Greater Nashville Reptile Show?!?! Warning / Potential problems.

I just got back in from this show. I have never been lied to in such a ridiculous way before. Aside from the supposed 6000 pre-sold tickets they stabbed their vendors in the back. They talked their cricket supplier into bring 1/2 million crickets to the show with the promises that 1 he would be the only vendor with crickets and 2 they would buy any left overs and sell them to local pet stores. I was set up next to him and would be surprised if he sold 10 of the 500 boxes that he brought. I was not surprised that they failed to buy any crickets from him after the show. They also allowed another vendor to place crickets next to his half dead animals and sell them for $6 less per thousand. $13 per 1000 is a pretty good show price and they allowed another vendor to sell them for $7 per 1000. Mike (the cricket guy) also built their website for them for free. He checked Saturday and with the guy hosting it and only 2 tickets had been pre sold through their site. A far cry from 6000. They told the rodent vendor he would be exclusive yet their were 2 rodent vendors. I was told that I would be the only sugar glider vendor yet there was another that they signed this week. While I am fine with them signing another glider vendor not only did they fail to inform me I would no longer be exclusive they also told the other vendor that no one else was bringing gliders. When I signed up to do their show I called 2 other vendors and encouraged them to also do the show. They took he vendors that I sent them and gave them a table price of $50 per table while charging me $75 per table. I had also, at my own expense, printed flyers and passed them out to vendors and customers the week prior in St Louis. They were constantly walking by and telling us inflated numbers of how many had been through the door. As Mike mentioned earlier another vendor was paying someone to count people. When their count was at 500 on Saturday his was at 149. Another vendor told me they were bragging about their $30,000 advertising budget. Saturday they came around announcing that television news crews were coming by to do live spots from the show. I was really hoping they showed up as they could have been made aware of the largest scandal being perpetrated in TN that weekend. I witnessed the argument between Mike and Troy and it happened as he said. I felt bad for the people they continued to charge at the door while vendor vehicles were in the isles loading 4-5 hours before they show ended. While I do not wish this to be a personal attack on Kelli or Troy they cost vendors thousands of dollars in expenses due to their lies. I harbor no ill feeling towards any of the other vendors their as we were all lied to and manipulated this weekend. I think I can state with a certainty that there will be no Dec show in Nashville. I spoke with about all the vendors and didn't find one that wasn't offended or that was willing to come back.I really think now that it would be appropriate to place the events that transpired this weekend on the BOI as they are in the group of scam artists and the word should get out. I am certain I will not be the last vendor to share their story.

These people seem like real class acts. I was hoping this show was going to turn into a good thing when I first heard of it. It would have been great to do a 3 day show when I move back to Kentucky but so much for that. I will steer clear of anything that has the slightest taint of this guy on it.

I have been wishing for a Nashville show for quite some time, now. I know the laws are strict and the permits are expensive, so breeders outside of Tennessee (with snakes indigenous to TN) would have to invest a chunk of money in order to come to the show. I personally would not have done that for a new show if I lived outside of TN. I already have my permits, however, and was willing to give the show a try until I found out about all of the lies. Maybe eventually there will be a successful show here. It needs some stand-up promoters, though (honest, reliable, etc.). I think if the promoters had been honest, they would have gotten a MUCH better response. I, for one, would have been willing to invest in the show. How many of the rest of you would have done the same (knowing it would potentially be the start of a successful show for years to come)?

So approximately how many "customers" actually showed up for the show? Anyone know the true numbers?

Originally Posted by CornCrazy

I think if the promoters had been honest, they would have gotten a MUCH better response. I, for one, would have been willing to invest in the show. How many of the rest of you would have done the same (knowing it would potentially be the start of a successful show for years to come)

EXACTLY! Excellent point. If they had not been such liars (and punks) I would not have left. I left because I would not contribute one more minute of my time to supporting a scam. I wasn't enraged because the show did poorly - it was the only the first one, and in a problematic market as well. As a professional dealer living in Nashville, I would have supported it and worked to make it better the second time. Unfortunately, our hobby attracts a fair number of sleazeball scam artists and always has; Troy and Kellie Wikel (aka Kellie Swift, aka exotics2equatics) should be added to the top of this list and I second the request that this thread be moved to BOI in hopes that they will be quickly black-balled.

Please note: This Kellie Swift - now Kellie Wikel - (woman) should not be confused with Kelly Swift (man) who is a friend of mine and a fellow invertebrate (and reptile) dealer - owner of Swift's Invertebrates. There is no relation.

Cheers,

Michael Jacobi

Michael, you didn't miss anything by leaving early. You only did yourself a favor. G & G packed up not long after noon Sunday, as well as myself & most other vendors. The final count was far less than 1000. I'm not 100% sure on this, but the rumor amongst the vendors was that Kellie & Troy had written worthless checks to cover their expenses, and the cash money from the show & drawings went into their pockets. They left before I had my stuff packed up. What a waste of my time. They will not have the December show as promised. They wanted us to sign up & commit into doing that one. No one could be stupid enough to be scandaled twice by the same people. I must admit that I really had a good time. Myself & other vendors pretty much goofed off while other vendors were sleeping. Nothing else to do since there were no buyers in the building. Most people that came in were looking for the petting zoo. They made it such a big deal on their website. But there was no TV stations as promised, no radio stations as promised, and no petting zoo as promised. No 6000 advance tickets sold. Not even 1000 people through the door.
I wouldn't have bothered showing up there myself, if it had not been for some friends of mine that were going. I had a bad feeling about this show before you put up the first post.
Cricket

Hi Cricket,

Thanks for posting here. I hope all of the other vendors will do the same. People like this need to be exposed quickly and aggressively.

Fortunately, I refused to pay in advance and then stopped payment on the check I wrote Saturday after my "encounter" with them and my departure. I am freely admitting that I did this here, because I have plenty of witnesses that this event was a scam from the beginning and they were basically trying to rob us. I later sent them an email telling them I would remove the hold on the check because I made a deal in good faith and am a man of my word, but I think y'all will forgive me for going back on it in this case - I sure don't feel guilty. Once I realized the extent to which they had premeditated the scam I made sure I had no role in lining their pockets (other than the admission of a dozen or so attendees who came specifically to buy from me).

Although I have no intention of pursuing them further, I did fax my attorney a signed affidavit explaining what transpired from the moment I had contact with them. I have a witness that they were willing to bribe me to retract my public statements prior to the show, that they falsely advertised featured events, ticket sales, vendors and vendor table sales and that they ordered me to leave the premises. I also included email between us and printouts of their webpages. That's all I have to say. Time to move on and forget such trash.

Cheers, Michael

PS - Hope to see you under better circumstances at a real show, Cricket!

It has been several years since I have been made so angry. Jason Cruse of GoLizards and myself (KCRD) also made the 9 hour trip to Nashville from KC to "experience the reptile event of a life time" as it was so elaquintly put to me on the phone. Even after I called mid week and canceled Kellie called Jason and me to urge us into coming back. They insisted on this being a huge money maker event as well as the oportunity to create new business for our companies. The final total on door counts was somewhere between 500-600 pepole, a far cry from the 6000+ that was promised. These two, Kellie and Troy have really screwed themselves in this hobby, well that is unless they change their names again. I was appalled that they would confont Mike like they did while their prescious show was going on, even though there were only like 10-15 attendees there at the time. I am not ashamed to say that I instigated the early pack up of the show and am also not ashamed to say that I and Jason both left with out paying for our tables. Considering I didn't even make my expenses back I didn't feel bad doing do. It's probably a good thing that Troy or Kellie didn't come asking for the table money it probably would have gotten ugly again, I wouldn't have had to go out into the parking lot.

The only good things that came from this show are the few new friends we made. Other than that I feel as if I have had a pefectly good holiday weekend stolen from me and my family.

In closing, unlike the other posts that have been made on this thread I DO hope that this brings the crooks to justice some way. As far as I'm concerend they have stolen from me and friends of mine, if they were to walk into my house and do the same they would most likely be met with a bullet, becasuse this was in public makes it no different in my opinion. I have absolutly NO tollence for theives, liers and crooks. They are in my opinion all of the above.

I agree there were several misunderstandings during this show. It's easy to point fingers at the problems. This was their first show. Maybe they were a little more optimistic than they should have been, maybe it was deliberate, I don't know. I did see they made a great effort to have this show succeed.
I met the nephew of the anchor man from the news show and also saw the news show. It was funny the anchor man was afraid of snakes and was trying to brave it out. The nephew said it wasn't an act. Even size doesn't matter when it comes to being afraid, the anchor man was big... the snake not so much....;-P
I've been to a number of shows, and I have to say this. It was nice to be able to drive in and unload. The food we were served was most excellent - prime rib, roasted chicken, beef stew and all the fixings. The other vendors were great, with having to put up with a nut case like me.
I enjoyed meeting everybody. I had a great time. I'd like to see you all again at other shows.
Judy won't let me have coffee anymore, and asked that y'all please make sure not to give me caffiene (or sugar) either. She said she has to put up with me longer...
See you all in reverse on the back roads,
Stoney (big ugly biker dude)
Animal Capture Equipment, Inc.
1-866-339-9960
www.ace-cap.com

Hey Stoney,
We didn't know you were the "big ugly biker dude". We thought you were just an "ugly snake hook guy with a sissy cell phone ring & a dumb looking hat." Not to mention that you need a shave & haircut.
Cricket

What do you mean a sissy cell phone ring? I take exception to that!
You gotta love me darlin'
Stoney