Inquiry: Anyone ever dealt with "The House of Reptiles and Tropical Fish" in Michigan

Inquiry: Anyone ever dealt with "The House of Reptiles and Tropical Fish" in Michigan

Was thinking about nailing down a deal with these guys, and simply don't know a thing about them. They offered to buy some herps I had available, but red flag # 1 was they expect you to ship first THEN send you a cashier's check after they arrive ok. What's the difference in sending it beforehand? He seemed like an allright guy when I talked to him on the phone, but I've NEVER heard anything about this company on the BOI and I found that a little odd. First of all, it's going to take some FANTASTIC references from a LOT of people for me to be in a rush to send a shipment to them, so if anyone's ever dealt with this company in this fashion I'd like to hear a little feedback. It's a situation where if I was sending animals to a stand-up guy that I knew or had a great reputation (like Joe Reagan, Joe Romely, Terry Heuring, ect.) I wouldn't hesitate in the least to send a box overnight for later payment, but this just seems a tad fishy to me. Like I said, please, if you have any feedback on the company I'd love to hear it. -Eric Lago

Where is the location of this store at? Lots of new pet stores popping up in Michigan right now.

Chris Newton

PAY after getting the animals

Eric, some stores are doing it this, getting the animals first and then paying due to a number of rippoffs.

People would pay first and then never get the animals or NOT get what they were told they were. This company isn't the only one using this practice.

Reply

To the first post, I don't know the physical address yet, mind you, I was simply considering the deal, to which I'd hoped the thread would help me find a few people who had dealt with them personally. To the second post, I understand companies try to avoid getting ripped off as well, but what about ME getting ripped off by someone saying they showed up dead or not at all being out X amount of dollars with no way to recoup it? I posted to find some people who've dealt with the company directly, and thus far all I have is this email (the source of which I will not disclose):

Email I received around 10 this morning CST

In regards to your post about House of tropical and reptile. I sent him a shipment COD which he was supposed to pick up and pay with certified fiunds. It was a $XXXXXXXX shipment. I sent it on a friday and when it got there he never picked it up When i finally got a hold of him on Tuesday after the animals had been sitting in Detroit all weekend he said he had no money and was wondering if he could write a post dated check for the shipment. Of course i refused his offer and the animals were returned to me by XXXXX. I paid shipping both ways which was over $XXXX. I will be sending him a bill for this if its not paid he will go to collections. I would not ship this guy until you receive payment in advance
regards

With that said,
THAT'S what I call helpful. I posted to hear some personal experiences people had with the company directly. Regardless of what numbers you put into the blanks above, IT'S NOT A GOOD SITUATION. Therefore, with that email alone, this guy doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell to ever receive any animals from me without the funds first, just from one email! It would take a lot of satisfied people completing numerous transactions with them (which was what I was hoping to hear by starting this thread) for me to even consider it, much less do it. If they're a big importer/exporter/wholesaler/retailer like they refer to on their ad on kingsnake: http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=43&de=165627 Then why aren't there a bunch of satisfied (or dissatisfied) posts all over the BOI???? Heck, every business gets put through one way or another through here, why haven't I heard anything about them? Some food for thought. Thanks for your posts but I believe I've found my answer. -Eric Lago

I sent it on a friday and when it got there he never picked it up When i finally got a hold of him on Tuesday after the animals had been sitting in Detroit all weekend he said he had no money and was wondering if he could write a post dated check for the shipment. Of course i refused his offer and the animals were returned to me by XXXXX. I paid shipping both ways which was over $XXXX. I will be sending him a bill for this if its not paid he will go to collections. I would not ship this guy until you receive payment in advance

Click to expand...

A question, he shipped on a Friday?

Okay, not sure how he shipped, but shipping on a Friday will result in the animals being left at a depot all weekend. BIG mistake on the senders part.

He also rejected a post dated check. He has rejected payment, but is billing the person who was supposed to get them.

The person receiving the animals is obviously NOT to be trusted if he couldn't pay for the shipment he agreed to.

The email you got is hardly a good reference point because both parties made mistakes. You need to lay out your terms of sale to house of tropical fish and they can abide by them or lose a sale. They are your animals, you decide what the terms are and what they are worth.

I also recently posted an inquiry about the same company on the BOI here and got nothing. You may or may not get a reply from someone that has delt with them.

I am also considering dealing with, so I will be interested to see if you get a direct reply.

Best of luck!

Definitely agreed

Oh, I agree 100% that there were mistakes in both parties involved, but the fact that the guy didn't have the money in the first place when he knew the shipment was coming was NOT a professional deal in my opinion. I already sent my terms to the "House" and am awaiting a reponse from them. I talked to him by phone and he seemed like a nice, pleasant guy, but if they want me to ship them some animals they have to pay first, period. If anything goes wrong in shipping I'd be more than willing to refund them 100% for the animals they purchased, but taking photographs of each individual into the box on my end and them doing the same on the receiving end is MANDATORY. Like I said, I'll let you know what happens with the company. The way I look at it is if they want the animals on my terms, fine, if not, I'm not out anything like I would be if I shipped him animals and never received payment. -Eric lago

OH YEAH!

Oh yeah, that guy should of had the money!


I personally would not be sending animals to anyone untill payment was received. Just my way of doing it, regardless of reputation!

If they don't like the terms of sale, there is always someone that will!

I agree totally with what you said!

I Guess my point was

I could have totally understood his stance on the matter, and may have been persuaded to do business with the "House" had they had a lot of BOI support and references available for me to talk to. You know, a few people who've dealt with them on occasion under similar circumstances could have possibly changed my opinion! But so far 1 negative email and no positive feedback leans me towards holding out! -Eric Lago

Eric and Scott

First I want to say I have never dealt with or spoken with the "house". However if Im not mistaken I have dealt with both of you guys (my memory on names is bad sometimes). I know your both good guys, and want to be trusting as possible, but in this instance I would take the advice of the email you recieved Eric. No matter IF the sender made mistakes, it does sound to be the exact same situation as you are about to place yourself in.

Sure the sender IN THEORY should not have sent on a friday, however one fact could change my stance on that easily. IF THE ANIMALS WERE SHIPPED DELTA, then I see no problem with friday, saturday, or sunday shipments. That is the beauty of delta, they are a everyday shipper.

Next for the unwillingness to accept a post dated check. To that I would speak of a few of my own personal experiences. I have a shop I sell to that EVERY WEEK pays me with a BAD POST DATED CHECK. I have gotten to the point that I KNOW my money will not be available for two weeks after payment was supposed to be made. Of course everyone asks why I dont pull the plug, well I am slowly, but with that being said Im not repoing animals from his shop to bring home and put my collection at risk (we all know how shops can be). So instead Im waiting for my inventory to run out and not restocking...lol...but anyways. If it were me, and this guy took 3 days to even try and accept shipment, then offered a POST DATED CHECK, on what sounds like THE FIRST DEAL (also an important fact to know, but somewhat irrelavent) I WOULD NEVER ACCEPT HIS CHECK EITHER> Granted the sender knew he was risking the animals more on the return trip, but again if its delta that could have been as short as another 4 hours, well worht sending back in my opinion.

As for billing the "house" for the shipment. I would also. the way it sounds to me, the seller is billoing for shipping costs, not animal cost. In reality the "house" is lucky the shipper wasnt forced to bill for dead animals after sitting for soo long.

Just my 2 cents

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

Agreed!

Thanks for the input! According to the mail I received today they were indeed shipped USAir. There's just NO WAY I WOULD EVER run the risk of having my precious stock sitting in an airport somewhere waiting on someone to pick them up 2 or three days later. Sounds to me like the company accepts animals, sells them, keeps the profits and sends you your original asking price IF you get anything at all! I think I'll decline, thanks . Like I said, I don't know the guy personally, but my business decision is $$$ first. It doesn't help on his end that I mailed him my terms today and got no response, but when I was talking about my animals, sending pics ect. last week I had 2-10 minute response times on all the mails I sent, and today, after I told them I would NOT ship until I had the $$$, silence. You tell me what you think? I may be way off, but guess what? It's not going to hurt my feelings either way, I'll just sell my stock and get paid the more roundabout way! At least I'm not out anything that way! Lord knows the herp-world is full of enough scam artists as it is. There are some great guys out there to deal with, but I have a feeling that this company is not them. -Eric Lago

agreed

depending on what your selling, I would assume you could find other companies to take them on "terms" if you were really looking to do soo. Heck give Mike at Burgandy a ring, or Mario. Im sure you know the drill.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

We are writing this respose is to tell the real story,not just part of it.We usually do not post in these sections because they usually turn into mud slinging matches that we would rather not be involved in.What happened with the order was not an intentional thing ,we placed the order thinking we had more then enough money in the bank to cover it ,then we come to find that we had a fake cashiers check sent to us from a customer for $4500 ,which had been deposited into our bank.We were at the bank and on the phone to the fraud department all day trying to track down the sender and try to fix the situation with our Bank .We only offered to pay with the post dated check because we were worried about the animals not making it back and wanted enough time to straiten out the the Money situation with the bank.When the sender said he could not do that ,we told him we totally understood his reasoning and said we would cover shipping both ways and pay for any doa's that might have occured due to shipping them back to him.I would highly recomend to anyone recieving any money orders or cashiers checks for large amounts of money to call the company it was purchased from to make sure it is legit , I would not wish this upon anybody it totally messed up our Banking account and has caused other problems.Not to mention the whole situation was very embarassing and we can not stress enough to make sure the funds are real before you deposit them and have the same problems we did.In our case the cashiers check was written on a Wells Fargo account out of New Jersey and belive me it looked very real ,who ever did it knew what they were doing .If there is anyone else out there who this has happened to please email us and let us know,maybe we can track this person down before he or she does it again.Anyone wanting to see a copy of the cashiers check please feel free to email us so you can see what to look for.Once again we apoligize to the sender for any problems it has caused him .I hope this has cleared up this situation a bit and we wanted to let everyone know we would never try to rip anyone off especially when it is so easy to post on sites like these and ruin a companys name.If anyone has anyother questions pplease feel free to email us or give us a call .Thank you for your time.

House Of Reptiles & Tropical Fish Inc.
Phone (810)984-2200
Email [email protected].

Very Interesting

See now that makes the plot thinker.

Lets look at this from two ways before we say anything shall we.

First we will take the glass half full approach

Buyer was robbed by fradulent money order, was unable to make payment at that time, had hoped to work out a deal, was unalble to, but still offered to cover both sides of shipping and any doas. Seemed buyer was remorsefull and embarraseed.

If this is all true, I am very sorry for your situation, and if nothing else as you said you learned a lesson. However now you will have to work a bit to get trust back from people before anyone would willing send animals on consignment for the first time I would think (well anyone reading this thread that is)

Now lets go glass half empty just to be fair

Buyer orders animals they are unalble to pay for, then comes up with elaborate story to try and get seller to accept post dated check. Now buyer has animals without payment and seller is left trying to collect.

Now lets go broken glass just for sh@ts and giggles

Buyer orders animals with NO INTENTION of paying for them ever. Has elaborate story made up in advance to deepen the plot. Now repeates story to attempt to save their butt to do this again.

NOW LET ME STATE I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SCENARIO IS TRUE. I AM ALSO NOT IPMLYING ANY OF THE THREE IS THE CORRECT ONE.

If I were the "house" I would ask the seller to come on and give their full side of the story, full name, ect. If everything you say is true, they cant hurt you anymore then this thread may allready do. The story is out, now lets see how the "seller" feels today about his deal with you, and your honesty or lack of (again not sure either way here) in this situation. Who knows with a few of the details added, and the FORGED CASHIERS CHECK OR MONEY ORDER (not sure what you said it was) posted you may be able to show this was as you say "a isolated incident that was beyond your controll" and not "the norm"

I would colse by again mentioning the shop I deal with. Sadly every week the story I get for my money not being available is "we had x amount of bounced checks this week". So I am at times very skeptical of theese kinds of statements.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

PAYMENTS

All forms of mailed payments, cashiers, personal checks and money orders in particular should be allowed to clear first. Fakes of all these payment options are now common.

As for getting your money back or someone into court!

Good luck!

We are not trying to get in a gruge match with anyone ,just trying to tell our side.We are now way trying to shift the blame to anyone else ,we just wanted to explain what happened and try to prevent it from happening to anyone else .If we can warn even one person and prevent this from happening again then atleast something good came out of this.You are right we should have made sure it cleared first ,that is our mistake and we take full responisibilty for it.They are supposed to be guaranteed funds and I have heard of this happening to other people ,but you never expect it to happen to you .We can tell you this though ,it will not happen again,We will with out a doubt call and make sure they are good before we deposit them .Once again we apoligize for any inconvience that we caused the sender and can not stress the fact enough that it was not intentional .Thank you for your time.

House Of Reptiles & Tropical Fish Inc.
Phone (810)984-2200
Email [email protected]

Just so you know, on a personal level, I do believe you.

I was just makeing a friendly suggestion.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

House of Reptiles

I did business with this man early last spring I believe it was.But under a different business name. Ordered a few native turtles from him. Cooters, painteds and such.
He emailed me with an address, and I sent a Postal Money Order on its way immediately.
A week passed. No turtles. He was in the process of moving.
Two weeks passed no turtles. They were way to big for what I wanted. Three weeks...no turtles...this time it was a fungus.
And it kept going ad-nauseaum.
I finally posted a bad guy post on Turtle Times.And in no time at all, my telephone at home rings.
It was a fellow named Andy, the turtle guy out of Port Huron MI.
( Does that name and town sound familiar? )
Why did I post? How could it be a bad post? I'm trying to make good on the purchase.
Now keep in mind, my purchase was only around 65.00
It was always, ...I have some nice loggerheads I'll send you for free just for your trouble.
Well...weeks kept passing, the excuses were getting more creative,the phone calls from him more frequent. I was promised everything except giant sea turtles.And some white whales for my troubles.
But I still never received mine. Free or otherwise.
This after I followed up my bad guy post with a good guy post because he seemed so sincere about wanting to make it right.
From there it went to me threatening him with mail fraud charges.
( I work next to the US Postal Inspectors Office in Bridgeport CT)
I gave him a deadline for return of my money,in a money order form only, and by Express Mail. It was'nt the money amount, it was the getting ripped off part I detested.
In my neck of the woods, $65 is enough to have your leg or thumb broken for.
It took about 8 weeks and serious threats to finally get my money back.
His ads today, are verbatim from the ads of his last business.
And he sent me pics of him holding turtles...if this man has some serious ink on his arm...it is the same guy.
I've never forgotten the tats.
My advice for what it's worth...steer clear...wayyyyyyyyyyyy clear of this guy.
I think he runs an art studio. and I dont think I need to tell you what kind of artist he is.
You're only a good salesman, if you actually sell something.
Ok...I'm done rambling.
Oh...by the way, the only reason I registered for the BOI...
I had seen his recent ads on KS, and TT again.
Rob Natalino

Wowl

again a plot twist.

Man Im done with soap operas, its all boi for me baby.

See just when you think you get a feeling for a guy, someone crawls out of the woods to kick you square in the nutts.

Sometimes I question why I bother with threads like this, but then you start to see the past come crawling out.

So now did you operate under a different business name within the last year. If so what was it? Is this person telling the truth or is it bs? Again the storys out there, now its time for damage controll.

And for what its worth on a personal level,I no longer know what to believe......lmao

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

MY QUESTION IS......

Well what i want to know,, from the "house" is really simple... if you felt bad about the guy who sent you his reptiles,, they sat in a depot for 2-3 days,, and he had to have them shipped back,, because you did not have the funds,, and he did not want to take a post dated check..( which i would not either) Did you at least pay the guy for the shipping to you,, and for the shipping back to him,,? That after all would have been the "right" thing to do,, if you were really as "embarrased" as you said you were,,,
that is the check i want to see the copy of....
If you can't provide that,, i would have to say,, that you are glass half empty and glass broken people,,,, ( from above)
So if you want to "prove" it was and "honest mistake" then post the check showing you paid for the shipping back to him,, and while you are at it,, post the shipping label where you shipped Rob his Free turtles for his troubles,,, i would like to see that also,,,

I have a really bad feeling about this thread.

This is going to get ugly if someone doesnt fess up. Any response other than answering the following questions is not sufficient.

1. Did you pay for the guys shipping costs?

2. Are you the same Andy from Michigan listed above?

3. If you are, why did you change your business name.

Answering these questions in bullet format would be easiest for us to understand. You can ad the rest of your story afterward if you like.

Michael.