Bad Experience with Carson Phelps of Herps Etc

Almost three years ago I paid Carson $3,000 for a pair of baby scaleless and a pair of her scaleless cornsnakes. I had purchased several scaleless ratsnakes from him previously so I did not question him when he asked me to deposit the money in his Bank of America account. Shortly after is when I started getting excuse for not receiving what I paid for. The first reason was the breeder he paid screwed him. Then the next year the breeder lost his entire set of eggs in the incubator because of the hurricane. Then last December(2012) we came to a new deal on ball pythons because it was clear to me Carson had no intention of completing our deal and I would not see the snakes or my money back. The new deal was 1.0 pied, 0.2 het pied, 0.2 yellowbellies, 2- 2013 Co Dominant Her Ultramel and one 2013 Spark, which I was to received by end of September 2013.

Then in September of this year Carson told me he did not breed any of his ball pythons this year and he could not get me what we had agreed on. So I asked for my money back and he said he could not pay me. He then came back trying to make a new deal on a male Banana. Which we never finalized because I wanted him to agree upfront of the whole complete deal so I would not get a Banana that cost me $3000, a long wait and a lot of headache.


I have never received any snakes or my money back. I would not have done business with Carson if I knew this is how he treats his customers. Any vendor that wanted to correct this problem would have done so as soon as they knew they could not fulfill what their customer paid for instead of stealing their money.

This is unusual, all I have ever heard of Carson is he is a stand up guy and a pleasure to deal with. I have went ahead and let Carson know about this thread via facebook. I hope we can help get to the bottom of the problem and get this resolved.

Very nice

Well first off
I was doing guy a favor on getting him scaleless cornsnakes which was my fault on trying to help him out
I was burned for the cash he sent me

So to make things rite

We made a virble agreement via phone a month or so ago that I would ship him a banana male
I asked guy if he wanted it now or after it had a few meals

He stated lets wait til he feeds

The banana has eaten once so far
And I haven't heard from guy lately
I have his snake no problem

Originally Posted by herpsetc

Very nice

Well first off
I was doing guy a favor on getting him scaleless cornsnakes which was my fault on trying to help him out
I was burned for the cash he sent me


I have his snake no problem

Does this mean the OP paid you $3,000 then you paid $3,000 (minus whatever your cut for brokering the deal was) to the breeder with the scaleless corns and he never delivered?

Just trying to clarify where the money went 'POOF'.


Evan

Originally Posted by herpsetc

Very nice

Well first off
I was doing guy a favor on getting him scaleless cornsnakes which was my fault on trying to help him out
I was burned for the cash he sent me

So to make things rite

We made a virble agreement via phone a month or so ago that I would ship him a banana male
I asked guy if he wanted it now or after it had a few meals

He stated lets wait til he feeds

The banana has eaten once so far
And I haven't heard from guy lately
I have his snake no problem

When someome gives you three grand for merchandise, it's not called a favor. It's called a business transaction.

Originally Posted by Chris Kennard

When someome gives you three grand for merchandise, it's not called a favor. It's called a business transaction.

I agree.

Originally Posted by Lucille

Carson I hope you will consider initiating a Bad Guy thread on Steve Miles.

Originally Posted by herpsetc

Yes I will start one up this evening

I didn't see it?

There are two separate issues here. One is Steve burning you. I think it would help the community if he had a Bad Guy thread so the rest of us are warned and have an informed choice on whether we want to do business with Steve.

The second is your responsibility to the OP. Hopefully the offer of reptiles you made will be completed and the OP will feel as if his $3000 was well spent. I do think that by taking the $3000 even though you did not gain from it, that you are as responsible as if you were the seller.
If the OP ultimately decides he wants a refund in such a circumstance, he would be entitled to it. He would get refunded from you, and you would have to go after Steve.

You are trying to make good by your offer of reptiles, and hopefully you will go after Steve for the funds so that you are not out after all of this.

Originally Posted by herpsetc

Very nice

Well first off
I was doing guy a favor on getting him scaleless cornsnakes which was my fault on trying to help him out
I was burned for the cash he sent me

So to make things rite

We made a virble agreement via phone a month or so ago that I would ship him a banana male
I asked guy if he wanted it now or after it had a few meals

He stated lets wait til he feeds

The banana has eaten once so far
And I haven't heard from guy lately
I have his snake no problem

Carson. At least you hopefully learned one lesson here. If not, here goes. Taking three thousand bucks from someone for merchandise is NOT A FAVOR! Paying for Western Union out of the money you owe him IS A FAVOR! And a huge one at that. Guy=good guy. Carson=Not

And a super stripe male aswell

Ok

Here's the complete breakdown

Guy was buying scalesless rat snakes from me
Which he received plenty of packages
I received a call on some scaleless cornsnakes
So I called guy and I told him hey I was offered scaleless cornsnakes if your interested Lmk
There $3k my cost
So he said ok ill take them

I told him I'm not making any money off this deal just trying to help u get your foot in the door on scaleless corns

Well after a bunch of bullshit
I ended up get burned for the $3k
I asked guy what he wanted to do
He asked if I had anything else
Reptiles (wise) so I said Lmk how this sounds
I can give u some het ultramel balls combos etc
And he said ok that works for me
Well the male didn't breed this past season
He's breeding now (go figure)
So I said instead of the ultramel stuff
I have a banana a super stripe
He said ok that works this was all done via phone

So I told him the banana just hatched do u want it now or after it hasn't eaten a few times

He stated lets wait til it feeds

Since then I haven't heard from him and the banana and super stripe are here and ready to go

Originally Posted by herpsetc

I ended up get burned for the $3k

Carson, who burned you?