Rhode Island Reptile Enclosures: Warning

I hate to bad mouth anyone but I think you guys underestimate the amount of straight up bs we have been fed here. I have dozens of screenshots with promise after promise of delivery and crazy lists of excuses. Not only that, but with his first few promises, I paid for two more snakes that are still waiting to be shipped because I have nowhere to put them. So now it's causing problems for the guyi bought them from as well. Jim told me he refunded my money, but there is no money or even pending transactions showing up yet, so the waiting game continues.

I did indeed refund, It's only been a little while and you paid via debit or credit card, so depending on your financial institutions Process and procedures, Unfortunately i cannot make it move any faster, if i could I certainly wood.

Not saying you didn't do it. Just stating that this transaction continues to bite me in the ass.

Originally Posted by Rhode Island Reptiles

about the phone thing... , my "day Job" does not allow the use of cell phones due to equipment and servers etc. we work in mechanical rooms and basemtns where most networking equipment is held, Generally speaking there is little to no service,

When i don't answer it's never on purpose, Which is why, when you don't hear from me and i text, Again one day I can do the building full time and not have to deal with those types of issues.

While I appreciate respecting your day job, you can't use that as a crutch to not be in regular and clear communication with your customers. Sounds like you have probably taken in more orders than you can reasonably handle and instead of being straight forward about delays provide excuses and spotty communication.

Again, I do not believe you are out to scam people but it is your responsibility to meet reasonable deadlines and if you can't, be honest and in touch with your customers. Telling your customer that you are on route with enclosures and then just failing to show up without any contact is inexcusable.

I agree. No excuse at the end of the day. My day to do should not fall onto the customer.

Scammer!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Rhode Island Reptiles

I agree. No excuse at the end of the day. My day to do should not fall onto the customer.

Do you admit, then, to knowingly lying to customers about being en route with cages when you never intended to be? And to telling two separate customers that you were delivering their cages at the same time, with no intention of delivering either?

I get that this guy is swamped and trying to dig his way out, but I feel like people are giving him a pass on a lot of shady misdirection/lying to keep the house of cards standing. He may very well be a "good guy" who just got behind, but an honest businessman does not lie to customers about deliveries that are on the way, or that he's heading out in the car to deliver, and then not show up... this is merely a variation on "the check's in the mail". Is everyone really willing to overlook all that as just "well he's a good guy who got behind"? When a good guy gets behind, he doesn't flat out lie to his customers, does he?

NO. not at all, 1. IM not a scammer, if i fail to deliver on time, and a refund is requested then a refund is given immediately.
2. I did not lie, I actually was in route, Had an issue when my phone die which was also my GPS. ,
WE get busy, I tell the truth about what is happening at any given time. With any Custom build things happen which I do not have to explain, Manufacturing issues, Changes in Designs, Supply delays from 3rd party vendors, or even layaway clients. Thats why The OP had two brand new cages delivered to his home at 11pm at night just so his animals would have a proper home.. Thats 1000.00 worth of cages, Heatpanels and lights.

Ive apologized, Ive issued refunds, and gone above and beyond to try and right any wrongdoing i may have caused by being late on delivery.

As a business thats all i am able to do. I do apologize that i Couldn't deliver in a timely manner but these things happen and I clearly outline that very fact both in the original invoices and all over my website.

Originally Posted by Rhode Island Reptiles

NO. not at all, 1. IM not a scammer, if i fail to deliver on time, and a refund is requested then a refund is given immediately.
2. I did not lie, I actually was in route, Had an issue when my phone die which was also my GPS. ,
WE get busy, I tell the truth about what is happening at any given time. With any Custom build things happen which I do not have to explain, Manufacturing issues, Changes in Designs, Supply delays from 3rd party vendors, or even layaway clients. Thats why The OP had two brand new cages delivered to his home at 11pm at night just so his animals would have a proper home.. Thats 1000.00 worth of cages, Heatpanels and lights.

Ive apologized, Ive issued refunds, and gone above and beyond to try and right any wrongdoing i may have caused by being late on delivery.

As a business thats all i am able to do. I do apologize that i Couldn't deliver in a timely manner but these things happen and I clearly outline that very fact both in the original invoices and all over my website.

For what it is worth (which isn't much), I believe you. Further, I commend you for giving the customer "loaner-racks", as I think that is reflective of good business ethics.
With that said, take it from me (as a small business owner myself), it would behoove you to really re-evaluate your production times (and add a "buffer" of time to that estimate of ~20%!!!) so that things like this don't occurs in the future.
From reading the posts of dissatisfied customers, I don't really see that there is anything more that you can do at this time to rectify this situation. I think you have done your best to rectify what you could, but you are just going to have to chock some of this up as a learning experience and try to give better estimates in the future.
Best of Luck,
Beau

Originally Posted by MissFirefly

Would recommend laying out your timeline - when you first made contact, when you paid, and the promised delivery date. Also helpful to share any communication you have had (emails, FB messages, texts) to backup your story.

If you paid via PayPal or with a credit card, would see about submitting a claim to get your money back.

I'll never understand why people don't post all of their information right out of the gates. Nothing but fragments in this thread.