I hate writing this, but I’m at my wit’s end over a transaction and need to do something. I hope I’m doing this correctly- I want this to by my first and last negative BOI posting.
This is a warning to potential buyers regarding legal issues hindering the shipment of geckos sold by Lea Hurst (username LHurst) and her former girlfriend, Nikki Brownell (username KenyaChams). I do not know any details other than that the two are currently in a legal dispute (lawyers involved) and are disagreeing over the ownership of some of the geckos Lea sold.
Here are the details of the transaction (emails in order from oldest to newest).
Lea posted an ad on Fauna selling a few geckos that she bred. I inquired about one, Fangorn.
On Fri, Jun 20, 2014 at 9:05 AM, Brittany Freeman <digitalturtles@gmail.com> wrote:
Good morning!
I saw your ad on Fauna and was really struck by Fangorn- if he's still available, would you be able to send me some pictures of his parents? I've been looking for a light boy with cream and he's lovely!
Thank you!
Brittany
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From: Lea Hurst [mailto:leathehurst@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2014 8:33 PM
To: Brittany Freeman
Subject: Re: Fangorn Inquiry
Thanks for your inquiry! Sorry for the late reply, I've been at work. Attached are pictures of Fangorn's sire/dam. The sire is Crowley, a black/cream 99% pinner with extreme harley markings, and the dam is a high yellow phantom pinner. So there's a lot of potential for light-based cream there! Crowley is from Anthony Caponetto, and the dam, Amelie, was produced by Andrew Schnell. I have more shots of them available if needed.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the Fauna ad specifically, but I'm doing a June blowout so if you buy before my June 26th ship date, shipping is free!
Thanks,
Lea Hurst
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On Jun 21, 2014, at 12:50 PM, "Brittany Freeman" <digitalturtles@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you for the pictures Lea!
I’m definitely interested in him- he’s gorgeous and I really need a light boy J
My only problem that I know is difficult for sellers is that I’m in Phoenix- it’s freaking hot and I won’t have decent shipping weather until as late as October. The company I work for gets discount shipping through FedEx, so I can get priority overnight shipping for less than $15 (and they’d send you the label) and he’d go straight to their mail room, but it’s still far too hot even at night. I know folks are trying to move animals, so holding that long isn’t always an option.
If you’re willing to hold him I can pay in full. Thank you!
Brittany
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From: Lea Hurst [mailto:leathehurst@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2014 4:33 PM
To: Brittany Freeman
Subject: Re: Fangorn Inquiry
Oh man Phoenix summers! I can relate, I grew up in San Diego and have a lot of friends in AZ.
I am looking to create some space, you're right (especially with Fangorn half-siblings out of the egg as of last night) but I'm not opposed to holding til October. I'd call it free shipping anyway, since you'd be paying in June; seems only fair. I work for a reptile specialty store and get ludicrous shipping discounts as well so it's no hassle for me either way.
I should also mention that I haven't updated my weights on the fauna ad; I copy/pasted from an older posting to save time and was using weights from April. Fangorn is due for his monthly weigh-in at the end of June and will likely be around 8-9g at this point. He eats like a pig, too. I'll have to snap some more pics for you if you decide to take him. He is growing up just stunning and I would definitely want to chat with you or any other buyer about someday doing a breeding loan.
My paypal is this email address, ---. I do have a lot of interest in him, I should say, so at this point it is basically first come first served, but also nothing concrete has materialized yet so if you want him I will absolutely wait until shipping weather for you. Let me know!
Thanks,
Lea Hurst
LCH Reptiles
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On Jun 21, 2014, at 6:51 PM, "Brittany Freeman" <digitalturtles@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you so much- I know the weather makes shipping so terrible, right when everyone is selling off beautiful little geckos!
I sent payment for the little guy- please let me know if it came through alright!
I do have a friend in New York State who can hold geckos for me if you need space. She’s fine having me ship them to her and then she’ll send them my way when the temperatures are stable, so that’s an option too J
I have quite a few lovely little ones growing up right now that will benefit from having a creamy boy around to hang out with! You can definitely expect pictures and updates!
All the best,
Brittany Freeman
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On Sat, Jun 21, 2014 at 8:02 PM, Lea Hurst <leathehurst@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks for your purchase! I think I'll definitely be fine holding him til October but thank you for offering your friend. If I end up making any impulse buys at my local summer expo maybe I'll have to take you up on it!
I'll get some updated pics and a weigh in for you ASAP. Thanks again.
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The transaction was left at that. I heard nothing else from Lea until last week when I received this email:
On Thu, Aug 7, 2014 at 7:05 AM, Lea Hurst <leathehurst@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello Brittany,
I'm so sorry to have to contact you like this, but unfortunately my personal drama is spilling over into our transaction. I've recently had to leave my abusive ex-gf, who I was living with, and had to make the choice to either get myself and a few animals out, or stay and possibly be hurt/killed and have more of my possessions destroyed. I had to leave my entire crested gecko breeding operation behind. I have been endlessly contacting her to get her to return the animals purchased by others so that I can ship them, and so has my lawyer. Even though I agreed to let her sell the rest of my collection, she refuses to be reasonable and return Fangorn and others so that I can make good on their purchase. She told my lawyer she would be fine, however, if you and the other purchasers contacted her and made arrangements to get your animals. She's just trying to make things hard for me, personally, and should ship him to you no problem, but I apologize deeply for the inconvenience.
My lawyer says its best to contact her through written means so that you have a record of her conversations with you, but I will give you all of her contact info. Her name is Brittany Nicole Brownell, but she goes by Nikki. Her address is ----. Her phone is --- and her emails are ------ and ------. She does a lot of business in the reptile world, so a BOI thread wouldn't be a bad idea. I'd also welcome you to make one for me if you feel like it, but as this was my first year selling and I only have two snakes left from my large, beloved collection, I'm getting out of the reptile world for good. I only got into breeding because she encouraged me to, and now I'm fairly traumatized and not going to focus on reptiles for a while. I do not and cannot offer refunds on live animals after 30 days, but I am more than willing to assist you in any way (providing Paypal statements, written emails, etc) should you need evidence to claim Fangorn.
Again I deeply apologize. I held off contacting you as long as I could in the hopes she would be reasonable, but no dice. Remind her when you contact that you paid shipping as a part of my promotion, and therefore expect to receive Fangorn shipped overnight at your convenience, with no charge. I wish you the best of luck, and would caution you to be careful in dealing with her. She's a pathological liar, bipolar, and has been violent with me several times in the past. I deeply wish this had never happened.
Once again, I'm sorry, and thank you
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I felt really bad for her, as it sounds like it was a rough situation.
On Thu, Aug 7, 2014 at 7:30 AM, Brittany Freeman <digitalturtles@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello Lea,
I just don't know what to say other than I'm glad you got yourself out of what seemed to be a terrible situation and I hope you're doing okay! Please don't stress- I'll send her an email with all the Paypal transaction information and if I don't get a reply from there, will go with certified mail. I have a good friend in New York State who should have decent shipping weather way before I do, so I'll arrange with her to see if I can get Fangorn shipped sooner than my Phoenix weather will allow.
Hang in there! <3
All the best,
Brittany
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On Aug 7, 2014, at 8:08, Lea Hurst <leathehurst@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you so much Brittany. If I ever decide to get into cresties again, you can bet you'd get as many freebies as you could ever want. I appreciate the sentiment and please let me know if there's anything I can help with if Nikki proves difficult. I can always have my lawyer contact her again.
Thanks again,
Lea
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With that, I sent an email to Nikki in hopes that we could arrange shipping. With Lea stating that a lawyer was involved and that they had agreed animals that were paid for would be shipped, I saw no issue in whoever would be the one shipping. I did not want to get in the middle of the legal argument, so I said that I had contacted Lea about shipping and was told Nikki was the one handling it.
(Sent August 7th at 1:19pm, Phoenix time)
Good afternoon Nikki,
I contacted Lea a few days ago about having Fangorn shipped to my friend since she's around during the week. She told me you were handling the shipping for her geckos and to contact you. Shipping was included in the price as part of Lea’s promotion when I paid for him. My friend, Pam, is located in New York- I CC'd her on this email so we could figure out a time to ship that works for her. Please let me know if you need any further information from me.
Here's the PayPal transaction if you need it:
Thank you!
Brittany Freeman
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Nikki Pardalis <nakedmolecat@gmail.com>
Thu 8/7/2014 10:21 PM
To: Freeman, Brittany;
Hi there, I have nothing to do with this transaction and you should ask Lea for a refund or issue a chargeback through Paypal as these geckos were not hers to sell and she already pocketed the money. She is not allowed to be in contact with me as per the restraining order I have against her, so I will not be handling this further.
I'm sorry that you got involved with her and I sincerely hope you get your refund. Sorry again!
Nikki Pardalis <nakedmolecat@gmail.com>
Thu 8/7/2014 10:33 PM
To: Freeman, Brittany;
By the way, her phone number is --- and email is
leathehurst@gmail.com.
Nikki Pardalis <nakedmolecat@gmail.com>
Thu 8/7/2014 11:07 PM
To: Freeman, Brittany;
Oh and one more thing! If Paypal won't work with you because it is past 90 days, contact your bank/card issuer and explain what happened and they will likely do a chargeback for you. You should make a Board of Inquiry post on the facebook BOI groups tagging Lea as well as on FaunaClassifieds to protect other potential victims of her scamming.
Again I am so sorry you had to deal with this and I sincerely hope it gets resolved for you. Let me know what happens and if she says anything to/about me, I would love to receive a copy for my paperwork and documentation as I work through court proceedings against her.
At this point I decided to contact Lea again.
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(Sent August 8th at 7:06am)
Good morning Lea,
I was able to get a reply from her stating that she had nothing to do with the transaction and thus would not be handling any part of it. She gave me a similar note about information for her lawyer, but you're the person I was dealing with and I don't wish to get in the middle. I'm not really sure how to proceed from here? What would you like to do?
Thank you,
Brittany
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I hadn’t heard back from her, so I reached out again:
On Sat, Aug 9, 2014 at 9:45 PM, Brittany Freeman <digitalturtles@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Lea,
I wanted to follow up with you regarding the best course of action to take from here, since Nikki isn't willing to ship Fangorn. Please let me know what you'd like to do.
Thanks,
Brittany
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On Sun, Aug 10, 2014 at 6:38 AM, Lea Hurst <leathehurst@gmail.com> wrote:
Brittany, I'm not sure what to tell you, I've had my lawyer contact her and shown her paypal receipts, and there isn't much else I can do to convince her to ship to you. I will have him call her again today.
On Aug 10, 2014, at 6:47, Lea Hurst <leathehurst@gmail.com> wrote:
I think at this point starting a BOI thread would be a good idea. You can include my name if you want, I don't care/mind. She does a lot of business with reptiles and hurting her reputation would scare her. Let her know you plan to do that and I imagine she will cave.
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On Aug 10, 2014, at 9:32 AM, Brittany Freeman <digitalturtles@gmail.com> wrote:
I agree- I will contact her and am completely willing to do that. I'm sure when you sold the geckos they were yours to sell and her holding them is only to make this more difficult. I'm even willing to pay her shipping of she'll just let him go.
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I then contacted Nikki again:
Freeman, Brittany
Sun 8/10/2014 2:23 PM
To: Nikki Pardalis <nakedmolecat@gmail.com>;
I'm not really sure what to do here- per Lea: "She told my lawyer she would be fine, however, if you and the other purchasers contacted her and made arrangements to get your animals"- and that's what I'm going off of. As far as I know, she had permission to sell them before whatever happened and now whatever animals she sold, and anyone who purchased them, is stuck in your legal battle. I don't want to get caught in a back and forth- I just want the animal I paid for, that you're currently in possession of, that Lea was unable to take. I'm willing to pay you for the shipping if that's hindering this, as I realize you don't have the funds she received. Otherwise I'll be going to the BOI to at least let others know to be cautious doing business with either of you and risk getting caught in whatever personal issues are at work. I really don't want to do that, but I'm at my wit's end.
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Her reply:
Nikki Pardalis <nakedmolecat@gmail.com>
Sun 8/10/2014 4:33 PM
To: Freeman, Brittany;
I never gave her permission to sell my animals; she did that behind my back and never told me that they sold when she advertised them. I'm really sorry you are having this experience and I encourage you to make a BOI thread and email a link to it. I would be willing to give you first refusal on Fangorn at a discounted price when this is all settled but I am currently in a legal battle with Lea over many things including ownership of the geckos so please understand that I am not able to ship them, even if I wanted to. I had no agreement with her lawyer, by the way.
She abandoned those animals with me and told me to keep them because she no longer wanted them and "they didn't sell" and I had been arguing that they were rightfully mine the whole time anyway as I paid for them, chose pairings, paid for their food, cleaned their cages, and generally cared for them. When you emailed me asking for them to be shipped, I knew right away that this was just another way for her to spite me during a messy breakup where I had to go to the extreme of a restraining order to protect myself.
Again, I am really sorry that you dealt with Lea and are caught up in this. I am encouraging you to get a Paypal refund and dispute it right away to get your money back as that is the best possible way for you to be sure you get a quick, real resolution. You have 90 days if I recall and you purchased him in June I believe. Please start the process now to get your money back because I cannot legally ship them since their ownership is in dispute. I am very sorry that Lea lied to you and I want you to find a good resolution. I would love to offer you Fangorn (or any gecko) at a discount later if you are still interested after all this mess is settled.
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I have contacted Paypal, but Lea contacted me about the issue on day 47 after the transaction. They could do nothing but send her an email asking her to refund me. My bank will not help because it was an ACH payment, which they won’t reverse.
I am willing to take blame for the fact that I did not make contact before the 45 days was up to check on the status. I also know that it’s not entirely uncommon for sellers to hold animals until shipping weather is available. In the future I will be using only debit/credit cards to make payments and will only be making deposits unless I’ve done prior business with a seller.
However, I am upset that Lea, knowing there was an issue, did not contact me sooner. I did tell her that I have a friend with shipping weather and if things were going badly, she could have shipped to my friend instead of letting it get to the point where animals had to be left behind. Granted, that’d probably be one of the last things on my mind.
I also understand that Lea had a 30-day policy on her animals, BUT I never received the animal. As far as I understand, those guarantees are only valid once the animal is in the seller’s possession, but obviously that is not the case and I do not feel that policy should be upheld in this situation.
I hesitated on bringing Nikki’s name into this post, but in my mind, she is holding onto something I paid for. As far as I am concerned, those animals were Lea’s and Lea’s to sell when things were okay between them. Lea stated in her sales postings that all the geckos were bred by her, meaning she was the owner. I realize that Nikki does not have the money I sent for Fangorn, which is why I offered to cover the shipping costs the second time I contact her.
I can only hope that some kind of resolution is reached, and though I appreciate the civility they've both shown when dealing with me, I don’t want to get any more involved in their personal lives. So with that, I would urge against doing business with either one since the ownership of their reptiles seems to be in question and you do not know if an animal has already been sold and paid for by someone else.
I would love to get Fangorn or at least some of my money back, but I can't say I'm interested in paying for him again.
Legal battle hindering sale- Lea Hurst and Nikki Pardalis
Legal battle hindering sale- Lea Hurst and Nikki Pardalis
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