Dishonest guy Jon Boone (User name Geitje)

Originally Posted by btmexotics

Let me also add that it costs less than $1000.00 to do an import from Germany usually. Thats F&W inspections(cites isn't much more about $70) broker fees and frieght. So your part of that shouldn't have been much.

Also people should be thanking Wai(Ken) Lui for having the backbone to stand up and post here because if he hadn't you would never hear the other stories being told. It's like the Catholic church. Noone says a word about Father so and so. But eventually someone speaks (sometimes 20-30 years later) and then, all of a sudden, people start coming out of the woodwork. And just like here,the community is shocked!

You hit the nail right on the head. I can tell you from experience, it's been going on since early 2 thousands. I second kudos to Wai! Hopefully his effort will save others from the arrogance and inconvenience he so easily shares with his victims.

We should make this a sticky lol

Originally Posted by btmexotics

Derek,

I had no idea you got burned but i am not surprised. It was bound to happen.

You know very well that i have extensive experience with hundreds of species of gecko. I have dealt with gracilis a lot over the last 20 years. I can promise you that your animals were not LTC. This is more likely what happened and completely fits within the M.O. and pattern of the seller in question. He was offered fresh W.C. animals to be picked up in Germany on his next trip. He took you for a sucker. He probably paid about $75.00 U.S.(the usual wholesale price for gracilis) and then told you over $300.00 per pair so he could cash in. He got to Germany and the animals looked like crap but he wasn't about to lose your money so he took them even in their terrible condition. Imported them and shipped to you. He knew you would be upset but didn't care because he already had your money. He then did his typicla promise to make it right in the future.As we all can see that day never comes. Then he proceeded to try to bully and intimidate you. Yes it is absolutely a fact that gracilis is more sensetive than masobe and every other Paroedura but everyone i have ever gotten imported from Madagascar was actually in very good health and i have gotten many.good weight etc. I think we all have a relatively similar understanding of what LTC means. It means healthy and well established.

So as I said earlier there are so many examples of this seller ripping people off. He tries to bully people and he tries to get people black balled from the gecko hobby. And he is usually successful because most don't stand up to him. So as i said before he will screw you if you do business with him long enough. He has screwed over everyone he has ever been friends with in this hobby. He has zero integrity,zero loyalty and zero conscience. You notice NOTHING is ever his fault! Ever! always deflection,passing off the blame and condascending attacks. Like i said if you are a supporter and you have not yet been burned don't worry. You are not a member of some elite club. You just have not gotten screwed YET. Don't fret it will happen. So remember that when you attack people on his behalf to get brownie points. Remember that when you come to his defense. You are being played and you are in denial.

So many more examples of people all over the world who, unfortunately , don't have the courage to post because they are holding out hope...or are non confrontational.

Jay,

I agree with your post. I know that several other reputable gecko breeders told me nightmare stories regarding there dealings with Jon. I will admit I was hesitant to post as well, but being that I am taking a break from breeding geckos, I don't have anything to lose.

Since the gracilis deal, I got my own import/export license and shipped a few dozen shipments to/from Europe. The process is not that complicated, and not nearly as expensive as one would think (assuming you have a large number of animals to split costs).

I managed to import on my own a number of other Paroedura gracilis. Some CB and some LTC...even some fresh WC. All these animals thrived beautifully. I never received any animals that were anywhere near as bad as the ones Jon sent me. I produced a number of babies before I sold my group off. They are not that much different than P. masobe. Just a little bit smaller, but essentially bred the same way. They can get quite chunky if they are actually cared for properly!

Derek Dunlop

I really think applying the words "pompous" and "arrogant" to Mr. Boone would be insulting to those words and a massive understatement of his true demeanor.

I need to make a correction. When i said this

"He probably paid about $75.00 U.S.(the usual wholesale price for gracilis) and then told you over $300.00 per pair so he could cash in"

I meant he charged you over $300 per animal not pair.A much bigger payday.

And yes absolutely gracilis is very close genetically to masobe.

I thought I would give an update to the O.P.'s rugosus issue.

A couple of weeks ago I had Wai meet me at The Reptile Super Show in L.A. with one of his male rugosus. I brought a few juveniles and we looked them over together to see what we both thought the sexes were. I brought one in particular i thought was a female. We exchanged animals and i am fairly confident his new animal is female. It worked out well because i had a friend who needed a male so i sold him the male for the juvenile. All worked out.

I know it doesn't remedy the real issue here and it doesn't let the seller off the hook. I still feel he owes something because i didn't do it to help him.My exchange with Wai to help him out has no connection what so ever with his transaction with the seller.

But I wouldn't hold my breath.

Originally Posted by btmexotics

I thought I would give an update to the O.P.'s rugosus issue.

A couple of weeks ago I had Wai meet me at The Reptile Super Show in L.A. with one of his male rugosus. I brought a few juveniles and we looked them over together to see what we both thought the sexes were. I brought one in particular i thought was a female. We exchanged animals and i am fairly confident his new animal is female. It worked out well because i had a friend who needed a male so i sold him the male for the juvenile. All worked out.

I know it doesn't remedy the real issue here and it doesn't let the seller off the hook. I still feel he owes something because i didn't do it to help him.My exchange with Wai to help him out has no connection what so ever with his transaction with the seller.

But I wouldn't hold my breath.

That should say I sold my friend the male for the price i would have sold the juvie for. So Wai got a female(hopefully) my friend got a male and i got the money i needed out of the juvie. Everybody is happy

Originally Posted by btmexotics

That should say I sold my friend the male for the price i would have sold the juvie for. So Wai got a female(hopefully) my friend got a male and i got the money i needed out of the juvie. Everybody is happy

Jay, thank you very much for your help, it was a nice meeting with you as well as your friends at the show, hopefully I will see you again in July at San Diego Super Show !!

Wai

Originally Posted by hurreckon

That's a quick assumption to make. Why would you think Jon doesn't have a species named after him?

He does, it's the toiletosous, or better known as " The Jon ". I think they are much more common then you would think.


It was nice that Wai had a friend to help, doesn't excuse Jon one bit...

I had the honor of meeting Mr. Wai at the Reptile Super Show in Pomona, California. What a nice and humble person he is. It is truly a shame and disgrace that Jon Boone would take advantage and mistreat Mr. Wai and others in this post including myself. That was awesome of Jay Sommers to come forward and help out the situation and offer his own animals to help out Mr. Wai. We need more Jays and less Jons in this industry. Shame on you Mr. Boone!!!