Constrictors West (Inquiry??)

It's been a really long time since I've been on here but am in need of an inquiry.

Has anyone here EVER delt with Constrictors West????????

A good friend of mine just called and said that he may have just got screwed out of a lot of money for a female purple albino Retic. It was an 07 female that was supposed to have been shipped to my friend almost two weeks ago. But due to one reason or another the snake was never sent. Today my friend called and said that the guys cell phone number is now dissconnected and none of his emails have been returned for two days.

Please help! My friend gave up all his savings on this snake. He is planning to file a claim with PayPal and hopes he gets at least some of his money back. I have found nothing on the BOI about Constrictors West so far. I know they keep accounts with Kingsnake.com.

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Help guys!

Did you get a human name along with Constri. West?

Craig Labounty
Here is their website:
http://www.constrictorswest.com/

Email:
constrictorswest@earthlink.net
951-212-2711
That's all the information I have. You can see the female purples on their "available" page but the site hasn't been updated in a really long time.

Last night I decided to investigate this a bit and I sent an email asking what albino retics they have in stock. I got a reply from Craig at 07:34 this morning telling me that there are male and female albinos in stock but he wanted to check and be sure exactly what he had. I got two more emails stating that he had two males (07 lav and 06 lav) available and to please let him know if I was interested.
My friend called me this afternoon and said the Craig did call and all he said was that he "Fully intended to ship the animal." Nothing else was said.

To me something seems fishy. He wont communicate with my friend at all but a possible new buyer sends him an email asking about an albino male retic and he's johnny on the spot with the responses. What gives!?!?!?!?!?!?

Fast forward to tonight, like 20 mins ago or less and ladies and gentleman I think we have a scammer!

I have been receiving emails from Craig several times today regarding what albino Retic males he's got available. YES I am baiting him trying to figure out why he can rip my friend off and not return his calls or emails but finds the time through out the day to reply to every email I have sent in very timely manner. Where things get really messed up is when tells me he has an 06 male lavender for sale for $1100. Craig sent me a photo of the 06 lavender male he's offering up.

I spoke with my friend tonight and still he's recived nothing from Craig but a 03/03/08 shipping date sent via paypal message. No carrier or tracking number or reason why he's never called back.

In talking to my good friend tonight I told him I was sent a photo of the 06 lav retic and could I send it to him to ensure this guy wasnt trying to sell me the same snake as what he's supposed to be getting. He received the photo and about fell over and died. Come to find out the 06 male is the same snake that was shown to my friend as the female my friend is supposed to be getting sire . (I hope that makes sense). So basically this man is lying to me about this 06 male. Craig did say the snake was a 06 Lavender Ablino Retic.
He never one time said the snake was a purple and proven breeder that sired a 07 clutch.

Here is the photo sent to me by Craig of the 06 lavender male:



Here are the photos and message to my friend from Craig:

Hey _ _ _ _,
I'll get You some pics in the morning. Here's the Dad, my Purple Boy 'Haze'.
Thanks!

Craig LaBounty
constrictorswest@earthlink.net




I just don't understand. Craig can try to sell me a snake but yet seemingly WILL NOT respond to ANY attempts my friend has made to reach him.

What do you guys think???

All email corespondence between my friend and Craig has been saved and all the emails between Craig and I have been save for the purpose of the claims being filed to show that my friend made every possible attempt to contact Craig with zero reply.

FYI: The 07 purple phase female was paid for via PayPal. Payment was finalized on 2/14/08. My friend has not received his snake or reply back from Craig but the above mentioned two message responses.

This person has an ad in a recent past issue of Reptiles magazine that you can get at Petco/smart.. You need to keep working on him!!

I have only dealt with Craig one time. Everything went great. He was kept in touch very well and provided a beautiful lavender albino retic. To the best of my knowledge he is not a scammer but did business very well. I hope your deal turns out as well as mine did. Good luck. Jud McClanahan