Rainforest Reptiles----BAD DEAL

I did a deal with Rainforesst for 5 adult female BP's, over 1200 grams for $600 shipped on Oct. 30. I received the animals on Nov. 1, and to my surprise, they were sickly, thin imports covered in ticks. (Just for the record, the imports part of it is not the issue, even though Mike tried to make it that way). I immediately(on the advise of a lawyer, who is a friend of mine) filed a dispute with paypal and emailed Mike, who sent me an angry email about how i didn't do things the right way, and how he's sent over 50 of these animals out without a problem, and asked me to call him. I did, and after a little bickering back and forth, i told him that the bottom line was that i was unhappy with the animals. he told me that they were exactly as described, which "technically" they were all over 1200 grams, but should have been more like 1600-1700 grams, 2 with visible spines they were so thin. i asked for a refund, but Mike said he had already spent the money. we ended up coming to an agreement that i close the dispute with paypal(a HUGE MISTAKE)and hold the animals until he came up with the money, which he told me would take a week at the most(putting the date at 11/8) and then i would ship back the animals. he actually said to me, "well, we will send at the same time(money from him, snakes from me) and i guess i'll have to hope i get back what i sent", like i was going to screw HIM!! at this time, i isolated the tick infested animals together and went about my business. the next day, i was at work, and got a phone call from one of my employees saying that either the snakes were lesbians, or they weren't all females. the "females" were breeding!!! I heard nothing for a few days from Mike, so on 11/7, i sent an email:

To: Rainforest263@aol.com
Subject: Re: Message about: 06 BALL PYTHONS. . . .EVERYTHING MUST GO!
From: chfd143@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2006 19:11:20 +0000
Any word yet on my refund? Tomorrow is a week. I also sent you an email
letting you know that one of those animals is a male. The only reason I
found out is it is in a tank with another of the animals you sent me,
and it was trying to breed with her. Please let me know what is going on
with the money.

And almost an INSTANT reply:

From: Rainforest263@aol.com
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2006 19:12:20 EST
Subject: Re: Message about: 06 BALL PYTHONS. . . .EVERYTHING MUST GO!
To: chfd143@yahoo.com
No word yet... I have a pending deal. I will let you know if and when it goes through. As far as the male goes that was a mistake. I have my guys probe and separate them. So there was probably a mix up. I apologize

Thanks
Mike
Rainforest Reptiles


I went through the group and probed all of them and found 2, not 1 male!! Again, no word for a few days, so on 11/10 i sent another email:

To: Rainforest263@aol.com
Subject: Re: Message about: 06 BALL PYTHONS. . . .EVERYTHING MUST GO!
From: chfd143@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 18:24:09 +0000
Mike,

Its been 9 days now. You told me 7 at the most. Any word yet? If it
gets to 2 weeks I won't have a choice but to reopen the dispute. Also, I
went through and probed everyone and there are 2 males! Let me know what
is going on, I'm not happy about finding 2 out of 5 to be males.

George

This time, it took 3 days for a response, and he has the AUDACITY to sound annoyed:

From: Rainforest263@aol.com
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:55:51 EST
Subject: Re: Message about: 06 BALL PYTHONS. . . .EVERYTHING MUST GO!
To: chfd143@yahoo.com
I told you before that I am waiting on this deal. The guys is suppose to paypal me the money so I am just waiting on that. Then you can send the snakes back to me once I have money. So I will keep in touch. As soon as something happens I will contact you..

Thanks,
Mike

So i responded immediately:

To: Rainforest263@aol.com
Subject: Re: Message about: 06 BALL PYTHONS. . . .EVERYTHING MUST GO!
From: chfd143@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:55:57 +0000
Yes, you told me that 6 days ago, with no update since? Do you have a
time frame?

I got no reply, and haven't heard a word since. I called paypal to reopen the dispute, and found out that once a dispute is closed, it's gone. Unable to be reopened. The paypal rep told me to go through my financial institution. I called the bank, but paypal used an electronic draft from the account, not the debit card on file, so I can't even do a chargeback. My only recourse was to sign an affadavit against PAYPAL, who is not at fault AT ALL in this, thereby ruining my relationship with them if i get ANY money back at all, and Mike gets off scott free. Like I told Mike, all i want is a refund. it's just good business. He said he spent the money on something else. it has now been 16 days, and i have not had ANY proactive correspondence from Rainforest Reptiles, only annoyed replies when I ask for a status check on my money.

Well it certainly appears that you're not the only one with issues:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=88442

(this one starts out positive, and quickly turns negative)
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ad.php?t=64585

Really sucks things turned out the way they did. I really hope you get it all resolved.

Were you expecting five 1200+g captive hatched females for only $600?

if the deal sounds too good to be true....

My problem, like i said, wasn't with imports or not, it was with thin, tick COVERED imports, and 2 out of 5 "females" were males

George sorry to hear about your problems with Mike.. Your not alone in that others have had problems with Rainforest Reptiles. If people keep giving them money they will keep taking it and ripping folks off. I love how Mike always refers to ''My guys"" reminds me of Chris Johnson..

George I have a question,, How long have you used the Reptiles Inc. name??
Randy

Nate he said he knew they were imports...Randy

yeh i caught that after i posted...i understand what the issue is

but what made me ask the question was this here:

and to my surprise, they were sickly, thin imports covered in ticks

was the surprise a surprise because they were imports? or because they were covered in ticks? or because they were thin?

I was just looking for clarity that you knew they were imports before he shipped. If you knew then i'd say it's not really an issue.

the problem originally was them being thin and sickly, then the ticks then the BIG problem is the 2 males

and my store's name is Reptiles, Inc.

name: CHRISTIAN REINA
A friend of mine and I purchased two adult female ball pythons (imports) from RAINFOREST REPTILES a few weeks ago. The animals arrived as described. One was about 1500g and the other one was about 1200g. They were treated for parasites and they ate.

You're paying at least $0.06 LESS per gram than market cost. What do you expect?

You stated that you didn't have a problem the animals were imports and you knew about it as per your post. Then you said technically they were 1200g. The ad states 1200+g females for $100 and i think you got what the ad says. treat them for parasites and then feed the females. if they do not eat at all, THEN i would say call Mike and see what he can do because paypal won't do anything for you. They do not have any buyer protection for LIVE animals. Trust me.