Just to set some things straight here. My fiance, James Cartee and myself are the new managers of Elite Reptile Co. in Greenville, SC. We have been here about two weeks now. I have personally seen the emails to and from Ken and Sal/Alison and the paypal account that the owner, Ken Yates, uses and I can say without a doubt that some things Alison has said are completely wrong.
For one, Ken Yates DOES own the domain
www.elitereptile.com I have seen the credit card bill with the purchase on it to NameCheap.com dated 7/3/03. The only thing we have tried to do is gain control of the domain so that we would put our own site up on it, not the one Alison made. Alison registered this domain in her own name unknowingly to Ken using Ken's credit card. He ASSUMED the domain name he had purchased was in his own name.
Ken is relatively new to the herp world and decided to open this business because of his love for the animals. He has a few other very successful businesses and this one is just an extra. He does NOT need the money from this to live quite comfortably as he already does. He is not a con, ripoff, liar or cheat. He just doesnt have to be or need to be.
When this whole "partnership" started months ago Ken fronted the money for a $9000 order and Sal agreed to house the animals until Ken had the facility here ready. When these animals were shipped to us here they were either dead or dying. We came in and did a complete inventory and there are SEVERAL animals missing. Sal/Alison claim these are the sick/dying animals and non-feeders that they are keeping there. I wont get into the money issues as far as the partnership is concerned but we are missing a ton of animals and it seems the ones pictured in Sal/Alison's ads on k.com are cherry picked animals and what we received were the culls. They wont ship us any of the animals as Ken has asked them to, if they are non-feeders/sick/dying send them on, we just want to see the animals for ourselves. All total there are probably $5000 or more worth of animals missing that Ken paid for to begin with. This is why he has refused to pay the $1500 for Alison building the website. Ken even agreed to let the whole thing blow over and call it even if we could just have control of the domain name purchased by Elite Reptile/Ken Yates but Alison is saying that she keeps Upstate and Moonlit Media seperate and that the animal deal is Sal's deal. Seems all email correspondence from Upstate comes from Alison not Sal. Ken has emails to back up everything I am saying here and anyone is more than welcome to call and discuss the matter. (Ken is more than willing to forward any of these emails to anyone interested)
Shop # 864-288-9199 My Cell # 864-386-0543.
I was not going to bring the money into this ordeal when I posted the ad this morning stating we were no longer affiliated with Upstate Exotics but Alison did. I spoke with k.com and removed my ads myself and asked that Alison's ads be removed for violation of TOS.
Ken made a mistake, we would like for that to not be held against us. We are an honest company with family values. I've made quite a few sales since signing on with the company and everyone has been very satisfied so far. I WILL NOT sell unhealthy or dying animals. I have been a herp hobbyist/reptile keeper at privately owned facilties/breeder for many years now and I would not have put my reputation on the line if I felt this company was not above board. There are several animals that we have put in the freezer from the shipment we did receive from Sal/Alison and there are several more that we are trying desperately to save.
I can and will provide professional/zoo references for anyone interested.
Sincerely,
Anja D. Buffalo
Elite Reptile Co.
Greenville, SC
864-288-9199