LIARS & THIEVES: Troy and Kellie Wikel (aka exotics2aquatics, Swift, Whiteboro, etc.)

Originally Posted by LotsaPetsGarfHt

that something like this would happen. With the little I know about Tennessee Herp laws, and the claims I had heard, I'm not surprised. I feel sorry for that anyone who attended, especially the cricket guy. They pulled off one heck of a con though.

Who was the cricket guy? Does he have good crickets at good prices? If he does and some of you are looking for a new source then perhaps he can get some new customers here.

My needs are, unfortunately for him, small and there is also a breeder of crickets close by so I am not in need but if any of you are.......

Originally Posted by Sherry Howell

.

Oh, the raffle money they said they would split with our reptile shelter??? Well, it left with them....all of it. They snuck out way before all the vendors left. We looked for them before we left and found nothing left of them...not even their kids.

Sherry,

This sounds like a disaster from the getgo. At first I was thinking that it was a financial shortfall, that they could not cover expenses because they did not sell enough tickets. But the alleged booking of several vendors after telling the first vendor he would be exclusive, well that's cold.

And no funds for your shelter, I am sorry that happened, I believe in people who rescue animals, and admire them.

It is always possible for anyone in business to have a financial disaster, business is all about taking risks and that is certainly foremost among the many risks possible.

I was trying to think of what I would do in a similar situation, and though I know that I cannot step into their exact shoes, I would not have double booked exclusive dealers, and I would not have given different numbers about the number of tickets sold, but most important, if I found myself short of money I would go to those I had obligations to, tell them in honesty what had happened, and offer to pay out my obligations.

ESPECIALLY if I had children with me; what a good lesson it would have been, for kids to see hard times, but also to see honesty and reparations.

Y'all might invite the Wikels to tell their side, there may well be factors that all of us are unaware of, but seeing the way it went down, with what has been said so far, it should have been handled in a more up front manner, IMHO.

This is a much longer answer than I intended, but I keep thinking of the expenses involved in running a rescue, I wish you the best in the future.

The cricket vendor was premium crickets. I was completely impressed with his crickets. He sold 1k for $13 at the show and at the end of the show he gave me a couple boxes to take home. Between me driving 9 hours home and him coming in from Atlanta, not to mention the crickets living in boxes the whole weekend, I didn't see any dead crickets when I got them home. They actually got too big for my babies and I still have some thriving that are now big enough for my adults. I should probably start a good guy post for Mike here on the BOI. By far the best cricket experience I have had so far.

Mike

Thanks, Lucille.

There is another thread under events that was first started right before the show. Kelli did post days after the show. She did call me to tell me that there was only $40 collected on the raffle and offered to get the $40 to me. I told her I would rather she use that money to settle with Roark Ferguson and Mike at Premium Crickets.

Maybe that thead and this one could be combined to form one thread on the BOI???

Running a shelter is mostly a labor of love. Because Ft. Campbell is five miles from our home, we also shelter, at no charge, reptiles for the guys and gals who get sent to Iraq. We'll be taking in about 30 from a married couple and two single guys within the next couple of months while they will be spending 18 months in Iraq. That's just from the people who have contacted us already. The last deployment, we had guys bringing their animals to us the day before and the day they actually shipped out.

we have been up and down the show road together for a while, dont think you were out to scam anyone. glad to see some responce from you in events. take care of your dealers, and what you said you would do.
the remarks about the dixe show
i have done this show lots of times and to me it is the best little show in south, good 1 last week.
prices i think prices were fair at nashville for reptiles, i am a turtle breeder supplyer, my turtles are delivered to turtle farms in pickup and trailer loads, some are traded for snakes, yes i have 1.25 $ in my ball pythons, but all are picked by me none shipped in, they are mine, if want to sell them for 20.00 , as i said , thery are mine,
i have been in this bussiness a long time, if things go bad, i just catch a boat out, make more money and get back going, nashvill has done this for me,
lets take this as a lesson learned, and try to make the best of it,
troy and kelly; if you are trying to repair you mistakes, i have a job coming in a week or 2, troy contact me
can probaly use you as a deckhand, pay is 1000 to 1500 a week.
gene arnold
turtleman1
cypress swamp reptiles
wdc1@webtv.net
no more points
thanks for looking

Telling vendors they will be the "EXCLUSIVE" dealer of their specialty, and that 6000 tickets have been presold....hmmmmmmm. So what is all that about? Maybe its just a little fib or misrepresentation. If you tell me I'm the only one that will be selling Leopard Geckos, and that you've presold 6000 tickets, I would expect to be the ONLY major vendor of Leopard Geckos, and I'd expect to see at least 5000 people through the door, thats allowing for 1000 NO SHOWS and NO WALK UPS...no they weren't trying to scam anyone.

Originally Posted by rujonesin

The cricket vendor was premium crickets. I should probably start a good guy post for Mike here on the BOI. By far the best cricket experience I have had so far.

Mike

Reading Wes's post I decided to place a small order. Communication was great. The crickets arrived today and look great, as great as a cricket could look I guess. I would definitely use them again. I'll check later to see if he has a thread going to add to it.

Recent News:

I received a phone call and email two days ago from a woman in Gainesville, Florida. She alleges that the Wikel's have pulled a scam there involving purchasing her pet shop. I am wondering if anyone else has been contacted or has heard of this.

Cheers, Michael

ask sherry howell (first page) about it. she can tell you. has something to do with fake deeds, stolen credit card numbers/accts, and some other stuff im sure.

Again i'll ask ..... why didnt the seller use Escrow ..... this whole pet shop thing looks realy suspect to me ... honest people use a broker to sell their properties, they open escrow , both parties place the money and the deed in escrow and after a search of records and funds verified escrow close's and both parties are ensured of a clean sale ...I've read alot of outrageous claims on several threads but people are being real hush hush about answering my simple question .... and this sherry howell person seems to be suspect at best..... how do I know she wasn't in on it and is now trying to cover her own ass .... so far everything I've read is just hearsay .... show me the escrow records then explain to me just how something like this could happen ... Its been my experience that people who dont use reputable brokers like coldwell bankers or century 21 are cons trying to rip you off ... i would "never" do buisness with anyone who wont go through a broker and place the whole deal in escrow .... doing so would be as moronic as sighning a contract you didnt read ..... if i were on a jury the first question i would want answered is ... who was the broker and second ,, how was escrow handeled, plain and simple .. i'de want to know if a full title search was done and how were the funds verified ... was this a case of a con being conned ??? its not uncommon at all for one con man to end up conned by another con man .... i have alot of reasonable doubt reguarding this whole issue .... I dont believe anything at face value .. i wana see proof ...