why you should NOT do business with Todd Gearhart

I can't understand why this happened but I guess it makes a lot more sense after reading these other experiences people had as well. I received an email from Todd last week stating that he just received an item in stock. I got back to him the same day and even left the message with my phone number to simplify things since this guy doesn't have a phone number. I was pretty confined he would atleast call me, I was wrong. After forwarding my email several times over the next few days, he finally answers a week later saying the item was sold.

So I replied to his email saying this: "I contacted you the same day you reached out to me about the monitors you never even got back to me! I really expected to atleast get a phone call back. I can't believe you would reach out to me like this then sell the animal to someone else before even reading my response or trying to get back to me. I'm very upset to say the least and I definitely didn't expect that from you at all. I really was looking forward to doing business with you but after this I'm hesitant to say the least, I can easily do business with someone else who actually would take the time to speak to me and I don't have to email back and forth I can call them. I hope you reconsider the way you do business."

His response is really even more dissapointing...Todd Gearhart:

"What????

This email is rude. The world doesn’t resolve around you. I’ve been in the business for 35 yrs.- successfully. Another customer that has done repeat business with me over the years ordered and paid for the baby croc within an hour. I have a family and another business and I’m not 24/7 available because I have a life. You trying to “teach me a lesson about business” is very rude. I have thousands of customers over 3+ decades online, internationally and at the shows. If another customer buys the animal from me, I’m not under any obligation to hold it for you. For all I know, your window shopping with a thousand questions and then can’t pay for you order, because you don’t have the money. I’ve been through that routine before.

So, first order, first pay, first sold - period.

So, take your business somewhere else to be rude."

So I mean people should really consider this before doing business with this guy. Making the customer feel guilty about your own negligence is unacceptable to say the least. All I asked for was a simple reply I'm sorry I'm not one of those customers that's been doing business for years but that would be kind of hard being that he would like to pick and choose who to respond to. I could go on and on how unprofessional this guy is but I think he made it very obvious by stating how he feels about his customers, must be reassuring to know that he considers everyone who inquires about his business a window shopper instead of a potential customer.

Post the entire email chain when you have time, please. Include your multiple attempts for initial contact. The several times could have played a role. Would be useful to determine the approach taken.

I would have probably elected to get back to you by email, too. It is my preferred communication medium for animal transactions. I like that it provides a plain record of communication. Others prefer the phone. The seller can opt for whatever method he or she deems most fitting. I am responding at around 2am my time. That means this is my convenient (spare) time for a response to your post. Not too conducive to phone calls for most people if I got an ad inquiry and I had the same window for response available. Other demands do beckon.

Another thing is burnout. People who have been around longer tend to have put up with an immense volume of time-wasters. There are investigative buyers and then there are people who get their kicks from "showing interest" alone. I greatly dislike when I pass on an animal after having my questions answered or photos provided (as a buyer), but it has to happen sometimes if what I receive in terms of information proves a incongruous fit for my aim. I still feel guilty for eating that time from a seller. Ideally, every inquiry would get a response. Even something brief to acknowledge the interest and update status. Between burnout and spam filters, I understand that some messages do simply fall through the cracks. If I have someone flake on me once or more, lowball me once or more, or use unwarranted aggressive wording, those are other reasons why I might elect to decline my opportunity to respond to an inquiry. I would think some other sellers might have similar perspectives and approaches involving the aforementioned factors.

There are times I receive no response, incomplete response, or delayed response. I remember those sellers (and buyers). It may influence how I choose to do (or not do) business with them down the road if extreme enough. It is unlikely to motivate me to create a "bad guy" BOI thread based on solely that, though.

Good lord, Adam. Not worthy of a Bad Guy thread. Todd, who I do not know at all, did not deserve your blast. He is fortunate he did not deal with you.

Adam, not sure this was warranted at all
Your post on his inquiry thread should have been more than enough

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=125322

OP, when you say "I got back to him the same day" do you mean you emailed him saying "I definitely want it/them, how can I send payment?" or do you mean you responded with further questions? Not to say having questions is a bad thing but if you have two customers, one that says "Yes, I want it" and one that says "I am interested, can you tell me..." you can't really be mad when the "Yes, I want it" gets it.

Your response seems heavy handed for missing out on a deal you were excited about. When a store sends me a flyer I can't then get mad if the item on sale is sold out when I get there... I've had items I was inquiring about sell out from under me and I only assume I had myself to blame as I didn't get my money to the seller first. It is business after all. Burning a bridge for future availability seems silly if you are that upset you missed out this time. I would have just told him I would like first dibs on the next one as I am absolutely sure I want it/them and disappointed I missed out on this one. For all you know he may have thrown in a discount to make up for the disappointment. I'd say you burnt that bridge though.

Congratulations, Adam - you now have the same topic running on 5 different threads. While that isn't against the rules, it is a bit of a pain in the when trying to follow what is going on....even more so since your experience did not include any transfer of funds.
My suggestion to you is to pick ONE thread to use, rather than continuing in all of them. (Might as well be this one, since you started it) You may post a link in the others, so people are aware of this thread - hopefully that will reduce the confusion.

Unfortunately, Mr Gearhart has a long standing habit of reporting posts that reflect negatively on him...he's been warned several times to limit those reports to things that are actually rule violations; but, apparently, he's never taken those warnings seriously. As a result of his 5 post reports this morning, he has been banned for a period of 7 days. Hopefully, that hint will strike the right note.

To be clear - Mr Gearhart was not removed for anything having to do with Adam Morsi. He was removed due to recurrent abuses of the Report Post function.
(That shouldn't have needed clarification; but I'm sure that, for some, it did.)

I think there is a mistake in the heading of this thread. It should say "me" instead of Todd Gearhart.

This is the reply I posted to the first thread I saw this morning:

Originally Posted by hhmoore

So, in a nutshell, you're upset that you weren't the only person he notified when that animal became available...and that, because another person responded more quickly, you were unable to secure the purchase?
Before you respond, reread your complaint.

While, in an ideal world, the seller would have responded to your inquiry - letting you know that the animal was sold - that doesn't always happen. I agree that a lack of response is frustrating when you are trying to make a purchase, and that a seller should not send out more notifications than he is willing to respond to...but, on the other hand, I don't disagree with the "first to pay gets the animal" mentality.

Originally Posted by Adam88

I got back to him the same day and even left the message...

When you got back with him,did you say "I want to buy one" and offer to send payment ? I've been run around and left holding an animal many times for many deadbeats. They say they want the animal,then disappear.

Originally Posted by Adam88

So, first order, first pay, first sold - period.

I agree with this statement.