First Choice Reptiles

I recently made a purchase from First Choice Reptiles. Here's how my dealings went. I will not label them a good guy or bad guy yet.

Last week I began inquiring about several animals. We made some room and wanted to branch into other species. So we picked up:

ORDER #206822
Order Date: 16th Apr 2015

This order is marked as Shipped

Your Order Contains:
2 x White Lined Gecko For Sale
3 x Fire Skinks For Sale
3 x African Banded Velvet Geckos For Sale

Prior to my payment FCR was very helpful. They responded very promptly. So I felt good about that and went ahead and made my purchase. Now enters the first problem.

Once payment was made and processed communication on their end ceased. I no longer got any emails to my questions about shipping. As shown above, I purchased on the 16th of April, my first response after that was the next day. I work all the time so shipping is critical for me. I have to provide adequate notice in order to miss half a day or an entire day.

After receiving a message via the FCR website, I decided to message them back trying to line up shipping. Very unsuccessful! Below are those messages. Notice there are only 2 responses from them and none are helpful. Keep in mind since the 17th I've been expecting an email from FedEx which to this day I've never gotten.

I did manage to get a response on Tuesday which was good for me since I was Wednesday. However I never received anything even though they marked my order as shipped on Tuesday. So today being Thursday I checked my email, nothing anywhere. I had to work so I went to work. I then get a call from my neighbor who noticed a package on my porch marked live animals. Luckily they called me and brought the package inside until I could get home on break. Keep in mind that it was only in the 40's this morning when I got the call. Never received an email from FedEx or FCR to expect my package today.

Being that it was so cold, I expected heat packs yet I found none. The skinks were very cold and stiff but alive. The Centrals were lively but I'm slightly concerned with them. Their bellies are very black. The White Lined Geckos look great right now. No visible signs of trauma or anything. So we'll be hydrating tons over the next few days. Then I'll decide if FCR is good or bad.

Messages

INBOX

Messages from First Choice Reptiles are shown below. Click "Send Message" to reply.

RE: ORDER #206822
17th Apr 2015 @ 10:30 AM

First Choice Reptiles Said:

Hello,
Thank you for your purchase, your order should ship in 3 business days. Kindly look out for a tracking number from fed ex in your inbox. Have a nice weekend.
Regards,
Ernest(FCR)
SHIPPING
17th Apr 2015 @ 11:04 AM

You Said:

Thanks for the update on shipping. I need a definite ship date and arrival date since I work. I'll need to give a notice for a day off.
SHIPPING
21st Apr 2015 @ 2:31 PM

You Said:

I expected a response from someone by now. I still haven't been told when you would be shipping my order. I am off tomorrow so shipping for delivery tomorrow would be ideal. A response would be appreciated on this matter asap. I don't know when I'll have another day off.
RE: SHIPPING
21st Apr 2015 @ 3:46 PM

First Choice Reptiles Said:

Hello Stephen,
Sorry for the delay in your response. we have a lot going on here and working on sending your order out asap. Your order should ship today hopefully on time for you to receive it at home. Thank you for your patience.
kind regards,
Ernest
THANKS
21st Apr 2015 @ 3:53 PM

You Said:

Thank you for responding. If you could get that to me tomorrow I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you for working to get my order fulfilled.

Here is the other Central and the White Lined. Couldn't grab a good pic of those because they were very jumpy so I let them crawl out into the tub on their own. I also need to grab a pic of the 3rd skink.

Since I overlooked this and it was pointed out in pm, I'll add that I'm aware my geckos are central banded and not those listed in the topic. They had not added the centrals to their website so they allowed me to add 3 of the africans to my order. I just simply stated in the additional comments section that I wanted the centrals.

Update with a question.

I took pics and emailed Nick at FCR about the condition of the centrals. Never got a response. I've now lost them. They took a couple small meals and appeared to drink water. But I guess it wasn't enough. Well I've emailed about it and still haven't gotten a response.

My question is this: should I wait longer for a response or just file a claim with PayPal for the cost of the Centrals? And yes, for anyone who needs proof of death, I can upload pics.

Tonya I agree with you, they should have sent a tracking number so you could be there when your critters were delivered.

Here is their TOS from their website, it seems to me that if they do not get a tracking number to you, they should not penalize you for not being home on delivery. :

FCR guarantees a LIVE ARRIVAL on every animal that we ship. We can only guarantee this on the FIRST delivery attempt. Someone must be present to accept the animal when they arrive. We ship all animals priority overnight (excepting inverts) to ensure their safe delivery, but if no one is there to receive them, we cannot be there to care for the animal. PLEASE ensure that you'll be available to receive your animal before you order! In addition, we ask you to understand that live animals, yes, even reptiles, are fragile, and cannot withstand extremes of temperature. Therefore this guarantee will only stand when your regional temperatures are above 32 degrees F, and below 90 degrees F*. We do our best to be as up-to-date as we can, but at the end of the day, the responsibility rests on your shoulders to inform us if your temperatures will be outside these extremes. Be considerate of your new pets! We can always wait to ship until conditions improve!
FCR guarantees all Amphibians for sale and all Wild Caught Reptiles for sale on our site for 24 hours after purchase. We take pride in the care we take of our animals, so we guarantee them to be healthy when you receive them! When they leave our possession and arrive into a customer's custody, however, we can no longer control their environment, or where and how they are kept. Many retailers will not offer any guarantee beyond arrival, but we are proud of and confident in the health and quality of our animals, so we back 'em with more than just our word.
FCR guarantees all Reptiles for sale listed as 'Captive Bred' for 3 days from the time of delivery. It's well known in the hobby that Captive Bred animals have a tendency to adapt better to the conditions of captivity than Wild Caught animals will. Because of this, we're willing to offer our exclusive extended guarantee on any reptiles for sale on our site that are marked as being 'Captive Bred'. We want you to feel confident when you place an order with us that you are buying from people who will have your back when something happens that is beyond your control. After all, it's our goal to be, and to remain, your First Choice.

Originally Posted by tbgnc22

I recently made a purchase from First Choice Reptiles. Here's how my dealings went. I will not label them a good guy or bad guy yet.

Last week I began inquiring about several animals. We made some room and wanted to branch into other species. So we picked up:


Prior to my payment FCR was very helpful. They responded very promptly. So I felt good about that and went ahead and made my purchase. Now enters the first problem.

Once payment was made and processed communication on their end ceased. I no longer got any emails to my questions about shipping. As shown above, I purchased on the 16th of April, my first response after that was the next day. I work all the time so shipping is critical for me. I have to provide adequate notice in order to miss half a day or an entire day.

After receiving a message via the FCR website, I decided to message them back trying to line up shipping. Very unsuccessful! Below are those messages. Notice there are only 2 responses from them and none are helpful. Keep in mind since the 17th I've been expecting an email from FedEx which to this day I've never gotten.

I did manage to get a response on Tuesday which was good for me since I was Wednesday. However I never received anything even though they marked my order as shipped on Tuesday. So today being Thursday I checked my email, nothing anywhere. I had to work so I went to work. I then get a call from my neighbor who noticed a package on my porch marked live animals. Luckily they called me and brought the package inside until I could get home on break. Keep in mind that it was only in the 40's this morning when I got the call. Never received an email from FedEx or FCR to expect my package today.

Being that it was so cold, I expected heat packs yet I found none. The skinks were very cold and stiff but alive. The Centrals were lively but I'm slightly concerned with them. Their bellies are very black. The White Lined Geckos look great right now. No visible signs of trauma or anything. So we'll be hydrating tons over the next few days. Then I'll decide if FCR is good or bad.

Messages


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I placed an order with them 5 weeks ago I haven't received my order asked for a refund they refuse to do so

They are crooks don't trust first CR they won't refund my money or send my order $99

Originally Posted by Adamw

They are crooks don't trust first CR they won't refund my money or send my order $99

If you paid using PayPal or credit card then start the process for a claim or chargeback.