Deanna (Dena) Freeman, Rainbow Geckos USA

Which is the gecko that you say she has posted in your above posts that is actually in your possession? I compared head markings and body markings and saw a couple that looked similar to yours but no exact matches. Or, are you trying to show that she is selling the gecko that you were supposed to get?

You paid for a gecko and got a gecko, correct? No, I am not ignoring the fact that you got the wrong gecko. But if I remember correctly you were issued a refund because of the mistake made? If that is the case, and you are trying to claim that the gecko you were supposed to get originally is still yours, in most cases the refund would signal the end of that transaction, and you have no claim to the initial gecko.

In reference to the first question, could you post the ss of gecko that appears to be in your possession side by side with the picture of your gecko?

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

I have also recently had an experience conducting business with Dena Freeman. The timeline of my experience runs concurrently with this story, but starts much earlier.

At the beginning of August, a Facebook based effort known as Breeder Shield began running auctions to benefit Ashley Jawiche of Scaredy Cat Geckos. The purpose of Breeder Shield is to raise funds for breeders in the community who have serious, unexpected trouble fall onto them. A prior Breeder Shield benefit was run to raise funds to support a breeder whose husband had recently been diagnosed with a serious cancer, for example. Dena Freeman donated several geckos to the auctions for Ms. Jawiche, including three female Tremper Tangerines from Tangelo lines, each worth about $165. On August 4th, I won those auctions for a combined total of $100. The $100 was sent by PayPal directly to Ms. Jawiche.

As the temperatures were hot, and I was preparing to start up school again, I held off contacting her about shipping for a while. I didn't yet have the room, and several other reasons. Turns out she wouldn't have been able to ship anyway due to the temps on her end. We chatted back and forth during the next few months about the geckos. I was in no rush. She got me a couple of updated pictures of the three during this time as well, though I hadn't seen all of them. As I said, I wasn't in any hurry, so I was fine getting update pictures of only two of the geckos. They looked healthy and that's what mattered. She also told me that these tangs weren't nearly as pretty in the pictures as they were in person, so she wanted to give me a little bit of a surprise when they arrived and I could see how pretty they were in person. I liked this idea, especially knowing how hard it can be to capture the true beauty of some of these animals. I would get to see how amazing they were with only a general idea of what they looked like. During this time I also entered in her giveaway contest for a 1.1 pair of Bold Stripe Lavender Snows that originated from GeckoBoa, as I qualified for entry with my Breeder Shield purchases. These geckos were worth $239 each as priced by John Scarborough of GeckoBoa, $478 for the pair, and I thought it might be fun to have them if I happened to get lucky as I've gotten interested in bolds lately. I didn't expect to win anyway because I have terrible luck when it comes to that.

October came around and temps began to cool right around the beginning. We saw a break in the heat in her area and scheduled shipping for Oct 5th. I sent her the shipping cost around this time and she let me know she had recieved it. While we were discussing the shipping, she asked me the hypothetical question that if i could choose any female gecko from her various lines, which would it be? I looked and I told her I loved her Red Stripe RADARs and her Pacific Greens. I'm a bit on the clever side and I had a strong feeling she might be including a surprise gecko for me. Turns out my hunch was very correct as she messaged me saying that she had forgotten to include a letter she had written to me that explained how she was giving me this Pacific Green as a bonus for having participated in the Breeder Shield. I was so excited by her generosity toward me.

Oct 6th I got the box, opened it up, and was blown away by what I saw. What I saw was three Tremper Tangs that were the most stunning orange, and a Pacific Green worth ~$225 with incredible green/orange contrast. Every single gecko looked healthy and plump. I took some quick pictures and tucked them away as they were jumpy, as was expected after such a trip. The only thing wrong with the shipping was that I noticed two of the birth dates on the lids appeared switched. I double checked with her and with the original auctions and matched the geckos properly. No real harm done there. I found in the next few days that the PG she sent was (and still is) an extremely personable gecko. He loves keeping an eye on me.

October 10th (I think) I was taking weights and better pictures in better light, when one of my Tang gals squirmed free of my hand and broke her leg. Freak accident, torque must've been just right or something. I alerted Dena and she told me to let her know if I needed a replacement for her. I told her I'd let her know if I needed a replacement for her, if the healing of her leg didn't go well or anything that made her unfit to breed. So far the healing is going quite well. The bone appears to have fused back together. During her healing though, I noticed she appears to have what I believe to be polydactyly, extra toes, on her front feet. It took me a while to notice them and unless you are looking at them extremely close, you wouldn't really be able to tell. I only noticed because I was taking the time to tong feed her food with extra calcium. I told her and showed her pictures and she again offered me a replacement since the gecko would be considered defective. Right now I've tabled that offer, not declined it, simply because I don't have the space.

Then, lo and behold, the contest for the 1.1 BSLS geckos I had forgotten about and actually discounted because I never win luck-based contests, produced me as a winner. She used that random name generator to pick the winner, and has the video on her page as proof. We arranged shipping for the following week. I sent her the shipping payment, as per the conditions of the contest, which she told me she got when she got alerted by PayPal. We were worried a little bit about the temps, we didn't want them to be too hot or too cold. She detailed how she went about packing them with a heat pack. I actually recieved them yesterday and they are calm, beautiful, and the heat pack under the lid was still nice and warm.

If you noticed throughout my story I made note of what each gecko was worth. This was on purpose to prove a point I want people to see...

Gecko Values
Tremper Tangs: $165*3 = $495
Pacific Green: $225
Bold Stripe Snows: $239*2 = $478

Total Value of Geckos: $1178
Total Paid (not including shipping): $100 to Ashley Jawiche

The only dime that ever went to Dena was the shipping costs, which she doesn't even get to keep. She did not profit from any of the geckos sent to me, though the estimated value is almost $1200. Not to mention she has offered several times to correct the issues with Temperance (the polydactyl gecko who broke her leg) without me even asking or prompting her for such. Such generosity is not the behavior of a sketchy business owner... And I have seen many a sketchy business just in the past year. It's extremely unfortunate Rachel's situation went down the way it did, but despite the mistakes I do see through her story the same woman who is carefully boxing up my geckos so they don't get too hot or too cold, who is giving me a surprise bonus gecko that is ridiculously beautiful, and who is offering me a replacement for a minor defect she missed and an injury that wasn't her fault. That is the Dena Freeman I have come to know these past few months.

I am sorry, but your story has absolutely no relevance to the OP's bad experience or the Seller's mistake. Glad you made out like a bandit for a measly $100, but it does nothing to help resolve this BOI.
~Beau

Originally Posted by BeauBoi

I am sorry, but your story has absolutely no relevance to the OP's bad experience or the Seller's mistake. Glad you made out like a bandit for a measly $100, but it does nothing to help resolve this BOI.
~Beau

The purpose of the BOI is to post both negative and positive experiences with buyers/sellers. It is up to the reader to decide whether to business with someone or not. Since this experience is about the same seller, it is very relevant to this thread.

Originally Posted by BeauBoi

I am sorry, but your story has absolutely no relevance to the OP's bad experience or the Seller's mistake. Glad you made out like a bandit for a measly $100, but it does nothing to help resolve this BOI.
~Beau

As stated by Kristi, the BOI is to relate the experiences, good and bad, with a particular seller. My story, while not helping to lead to a resolution (which was not its purpose at all), is extremely relevant to this post as not only is it with the same seller, but my transactions were happening during the same timeframe as the OP's. It's purpose was to relate my experience, not fix the problem, and it fulfilled that 100%. While the BOI has turned into a place to help people find resolutions, which is not bad at all and helps many people who don't know how to proceed, its ultimate and original reason for existence is as a place to share experiences with sellers, not step in to fix things for people.

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

As stated by Kristi, the BOI is to relate the experiences, good and bad, with a particular seller. My story, while not helping to lead to a resolution (which was not its purpose at all), is extremely relevant to this post as not only is it with the same seller, but my transactions were happening during the same timeframe as the OP's. It's purpose was to relate my experience, not fix the problem, and it fulfilled that 100%. While the BOI has turned into a place to help people find resolutions, which is not bad at all and helps many people who don't know how to proceed, its ultimate and original reason for existence is as a place to share experiences with sellers, not step in to fix things for people.

Fair enough. You are right, it was posted as a questioning thread. In all honesty, though, your post sounds less like a happy customer to me and more like an admirer or close friend trying to defend your "besty" ...jmo.

Now that the OP has posted all of the screen shots, though, I have difficulty seeing WHY she posted it that way. It should have been posted as a "Bad Guy" thread imo.

It is a lot to read, but honestly the seller made statements in her first post that come off as seriously questionable (deciding to stop selling because the OP was going to be "one of those buyers", ect), then blocking the OP from the FB group with out reaching a satisfactory resolution, and selling the animal the OP paid for to someone else...

I think once people finally make it through the mass of posts, the seller is going to need to do a lot of explaining.

In any case, sorry I commented on your post.

~Beau

Even if it was posted as a bad guy thread, people are still allowed to post any type of experiences they had with the person, good or bad. It doesn't have to be an inquiry for that to happen and you'll see a lot of posts on the BOI that contain both.

Originally Posted by Kristi23

Even if it was posted as a bad guy thread, people are still allowed to post any type of experiences they had with the person, good or bad. It doesn't have to be an inquiry for that to happen and you'll see a lot of posts on the BOI that contain both.

True, but it reads less like a post from a happy customer and more like opening remarks by a defense attorney defending an accused murder! Lol I mean really, I get it: she donates to charity, she is selfless with friends, no one has ever complained before (oh, that was your contribution wasn't it?)... in any case, it simplifies things if people just stick to facts and leave all the "warm-fuzzie" stuff to their love letters.
~Beau

Originally Posted by BeauBoi

True, but it reads less like a post from a happy customer and more like opening remarks by a defense attorney defending an accused murder! Lol I mean really, I get it: she donates to charity, she is selfless with friends, no one has ever complained before (oh, that was your contribution wasn't it?)... in any case, it simplifies things if people just stick to facts and leave all the "warm-fuzzie" stuff to their love letters.
~Beau

To me, stuff like that shows a person's character. Everyone can take it how they want to though.

Originally Posted by Kristi23

Even if it was posted as a bad guy thread, people are still allowed to post any type of experiences they had with the person, good or bad. It doesn't have to be an inquiry for that to happen and you'll see a lot of posts on the BOI that contain both.

Pretty sure it was meant this should be a bad guy thread since the seller basically lied, tried painting the op like a nightmare customer even lied about how the op acted, selling an animal she was supposed to correct the mistake on etc. You can have a thousand good transactions but you botch one and refuse to make it right while making your buyer out to be something they're not is something people will remember. Like people always say on here, it's not how the good transactions go, it's how you handle things when they go wrong