that to find out you did not have these in stock?

To worried about sales, and not worried about customers. Please take the discount you are offering me and apply it towards other customer support.

Speaking of misrepresentation, I again recommend you address the matter brought to your attention via PM.