Bobby Hill - Varnyard Herps: Buyers Beware.

I did the IC 3 last night. Thank you. I am hesitant to bother our pd with this now because we are in a real bad place still from Sandy. Our first responders are still working like crazy here. Unfortunately our police are dealing with issues that are far more important then my issue here. If I were to call the police dept by him, would they take my complaint over the phone? If not I may have to wait a few more weeks before I go into our police dept.. Fema is still there with the Natl gaurd etc. Thank you for all of your help and information. I hope all of these stories prevent someone else becoming his next victim.

Ok, I sent an email to the office of The Attorney general of Florida and this is their reply:

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi received your email regarding your transaction with Bobby Grey Hill of Varnyard Herps, Inc. Attorney General Bondi asked that I respond. I am sorry for your difficulties.

The Attorney General's Office is concerned with all potentially unfair and deceptive trade practices. Our office uses complaints such as yours to identify patterns of questionable business activities which may indicate the need for formal investigation or action by our office to protect the broad public interest. However, our office does not generally mediate individual consumer complaints, and we are not at liberty to give legal opinions or advice to private individuals or businesses. I hope the following information proves helpful.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) licenses and regulates the selling of conditional reptiles within the state. We recommend that you contact the FWC for any assistance or information that may be available:


Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Farris Bryant Building 620 S. Meridian St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600
Phone: (850) 488-4676
Conditional Reptiles Information:
http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/no...onal-reptiles/
License Search: https://public.myfwc.com/maps/ConditionalAdopters/

As you seek to resolve your complaint, please contact the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Consumer Services (DACS). DACS serves as the clearinghouse for consumer complaints and has a voluntary mediation program to assist individual consumers. You may contact DACS at:

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Consumer Services
2005 Apalachee Parkway
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Telephone: (850) 410-3800
Toll-free within FL: (800) 435-7352
Website: http://www.800helpfla.com/

You may also wish to contact the following consumer organizations:

Federal Trade Commission
Toll-free: 877-382-4357
Website: http://www.ftc.gov

Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
Website: http://www.ic3.gov

Better Business Bureau of Northwest Florida
Phone: (850) 429-0002
Email: info@nwfl.bbb.org
Website: http://nwfl.bbb.org/

Finally, Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act provides individuals with a private remedy to bring an action for damages, attorney's fees and court costs. Please consult a private attorney if you need any legal guidance. If you need help finding a lawyer, The Florida Bar offers a Lawyer Referral Service toll-free at (800) 342-8060.

Thank you for contacting Attorney General Bondi's Office. I hope this proves helpful.

Sincerely,

Nina Reich
Office of Citizen Services
Florida Attorney General's Office
PL-01, The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1050
Telephone: (850) 414-3990
Toll-free within Florida: (866) 966-7226
Website: www.myfloridalegal.com

I appreciate quick and helpfull answer from the office.
.....everybody who was scammed by Bobby Hill should contact all institutions recommended above to create some pressure.

Libor

Originally Posted by varnyard

You never paid the balance, I sent you the PayPal request. You have two names you go by, and the name here is not the one conected to the PayPal account. Please post the emails where you tried to contact me before coming here.

Well I had paid you in full and still you refuse to answer my emails and your phone is disconected,Do the right thing and let me have my money back.you broke a little boys heart when you did this to use ,He was looking foward in getting this Tegu,Thats all he talked about and now NOTHING.(snake1) Richard R Hynes

I sent him the full amont and still have not gotten anything.He broke a little boys Heart by screwing use,that was all my nephew could talk about was getting his tegu and now NOTHING,won't return emails ,disconected phone.Does anyone out there know how to get hold of him.Richard Hynes (snake1)

Originally Posted by irishgrl

I did the IC 3 last night. Thank you. I am hesitant to bother our pd with this now because we are in a real bad place still from Sandy.

I would file a complaint sooner rather than later. I understand that they are busy, but you can file and then they will triage their work as necessary and get to your complaint when they can.

Originally Posted by Libor

complaints such as yours to identify patterns of questionable business activities which may indicate the need for formal investigation or action

I believe establishing an online complaint with the AGs office in your own state is useful. The complaint will probably be referred, and if complaints from all over the US arrive via other AGs in the Fla. AG office they may be more likely to investigate.

One thing that you can do for your fellow herpers is to tell local herp societies and rescues about Fauna, the BOI, and Bobby. For those wanting a tegu, forewarned is forearmed, and they can make the choice of who NOT to order from if they read this thread.

And for all those who have ordered and not received a tegu, getting your story out there and particularly with local rescues may be a way for a homeless rescued tegu to find a home with you.
Especially during the holidays, it would be a blessing for all involved if a tegu needing a home ended up in a Christmas stocking of someone here who didn't get theirs from Bobby.

Bobby Hill,

This is another unsatisfied customer. I sent an entire $350 for an EXTREME TEGU, I neither received the Tegu, nor contact back from him. I have emails, showing my purchase, through a Walmart MoneyGram, which could only have been picked up by you, with Legal ID. Bobby Hill from Florida.

I want a lizard, or my money back. In full, no partial refunds!

Hallo people,
what about to make a list of all scammed costumers of Bobby Hill? Maybe institutions will be more interested in this case when they will see how many people is involved in it.
In case anybody else does not have better suggestion and you agree, I can start to get this list together.
On my email libordubi@volny.cz send :

1. Name
2. Email address
3. Phone number
4. How much you paid
5. Date of your payment

Every week I can release info here.
What do you think? Let's do everything we can!

Libor

Been awhile now i emailed him again last week just for something to do, but i figured i'd tell everyone that one of his sites is down i will sleep better at night when tegusforsale.com is down too. This doesn't stop him from starting again under a false alias but at least the legend of bobby hill is dying.

http://www.varnyard-herps-inc.com/

I have never had any dealings with Bobby Hill from Varnyard, but I have read several of the Bad Guy threads on him. Sorry to hear that so many people got ripped off. I hope, somehow, all of this mess is rectified soon, and the buyers receive either their money or tegus soon. Somehow, I do not think anything is going to fix all of the problems Bobby has created.

Good luck to all.

I am coming here to post as the most active moderator of the TT forum and defend the forum from all sorts of accusations.

1) The forum (and I indirectly) have been accused of "covering up" for Bobby Hill's actions and even promoting them. How ludicrous!

2). Yes, I am quick to delete and edit posts. Some of our readers do not care to read foul language and I will edit it out. I think disagreements can be civil and do not need to resort to low class name calling.

3). Some of these discussion became so heated and nasty, that they were quickly removed. I don't think Fauna would tolerate such comments made of its mods and owners either.

4). The biggest spark seemed to be the removal of Bobby's personal info. Bobby was already making threats about harassment against the forum. The info was removed to protect the forum and readers were redirected here....a much bigger forum that had the same info posted.

5) So many attacks and issues behind the scenes that most people do not know about. But neither the TT owner nor I felt the need to expose the negative side of people's character just to justify our own actions. We just did what we felt was best for the TT readers for the forum to go on smoothly. I may not make perfect decisions or the best decisions all the time, but I do have good intentions.

I have much compassion for those who were scammed by Bobby. I gave away my last tegu for free. I have given out info to help people with their claims. I have spoken with LEO and FL FWC about the matter. And I have felt sadness for Bobby for what his life has become.