Mike the Screamer "Strictly Reptiles"

Typical wholesalers attitude. Do not take it personal I'm surprised he offered to sell you anything you not being a business. If your looking for customer service seek out a breeder because you wont find it in the wholesale trade. Better thicken your skin if you want to deal with these folks!

Originally Posted by Redfeet

Typical wholesalers attitude.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.................... no. I deal with wholesalers all the time, just not in the reptile industry. I've never encountered one like this.

Originally Posted by Redfeet

Typical wholesalers attitude. Do not take it personal I'm surprised he offered to sell you anything you not being a business. If your looking for customer service seek out a breeder because you wont find it in the wholesale trade. Better thicken your skin if you want to deal with these folks!

Agreed.

Originally Posted by BeardedDragonStore

Oh please Dan... really? The guy barks at one guy and this is justification for changing his policies re: selling retail? Seriously? I can't help but defend the guy.

Sometimes people have bad days. Sometimes people get busy. Sometimes people read other peoples' body language and are put off by what they see. Sometimes people don't like certain colors.

But OH MY GOD let's jump up and down because 1 guy got barked at, didn't like the answer he received, and has pitched a fit over it. Forget understanding, empathy, putting others' needs before our own. No, let's slay a guy who was having a bad freaking day apparently.

I'm going over to my corner to sign kumebyeya to myself while you console the person who has bruised delicate sensibilities.

Whats wrong with you?

I have known Mike since the mid 90's. He has been abusive to many people. I have witnessed it many many times... This is not a one off.. He has no patience and really should not be open to the public or be dealing with retail customers. One guy did not get barked at. Its a pattern... Try giving him a call sometime and tell him you received a doa and want credit. You will feel the wrath..

I have dealt with Strictly for years. I have read the book, and I must say, there are people in that book from all over the world that owe me a lot of money, but Strictly is not on that list. When the albino leopard gecko first came out I purchased two from Strictly at $1,000.00 each. They were an ugly olive green. I called to voice my concern. Full credit. They did not even ask me to return the animals. I found that visiting them to pick out my animals was an entertaining experience. They are not warm and fuzzy. If you want a heart warming experience this is not a good choice, but is hardly worth an endless thread that has gone on for four years. Purchase your animals somewhere else and move on to something important.

Originally Posted by predators

Whats wrong with you?

I have known Mike since the mid 90's. He has been abusive to many people. I have witnessed it many many times... This is not a one off.. He has no patience and really should not be open to the public or be dealing with retail customers. One guy did not get barked at. Its a pattern... Try giving him a call sometime and tell him you received a doa and want credit. You will feel the wrath..

This is the BOI. Abide by the rules. Post your proof.

Originally Posted by BeardedDragonStore

This is the BOI. Abide by the rules. Post your proof.

Posting proof is not a rule, it's a recommendation and always preferred. Proof or no proof - it's up to each person reading to use their judgement to come to a conclusion based on what is provided.

No posting of third party anonymous statements is a rule. He stated that he witnessed it, first hand account. Further discussion of rules should be in the feedback forum please. Carry on...

Originally Posted by tcp2

I have dealt with Strictly for years. I have read the book, and I must say, there are people in that book from all over the world that owe me a lot of money, but Strictly is not on that list. When the albino leopard gecko first came out I purchased two from Strictly at $1,000.00 each. They were an ugly olive green. I called to voice my concern. Full credit. They did not even ask me to return the animals. I found that visiting them to pick out my animals was an entertaining experience. They are not warm and fuzzy. If you want a heart warming experience this is not a good choice, but is hardly worth an endless thread that has gone on for four years. Purchase your animals somewhere else and move on to something important.

I totally agree. I dealt with Strictly for over fifteen years, owning and managing several pet stores during that time. Although I mostly dealt with "Jeannie" (sp?) and/or "Shelly", I can recall them having to ask Mike things on my behalf many, many times, and I don't recall EVER being mistreated or disrespected. The difference was, I was a professional who, even before I spent my first dime with them, knew what the hell I wanted and how to ask for it. They knew when they'd send me shit animals, and they quickly learned that I didn't nickel-and-dime them by calling everything in. When I called in a D.o.A., regardless of the cost of the animal, they knew it was dead without asking for proof because they knew how much I'd spend versus how infrequently I'd complain. I knew the difference between a pet shop, a breeder, a trade show huckster, an importer and a wholesaler. Some dealers can be more than one of the above, but each term means something different. OP was wrong, in my opinion, to attempt to use a wholesaler (even one who chooses to also retail) as a means to side-step buying from a breeder (no doubt to save money).

The one and only time I ever met any of them was one year at the Daytona show, and yes, they were almost all of the typical Yankee-in-Florida/could-be-just-off-the-plane-from-New York brash types of folks, but as others have said here, it's absolutely unfair and stupid to start a BOI thread over not liking one of them. As with the poster I quoted above, I've been royally screwed by NUMEROUS well-known "name" dealers in Florida, but I too can honestly say that Strictly was never one of them (and I'd given Mike and Strictly THOUSANDS of times more opportunity to screw me than the others).

Hopefully, this thread will actually benefit them by keeping people who shouldn't be buying wholesale from wasting their time.

Originally Posted by DiabloSerpentino

They knew when they'd send me **** animals, and they quickly learned that I didn't nickel-and-dime them by calling everything in.

That's an interesting concept. It there some sort of hidden etiquette established that allows sellers to knowingly send poor quality critters, and those who receive the aforementioned critters are expected not to call them in? Just as a matter of educating readers, what percent of poor critters out of the total order does this secret etiquette allow?

Originally Posted by DiabloSerpentino

as others have said here, it's absolutely unfair and stupid to start a BOI thread over not liking one of them.

You are entitled to your opinion, but some other 'others' have said that this thread is valid in their opinion, and that the behavior described is far enough from the norm that forewarned is forearmed. The thread does not seem to be about not liking Mike, it seems more a description of how he handles his customers.

Originally Posted by Lucille

That's an interesting concept. It there some sort of hidden etiquette established that allows sellers to knowingly send poor quality critters, and those who receive the aforementioned critters are expected not to call them in? Just as a matter of educating readers, what percent of poor critters out of the total order does this secret etiquette allow?


You are entitled to your opinion, but some other 'others' have said that this thread is valid in their opinion, and that the behavior described is far enough from the norm that forewarned is forearmed. The thread does not seem to be about not liking Mike, it seems more a description of how he handles his customers.

First of all, you aren't a "customer" until you've bought something.

Secondly, do you think McDonald's expects that EVERY one of it's orders all across the country will be properly cooked and correct in its counts? Do you think they have the time to have customers request how they want their meat cooked- rare, medium-rare, medium-well, etc.? Do they have the time to answer hipsters' questions about where the meat came from and are the other ingredients local? Do you think they should placate a potential customer if they were to ask if they could inspect all of the food in the warming bins and ask to purchase only THE BEST items that are cooked? Do you think they are a "bad" restaurant because of this? Of course not. They are not the same kind of restaurant as a family-owned restaurant who hand-makes $8. burgers to order. If you walk into a McDonald's, take their cheapest dollar-menu item, ask a lot of questions, ask them to modify it, and then complain about how it tastes once you get it, you're a fool. Although not completely analogous, the point is, you'd be disrupting the flow of how that company models its daily business and expecting something they aren't designed to do.

Wholesalers deal in VOLUME. Their margins are typically less per animal than that of retailers', so high volume is key. If you order two thousand dollars+ worth of animals a week every week from a wholesaler (such as Strictly)- which I have- you have to expect a certain percentage of your order- especially when ordering a lot of wild-collected animals- will not make it. That doesn't make them bad people- YOU are the one who asked to ship LIVE ANIMALS, in bulk, through a courier system designed for everything BUT live animals. Even if you regularly lose say, 5% of your orders from them, you would do well to consider that you're still saving 50% or more than if you ordered from anywhere else in the world. You can't order 50 Fence Swifts at a time or three dozen Emperor Scorpions and expect them to ALL come in okay. If you're the kind of person who expects that ordering from a wholesaler (for just one example), then you're the kind of person who thinks the OP has a legitimate complaint because he was not treated with kid-gloves.

Some people might want to walk in or keep them on the phone all day, ask a million questions, spend a not-sizeable amount of money, and then complain that an anole and a house gecko didn't arrive alive. It's perfectly okay to call in small losses on a large order, but it won't make you a top "customer" in anyone's book. A good business person would understand the incredible fortune they have to be able to buy animals at such low prices, and accept a certain amount of loss as the cost of doing business/cost of shipping live animals. Similarly, a person who is NOT a retailer or licensed business who is ALLOWED the GIFT of being ABLE to purchase at wholesale (something that annoyed the s*** out of me when I was competing at a retail level), then you should AT LEAST accept the way things are and not whine about it. It's akin to merging onto the Autobahn, driving slowly, and then complaining that the other drivers are honking at you (really, it is).

When I still worked in retail, I often heard "the customer is always right". My reply was that no, "the customer" is an often mis-used term, as one is only "the customer" AFTER they make a potential purchase. Prior to that, they are only a POTENTIAL customer (and still not always right). Additionally, even after they make a purchase, not all customers are GOOD customers. Every retailer reading my words will instantly know what I am talking about when I say there are "customers" who spend a LOT of money, but are not profitable. Still, that person/persons demands special treatment because of the money they spent (regardless of if any profit was made). Anyone who runs a business will tell you it doesn't matter HOW MUCH money the business makes, it HAS to turn a profit. Similarly, a different customer might spend money with a business very infrequently, but their interactions may result in much more PROFIT for the company. Thus, the customer who is more profitable to a business is far more likely to be treated nicely.

If you walk into a South Florida reptile wholesaler's establishment the size of Strictly Reptiles and act like a tire-kicker, you should expect to be barked at. Both sides of this discussion are certainly entitled to their opinions. However, if you still can't understand what I'm saying in defense of OP's inane thread, then in my opinion you either have no idea how wholesale (on that level) works or you just enjoy arguing.