Donald Schultz - Mfezi (Bad Guy)

Mr. Fraser,
I always thought it was pretty much SOP; the buyer pays for the first animal and is responsible for any return shipping (DOA etc) then the seller pays to ship the replacement.

See...to me that makes no sense. The buyer is paying more because the seller made a mistake? The buyer is put in an unsatisfactory position because the seller made the mistake. The fact that the seller missexed an animal is not the buyer's fault in the least bit, and now, the seller expects to have the animal shipped back at the buyer's expense? That, to me, is absurd.

I even spoke to a breeder friend of mine a few hours back and he agreed with me as well. He ships snakes all the time and felt that the seller was not being treated fairly in this situation. Recently, this same friend was actually shipped a snake that was not the exact one he was supposed to get, but was the same exact kind of snake he had ordered, just not the one he had picked, and the seller immediately recognized the mistake, apologized profusely, and demanded with no qualms, to pay for the snake to be shipped back if my friend didn't want the one he was accidentally sent by mistake. Great example of a great seller. Buyer accidentally didn't get what he ordered. Seller identified the problem and was going to make sure the buyer was not out a dime. Duh!

Returning a snake because of it not being the snake they liked, wanted, change of mind, etc., is another thing. That is the buyer making the decision in that instance, not the seller, and the buyer should pay for any and all shipping.

In this situation though, the snake was NOT the sex the seller had ordered. To put it in a simple way, the buyer did NOT get what they paid for. End of story. The seller is responsible in this.

On the other hand the seller would lose money on something that may not be their error. Try returning something to the vast majority of internet businesses and see who pays the return postage.

I am certain I shipped the correct sex animal. What happened after the animal arrived at the clients house is not in my control. I have paid for return shipping when I have been in the wrong or when there has been doubt, but I personally sexed and shipped this animal, therefore I will not cover shipping, I am certain that the sex asked for was the sex shipped.
I am a fair person and will help where ever possible, and a number of options have been made available to this customer.

Thanks again

don

I was sent the wrong animal once by another well-known distributor that I won't mention. When I explained the situation the seller offered to pay to have it shipped back to him, then also paid to have the correct animal shipped to me. He had an account with FedEx and just had someone come by and pick up the package and had it shipped back out with the whole thing charged to his fedex billing account. I would have been really pissed if he'd asked me to pay to have it shipped back.

Now, that being said, I wasn't even sent the correct species... let alone sex.

As I stated before, I have personally done business with Don and I consider him to be one of the most respectable guys in the biz.

I wish people would handle situations like this without using the BOI. Now people are going to see this thread in the future and second guess their decision to purchase from Don... which is a damn shame.

I am sure if Don receives the snake back, and it was his mistake he would refund any shipping expenses. If it was indeed sexed properly by him then it should be up to the buyer to pay the extra shipping costs both ways.

What I do not understand is that why would it be fair to Susan to have her have to pay for shipping the snake back to Don, when it was his mistake to begin with? A common mistake which is no big deal in regards to viewing Don, who seems like a nice guy, but still, Susan, the customer, was inconvenienced in this whole thing, and should not have to pay anything else, IMO.

I agree 100% with that.

Here are what the TOS says from a few reasonably well known reptile dealers.

"Any retail purchase may be returned for a full refund, replacement, or credit, for any reasonable cause of dissatisfaction related to the health of an animal, as long as I am notified and the order is shipped back to me within 30 days with the freight charges prepaid. Shipping expenses are non-refundable."
-------------------------------------------------------

"Shipping costs are not refundable by us (although the carrier may do so if they are at fault). We must file claim on this and we will forward your refund to you immediately upon receipt by us."

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Once I have determined that you have a valid claim I will at my discretion offer you either a refund, replacement animals, or credit to be used on future purchases. Please note that credits and refunds for shipping and packing charges are at my discretion and will be considered case by case."

--------------------------------------------------------

"All animals are guaranteed to be healthy, feeding and properly sexed. If you are not satisfied we will replace any animal for the cost of the return freight if notified within 24 hours of receipt"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If for any reason you are dissatisfied with your purchase you must notify us immediately so that steps can be taken to rectify the situation. No Cash Refunds. After the four hour time limit expires we assume no further liabilities. This policy exist because once an animal leaves our facility, we no longer have control over its care or envirorment. The four hour period after the shipment arrives is to allow you to inspect the animal(s) and make sure you are satisfied with your purchase. No live arrival guarantee on shipments sent to destinations below 40(f) or above 89(f). No live arrival guarantee on shipments delayed by or mishandled by any overnight services (Ups,Express mail,Fedex,Etc. No live arrival guarantee on shipments sent via door to door services such as Ups,Express mail,Fedex,Etc. No live arrival guarantee on any amphibians and arachnids at any time. XXXXX Reptiles will not be responsible for any additional freight/shipping or postage charges for replacement animal(s)."
--------------------------------------------------------

"if there are any problems we need to know about them right away. Please contact us to discuss credit or replacement on animals with which you are dissatisfied (no cash refunds). Refunds are only available in the event that *we* are unable to provide the animal(s) as agreed upon."

--------------------------------------------------------

"Upon receipt, if for any reason you are not satisfied with the reptile(s) we sent, you may return them within 48 hours for replacement or credit. Return shipping expenses are the responsibility of the customer unless prearranged otherwise. "

-------------------------------------------------------


There were 4 other sellers that I checked but they mentioned nothing on the return shipping.
As I said earlier, this is SOP with internet businesses. Personally I think Mr. Schultz would be more than generous if he were to pay return shipping or replacement shipping.

If Don identifies the snake as the one he shipped to his customer, and in fact did make an error in sexing the animal it would be in his best interest to pay the return, and replacement shipping.
He has an online business, or "store." The customer see's the animal only by photo, and trust's the seller to properly sex the animal. It is the seller's responsibility to properly represent the animal by photograph, and properly sex the animal.
If the seller makes a mistake in sexing the animal, then he alone should eat the additional cost of making sure that the transaction is a positive one for his customer.
Now, if the animal is not the one that was shipped out, and it can be proven by photographic evidence, then the customer is a scammer and should be the subject of a BOI thread and receive nothing from the seller.
If after being shipped back to the seller, the animal is sexed again, and was in fact the proper sex, the customer should have to pay the return and replacement shipping, before receiving that same animal again.
The customer should always be satisfied, or at least treated fairly. I don't care about SOP, or TOS. The fact is I can't remember the customers name that started this thread already, but I do remember that Donald Schultz/Mfezi may have sent an improperly sexed animal to his customer and expects them to absorb the additional shipping charges to correct his error.

I think it would be fair if customer were to post pics of the animal from Don's KS ad, and one of the same animal in his possession? Then ship the animal back to Don, and let him re-sex it. If Don made an error, he should send his customer a properly sexed animal, and pay all extra shipping charges.
If the animal was properly sexed the first time, post another pic of the animal, again in Don's possession, and ship that same animal back only after the customer sends funds for all of the extra shipping charges, and publicly apologizes in this thread for starting it in error. JMO.

SOP = Standard Operating Procedure