Ian Gniazdowski from Outback Reptiles

I know Ian has a great reputatiopn in this business so I was very shocked when this situation arose. I purchased some animals from Ian at the Philly show this year. They were supposed to be shipped the following week. This never happened. It has now been a month of daily calls to his shop and THREE times I have gotten a hold of him or one of his employees and been promised they would be shipped right away. Still NOTHING!!! His machine always answers at his shop and most of the time the voice mail is full so I cannot even leave a message. I know there were a long string of glowing references on this guy at this site but this is ridiculous. I have waited a month and have had nothing even resembling customer service! Is there another number that I can reach him at other than the main number at his shop? If I do not get results soon I am going to be forced to go to harsher means but because this just seems very contrary to his reputation I am hoping that it is a fluke and would like to avoid it. Any and all help or info would be most appreciated. Thanks!

Rich Sawtell

Rich,

I do not know Ian at all, so what I am about to write has no tilt to it either way.

First, can you provide some more information on what exactly took place? Dates (of sale, contacts, attempted contacts, etc.) are always helpful in establishing a time frame. Specifics on when shipments were promised and when they were supposed to arrive would be good too. What was it that you purchased, and what was the amount?

Second, failure to ship when promised and poor accessibility are never acceptable patterns of behavior for businesses. However, given that it appears that Ian has had a good reputation in the industry, it may be that he has fallen ill, or suffered some situation that has preempted his ability to respond to you adequately. That doesn't excuse his lack of performance here, but it may stay your fears of being taken some,

Third, be sure to send an email to Ian, telling him that this thread has been started, especially after you have posted all of the pertinent facts. That way, he will have the opportunity to respond here as well as to you directly, so that if this is just a misunderstanding or something, his reputation will be cleared on the BOI for future readers/searchers.

I hope this all works out well for you . . .

I am indeed hoping that this is entirely a misunderstanding. It has just been very frustrating. I have actually given up on e-mail since very early I had sent a string of about 6 e-mails that never were answered. Anyways for more details:

on Nov. 16th NARBC show in Philadelphia I purchased 1.2 100% het for albino hognose. The male we took home. The females he did not have with him and was going to ship them that following week when he got back to his shop. I tried to call and e-mail daily througout the week leaving messages each time. I got a hold of Ian on Wed and he said he would check and make sure that had not been recently fed and if not would ship that day. He would call back either way and let me know. No call back...no animals. For the next few days I called daily and e-mailed daily leaving messages. No response. Then his voicemail was full. I continued to try to call daily but no change. This went on until about Dec 2nd. when I again got an answer on the phone and got to talk to Ian. He apologized and said that he had been traveling and would ship that week and would throw some extra animals in the box "for my trouble" I was supposed to call him Wed and remind him. Well on Wed I got the full machine again and no answer and no animals. This persisted until last Thurs I got an answer by one of his workers. The worker promised he would contact Ian who was traveling again and call me back. Again no call back no response and the voice mail is still full today.

That is the story in detail. I would appreciate any assistance in this matter. btw...I did try another e-mail telling him about this post and I sincerely hope that this has been a big misunderstanding.

Rich Sawtell

Excuses! Excuses! I believe you. Hey guy, just ship the man the animals he paid you his hard-earned money for.

Hey Rich, Ian is a really good guy but is very tough to get a hold of sometimes. He travels outside the USA quite a bit and in the USA he has some private customers that he sets up animals/cages/collections for and so he can be gone for long time. I do not have another number to give you but he does carry a cell phone. Have you tried contacting Bob Ashley or Brian Potter, the show promoters of the Philly show that you were at? I think if you contacted Bob and told him your situation he could be very helpful. His business number at his company, ECO, is 517 487 5595. Try that. Or try Brian at Chicago Reptile House. Evan

Thanks! I will definitely try that and will let you know what the status is.

I was just wondering if you finally received your animals?


Paul Jarosh
A Select Few Reptiles
Manassas Va

No as of yet I have still not heard anything from Ian. I did follow the earlier advice and got another number for him and got a message through to him but have not gotten a response. I am going to give it till after Christmas and see what happens.

Just to let everyone know. I ended up having to charge the money back on my credit card. I have been completely unable to get so much as a response from Ian. He does not answer e-mails or phone calls. I just gave up. The guys who run the Philly show were also unable to get an answer from him. It seems that his great reputation is very undeserved! Thanks for the help that people gave me.

Richard Sawtell

Thats unfortunate you had to experience something like that. Regardless of someones supposed reputation stuff like this is simply unexceptable!. If you pay the money you expect the product, or at the very least a reason as to why it hasn't arrived. I wont be doing business with them thats for sure! Outback reptiles deals with alot of imports which im not a big fan of either. I believe your better off buying from the person who bred the animals.