Snakes At Sunset - Terrible Communication

I found this thread useful as I often see their posts on IG and have considered going through them, thanks for the heads up!

While I agree this thread is uesfull I am not sure it really warranted a full bad guy moniker, more an information title?
After all you did get a very healthy animal
Yes comms could have and should have been better and Mike should look into that as not the first complaint in that area but full on bad guy post?
Just my opinion and thats all....my opinion

Originally Posted by Snakesatsunset

at this link on home page : http://www.snakesatsunset.com
there is a big bold red notice that states:
"Don't want to wait for an email answer to a question?


YOU CAN NOW TEXT US FOR UP TO DATE PICS, INFO, AND ANSWERS! 11-9PM EST

786-220-2953 (number will only recieve texts, no calls)

The best Reptiles for sale anywhere! "

We try to check facebook continuously but we check emails and texts much more regularly. Like I said, we may have sent the request to another inquiree by accident and thought we had fulfilled your request.....facebook is not our usual method of getting the pictures and such sent out.

This seems to be a common trend with Snakes at Sunset.

Not so long ago I was going to order a snake from him. I too asked for pictures and details and it took weeks no matter which contact methods I tried. I tried text first because of the warning on his website. No response after 5 texts over a period of 2 weeks. Tried email. Waited 2 weeks, nothing. Tried the messaging service on the website and finally got in touch with them. His messages were poorly written, lots of typos yet short and he also dodged most of my questions.

After seeing how horrible his communication was, I went and looked around the web for reviews. Here on Fauna there may not be a ton of horror stories, but not many people are buying up his listing on here either.

Good example would be the BCL's. Many people want them, they are HIGHLY desirable. Yet they have 8 ad's and not a single person has shown any interest. I wonder why?

Perhaps they went looking around the web elsewhere for reviews? There are A LOT of horror stories about Snakes at Sunset. Lots of DOA animals and no refunds. Sick, scrawny, or mite infested animals. He also seems to buy whatever he can get. There are stories of employees speaking out and stating that they have too many animals and can't properly care for them all.

There are many people out there doing more business with much less horrible reviews popping up. I simply think most people here on Fauna are too smart for the most part to buy from him. Hence why you don't see more BOI threads about them. Plus, anytime anyone has tried... well... just take a look at the other BOI threads. What a nightmare... Why would anyone want to complain about them?

I may not have proof, but the reviews all over the web speak for themselves.

John thats the biggest load of "$#ap ever.

First off, we have several all over as ads get pushed back, or are changed, and we are not allowed to bump them, but we have sold a few dozen from four different breeders and still have some left.
The best bloodlines, BESSETTE, RUSSO, BRAVO, GULF COAST, BELL line.....
THE WHOLE PART OF MARKETING IS TO BE SEEN....not let it sit 7 pages back, advertising 101.

Scrawny, doas? no refunds? come on man that's just flat out lies. Mite infested?! Please....and for my employees saying that its utterly ridiculous...people just love to make up stuff when they don't get their way. There are DOZENS of people that post here that have been to MY store any given day and can attest how we keep it, and how I am with my guys making sure they do whats supposed to be done.
Heck we have had people recieve HATCHLING ball pythons and were mad cause they said they were atleast 2 years old....and post a bad review!

We run a tight ship with QUARANTINE racks, preventative methods, intake procedures, and I gladly SHIP BACK any animals I get with mites or in subpar condition which thankfully are received at a fedex hub and not the shop.

When you get the amount of business we do, its not because our stuff sucks, its because of word of mouth, and the GOOD reviews that people can see past the negative "I bought a gecko 9 months ago, and it died yesterday" reviews blaming us. Of course we have some people that you can never make happy, or are beyond help, but we try to resolve any issues or disagreements people may have.

People reading reviews see mostly past any negative ones as they can tell the mind set of the customer and even in the reviews themselves you can see people stating that!

We send out the BEST animals possible, healthiest, stuff we would set up for ourselves.
I do not take pics or send texts based on requests, that is one of my guys that does that, and he gets a few hundred a day. He is going to miss some or think he sent some already, but Ill advise him a few people are not getting their requests. I do emails, and occasionally facebook. I am usually prompt, but quick and short in replying. I dont write stories,
We do have another staff person being added to keep up with demand and holiday season, that hopefully can alleviate and reduce the requests not being fulfilled in terms of pictures but we are only human, and try to put time and effort into each transaction and request.

and please prove the emails. as we only have two from you. One changing the date, and one canceling order which you said above you wanted to order, but didnt. But actually did.
here is website messages from you:

Need to cancel order ASAP
Hello I need to cancel my order.

Please respond ASAP. [Customer] 28th Sep 2016 @ 5:36 PM Read (Mark as Unread)

Select message
Re: Need to cancel order ASAP
whats the reason? we usually do not do refunds admin 29th Sep 2016 @ 7:57 AM N/A

Select message
Reason for order cancellation.
Hello again,

The reason I have requested to cancel my order is because I found out my landlord does not allow reptiles (particularly snakes) and does frequent (and invasive I might add,) walkthroughs of my home.

I am aware that you do not usually do refunds of shipped animals but my order has not yet been shipped.

I hope you will be understanding about this and I will leave you guys a great review.

Thanks for your time and sorry that I must cancel the order

Sincerely,
John Westlund
[Customer] 29th Sep 2016 @ 8:50 AM Read (Mark as Unread)

Select message
Re: Reason for order cancellation.
ok no worries admin 29th Sep 2016 @ 4:12 PM N


Where is it weeks between communication? Where is it where we did not help you out in what looks like a probable false reasoning for canceling and went against our policies for refunds due to your situation?

here is the only two emails I could find from your email address:

"Please disregard shipping date on my last email. I will need the snake to be shipped on 10/03/2016 so that it arrives on 10/04/2016.

All the questions in my previous email I would still like answered please and thank you

Sorry for the confusion...

Sincerely,
John Westlund"

"Hello I need to cancel my order.
My order number is: 12466.

More details about my order are below.

Name: John Westlund

Order #12466

Order Date: 24th Sep 2016

This order is marked as Awaiting Fulfillment

Your Order Contains:1 x Colombian Red Tail Boa Constrictor for sale (Boa constrictor imperator)
(Gender: Female)

Payment method:
PayPal credit"

I cannot find any others, but thats all that pops up in searching you email, name, order number, etc.

Originally Posted by TomC

I can tell you Mike/Snakes of Sunset does a hell of a better job than some of the other larger reptile sellers. I have purchased animals worth thousands of dollars from overseas and they import and reship the packages. I can't imagine they make too much money off of this. It was done in a timely manner and even when I didn't get the automatic FedEx tracking number, I called Mike and he sent it to me within an hour on a Saturday. Knowing they do this for animals they aren't even selling I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them directly.

I too have purchased thousands of dollars in over seas transactions that Mike has imported and then shipped to me. This is how I received my Parsons chameleons that were expertly packaged and communication was flawless on animals he probably received very little compensation on. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase from Mike or have him be the middle man again in an over seas transaction.

Originally Posted by TribalMethods

I may not have proof, but the reviews all over the web speak for themselves.

Vaguely referencing anonymous internet reviews is not very persuasive.
Some of the positive reviews here in this thread are by people I have been acquainted with here for years and they seem pretty trustworthy. And that is why the BOI works. I give much more weight to the reviews of people I know and trust.

There's always room for improvement with anyone. I'd think that sending a tracking number for every shipped purchase is always a good idea, particularly when live critters are involved, just so the buyer doesn't worry.

You sure can write huge long stories and do tons of research defending your reputation can't you? If you put half the amount of effort into your normal communication or business as you do defending your reputation on here. We'll then, you'd be top-of-the-line.

But God forbid someone wants to cancel their order because they found all the bad reviews about you online (and because the snake was farm bred and probably loaded with parasites and God knows what!) Who the hell won't cancel an order that hasn't been shipped? I shouldn't have needed to make up some extravagant story on why I couldn't keep the snake. Your policy is as poor as your communication and your reviews.

If someone does not want their animal. You should not argue or ask why... if it has not been shipped. I've never seen such stupidity from any business. I also called and talked in person to "someone." They answered the phone and all they said was "snakes" in an irritated tone of voice. I said: "I need to cancel an order please," and whomever I talked to said "I'm sorry it'll have to be tomorrow."

It takes two minutes to cancel an order. This is when I knew for-sure the reviews out there had to be right. Whoever I talked to (probably you Mike,) was rude as hell (another common complaint!) When I called back multiple times the next day, no one answered. Big surprise!

Here are links to all the lovely reviews you have out there:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...et-Experiences
^---- I love how someone said you even bring sick stuff to shows!

http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/ww...satsunset.com/
^---- 7/7 reviews are 1 star here. The "good" reviews sure do speak for themselves! There Are None!

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=169711
^--- This is the third result in Google search for "snakes at sunset review." Another bad review, and on here nonetheless!


http://m.citysearch.com/review/2542949
^--- Finally way down the list on some outdated site, I finally find some good reviews. You actually are outweighed by good reviews on this site! Congratulations! I bet that is a first for you! However the bad ones are bad enough I still wouldn't touch your animals with a hazmat suit on!

http://fucknobadbreeders.tumblr.com/...gest-thing-ive

^-- Even further down the list now. It's getting hard to find any info on you now. Good or bad. This guy says he too has heard a lot of mixed stuff about your business. Dead animals within days, some say the opposite.

There really aren't that many reviews of you here or elsewhere. And your track record is Poor. If you were doing so much business online there would be much more reviews.

You also did not have any information on your website about if the boa was CBB, CB, wild caught, or farmed. In fact you don't for most of your animals. What great business practice there as well!

Originally Posted by TribalMethods

You sure can write huge long stories and do tons of research defending your reputation can't you? If you put half the amount of effort into your normal communication or business as you do defending your reputation on here. We'll then, you'd be top-of-the-line.

But God forbid someone wants to cancel their order because they found all the bad reviews about you online (and because the snake was farm bred and probably loaded with parasites and God knows what!) Who the hell won't cancel an order that hasn't been shipped? I shouldn't have needed to make up some extravagant story on why I couldn't keep the snake. Your policy is as poor as your communication and your reviews.

If someone does not want their animal. You should not argue or ask why... if it has not been shipped. I've never seen such stupidity from any business. I also called and talked in person to "someone." They answered the phone and all they said was "snakes" in an irritated tone of voice. I said: "I need to cancel an order please," and whomever I talked to said "I'm sorry it'll have to be tomorrow."

It takes two minutes to cancel an order. This is when I knew for-sure the reviews out there had to be right. Whoever I talked to (probably you Mike,) was rude as hell (another common complaint!) When I called back multiple times the next day, no one answered. Big surprise!

Here are links to all the lovely reviews you have out there:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...et-Experiences
^---- I love how someone said you even bring sick stuff to shows!

http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/ww...satsunset.com/
^---- 7/7 reviews are 1 star here. The "good" reviews sure do speak for themselves! There Are None!

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=169711
^--- This is the third result in Google search for "snakes at sunset review." Another bad review, and on here nonetheless!


http://m.citysearch.com/review/2542949
^--- Finally way down the list on some outdated site, I finally find some good reviews. You actually are outweighed by good reviews on this site! Congratulations! I bet that is a first for you! However the bad ones are bad enough I still wouldn't touch your animals with a hazmat suit on!

http://fucknobadbreeders.tumblr.com/...gest-thing-ive

^-- Even further down the list now. It's getting hard to find any info on you now. Good or bad. This guy says he too has heard a lot of mixed stuff about your business. Dead animals within days, some say the opposite.

There really aren't that many reviews of you here or elsewhere. And your track record is Poor. If you were doing so much business online there would be much more reviews.

You also did not have any information on your website about if the boa was CBB, CB, wild caught, or farmed. In fact you don't for most of your animals. What great business practice there as well!

I suggest you read the rules posted in this forum at the top of this forum including this sticky.
A note about posting anonymous third party quotes

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=146268

Originally Posted by WebSlave

One of my mods asked me about an official policy concerning posting links to posts or threads on other sites referencing "evidence" concerning a person or business that is the topic of a thread here on the BOI. I figured I should post my reply here for reference...

Actually, this is a good point that I have never addressed before.

If someone is providing a link to a post or thread that is on another site, and the author there has no method of being identified as a real person (via personal name or business name), then would that constitute an anonymous third party quote?

My gut feeling is that if an identified source of all statements made is a requirement for posting on the BOI, then using links to anonymous posts made on another site are not acceptable fare on the BOI. I doubt that most sites have this same requirement, so someone could simply post anonymous bogus claims on another site under an assumed handle, and then simply post a link to it within the BOI.

So, I think I answered your question....

Rules for Posting on the BOI <-- REQUIRED READING!!

Originally Posted by TribalMethods

There really aren't that many reviews of you here or elsewhere. And your track record is Poor. If you were doing so much business online there would be much more reviews.

You should learn to master a search before suggesting such. There are about thirty threads here with hundreds of posts on his business.

Thanks for proving my point! If anyone read them, they would pretty much know what I meant originally.
Most are repeatedly same person on several sites that copy and paste reviews as a search function.
Like really? You own a snake you bought elsewhere, buy a FROZEN rat from us, and you then say its our fault your snake has millions of mites crawling on it? Come on....I help people, but I dont put up with BS.

Another is mad because we canceled and refunded an order and they didnt catch the email?

No, you can cancel but we usually do not, as people usually cancel when they realize they cant make rent. We have no problem with it, but would like to know for our own reasons to make sure we are doing things right.

You canceled by LYING and falsifying information which goes to show your character and posts.

You are third PARTY reviewing....one guy said he has heard, but theres no PROOF.
Site jabber is accumulation of the only the negative reviews out of hundreds.

Lady who claims we killed her snake calls us yelling that the rat ate her snake....that we sell snake killer rats just to give you perspective on most negative reviews!!

IF ANYONE states they would like to cancel due to them not feeling comfortable, we would cancel...but thats not the point. The point is your ability to twist and distort facts to your rhetoric. The point is also you lied about it.

Most people do not do reviews. They usually never even email saying they got the product, its normal. Most customers however say they heard, or read reviews on how good we are, and stopped purchasing from other online stores to purchase from us and are happy as can be.


PS all our colombian boas are captive bred, as farmed babies have not been imported in two years FYI.

We are in business DUE to our reputation.........we have grown considerably,and have been open for almost 20 years (10-12 previous owner, 8-10 me).

I have no qualms about anyone deciding on purchasing from us due to our reviews, as the vast majority can see the typical way we operate and order all the time.

The negative reviews are most often incorrect, exagerrations of the truth, or plane out crazy. There might be ONE or two out there where they prefered a larger size, or the package was late so they blame us and not fedex, but the typical Snakes at Sunset - transactions for reptile ordering is bar none amazing in comparison to other sites.
And we are VERY VERY PROUD of that fact, and it matters to us, and others see it as well ,how good a job we typically, normally do.

WE LABEL ALL OUR ANIMALS as they need to be...field collected, cb, ch, farmed, ranched, etc....check out the site for yourselves.... http://www.snakesatsunset.com

We are definetley not perfect, but we try hard as heck to be when it comes to your order.