Warning: Bait and Switch by Marcie and Mike Crawford aka MnM Dragons

I'd like to take the time to share an experience that I had purchasing from Marcie and Mike Crawford, aka MnM Dragons here on Fauna Classifieds. I noticed that they are still actively advertising, so hopefully this will save someone the trouble of going through everything I did with them. I wasn't intending on posting this, however I have spent a long time trying to remedy the situation with them and they have resorted to ignoring my messages.

Forewarning: this will be a long post, since I have documentation of all of our conversations, however I'll start with the short version:

Marcie posted that she had a citrus mix bearded dragon for sale. Her classifieds post did not have any photos, but she gave her phone number and said to contact her and she'd send them. I contacted Marcie and she responded promptly, sending me three photos. She pointed out which dragon was for sale, since there were multiples in the photo. The dragon that she pointed out was a very bright citrus adult male (as advertised). We arranged to have her husband meet my father half way between our two cities. When I received the bearded dragon, I noticed that it looked nothing like the one photo. The bearded dragon I received was a subadult normal male, with a toe nip. I contacted Marcie, who apologized and said that it was a different bearded dragon than she had advertised. She said the one in the photos was not for sale. After several emails and text messages, she refused to give me a refund, or provide me with the correct animal. She finally agreed to mail a partial refund, but it has been over 20 days and I have not received anything from her. She is now ignoring my messages.

I've attached the photos that she sent me, as well as photos that I took of the bearded dragon that I received. I tried to replicate her photos to the best of my ability by trying to maintain the same environmental conditions (in bath water, etc). I'm also including our email history, where she admits it is not the same bearded dragon. In addition, I am including our text message log, where she refuses a refund. Finally, I'm including the most recent message that I have sent to her, which includes a timeline of events.

I should have noticed the warning signs, such as little history on FC and no photos in the listing, so I do take partial responsibility for that. Hopefully this post might prevent someone from going through the same fiasco I did.

Wow, that's straight out scamming. Sorry you got ripped off like that. I wonder if local law enforcement could help with a case of blatant fraud like this one?

I'm sorry that you are having to go through this. After careful comparing I seem no resemblance in the dragon you got to any of the dragons in the pictures they sent you. It seems like a blatant scam to me.

Have you notified MnM Dragons of this thread. I would like to hear what they have to say for theirselves in this poor business practice.

It's just frustrating because I did want to trust them and give them the benefit of the doubt. Marcie was very responsive at first (when she was trying to sell me the dragon), but then as soon as there was an issue it became harder to contact her.

I probably will alert her of this thread, if someone doesn't do it before me. I told her over two weeks ago that I would have to post here if the issue wasn't resolved. I also plan on calling the police non-emergency line in her city to see what they recommend. I'm sure I can file a fraud report, however I doubt I will ever get my money back. Right now it's more of the principle of the matter though. I want to make sure other people don't get screwed over as well, especially since it appears as though she's trying to sell all of her bearded dragons and supplies off.

Just an update that Marcie did contact me and offered to send a partial refund as long as I deleted this threat. She admitted to making a mistake, which I respect. However, the problem is that the issue hasn't been resolved. Below is the transcript of our conversation:

2012-10-26 16:03:04 out It's been over two weeks. Did you ever send that check?
2012-10-30 21:08:11 in I appreciate you posting a thread and not notifying me of it I've been going thru a lot of stuff including my husband losing his job and us losing our house
2012-10-30 21:08:12 in and trying to move I have your money just haven't sent it yet if you want it please remove the thread on fauna and I can PayPal it to you
2012-10-30 21:09:32 in And then saying I bait and switched I admitted to sending a pic of the wrong dragon I did not do it on purpose that's why I offered to make it right
2012-10-30 21:13:47 out I informed you over 2 weeks ago that I would post it to FC if the issue wasn't resolved. I waited for the check, and contacted you but got no response. If you would like to paypal me the money then I will update the thread and request that it is removed.
2012-10-30 21:14:50 in This is all you sent me *It's been over two weeks. Did you ever send that check?* nothing about posting on fauna at that point
2012-10-30 21:16:04 out No, 2 weeks prior to that I said I would report the transaction. Before you offered the partial refund.
2012-10-30 21:16:58 in If I can't sell my dragons because of what you posted they will starve to death I'm selling them because I can not afford to feed them and keep up on their
2012-10-30 21:16:59 in care so if it's not removed I'm not going to send the money
2012-10-30 21:18:23 in Ya so after we work something out you post on fauna anyways with lies of me tricking you. If that was the case I wouldn't have replied to anything from day one
2012-10-30 21:18:24 in much less admit to me sending you the wrong pic which led to you receiving the wrong dragon
2012-10-30 21:19:50 in If you want the yellow one from the pic he's available and you can come down in person to get him
2012-10-30 21:26:42 out Look, I really don't feel like arguing. I posted all of the facts of FC, all of our email and chat logs. I get that mistakes happen, but you've yet to correct it. You agree to send me a partial refund and never did. How can I trust you to send the money this time if I delete the post?
2012-10-30 21:29:18 in If I don't then you can just repost it. I just don't feel like sending the money after you've ruined me on fauna where I can't sell anything when right now I
2012-10-30 21:29:19 in need to. It's hard enough to sell without a bad guy thing but with that it's twice as hard

Originally Posted by uw_gem

Just an update that Marcie did contact me and offered to send a partial refund as long as I deleted this threat.

That should be "deleted this thread"

These posts and threads are permanent and can NOT be deleted or removed in any way, shape or form. She should still refund the money regardless of this thread.

Thank you for confirming that. I was pretty sure that was the case. I will however post an update if she does refund the money. That way any future buyers will be able to see that she did make it right.

Her latest reply was "Well I just read it can't be deleted so looks like no money for you good job"

Her offer to refund you if you delete this thread is really even worse. So she didn't care before, but now that there's a chance it will hurt her sales she's willing to step up to the plate? How noble of her.