Zack Thompson Ripped Me Off

I made 2 purchases from Zack Thompson and was ripped off both times. I didn't realize I was ripped off the first time before I purchased from him the second time.

I first bought a hatchling "Brendls" Python from him, which he told me he personally hatched. I won it in the ReptiBid auction. I paid $250 for her and she turned out to be an Irian Jaya hatchling. I am not familiar with the difference between Irian Jaya and Brendls hatchlings. The discovery was made when I tried to sell her to someone who knows a lot more about snakes than I do. He told me he bred her parents and even helped her out of the egg. I've never heard of Brendls laying Irian Jaya eggs?

Second, I made a deal with him to buy two CBB large female ball pythons and an adult female california kingsnake. One of the female ball pythons turned out to obviously be a male. He was producing sperm plugs. The one that was a female looks to be a WC from all of the scars on her. The kingsnake was fine.

I wrote several e-mails trying to get in touch with Zack to get this matter cleared up over the last few weeks but have received no response from him. This leaves me no choice but to believe that he knowingly ripped me off.

I trusted him and spoke to him on the phone in addition to MANY e-mails back and forth. I thought he was a nice guy but evidently I was wrong. I would not recommend doing business with him. I'm going to find out what type of recourse I can take being that he ripped me off when I paid by money order.

Crystal Thomas

If you paid with a postal money order Crystal, you may have to check with the post office about fraud charges. Zack is a real piece of.......................work. He has shown his true side on reptibid. He was slamming people just because some people were black, mexicans, and or asian. There was a real big stink on that site about him. He always claims that he and Bob Clrak are friends and he does business with him all the time. I would definately report him to the admin of reptibid.

Hi. Im not taking his side here, but....I bought a female het pied ball python off of him a few months ago. Shes awesome. Came with paperwork and info to contact the guy who produced her and everything else was as advertised. He was also very nice to me via all the email and phone conversations I had with him. I though he was a good seller, this is the first bad thing I have heard about him(besides petty stuff on a few sites, like name calling and such,lol). Enlighten me if Im missing something.

As for that first persons problem...all I can really do is laugh at the first one with the brendls python. Why are you buying something that you dont even know what it looks like(or how to tell it apart from similar ones). Sounds like you didnt do your homework ahead of time. Thats just as much your fault for not knowing the differences as it is his if he scamed you(assuming you seen a pic of it first). Then about the ball pythons. Its very easy to missex a heavy boid without probing. That happens a million times a day. And you cant always go by the "plugs". I have seen girls with what appeared to be huge plugs also as much as I have seen a breeder male with small ones, or none(from shedding accident I assume). Not saying that you didnt get 1.1 instead of 0.1...but without proper probing, determining sex is just a guess. Did he tell you he probed them?

FWIW, who cares about name calling, lol. "Sticks and stones......but words will never hurt me." Remember that? Something you were supposed to learn and remember for things like this when you were probably ~3years old or so. Get over it if thats why your angry. Besides, Im sure there are many people out there that deserve at least that(since thats about all you can do on the net anyhow). Too many window shopper, dreamers and posers out there these days anyway. Gotta scare them away somehow, lol. Later!

Justin
Car Tuner/Reptile Breeder
383ci, ProCharged, Nitrous Injected, Stroker LT1.

I'm glad your experience with him was good. I wish I could say the same.

Just because I didn't know the difference between the appearance of a brendls and irian jaya hatchling doesn't make it right for him to rip me off. There were a bunch of other people bidding on that snake in Reptibid who evidently believed it to be a brendls as well. That is my point here. This shows his character. He told me he bred the parents so obviously he would've known, unless he was lying, that this was an irian jaya.

On the issue with the ball pythons... I wouldn't have had a problem if he had accidently mis-sexed the snakes and was willing to rectify the error. He did tell me he probed them because I was adament about being sure they were both females.

I posted this information so that if someone else out there is looking for information on whether a buyer has had a bad experience doing business with Zack, then they can see what happened to me. All Zack had to do was respond to my e-mails so that we could work something out.

You sound like you applaud people who rip others off successfully. I don't appreciate you trying to place half of the blame on me for not being an expert either. Your input has not helped the situation at all and was unnecessary. Fraud is against the law, whether the victim did their homework or not.

Crystal Thomas

Your experience has nothing to do with mine

Crystal you're absoluetly right. It's kind of funny that this guy has responded to you, and it's his 1st ever posting. Zack, in my opinion is a scumbag. He is dishonest, decietful, and most of all he thinks that his "so called" association with Bob Clark has some bearing in his validity, so he sells stuff that is totally misrepresented. He will not be around long in this business.

Oh, come on! How could it be the fault of the buyer if the seller misrepresents the identity of whatever is being sold? If someone knowingly sells something as something it is not, he is an a-hole. Case closed. If everyone could tell he was lying then no one would get ripped off, but the guy would still be an a-hole, without needing a buyer to share the blame for his bad character.
Now, mistakes do happen, and the seller should respond quickly if this is the case, and then no one is an a-hole.

BTW, I have been registered here with this site for over 90days...I just dont post unless I feel a reason too(not to mention I never received my confirmation email till recently). This time I had a reason and it WAS necessary cause I had a great experience with him (zack) and think that should ALSO be posted, not just slander/negative stuff(yeah, I know there is a seperate board for that, not the point). I do not applaud people who rip people off, but I dont think a dumb buyer that didnt know anybetter anyhow has the right to blame it all on him. Hell, for all we know....you might have the right snakes. I mean, if you couldnt tell them apart the first time and didnt know what you wanted to buy...then how do we know that you actually know how to sex a snake and that the balls are wrong also? With the lack of knowledge you seem to have with snakes....its hard to pick a side(even if one is more right then the other). You said right away, you didnt know the difference in the snakes. So that means, right or wrong snake...how would you have known anyhow(on your own), right? Let alone sexing them....thats all the needs said on that. I would expect that someone out there do the same for me if I was in between a rock and a hardspot due to a unknowledgeable buyer. Im not sticking up for him, or calling you(the buyer) a dumbass for not knowing what you are buying. Im just saying that <font color=red>[**censored**]</font> happens to people who let it happen.

With that said....Track his ass down if youre that pissed and then press charges. I had to do it once a few years ago(in 2001), only I got ripped off for something thats acutally worth something....a $10k race engine(short block only). Took me 6months to track the guy down. He was some lowlife hick from tennessee. I literally had to fly there and track down his business and make a personal visit(with 2 big buddies of course). We made a fun weekend trip out of it, lol. Needless to say...I got my $10k back, plus a bonus....my engine! I went from getting screwed over to getting my money back, plus the enigne thats worth that $10k. So, all in all, I basically got my $10k engine free....just took a little effort, lol. Thats what happens when you actually deal with the problem instead of just posting about it. Now quite bitching and do something about it.

I toally agree that anyone that screws someone over...definitly owes that person what they promised, plus some Hes a nice guy(when I delt with him) and Im sure he would be willing to fix it. But, I still cant ignore the fact that you didnt know what you were buying(again, even if he was wrong)...and dont know what kind of success you will have pursuing it once the official people see you didnt know what you were purchasing anyhow. Fraud is Fraud like you said...even if the buyer is dumb. Hopefully thatll work for you! Its still a win for you cause he was wrong to begin with....but thats not goona help you look any better, lol. Anyway, Have you called him over the phone to straighten this out or did you just send a few emaisl, get no response then come here instantly and post your complaint? I have ALL of his contact info if needed(including his phone numbers), but I dont help just anybody(only people that are nice to me)....let me know if you need it and Ill consider helping you.

BTW...I know Tom also(and have his contact info also....he is one of Zacks good buddies, reptile suppliers). Im sure he could be of help in a situation like this. Have you tried him?

Justin
Car Tuner/Reptile Breeder
383ci, ProCharged, Nitrous Injected, Stroker LT1.

BTW, I have been registered here with this site for over 90days...I just dont post unless I feel a reason too(not to mention I never received my confirmation email till recently).

Look to the right of your posts Justin, it says you've been registered since June.

BTW...I know Tom also(and have his contact info also....he is one of Zacks good buddies, reptile suppliers)

Gee, that's funny, I saw on another site where a guy name Lynn Peterson aka COACH, said his name is Tim, not Tom.
I will try to locate the post and post it here.

My bad June 2003 you've been registered.
I thought it said 2004.
If you don't mind me asking though; why does it seem like you're defending Zack?
Post Zack's contact info.

Is this the same Zack Thompson that lives in Ohio? I have had some bad dealings with a 25 year old punk a$$hole that lives in ohio. I have all of his info on were he lives, email address and both of his phone numbers. This guy is a real looser if it is the same kid! Let me know if I can help you Crystal and i'll be more than happy to. You can email me at bocareptiles@adelphia.net or you can call me any time at 561-482-8068.

What name does he go by on reptibid?

Sal Tornambene
Boca Reptiles