Terri Sommella Fire and Ice Dragons -- Nightmare

Originally Posted by Morticia

Ooo sorry April, I'll edit my post.

Woops can't do that in BOI, I just woke up. Ugh, my apologies.

If you have breeder recommendations just pm me

I'm a newbie beardie owner (but have had Veiled Chameleons and Leopard Tortoises and grew up on a farm/ranch, so lots of animal experience in general.)

I came here to say that my experience with Terri was excellent. I also want to say, as a fellow self-employed business owner, that a lot of people's complaints here seem to stem from her unwillingness to give free information. Honestly, if you have ever run your own business that thrives on hard-earned information, you'd understand. I imagine she has lots of folks that jerk her around asking questions and then never buy an animal. I'm a photographer, and I used to do hour long consultations with people who never booked, they just wanted me to plan out their entire shoots for them and then take the ideas to their neighbor with a camera. It's a HUGE waste of time and money--I know people think "Well, I MIGHT buy a dragon, but now I'm not going to because she didn't answer my inane questions." And that's honestly incredibly selfish, if you want a consult from an expert, then pay for it. End of story.

Anyway, I came across Terri's site and noticed she had two clutches that hatched around my birthday, so it felt like fate. I emailed her and we worked everything out and I paid for the little guy in full. She then gave me a shopping list (which seems again like a resource everyone wants for free) and answered all my questions. When it came time to ship, I was going to end up leaving the country for a bit the week after my little guy's arrival, so she kept him for TWO extra weeks, no charge (again, small business owner mind at work--she PAID for his food and stuff for two weeks beyond the agreed upon ship date without any problem at all. It cost her money to be accommodating when she didn't have to be.)

Upon his shipment, I immediately received tracking numbers and info for his care. She also asked for photos of the dragon and his box (I imagine to see how he fared on the trip). The little guy is beautiful, and a little piglet. He arrived only yesterday and is eating up a storm.

So end of story, a lot of the complaints in here are because people are asking a small business owner to either give them something for free (because we live in a world now where everyone thinks they deserve stuff for free) or doing something that cuts into her profit because they are being wishy washy about their purchases. Sure, there are some actual complaints in here I imagine, but this is the bulk of them. I'd already paid for my dragon without reading this thread, and then when I was looking around for other beardies from her to find photos I came across this thread and was terrified something would go wrong. It didn't. Moral of the story is, just follow directions, and don't bother her unless you want to pay for her time. That's not being a bad breeder, that's being a smart businesswoman.

Originally Posted by thatgirl16

Sure, there are some actual complaints in here I imagine

I see. So you haven't actually read this thread through?

Originally Posted by thatgirl16

Moral of the story is, just follow directions, and don't bother her unless you want to pay for her time.

Is there a per hour charge, or does one have to buy a $500 dragon before you get to have answers to any questions?

Originally Posted by Lucille

I see. So you haven't actually read this thread through?


Is there a per hour charge, or does one have to buy a $500 dragon before you get to have answers to any questions?

$500 for a dragon she picks for you, not one you chose.

Let's not forget about the people who got unhealthy dragons, and/or horrible service AFTER they'd paid. And in my case, threats of character assassination based on nothing, with no transaction having taken place.

Leslie, if you came here to report your personal experience that is one thing. But if you then give this seller a whitewash by telling us what is going on in a thread you have not, apparently, read completely, that seems unethical to me.

Just FYI, I recently bought the first and second edition of The Bearded Dragon Manual by Philippe De Vosjoli, and Terri is a co-author of the second edition. I am very wary of reading it after reading this thread and other threads about her, with her replies. I figured that people would want to know.

Originally Posted by thatgirl16

Moral of the story is, just follow directions, and don't bother her unless you want to pay for her time. That's not being a bad breeder, that's being a smart businesswoman.

Providing poor or non-existent customer service simply because you assume that everybody is out to steal your information most assuredly is NOT "being a smart businesswoman". Smart business people are those that are able to provide service, provide a product that is satisfactory to the customer, and make the sale without either party feel like they were taken advantage of. It does not appear that Terri Sommela (or you for that matter) have figured that out just yet.

Yikes, I wish I'd found this thread before I placed an order with Fire and Ice. I am hoping that over the years Terri has smoothed out some of the past issues and everything will go okay otherwise for me.

I paid for a holdback snow dragon that is due to be shipped tomorrow. So far, things have been okay apart from not receiving an updated picture of the exact dragon I will be getting. Terri actually asked for a picture of my setup before she would consent to shipping, which I thought was a good sign.

I'll be honest -- I should have researched more about her business, but I haven't had any problems yet. Hopefully things will turn out well.