Bronx Reptiles/Mother Earth Reptiles

Hi everybody,

I'm not one to post things or say much but instead always been one to "keep to myself" in the Herp world. I just don't like debates or fights and tend to just enjoy my hobby and let my annual litters speak for themselves. I had the worst experience in my life buying an animal about a year ago now and have been encouraged to speak about it on this forum. My wife encouraged me to get it off of my chest as well so here goes.........
I purchased a Female Surinam Emerald From Frank Fusaro of Bronx reptiles off of an ad from Kingsnke.com. The animal was picture perfect in appearance and the man knew what he talking about when I inquired about feedings etc..  I purchased the animal for $450 plus $45 for shipping and the animal was delieverd via delta dash. Not one to trust anybody, I opened the package in front of the employees just in case it was empty so that I would have witnesses. Instead of a healthy snake I pulled out (much to the employees horror, they were afraid of a snake) the sickest looking snake I've ever seen out of 25 yrs of Herping experience! No body weight! URI was plain to see. I went home immediately and checked the picture of the animal to what I had and it was plain that the scale patterns were not the same, I had been given a different snake that what I
purchased on the net. I called Bronx Reptiles that hour and told them of what arrived. I was polite, politically friendly and suggested that maybe they sent me the wrong snake, allowing them to gracefully fix the problem without admitting stupidity in grabbing a VERY sick snake and sending it. They accused ME of trying to pull a switch for a healthy one they sent and hung up on me. We got into some nasty E-mails. I filed the complaint with Kingsnake.com abuse and also with the FBI fraud thing they send you to. My issues were never resolved and Bronx reptiles still sells on Kingsnake. I took the animal to My herp Vet the next day and he has known me for over Ten years. He couldn't believe I had actually paid for an animal that far gone.I explained the circumstances and we tried to bring it back but it died in 19 days! I kept in the freezer for over 4 months waiting for this to be resolved but the FBI never got back to me, Kingsnake said "sorry" but I don't feel for one minute that they stick to their rules and enforce things. They just want the $$$ from the businesses that are advertising on their site. Stay Away from Bronx Reptiles!  The guy is a thief. I spent over $700 on a snake that died within 3 weeks.   Sorry about the long msg. I'll head back to my "hermit's cave" now..

This was pasted from my original post on a seperate website. In the follow-ups from this original post it has been discovered that Mother Earth Reptiles is directly tied to Bronx Reptiles by the owners being partners of some type. This was confirmed by Danny Mendez of Urban Jungles who happens to know them both. If anyone needs to see the whole list of postings E-mail me privately and I'll show you where to find them.    


Hopefully this post is acceptable to the host, it keeps getting deleted  


                                  Ralph Chapman
                                  The Dark Grove  <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Hello Ralph,

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with Bronx Reptiles (Mother Earth, not sure what the difference is?).  I have bought from Frank Fusaro in the past and everything went smooth as silk.  I couldn't have been more pleased with the Emerald I received, and I thought Frank was a great guy to deal with.  Now I'm not saying that you don't have a legit complaint or anything like that, ...I am simply posting my own personal experience with Frank.  I hope you guys can get this worked out.

Ralph,

I am not really that familiar with Frank Fusaro, but this situation really sucks!  If I were you I would have posted this alot sooner instead of waiting a year.  I also would have continued contacting the FBI about it.  

Anyway, I am not saying what happened is okay, but it is a very difficult situation to have rectified.  The main thing that makes it so hard to fix is that you did receive a completely different snake than the one you ordered.  What makes it so hard on you makes it super easy on the seller in this type of situation(not incriminating anyone here) is since it is NOT the animal you ordered, it would appear to the public and most people involved that you DID attempt to pull a switch.  If the seller came here and posted pictures of the animal you ordered to back himself up, then you posted pics of the animal you actually got, they can just turn it right back around on you and say, "hey, that is not the same animal, he is trying to scam us!"  
Unfortunately,  I think that is why alot of people can get away with things like that.  It is hard to prove that they DIDN'T send you the animal(unless any of us go to their place and see it still there, or see it at someone else's place), and I highly doubt that the majority of the FBI is going to know the difference between one green snake and another anyway(no offense to you FBI guys out there if you DO know) so that makes it even harder, though that lack of knowledge could help YOU out in a way.  

I wish you the best of luck and hope that it all does get worked out for you.

Thanks for both of your replies, there were a number of reasons I hadn't come forward sooner, one was the simple fact I had never used a forum setting before and only recently have crawled out of my cave. Just E-mail, an odd game or two and checking out classifieds are about my total scope of use for my wife's computer. I have long since given up on this being resolved and just felt that posting this was the right thing to do. Another was just pure anger and embarassment on my part for buying an expensive animal without seeing it in the flesh first, my wife told me to stop punishing myself , share the experience and listen to the couple of customers who knew of it and take their advice.....post it.


People like this don't just give our hobby a black eye in my opinion, they make it very hard to teach the next generation about our hobby AND they give the goverment and the Humane Society the ammo they need to try and make our hobbies illegal so the next generation won't have to deal with the problem. If we in hobby, both old and new, don't police ourselves then history has shown someone else will. If people come together and stick together when a sick animal is sold via the internet then the name of the person/business who did this will either fix the problem or their name/business will fade away. I've been in this hobby for over 26+ years and hopefully I'll be here for another 26+. I really just tend to keep to myself, work on my red gene for my amazons and enjoy life (I'm starting a breeding project for the Blue Tree Monitors....very exciting) so if this post helps others in not having the experience I did, then what I originally posted this for on a seperate forum will have come to pass. Many a new person to the hobby would walk away from the mess I was in and just quit the hobby. By no means am I a "new" person and posting this just started to make sense that it might help steer away the new hobbyists from a pitfall.

My three cents  <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>


Ralph Chapman

i've brought my post back to the top of the forum about eleizer. might wanna check it out too as a couple people replied to it. here's a link in case they get seperated.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/cgi-bin....;t=1840

steve barringer

Ok,

So far its looking like Elezier is making good on the things others have had problems with him for. It's also looking like , according to Elezier, that the ETB I was sold came from Frank at his business of "Mother Earth Reptiles" and not Elezier. Eleizer has not been able to explain why the animal was sold to me from a Bronx Exotics ad on kingsnake.com however. He has been tactful and taken the time to address some of the issues brought forth on another BOI where all this started however I'm not totally sure he had nothing to do with the experience I had. Other than buying the animal under a Bronx Exotics ad, everything else involves Frank Fusaro. He was the one with whom I had contact, He was the one who sent the animal and signed the shipping papers, which are signed "Mother Earth Reptiles". I had never heard of that company until Eleizer brought it up and I checked over the paperwork I have with a fine tooth comb. Eleizer is pointing this at Frank and based on the fact he's the one I had contact with, It's looking more and more like he's the one my initial post should be aimed at.  


Thanks

Ralph Chapman

As a reputable dealer with a track record of hundreds of satisfied and repeat customers, it disturbs me to even have to waste my time responding to this obviously confused and unstable person who is hurling lies regarding a snake he was sold 1 year ago !!!!
               Firstly, he repeatedly states I am Bronx Reptiles and still insists that I sold hom a snake from my "Bronx reptiles" ad. I have never posted under "bronx Reptiles" or any other business name. But in his first post, he is so sure that he was dealing with Bronx Reptiles, one year after buying a snake ! Having admitted being confused about this issue, it is also time for him to admit that everything else stated in the post was also untrue.This individual is very confused about more than one thing,as many of his statement are false. Yet for some strange reason he has waited a year to attempt to slander me, so i believe this is more of a personal problem chapman is having with himself. Clearly, as so much time has passed, he has forgotten the truth.
              When he recieved his snake from MOther Earth Reptiles, he E mailed me at the time to complain very nastily about the weight of the animal( not friendly as stated !). I told him I believed the animal to be at a normal weight level.....not thin, not fat...... normal !!! Although I was disturbed with his agitated attitude, I told him if he wasnt satisifed in any way, to ship it back for a full refund, including return shipping...no questions asked ! I pride myself in my reputation and have many repeat customers because i care about my customers satisfaction.
             When I offered to take the animal back, again I recieved a nasty, abrasive, abusive E mail telling me how
_ _ _ _ ed up I was, and that he would keep the snake and deal with it....whatever that meant ?? I felt no further need to E mail this individual.
              This person never never never ONCE CALLED ME as stated in his post.This is an absolute lie !
              This snake was not shipped with URI, nor was I ever told of such problem by this individual.
              The snake shipped was exactly the snake in the picture. But i suspect since he still insists it was a "Bronx Reptiles" ad, that he was comparing the snake to someone elses ad as he is still confused as to what he is talking about.
And again, he never called me or E mailed me to state that it wasnt the snake in the ad.Nobody has ever accused me of that becasue I have never done that.
          I wonder seriously about this post occuring one year later as he states his wife encouraged him to get it off his chest ! I cannot imagine that one year after he recierved this normal, healthy emerald  that he is still filled with such anger that his wife encourages him to get it off his chest. Sounds more like his wife was the subject of his misdirected anger for whatever personal problems he has, and now he is misdirecting his anger at me, making up the "facts" as he goes along.
        While there are some dishonest people in this business, there are also dishonest customers, both of whom ruin the hobby for everyone.
         While in the past my name has popped up here before in a positive way, I have always felt this forum was dangerous
because there are no "checks" to prevent such slanderous behaviour.
          I do  not represent " Bronx Reptiles" or " Bronx Exotics", but I am speaking honestly about Mother Earth Reptiles to clear up any confusion caused by this confused, angry individual .
thanks, Frank
Mother Earth Reptiles

Please,  Idon't want EITHER side to take this the wrong way, I am just playing devil's advocate for a moment here...

Frank, if the person who started this post originally can forget details of a transaction that took place over a year ago, can't YOU forget too?

Rob,
     
       If I did not remember the facts, I would not post. But to just post whatever one feels like saying, as he did, is slanderous. certainly he knows that he never called me as he stated !
Frank

Frank,

One of the rules of this forum is that ALL posters must put their FULL NAME in their messages.  I suggest you read the rules and comply, otherwise your messages are subject to being deleted.

As for the "checks" you are lamenting that are absent here, the name rule is one of them that helps a bit by requiring a person to put a name on whatever they state.  Beyond that, what sort of "checks" would you recommend?  Would you like me to fly out to Mr. Chapman's residence and give him a personal interview?  Hook up a lie detector (purchased out of my own pocket, of course) and administer some truth serum?  Yes, Virginia, lies can be told here in this forum.  Just as lies can be told everywhere else we frequent.  If you know of a way to prevent this from happening, then please let me know how.

Freedom is a double edged sword.  In order for YOU to have the freedom to say what you want, you need to accept the uncomfortable fact that other people having the same freedom might say things you don't particularly like.  Most people coming here accept this tradeoff.  Others would rather stick their heads in the sand.  Pick one.

Well,

That's about as rude an E-mail as I've been given and it brings fresh memories back of how you treated me when I suggested that maybe the wrong snake had been sent by mistake. You also say that I used foul langauge with you , that's something I just don't do. Why don't you come to corallus.com where all this started and read through the posts you might get a few answers. AS for why this came a year later that's quite simple, I'm a bit of caveman and didn't even know these forums existed. John Hedger turned me on to them about 3 weeks ago. Other than E-mail, checking out websites or the occasional game, I don't use this machine for much. What I described is exactly what happened, including the part about your name at the bottom of a Bronx ad. Exotics or Reptiles I made a mistake but not on the "Bronx" part. Your spotless record does have a spot. When I notified you the same HOUR the animal arrived that the animal was plainly sick you came back with the same attitude you've shown with your postings here. You did not offer to have the snake returned at your expense. That I distinctly remember, my wife too, because it was the stand out reason we felt we wouldn't get anything at all back, including an ETB.

With all the scams we, as a group, hear of I distinctly felt this was one. The animal that arrived was not the one in the picture (which had your name at the bottom and your contact E-mail), the seller got extremely (&#33<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''> angry to my initial E-mails, which I always keep polite or straightforward,and left me with the feeling that if we (my Wife and I) send this person back the animal, not only would we not get back the money but that we wouldn't hear from him. The animal arrived on 04-05-01 and died on 04-19-01.  You stopped repling to my E-mails on or about 04-15-01. I filed a report with Kingsnake.com as well as the fraud dept of the FBI that same month, so I haven't "out of the Blue" decided to "come after you". I simply didn't know these forums you hang out in existed. If you would have been a local business I would have been at your door (of course I would have seen the snake before buying it and not bought it so none of this would have happened). I'm not expecting my money back, I never went this route with that intention, I simply intend on warning people now that I've found these forums.

Now, if in the year since this has happened you've cleaned up your act maybe we'll talk but not with that language you seem to like and we'll do it pubicly since you seem to feel the last time we conversed I was the one with the foul mouth and being unreasonable, wait, what was that wonderful word you referred to me as ... oh, unstable. I think keeping our conversations public will be for the best.

Ralph Chapman

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (motherearthreptiles @ May 15 2002,08:13)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">As a reputable dealer with a track record of hundreds of satisfied and repeat customers, it disturbs me to even have to waste my time responding to this obviously confused and unstable person who is hurling lies regarding a snake he was sold 1 year ago !!!!
              thanks, Frank
Mother Earth Reptiles</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
Can you email me a list of contacts? With hundreds of them this shouldnt be a problem. I'll even post here what I will ask them.

*** I recieved info that you have bought animal(s) from Frank at Mother Earth Reptiles. Could you please tell me hows your dealings went good or bad?***

Its your call

Hey Frank?


Any reason you don't care to reply or is it "not worth your time" to reply to an unstable individual throwing around lies?  I think my posts represent me pretty well. Just like your post represented you AS I DESCRIBED in my original post.



Ralph Chapman