Joe Stephens

lucille- it was off of Kingsnake.com

Randal- That was my reason for posting here, which is why my original post asked if anyone else delt with him, to see if this was a one time issue or its a reoccurance. I didn't post him as being a bad guy due to me not knowing this. I wasnt wondering where the mites came from, I knew they couldnt have 'latched on' in shipment and the quarentine cage she was put in was a new cage and I presently had no mites on any of my reptiles.

I dont have animals shipped to me often, I've only had 4 in the last year, but those four happened to be within a week of eachother but I dont make a point to memorize peoples addresses.

I recently purchased a 1.1 pair of Bumblebees from Joe Stephens of Miramar, Florida. I received them last Tuesday(11-20) mite free and I still haven't seen any evidence of any mites. They were shipped when they were supposed to be and were well packaged. They've both settled in and have eaten for me, BUT, they are nowhere near the size they were supposed to be. These were advertised as 300+ grams each, with the male being a little bigger. When I weighed them they were each only 98 grams. Not even close to the 300+ grams they were advertised as. 1 of the main reasons I chose this pair was that I was hoping to put some size on the male and breed him late in the season to a couple females that will also be ready late in the season. Obviously there's no way this male will be ready this year and I've lost the chance of this breeding for this year. I e-mailed Joe to ask him what he could do to make this right and his reply was,"As far as doing anything there really isnt anything I can do. They were at an extremely low price, and they are 100% healthy, and eat really great so should have no problem putting weight on quick. I doubt there will be many 07 males breeding this season". I don't understand that if they're eating really great and hatched on August 19th, why are they only 98 grams? Anyway, at this point I can't recommend Joe as a seller. His animals were misrepresented and he's unwilling to make it right. Not good business to say the least.

I'm sorry to hear that happened to you, if he misrepresented them that bad, I'd keep trying to get him to do something about it. 98 g and 300g is a big difference. He can atleast give you a bit of money back to avoid the hastle of shipping and reshipping

That is totally unacceptable if true. Could you post copies of emails to support this?

I just e-mailed Joe a link to this thread. Hopefully he will come on here and give his side. I can think of many ways he could have made this right. Oh well.
Seth,
Which e-mails would you like to see? I'll post the final one now in which he says he can't do anything about it. Let me know if you want to see something else.

In addition to that, do you have any emails or a copy of the ad where he states the 300 grams. That would be good (bad for him).

How someone can weigh their snake ands its a 100g then post it at 300g is beyond me. I would really like to see the ad. I would want some money back or send the snakes back and 2 that are 300g with shipping paid both ways by him.
Rick

Originally Posted by cahrens

I just e-mailed Joe a link to this thread. Hopefully he will come on here and give his side. I can think of many ways he could have made this right. Oh well.
Seth,
Which e-mails would you like to see? I'll post the final one now in which he says he can't do anything about it. Let me know if you want to see something else.

I saw that ad and was really tempted. Glad I didn't follow thru. Sorry you got misrepresented animals.

Alright, here's a screenshot of the ad. Joe did e-mail me today stating he's sorry I feel this way. I tried to explain myself a little further to him so maybe he'll understand my disappointment now. I also just noticed that in the ad which is dated November 7th, he says they are 4 months old. Later through e-mail he told me that they were born August 19th so although advertised as 4 months old they weren't even 3.

Another thing, did you re-sex them to make sure they are indeed a male and female? I did that with mine and it did turn out to be a female, but just making sure. I wonder if she's from the same clutch, I was told there was bumbles in the litter. I just went and weighed mine and she is: 145 g eatting an adult mouse once a week