Need opinions on a bad deal with Tim Bowles of Arboreals of the Rainforest!!!

As with anything, some deals go bad! How many high end ball or boa sales are there every day, how many, what percent end up going bad,,,,,very small percentage. If you are buying a $10K animal in AZ and live like I do in CA, yeah, I might take a drive to pick the animal up, and look it over, but for a $2500 snake, I do not think I would fly across the country to get it.

Dave

Hey guys,

Why dont you contact the SPCA in Ohio, and have tim
charged for animal abuse?

Also, you said that he is a nurse. Do you know where
he works? If so, go to the hospital's website and
start contacting the people higher up about this. A
person involved in caring for people can not also be
involved in the torture of helpless animals. Does
anyone else see the hypocrisy here?

Have you made K-Snake aware of this? Ask them to
pull his pivileges until he rectifies the problems.

Webslave, is it possible to yank his banner ads here?

tim obviously does not have the cajones to answer
these charges. tim, you much man! Me so impressed!

Sincerely,

Gino 'In Da Bronx' Beniquez

ps-if tim considers that a healty and saleable animal,
I wonder what his sick ones look like? lowlife...

Dave, if the percentages were that low we wouldn't need the BOI. I would bet there are about 4-5 high-end transactions going on everyday. More at certain times of the year, less at others. That's about 150 per month. I would guess perhaps half of those take place 100% over the net or about 75, hell lets just say 100 for round numbers. I really don't think it's even that many, but I'm trying to see your point of view.

Let's say in 2 of those transactions the animal ends up dying, or being close to death upon arrival.

Let's say another 5 arrive with mysterious/misc symptoms or even mites.

Let's say 1 get lost in shipping.

Let's say 3 are missexed.

Let's say 9 are underweigth/length as compared to what the buyer was told.

And finally, let's say 1 arrives w/o the promised paperwork (genetics/CITES/etc)

Now these are the only problems I can think of which could be avoided by going and getting the animal yourself. There are others like the animal not eating which you could also check while you're there but I'll leave those out.

That, (I think), is a fair representation of what we see here. Now, the seller MAY fix all the problems that pop up. Or they might just tell you to stick it. If you get told to "stick it" one good time, (let's say on a $2500 purchase), I bet that $300 plane ticket will start looking a lot better to you.

Originally posted by GinoInDaBronx

Also, you said that he is a nurse. Do you know where
he works? If so, go to the hospital's website and
start contacting the people higher up about this. A
person involved in caring for people can not also be
involved in the torture of helpless animals. Does
anyone else see the hypocrisy here?

Since Matt is trying to collect a debt, that would violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act and he could be fined and sued for using such a tactic.

It is a real shame to see that Tim has apparently turned over this new leaf. After all 14 pages of this I'm dumbfounded as although I never knew him personally, after his posts here and on other boards, I would have considered him one of the really good guys and never questioned buying from him.

I think regardless if you are getting out of the hobby or not, you should do the right thing. Selling crap snakes and running off with the money is not the right thing.

And as far as flying to pick up your expensive snake purchases, I think that is just not a possibility. The main problem being that, you can't bring the snake back with you!!! Pick out whichever one you want, but it would still be up to the seller to ship you the correct one. And heck, if you are dealing with a scumbag to begin with, chances are you'll get screwed no matter what. That is kind of what they do.

Also, I'm sorry, but I'm not wasting my hard earned money to buy roundtrip plane tickets all over the country when I see a snake that tickles my fancy.

Anyway, Matt, I hope that emmie pulls through for you man! I've got fingers crossed.

Originally posted by GinoInDaBronx
Hey guys,

Why dont you contact the SPCA in Ohio, and have tim
charged for animal abuse?

Also, you said that he is a nurse. Do you know where
he works? If so, go to the hospital's website and
start contacting the people higher up about this. A
person involved in caring for people can not also be
involved in the torture of helpless animals. Does
anyone else see the hypocrisy here?

Have you made K-Snake aware of this? Ask them to
pull his pivileges until he rectifies the problems.

Webslave, is it possible to yank his banner ads here?

tim obviously does not have the cajones to answer
these charges. tim, you much man! Me so impressed!

Sincerely,

Gino 'In Da Bronx' Beniquez

ps-if tim considers that a healty and saleable animal,
I wonder what his sick ones look like? lowlife...

I've seen Tim's collection and to call him a scumbag for one snake is really over the top. I hope people don't forget all the good he has done on these boards. To attempt to get his business shut down and fired from his job is just wrong.

Originally posted by ScottsReptiles
I've seen Tim's collection and to call him a scumbag for one snake is really over the top. I hope people don't forget all the good he has done on these boards. To attempt to get his business shut down and fired from his job is just wrong.

OH REALLY?


so i guess blatantly ripping some one off for 2,500.00 dollars is just peachy...?

this may just as well be grand larceny, it is over 500 dollars, I am pretty sure that thats what would happen anyway. and good for him........


I mean lets be honest here, He is not even disputing anything being said here, he has basically admitted to everything since MATT made his case on the very first post, he came here with some BS about shipping, not denying anything else.... He knows that the thread exists and he he will no longer post because he knows everything being said by Matt is the truth..........




scumbag for real

Big oopsy...

The post above made by Steph Scranton was actually made by me. She was logged on at my home computer and I forgot to log her out before posting this morning.

To reiterate, I Robert Hill made the above post, NOT Steph Scranton. Sorry for any confusion.

And Scott, I was not calling Tim a scumbag. I was saying that regardless if you go pick out a snake in person or over the net, if you deal with a scumbag, they will take advantage of you any way they can.

But honestly, I don't want to cast stones at Tim here, he HAS done alot of good on this board and others, BUT, he so far has had nothing to stand on against these accusations other than some BS story about UPS. I've recieved snakes and geckos through UPS numerous times, but never once have they opened a box, injected the animal with fluids, then packed it back up. Also, the snake was only in transit a relatively short time, not even 24 hours. Snakes don't end up like that in that short a period of time, even delicate snakes like Emeralds.

Also Scott, I remember another person that at one time did alot of good here that turned his back on his customers as well as this board. I think he went by the name, Neil Gubitz. I hate to throw Tim into that same category, but he hasn't really given us much else to go on has he?

Scott,

With all due respect, some of the things you have typed under this post are simply ridiculous. Do you really think that Matt purchased this snake for $2500 knowing that it was in the condition that it is? Where did Tim say that his TOS would not apply other than in regards to shipping?

Also, I must respond to your comment about "all the good Tim has done on this board." All I ever remember is him whining about it when people charge 3% on top of paypal purchases.

Friend or no friend, why do you keep defending him after all of this evidence has been presented against him? Is this your idea of a successful sale? As vocal as he usually is telling people what the right thing to do is, he cannot even say a peep in his own defense! He knows he ripped someone off & is doing the smart thing by staying quiet. However, after this thread and all of the big breeders and vets who have given their opinions on the situation, his reputation is now mush. Seeing his ad on this website touting his excellent customer service makes me sick.

Finally, if it were me he maliciously and knowingly screwed over, I would do everything in my power to make him pay in anyway that I could. This would include calling the SPCA, his work, or anyone else that would listen! After pulling a move like this, it's no holds barred IMO.

Marcial,

Tim appears to be in the wrong here, and I hope he makes it right, but I fear his silence says volumes about his intention. However, he has done good here in the past, beyond what he said about the PayPal charges (about which he was 100% correct, by the way . . . you may consider it whining, but I think agreeing to use a service under certain conditions and then breaking that agreement for a mere 3% is petty and wrong).

I am not a friend of Tim's, but I am not out to hang him in the wind either. He needs to step up and pay Matt the refund he clearly owes him. If he's getting out of the business/hobby, he needs to do so with class and dignity, not bait and switch tactics.

Stooping to ad hominem attacks, or trying to change the subject of this thread doesn't do anyone any good at all. Let's keep the focus where it belongs.

Tim owes Matt $2,500.00 plain and simple.

What are you going to do about this, Tim?