JP PETS,any feedback?

I've been to their facility twice. They have dead animals laying on the floor, the cages had dead or diseased animals in them both times I've been there. My b/f did business with them a few times and we had animals that died only days after purchasing them from these people. Not to mention the guy who runs the place is a real jerk. He was extremely rude, and only cared about his wallet. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM!!!

Thanks for the head's up!!Well,it seem's that everyone agrees:JP PETS IS BAD NEWS!!!! I love the BOI!!

I agree with what everyone is saying, i have heard the same from people who have ordered from him. I called about placing an order once because none of my usual suppliers had what I was looking for. I have routinely gotten orders from other places, but the shipping rate was twice what I am normally quoted for orders that were twice as large. I guess they are one of those comapnies that have cheap prices, but make up for it with hidden fees and overcharging on shipping. When I questioned him about the shipping he got kinda nasty with me and tried to tell me that that was the actual shipping, which was bull.

I have ordered from Joe, at J.P. Pets in the past, and have gotten some good animals from him. I have also gottten some animals that died, but he took care of me (even with frogs). He always sends my stuff Delta shipping collect, so I have never been over charged. One thing you have to remember is that Joe is a base level importer. That is why his prices are so low. He is geared up for selling large quantities of animals at low prices. A lot of the big Florida guys are probably buying from him also. He is no different than L.A. Reptile, except he will listen to your complaints. He will also try to fill your special requests as best he can (Like; sending all female Box Turtles to you, or sending Fat tailed Geckos with fat tails). Try special requests with the West Coast guys (they will tell you to blank-off). I have personally ordered stuff from J.P. and asked them not to send animals that looked bad, and they are willing to do that for me. I guess what I am trying to get across is that if you are going to order from a base level importer you should ask the right questions and be educated about your purchase. Some simple questions I ask for each and every animal I order, and seem to have good luck with are:

1) How does the animal look? (Is it thin, eating, etc...)
2) How long ago was it imported? (The fresher the better. Remember that these guys have thousands of animals, and do not have time to worm them, so be prepared to do that yourself).
3) How long have the animals been sitting in there warehouse?
(It is almost impossible to maintain thousands of animals for long periods of time. More than a week and a portion of the animals will start becoming overloaded with internal parasites). You should also know the animal you are buying. For example the first two batches of Russian Tortoises usually are pretty good, but anything after that can be problematic.

The last rule I follow if I am buying wild caught animals is to never buy any thing that is on sale. Usually if it is on sale it is bad news. Sales are a tactic that all importers use to cut losses. Please remember that with live animals, the word cheep is not necessarily a good thing.

I've been involved in the pet trade since 1976, and I understand fully what you are saying, but I was also sent frogs, and a turtle that were NOT alive when the order was packed. I also recieved a cobalt blue tarantula that was probably dead when it was packed. I only recieved about half of what I ordered. I did not recieve some items I SPECIFICLY asked about and was told they had plenty of. I pulled the file since this thread started, I ordered 3 times from them, and all 3 times there were problems with dead animals, sick animals, missing animals, and low fill rates. I was always told I would recieve credit on my next order but NEVER recieved any credits or replacements for animals, lost or missing.... so 3 strikes and they're out.

John Chapek

In my opinion I don't think you should have to ask someone selling animals not to send you animals that look bad whether they are wild caught or not. Perhaps people should ask them not to send DEAD animals.

My boss always wrote on the orders "no rubbed noses, no skinny tails, no missing tails, no missing legs, no scars and no missing eyes", all to no avail. They just packed anything they wanted.

We got a large African bullfrog from them that was missing the left front leg. The infection was systemic as the frog had red streaks all over it. I guess that the person who cupped that frog didn't notice a missing limb and the color change in the frog. Puleeze.

They do not guarantee amphibians. It says so on their price list.

They also had a special where if you ordered so much $$$ worth of animals you got a free baby sulcata. Well, of course they conveniently forgot to pack the turtle. Yeah, right, forgot. When called about it they said "oh, make another order and we'll send the turtle." Good way to drum up business, huh?

Another good way to drum up business is keeping you on the hook for everything that dies. You don't get your money back, you only get credit. So you have to keep ordering until you finally get a clue, stop ordering from them and cut your losses which is what my boss finally did.

The pet shop I work at used to order from Chris Estep, Reptile Haven on the west coast before he stopped wholesaling. His animals were top notch and they are still talking about how good his animals were. Never had a single one die. Now that's quality.

As for being overcharged on shipping, that never happend to us.

Karen

I have bought from them one time. They would not give me a recipt and the animals were not in bad shape. I bought in lots and they were all males though. I was told not to fall into there trap of crap, but I just placed another order and it will be here tomorrow. We will see

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Just out of curiosity i was wondering what the name of your store is? I am not doubting the problems you had but i do want to pull the files and find out why the problems occured
thanks
jppets


I recieved this E-mail tonight. You can read the thread and see the obvious problems with your bussiness. If you wish to discuss bettering your bussiness practices this would be a perfect place to start. NOT IN AN EMAIL.

As for what pet shop. Who says i am a pet shop I might be a private breeder with all his / her paperwork for retail and or wholesale in order and wished to purchase animals from your establishment.

This is exactly the type of reason I refuse to patronize your establishment. It comes down to customer service.

What can I say..? Unfortunately dealing with wild caught animals is an ugly business. It is a very tricky game, and is easy to get burned. Believe me I have been burned buy the best of them. I have dealt with a large number if importers/wholesalers and for the most part you have to stay on top of all of them. You have to ask the right questions and know what to order from all of them. I agree you shouldn't have to ask, but unfortunately it is the way it is. Sometimes it takes time to establish a relationship with an importer. I do not know one of them that doesn't want to apply credits to your next order. I have never had any of them just give my money back for DOA's. I have had a different importer who it took 4 orders before he gave me my credit. The last 30 or so orders I have placed with them I have had no problems. I total trust this person now. It seems you have to put in your dues. You have to remember that this is a very cutthroat business. There are two kinds of customers with two very different philosophies. The first being the kind who is looking for the highest quality animal possible, and is willing to do whatever it takes to get that. This person wants to build long term relationships in the business. The second is concerned with being competitive, and is attracted to the lowest prices possible. This person is more likely to shop around and find the best deal. This person is less likely to establish long term relationships, and more likely to struggle with the importers. You have to remember when you first contact these guys they do not know if you are the first or the second type of client. He may be apprehensive about you. A little something that might help you get past the first few dates with a new importer is drop some names. If you know any big players in the business use their names. You can say something like “Super Breeder John Doe" said that you are a really good guy to deal with. Or another thing that helps break the ice is buy using another importers name. Importers like to steal clients from each other. Always try to speak to someone who is in charge. It is helpful to know the owner. You have to remember that most importers have employees filling orders, and sometimes the owner may not be aware of the problems you are having. Keep in mind that guys like J.P. are working on slim profit margins, and it can be hard for them to deal with "nickel and dimming'. I am not justifying any importer's methods, only trying to share how I deal with them. Like I said before I have not had many problems with J.P. and the few problems I did have he always took care of me. I can thank of a lot worse guys out there than J.P. Just look on Kingsnake.com. For those of you who have received DOA's I just want to say "I feel you". I have been there, done that, and it is never pleasant.

Scott.

If the guy is offering to fix the problem you had it can't hurt to take him up on his offer. You have nothing to loose.
I hope it works out for you.