Terry Gwin bad business reptile breeder (killer)

I am a private breeder of several species of Phelsuma and I'm posting this msg because of a horrible breeder that I came across. I do not want other people to experience what I have with this jerk and I dont want these poor geckos to die in shipping because of greed.

Feb. 2006
The name of this breeder is Terry Gwin email: [email protected].
He does business on here as "Kcgeckoguy"
Here is his website http://www.geocities.com/kcgeckoguy/index.html
I came across his website through a search on the internet. He had many different species of day geckos that I also breed and have interest in. Despite his website being unprofessional, his geckos being overpriced, and his rather rude business matter, I decided to purchase several geckos off of him (I gave him the benefit of the doubt). The species I purchased consisted of gold dust, peacock, v-nigra, and dubia day geckos. I emailed him several times to try and get the proper information, like age, bloodlines, etc.. about these geckos and after beating around the bush he provided me with some guesses. I wasn't pleased with the information that I had received. Terry told me a date he planned on shipping several days before he shipped them. The expected ship date passed and I didnt receive the geckos. I got them 2 days after he sent them and when I opened the box to my surprise in dead of winter there was no heat pack or proper insulation. I had figured for the amount of money I gave him that I would receive them in time and they would have proper insulation and heat. The V-nigra was dead on arrival. I emailed him a pic along with an email of what had happened and he acted very hostile about the matter. The other geckos seemed to be ok. I asked him to compensate me for the loss and he reluctantly said once he gets more he will take care of it a refund was out of the question. I put it off for several months and just recently decided I had enough and wanted compensation. I emailed him asking for another v-nigra and I told him I was tired of waiting and that I didnt care what sex it was. This is his exact response "Im not worried about what sex YOU end up with it is ME who needs to have the right sex ratios. You will get your gecko when I decide the time is right. At this time the baby v-nigras are too tiny. To ship them now would mean certain death. I am tierd of emailing you so if you want your gecko at all your going to have to pick up the phone." After calling him we argued on the phone and he said i'm not getting anything. I have lost $65 through this breeder and have gotten a headache over him and his threats. Do not deal with this guy at all for your own sake.

If anyone knows who I can report him to or what I should do about this. I hate knowing he is out there breeding and selling in Kansas without a permit and killing these poor geckos.
Thanks for your time

Don
www.uniquepets.net

Terry Gwin KCGECKOGUY committing identity theft

Its funny because I got an email from Terry Gwin about how he saw my honest complaint here and now he has opened a email address in my name and is threatening to leave posts with my name in it for gay sex acts. If he leaves any posts with my name he will have charges pressed against him for Identity theft.

People this is what kind of person you would be dealing with. Please avoid at all costs.

Don Zucchi
www.uniquepets.net

wow....

Well at least he is aware of this thread, though I doubt he will be posting. Can you post the pictures of the dead gecko, the poorly shipped box and the exact emails? I don't doubt you, but it should be put on the BOI for future reference.
How did you pay? There are several ways you can go about getting your money back. Where all the other gex acceptable? I hope this gets settled for you and Mr. Gwin learns some manners.

Picture

Yes I have a picture of the dead V-nigra and I will post it in a few days as its on my other computer. He shipped 5 day geckos in a standard shipping box. The whole problem with his shipping was being that it was dead winter shipped 2 day USPS with no heat pack. The other geckos where OK just very stressed. One baby died shortly after receiving it.

I paid with paypal but this was back in February as I gave him several months to correct this problem. He also supplied me with no receipt. I know that this wont get settled because I am still getting harassed from him about my posts and review of him on my website. I would post the exact emails i'm getting, but he uses very vulgar words and I dont want this post being removed. I can supply anyone in private with any proof necessary.

I just want people to be aware of him.

Thanks,
Don Zucchi
www.uniquepets.net

Terry,
I noticed you were trying to reply to this thread. Currently, you are not a contributing member of Fauna and cannot summit a reply without first subscribing as a paid participant to verify your identity. It is only $10 per year.

Or, You can simply email or private message WebSlave (Administrator) to post for free since your business practices and name is the topic of this thread.

Kcgeckoguy
Registered User
Last Activity: 06-20-2006 07:52 PM
Replying to Thread Terry Gwin bad business reptile breeder (killer) @ 07:52 PM
Trader Rating: (-1) [Rate This User

Click to expand...

Dead V-nigra picture "proof"

I see that Terry is trying to respond so I decided to post the picture for everyone to see for themselves.

From terry gwin Tue Jun 20 20:11:16 2006
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"Sara,

I will tell you the truth on this matter. Don Zucchi is a liar. Nearly everything he has posted is bull.

The geckos I sent him were sent in perfect shipping conditions. It was in the mid 70's when the geckos were shipped to his location. He claimed that a v-nigra was dead and so I told him to take a picture of it and I will replace it as soon as I could, or I would send him the money back. He never sent me a picture and I didn't hear back from him for quite some time. It was not untill I posted a new advertizement for something else that I heard back from him. He asked if I would send him the gecko I was advertizing and I told him that v-nigra eggs were incubating and just wait a bit longer. He contacted me again about the v-nigra and wanted another gecko insted but I had already sold the other gecko. I told him that the v-nigra were only tiny hatchlings and that I didn't feel comfortable sending them just yet. We then continued to email back and forth and ended up in some discussion about inbreeding. His ignorance on the matter frustrated him and he decided to have an attitude. In an effort to calm him down I offered him my phone number and asked him to call. His first comments were insults of an explicit manner and he then continued by thretening me. He said he was going to come and kick my ass. I found this funny being as though I am a black belt in akido. I told him that he will never get a replacement gecko and that to come on down to my place.

I think you will find that he is reaching for some excuses to slander me and ANYONE who has done buisines with me will tell you that the quality of my animals is uncerpassed. I ship in insulated boxes filled with newspaper shredding. When its cold I use heat packs. When its hot, I use cool packs.

I will be happy to take photos and give tours of my facility for anyone who wants to see some spectacular animals. As for don, i just hope he can still have the same vigor when we meet face to face.

Thank you,
Terry"

email i recieved when i told him to come and defend himself. You'd think if he spent years practicing 'akido' he would know how to spell "aikido"! lol.

thats funny he to me he was a black belt in Taekwondo

Terry if your going to lie to people you should keep track of what you say.

Sara, it is not permitted to post messages for other individuals. Terry must come here himself and defend himself. Just a friendly warning.

Forgot to add...

Don, post the emails and just **** out the curse words.

Oh, i was just generally posting it for information, incase he thinks up a different story to tell someone else, etc. Plus, some of it is just funny! Anyone in his area actually willing to go over and take a look at his gex?
Plus he threatened indentity theft, so i thought i would post the full header to identify his IP address later.

TripleMoonsExotic said:

Sara, it is not permitted to post messages for other individuals. Terry must come here himself and defend himself. Just a friendly warning.

Click to expand...

What she posted was fine. If he had asked her to post the email because he could not post on the BOI, instead of it just being a reply to her notification of the thread, that would be a diffirent story and would not be allowed.

Terry Gwins "after post" email

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Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 14:14:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: terry gwin <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: identity theft
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"Gee, I sure havent seen you yet you little *****. I did notice your funny little post on fauna. Whats really funny is that I have made $6000 dollars since you posted it. I can't beleive what a little ***** you are. You actualy think you can disrupt me in any way! I have been doing this since you were a *** stain on your mommys panties. I also find it quite amusing that you blocked my emails. Are you realy that scared of me? Do you think Im going to jump out of my email and attack you? I won't so don't worry. Your not worth scraping off the bottom of my shoes. Again, I find yet another amusing fact about you- you have so many geckos that you have to leave a wanted add..HAHAHAHAH! thats ***** hillariouse. Maybe you have to leave an add because your NOBODY. I think I might leave a wanted add in NJ for your mommys number to call for some hot ***** *** with her ***** son Don. Now thats funny!!!!!!!"






These are what kind of emails I am getting from him. I had to block him so I would stop being harassed. All I wanted was compensation I dont really care about the $65 that I lost, its because he talks like this that I am going out of my way to make it known.

Don
www.uniquepets.net

Wow. It seems that sellers with bad customer service often wind up sending such "I still make thousands of dollars, I don't care what you post, I'm still rich" emails to dissatisfied customers.

Terrible. This thread will be here attached to his name for a good long time, and anyone who breeds reptiles and actually takes it seriously as a business would never send a communication with such horrible language even to the most annoying customer. Posting here in response to a complaint is free....

the email said:

Whats really funny is that I have made $6000 dollars since you posted it.

I have been doing this since you were a *** stain on your mommys panties.

Click to expand...

We all already know that these two statements, in the hundreds of forms we've seen them in, automatically mean "scammer", right? "I still make $xxxx, your post was useless", and "I've been doing this for xx years" are like the front line offense for just about every famous scammer on here....

DThomas said:

What she posted was fine. If he had asked her to post the email because he could not post on the BOI, instead of it just being a reply to her notification of the thread, that would be a diffirent story and would not be allowed.

Click to expand...

That's good to hear! I think it was useful information that needs shared!
_______________

On another note...I think the guy involved with this is private messaging me...but I'm not sure if it's the same person...

Finally

First of all I want to thank the webmaster for letting me defend myself against this slander.

Well, lets just start with a little bit of who I am. I am a private breeder of geckos not an importer or killer of any animals (unless I intend to eat them). I have been breeding geckos for the past 10 years starting with leopards and then on up the food chain. I now have a substantial collection. I didn't get that way by being a jerk to people. Rare geckos don't grow on trees and people that have rare geckos know that very well. Money is not how you obtain rare species, its who you know and who you give respect to. My hobby is my passion in life. I wake up everyday wondering what has hatched or layed eggs. I don't think about how I want to scam or offend anyone. My money that I make by selling geckos only fuels my addiction to them further. Because of this I take my hobby very seriously.

(Burncycle0) or Don Zucchi has slightly agitatted me with his meaningless public desplay of immaturity and this is the only reason I would even respond to his measily tiff. So here is the real story.

Don Zucchi contacted me through fauna to buy geckos. I gave him the information he needed and he gave me his. I sent the geckos in an insulated box. The temp in newjersey was extrodinarily warm for the time of year and so I asked him if he wanted me to include a heat pack. He said no, so I shipped him his geckos. ALL of the geckos arrived in good health (besides one apparently) and so he told me via email that one had perrished. I have never to this day had a doa but that was not a problem just send me a picture sometime soon. I asked don if he wanted to wait for a replacement and he said that was fine. A month or so went by and I still didn't have a replacement yet. I let him know that eggs were on the way.... still OK. Finally eggs hatched....I contacted him and told him they would be ready soon... NOW HERE IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING...HEY DON COULD YOU SEND ME A PICTURE PLEASE?!!! PICTURE? UH.. I... SENT YOU A PICTURE....no, I didn't EVER get the picture don, could you send me it again?...THIS IS BS!...I DONT HAVE THE PICTURE ANYMORE....ok, don call me and we will figure this out.....

Let me tell you folks something....Dons first words were not very nice to say the least when he finally called me. LOL. When I told him he could kiss his v-nigra good bye, he said fine I don't want your geckos anyway (pout, pout).

I can't repeat what he said or how many times he threatened me but it really dosen't matter. I have proof. I can show anyone who wants to see the threatening emails that he sent. I will never quit or give up against people who try to slander me. My animals are my life and anyone who ever has purchased from me before knows this. If don truly has nothing better to do in life than to give empty threats to people, I think its sad.

Oh yeah, sorry im not good at spelling, but I am good at kicking

Have to go feed geckos now.

Your so full of lies

My first post was exactly how it went down. I dont have the picture???? I posted it! I DIDNT WANT A HEAT PACK IN WINTER????? I REMINDED YOU TO INCLUDE ONE! I harassed you????? LOOK AT MY PREVIOUS POSTS!!! Did I also tell you to send them two day mail???? I have no more to say to you. The people will decide for themselves about you Terry Gwin. Remember what goes around comes around.

By the way

By the way, if you send me anymore harassing emails I'll be sure to post them in here also... just so you know.

clarinet45 said:

Anyone in his area actually willing to go over and take a look at his gex?

Click to expand...

I live in the area and have been to his facility. Trust me, it's very obvious as soon as you walk into his house that both Terry and his wife are passionate about animals. How you folks can be so eager to label him as a gecko killer, torturer, whatever without even seeing his geckos or how he cares for them is a real shame.

We have yet to see the e-mails that were exchanged between Don and Terry as the transaction progressed. We haven't seen pictures of the shipping box. Instead, all we have read is one e-mail where Terry is at the end of his rope, which automatically makes him look bad. I'm not saying the language was excusable, but I am saying that we have only seen one side of the story. We don't have all the facts. We don't know just what led to that bad e-mail or whether or not he was provoked to respond in such a manner. We don't know who started threatening whom first.

Most of you made your decision about Terry before he had a chance to come here to defend himself. How misfortunate. How can you be so quick to judge someone you've never met let alone conversed with? If you're in doubt about Terry's reliability, quality of animals, or character, he can provide you with a list of references. He's partners with some of my partners, which is how I know. I personally don't think there's been enough evidence to prove he's a scammer. There was a DOA, but the problem seems to be in the communication between the buyer and seller when it came to resolving the DOA.