Matt Baronak of SaSobek Reptiles

Originally Posted by vampyrebyte

I really wish I could have been there to take pictures of everything. I would have had my friend ship everything that needed to be shipped, just like the one that she picked out for me from him.
I recently heard from someone else who is out a lot of money also and no geckos to show for any of it. They were also asked to pay through PayPal as "friends and family", which since that is done and since more than 180 days have passed, it can't be sent through a claim and resolution process in PayPal.

I remind all of you, unless you are sending money to some one you completely trust, to send money as "goods and services". That person is acting as a business and should accept the small fees that paypal askes for. If they don't want to accept the fees then add 3% to your purchase and still send it as "goods and services", that way they get the full amount and the fees are still on the purchaser (which shouldn't be the case in my opinion). You will then be protected with your purchase also as long as 180 days has not passed.
Even if it has been longer than 180 days, you should still open a dispute so PayPal can track their performance.

I've never asked anyone to pay as friends and family. That in my opinion is very unprofessional.

I agree with this 100% and would never ask anyone to send it friends and family. Unfortunately for me, it's been well over a year since I paid, so I can't open a dispute anyways. I would much rather work it out with Matt, but I'm also starting to get a bit upset since I considered him a top guy all these years and started to consider him a friend in the gecko community.

I just think its super unprofessional of him to be vending a show, clearly selling animals, when he has people waiting on animals from him. If you have animals that you can sell in person, you can send animals to people that have already paid. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt at first, due to his recent issues, but after hearing this, he lost any credibility and respect from me.

This is why people need to learn to speak up about these things.
I'm not good with that either, I've kept things to myself when I've had transaction with breeders not go as smooth or professional as I expected them to be.
It needs to be known when it happens. This also probably helps keep the breeder on his toes to keep up with his business and hopefully not let things get out of hand, like what obviously happened here.

I hope everyone gets what the deserve with this fiasco. Refunds should honestly be paid back with interest (since breeding projects were more than likely ruined by this). That won't happen but it would definitely be a huge step towards redemption of his image.

Also if he has the funds to vend a show (which isn't necessarily cheap), then he should have money to reimburse his customers or ship them their geckos.

Originally Posted by Lucille

I understand being down and out. But to me, the bright line between confessing hard times and starting over, and a mere sob story meant to hush various parties so that further business is not hampered by pesky complaints, is the steps taken to right the wrongs done.
If a full refund for everyone is not possible, payment that is more than a token, and a promise of additional funds, would be a good start.

Yeah, the further along this goes, without even partial refunds, the more I think people are getting played.

Originally Posted by vampyrebyte

This is why people need to learn to speak up about these things.
I'm not good with that either, I've kept things to myself when I've had transaction with breeders not go as smooth or professional as I expected them to be.
It needs to be known when it happens. This also probably helps keep the breeder on his toes to keep up with his business and hopefully not let things get out of hand, like what obviously happened here.

I hope everyone gets what the deserve with this fiasco. Refunds should honestly be paid back with interest (since breeding projects were more than likely ruined by this). That won't happen but it would definitely be a huge step towards redemption of his image.

I definitely wouldn't ask for interest, but I am one who lost one breeding season already and will most likely lose another even if I get an animal sent in the next couple months. I am surprised that more people aren't upset by this along with the lack of communication and geckos. I'm guessing some people had projects ruined. Mine was just an extra gecko for an existing group, so it wasn't a major thing, but still frustrating.

I haven't really been checking in on this thread since I have been busy, but here's what had transpired recently ...He has messaged me and given me his phone number to keep in contact with him. It is too cold to ship, so I'm just waiting. I'm not freaking out that I haven't gotten my geckos cuz it's not safe to ship them anyway. So yes, I see he was vending shows, and I don't see too much of a problem with that as long as he still has my geckos. Yes, it does take money to vend a show, but he probably makes a lot more than the initial cost. He has to be able to make money and move his stock somehow. And since shipping is out of the question right now, it is what it is. I will let you all know when things get nice enough to ship.

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This is honestly sickening how much this guy is blowing smoke up everyone's asses and they are dealing with it, ok with it, and even defending him.
If shipping is out of the question then how did I get my gecko from that show?
They've had ok temps and so have we in North Dakota.

So he has enough time to package up animals for a show, drive there, unpack them, sit there for hours, pack them back up, drive home, and unpack them again. YET can't pack up a single animal and drop it off to be ship.

I'm not sure how you guys take this kind of treatment and wait months...I could never do it. If you want my business you better prioritize it and act like you want my money. Way too many people out there willing to take the time to go above and beyond just selling an animal to deal with people like this.

Originally Posted by vampyrebyte

This is honestly sickening how much this guy is blowing smoke up everyone's asses and they are dealing with it, ok with it, and even defending him.
If shipping is out of the question then how did I get my gecko from that show?
They've had ok temps and so have we in North Dakota.

I've both sent out and received geckos in the past week or so. I'm quite close to Matt so I know the weather on our end has been fine for shipping, not sure about other places but as far as I know it's been fine almost everywhere. Has he shown the people he owes geckos to proof that he still has them? That would have been my first question after he told me I had to wait longer to get them. Matt has had a good reputation and has contributed a lot to the community and it's really hard to believe he would do something like this. I truly hope everyone owed is made whole asap.