Mike Fortier- Sand & Sun Reptiles- Need the Boards Opinion

I am writing this out of regret but feel as if my hand had been forced. I have had an ongoing transaction with Mike Fortier of Sand & Sun Reptiles for a little over 2 months now. Why I regret writing this is I considered and still consider Mike to be a friend whom I have had contact with for a number of years in a Reptile Chat room I frequent. As many of you have seen, and some of you have purchased some of the gorgeous corn snakes I have been selling on Fauna here in the classifieds. Well about two months ago Mike had contacted me through a friend saying he was looking for some corns. After about 2 weeks of sending him hatch dates, feeding records, shed dates, and literally dozens of pictures for him to decide what he wanted, he chose a total of 9 snakes of various morphs of which I gave him a very considerable discount. He said he would send a money order for the full amount at a giving day. Time passed and I contacted him to make sure it was sent and all was well as I know how the PO can have problems, and he would send it out in the next couple of days. He had told me on one occasion that the money order was sent, and when it didn’t arrive again I asked him and he said that he may have not sent it by accident. It was no accident, I will post a link to the corn snake photo gallery where he states he sent it around Thanksgiving when truly it was never sent to verify it. That will also give you a time frame for which I had held them for him being he recieved them a week ago. Even with all that which I never threw in his facee, I blew the whole thing off and said no problem just send the funds now and all will be fine, and your snakes will continue to be held for what was 4-5 weeks now. Two days later he writes me and says he is having financial problems and can’t afford them and says he feels awful about it and offers to send $40 for the time they were held and for feeding them as well as them not being able to be sold to anyone else. I have no emails saved to this account as I considered him a friend, but it can all be verified by a third party if necessary. My response to him was that I won’t expect it but if you feel it’s the right thing to do feel free, nevertheless no funds came. A few days go by and Mike contacts me apologetic about it and says he would like to purchase 3 of the original 9 that I had held for him close to a month. Once again I agreed and even still gave him a little discount. The money did show up soon after and we arranged a day for shipping. All three snakes were feeding excellent and looked awesome. I packed them in an insulated box with a 40 hour heat pack and sent next day air; the snakes were in transit for less than 18 hours. When they arrived Mike sent me an email 4 hours later telling me they looked incredible and were more beautiful than he expected. He also informed me that he fed them all one f/t pink only 3 hours out of the box and all ate flawlessly. Not a practice I would do personally as I believe they need a minimum of a couple days to acclimate and get over shipping stress. This can all be verified on the BOI as Mike posted a thread stating everything I just wrote about their arrival, appearance and feeding of which I will post the link. Now is where trouble comes into what is a normally a paradise for me.

Two days later Mike contacts me saying that one of the females had died and he had no clue why. I of course felt horrible about it and was curious as to why. After we went over some of his husbandry I came to the conclusion that Mike was owed some sort of refund. I offered either his money back or credit issued with my company. Mike decided to take the credit but I told him that he could redeem for a refund at anytime if he chose, I sent him a dated email stating that for his records. A week later he emails me again to say that another died and he believes it maybe due to parasites. I wrote back saying that I didn’t believe it could be parasites whatsoever. The reasons I stated that as 2 snakes with a sufficient parasite load to kill them probably wouldn’t have made it through shipping and definitely not ate 3 hours out of the box with the stress of shipping, and he said himself they looked incredible in the BOI thread. I also said I couldn’t believe it was parasites as I still have siblings here doing awesome, and I have sold some and all the owners have nothing but praise. If you look at the same BOI thread I am mentioning about Mike praising me and the snakes you’ll notice a thread by Wes Pollack stating the snakes he was sent from the same batch are doing great and he is very pleased. Now tonight I get an email from Mike saying the third and final snake is about two days from dying and he is sure it’s due to parasites, saying I may have had prior knowledge and threatened to take it here, so here it is. This truly offended me as I have never done a shady deal in my life and those who know me can attest to this, if you don’t know me do a search under Mike and Erica @ MotherGecko and there are a few dozen references of my business practices and my personal charatar. I will email a link to Mike of this thread as soon as it is posted so he is fully aware of it. I offered for a friend in his local area, whom was kind enough to offer his services to me to collect the dead snakes to get a necropsy, Mike had said it was an option he didn’t want to pursue. I have been extremely polite, professional, and more than courteous through this entire deal with Mike, even in the beginning with the payment problems and time consumed. So I bring this here for the Boards opinion on the situation. Your input is appreciated.

Thank you,
Michael Beberman
Mother Gecko Reptiles

This is the positive BOI thread Mike left for me after recieving the snakes stating his satisfaction.

This is also the thread in which Wes P. states his satisfaction with the snakes form the same batch that have done great for him.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=60449

This is the thread in which Mike states he sent the money but never did, please note the date.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ghlight=Mother

I have thought of Mike Fortier(I will refer to him as Mikey to save confusion in this post) as a friend for some time now, as I too frequent the chat room that Mike spoke of in his initial post. The immaturity Mikey is showing in his business dealings is disheartening to say the least.
I remember last year, or maybe the year before he had purchased some ball pythons from a lady who also used the AOL reptile chat. Those animals too were in good health on her end, had been treated for parasites and were feeding. Mysteriously , they died within her 7 day guarantee period, and she offered a refund.
I also remember a time when Mikey had placed an order with one of the large retail stores, I don't remember if it was LLL or Prehistoric Pets, but he later made joking remarks about how he got out of that commitment by having his mommy call to cancel the order.
I was able to let that go and continue talking to him, as it did not effect me, but I did tell him that I wouldn't ever sell to him when he has a mother that is going to dig him out when he has buyers remorse.
This latest issue with Mother Gecko REALLY pisses me off.
Mike Beberman is the best salesman that I have had the pleasure of doing business with in the industry. It sickens me to think about some kid making threats in email about bringing this issue to the BOI against a man who has NEVER had a negative post about him anywhere.
Not only would I not give this kid a refund, but I wouldn't even give him a second thought until he shows you necropsies.
If the necrospy shows that this is something that was a problem caused by Mother Gecko, I will start a fund to pay for the refund of the animals, and cover the necropsy costs on ACC.

WOW, I am shocked. I have have several conversations with mike. I have done business with him, not for animals but for supplies. I thought he was a good guy, I do agree a necropsy should be done. How old is Mike, I was thinking he was in his 30's for some reason.. IS he kid?
-Matt Graybeal

I think when I first started talking to him in the AOL chat he was 13.So he's 15, maybe 16 now?
Definately a big time SELLER BEWARE kind of person.

Foe than a friend to me.... Did Mike provide pix of the dead snakes...? Does he still have them frozen etc.? I'd like to know his reasoning for not wanting to go your route and have a friend come by and pick them up & take them to find out the cause of death. Although I have never purchased from you I did as you suggested and ran a search on here under your name & saw nothing but PRAISE.... Reading the post before mine,where it was st8ed that he had claimed something almost identical to this about the pythons,It just would not sit right with me.Something smells FISHY .... I would respectfully decline a refund to him in this situation. JMO. Pe@ce..... Mike Clark

Mike it sounds like you are doing everything you should and more my friend. I have never seen one bad thing about you or your herps. I know I have never bought anything from you but i have seen your stuff and know your knowledge. And I also know you set the bar for customer service.

Losing Corns is hard to do and IMO if it had anything to do with your end you would have seen it before shipping.

Everyone knows you are one of the best bro! I really am wondering what comes back from the vet.

Did you ask how he had them set up? Did he feed then try to cool them?

Yes did he send pics of the dead snakes? I would like to know that as well. I agree that there is something wrong on his part something is definatly not right on his end. I would hold off on a refund as well. Good luck, Shanell.

I am still shocked he is like 16..lol.. Pics would be a must as vet documentation and the bodies of the animals.. You dont thik they are alive and he is just wanting free animals?
-Matt Graybeal

I really don't want to answer too many questions without Mike coming here to speak for himself but here they come.

As to the age issue, I was not aware that Mike is a minor and I had talked to him for years in a reptile chat and never got the impression he was.

Concerning the pics, I did not ask to see pics when I was notified of the first snake. In hind site of course it being 20/20 I should have, especially with the ordeal that hapened with the payment, but I know that people can have problems in that department, hell if I sold every animal that the 'check was in the mail' I would be on a tropical beach.

Gary, when the first snake died I asked the general questions but thought it was a fluke of some sort or honestly thought it may have been due to being fed too soon out of the box, but I wanted him to be a satisfied customer and considered him a friend and no use crying over spilled milk, even though when any animal dies it always brings me down. When I was notified of the second dying and the third supposedly on it's death bed tonite I recieved the threatening email and posted this and immediately sent Mike a link to the thread as I will not be threatened and have nothing to hide.

Thanks everyone whom has said such nice things about myself and my business, it is greatly appreciated.

Michael Beberman
Mother Gecko - Reptiles