Questionable Guarantee

Please read the following guarantee and let me know if you think it would cover a scar that runs from dorsal to belly on a GTP hatched in late 02.


I have personally maintained these animals in my collection for over 8 months. I raised them from a very small size and I stand behind their health and quality. Any GTP you buy from me will be GUARANTEED and will be in EXCELLENT condition.

I should mention that this was brought to the attention of the seller within 24 hrs.

To me, the phrase "excellent condition" and the overall guarantee tends to imply that the animal is outwardly healthy (if not robust), flawless, and feeding regularly. Also, even if the injury is fully healed when you received the GTP, it may have some impact on the health or breeding abilities of the animal in the long run, and it should have been disclosed by the seller before the purchase was finalized.

Just my $0.02,

Lauren Rost

Excellant is not Pristine. It's sort of a shadey area. I think it should have been disclosed before the purchase and if you are not happy with the snakes appearance you should be able to get a refund. Perhaps this was an example of a gubutzism, someone meaning to say one thing when in fact they are saying something completely different.

I know of many people who only want perfect specimens in their collections, no scars or pattern irregularities at all. There is nothing wrong with this, even if the animal is otherwise perfect. If you are such a collector and were not made aware of this scar before the purchase I think you should be entitled to either replacement or refund.

Wes Pollock

I did not, in my previous post, mean to imply that there is anything wrong with wanting only perfect specimens in your collection. I have passed on animals myself that were scarred that I would have otherwise purchased for projects I'm working on.

Here are some quotes from e-mails from the seller (I will not disclose untill I am sure of a neg. outcome.) First he knew nothing then said the pic refreashed his memory but he still did not know it was there when it was sold to me. LOL These are also in the order recieved.......

"As I said before, I never noticed the scar. I cannot imagine where it came from either. I advertised the chondro to be in excellent condition and that it would eat. Did the chondro come to you in excellent health and did it eat? The question you have to ask yourself is what did I buy him for? If it was for breeding then a small imperfection in the scalation shouldn't matter should it?"

" At this point I feel that I would be more than fair by offering you a small discount on another chondro. I can almost guarantee you that no other breeder would do this but I am going to do my best to make you as happy as possible. You must be a very particular reptile enthusiast and I'm sure you take great care of your animals for noticing a small blemish but please try to look at this from my point of view."

"Now that you refreshed my memory with that picture It does seem familiar to me but vaguely. When you mentioned "scar" I was thinking of something that really stands out. This is something you almost have to look for to see. I can tell you this, a scar does not "grow" larger with age.. it stays the same size, fades out (with each shed), and as the snake becomes larger grows less noticeable. Also, it is on the inside portion of his coils, which means 99% of the time you will never see it except when he is young and during a large meal, that is probably why I never noticed ...being hidden on his inner coil."

"Ok.. I have been over this before, I said I did not have any idea of the imperfection when I sold the snake nor was it ever on my mind for more than a second at most. I said the picture jogged a memory of noticing a blurry area a couple months ago but I figured it was nothing and never paid attention again. I deal with several hundred chondros a year not including the other snakes and lizards so when I say I had no idea or memory of a mark .. I had no idea or memory of the mark."

"Ok, I got to thinking, I will just let you muscle me over on this one. I'm not going to let one snake damage my companies reputation. What do you need to make this go away! Like I said, I will not re-introduce sold animals into my collection. You already have the chondro for 20% off. Just tell me the number you want and we will make this go away.""

This was 2 days ago and I am just asking for MOST of my money back and I would ship at my expense, simply because I don't wish to have a scared GTP in my collection. Especially if I decide to breed, seems how the scar could cause problems. Aren't they already hard enough to breed and hatch, without existing CONDITIONS?

Thanks for the input,
Dustin

Did anyone have a hard time finding the scar in the pic on page 1? I wouldn't think so, but it isn't the best quality, sorry.
Dustin

The scar is quite noticeable to me. But also a bit disturbing in that it is on the side and appears, at least to me, to be a scar from a possible incision, which is a very scary prospect in my eyes(incision scars on the sides or bellies of snakes coming out of Asia are not things you want to see as it could mean the snake's gall bladder or liver was removed and the snake will be dead soon, though I am not saying this is the case with your chondro).

I am glad to say I don't think that was the case and that the seller got in touch and we came to the agreement of the return and the seller actually gave a "surprise" full refund when we had agreed on a lesser amount. Thank you to everyone for your input and helping me get this resolved and Fauna for letting the consumer have a right to post.