My Experience with Chris Altizer AKA HerpLuver

Alright, heres my story on this whole fiasco. The only proof i have is other witnesses word on this, and the emails and paypal information i have provided.

I really did not want things to turn out like this, and i really trusted Chris to pull through with this deal. I still have that inlking of hope that maybe. just maybe, things might turn out. Time will tell...

Anyway, on to the information.

I was talking to chris in chat one day, (before the new year, around dec 14th ) i cant remember the exact day we made the deal for me to purchase from him, but the 14th is when i sent my first payment of $100.00 to chris. so we will assume its that date for the time being.

Long story short, Chris was being asked to leave his place of residence and needed to move by the end of the month. I felt bad about this and really wanted to help. I even offered to house animals for him until he was settled again. He did tell me later on that there was a possibilty he could stay but he needed money in order to do so.

knowing it was the holidays, and his kids possibly not having a christmas if he could not sell his animals, made me feel more inclined to "help". Since ive known chris, ive always considered him a good friend. Ive always talked to him and felt that i got to know him pretty darn well. a nice guy,easy to talk to. Somone i trusted.

During the Conversation, he told me of his available animals, and it ended up that i would be purchasing a 100% het Male Ghost ball python from him. A day after i sent my first payment to him ( the $100.00 on the 14th),i sent him another payment of 50.00 for the shipping. this was on the 16th. That was going to be the only animal i got from him.
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* Please note: that the "Note" In the paypal message below, was me thinking i would not have the extra money before tuesday to send to him. This is just to clear up any questions on that.
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well, We ended up talking a few days after that, and i had extra money. knowing he needed the money and the help.. i purchased one more animal from him. a 100% het Pied Ball python. I sent him another 50.00 payment on the 19th and shipping would be included and both animals sent together. So my total sent to him is $200.00 all through paypal.

we talked about shipping and he said he would ship after the new year since shipping any time before then would be suicide. and both agreed on this.

Since the 1st has come and gone, i have emailed him twice so far and spoken to the others about their contact with him as well( they have tried numerous times, all got the same response i got. Nothing or close to it.). Neither could get in contact with him by phone or mail either. Those stories will be posted by their own Accounts of what happened though. im not going to speak for anyone but myself in this.



Below are Emails and Payment Reciepts from paypal:

First Payment:
"[email protected]"
to me

show details
12/14/06
Dear Alicia Holmes,


Your payment for $100.00 USD to [email protected] has been sent.





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Payment Details
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Amount: $100.00 USD

Transaction ID: 7MN99713J39985322

Subject: 100% Het Ghost Ball Python Male

Note:
Hey chris! ill send ya the 50.00 on tuesday when i get paid! Take care! - Alicia Holmes



View the details of this transaction online at:

https://www.paypal.com/us/vst/id=7MN99713J39985322


Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team


Your monthly account statement is available anytime; just log in to your account at https://www.paypal.com/us/HISTORY. To correct any errors, please contact us through our Help Center at https://www.paypal.com/us/HELP.


Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click the Help link located in the top right corner of any PayPal page.


Second Payment For the 100% Het Ghost Ball Python:
"[email protected]"
to me

show details
12/16/06
Dear Alicia Holmes,


Your payment for $50.00 USD to [email protected] has been sent.





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Payment Details
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Amount: $50.00 USD

Transaction ID: 3W167904G8384293Y

Subject: 100% het Ghost Ball Python Male

Note:
Hey chris! Last payment to you! Let me know when you want to ship. Im Free on Wed all day, so if you want, we could do a Tuesday Shipment for a Wed Delivery. Let me know if that works for you and whatnot okay?

My Address is
Alicia Holmes
27 Christian Hill RD
Great Barrington MA 01230
APT # 25


THANK YOU AGAIN CHRIS!!! I hope everything works out for you and yours! Truly!



View the details of this transaction online at:

https://www.paypal.com/us/vst/id=3W167904G8384293Y


Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team


Your monthly account statement is available anytime; just log in to your account at https://www.paypal.com/us/HISTORY. To correct any errors, please contact us through our Help Center at https://www.paypal.com/us/HELP.


Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click the Help link located in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

Third Payment,for the 100% Het Pied Ball Python

"[email protected]"
to me

show details
12/19/06
Dear Alicia Holmes,


Your payment for $50.00 USD to [email protected] has been sent.





-----------------------------------
Payment Details
-----------------------------------


Amount: $50.00 USD

Transaction ID: 0JD02120XP8214946

Subject: 100% Het Pied Ball python Male

Note:
Hey chris! Just sending you the last payment!!! Ill PM you on fauna too just so you know!



View the details of this transaction online at:

https://www.paypal.com/us/vst/id=0JD02120XP8214946




----------------------------------------------------------------
This payment was sent using your bank account.

By using your bank account to send money, you just:

- Paid easily and securely

- Sent money faster than writing and mailing paper checks
- Paid instantly -- your purchase won't show up on bills at the end of the month.

Thanks for using your bank account!



----------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team


Your monthly account statement is available anytime; just log in to your account at https://www.paypal.com/us/HISTORY. To correct any errors, please contact us through our Help Center at https://www.paypal.com/us/HELP.


Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click the Help link located in the top right corner of any PayPal page.


This was one of the first emails i sent him, It got a Mailer Daemon response sent back to my inbox though, so either the Mailbox is full, or its deleted.[/b[

"Alicia Holmes
to [email protected]

show details
Jan 2
How is everything going for you? I just wanted to Wish you a Happy New Year!! I just wanted to send you an email just to let you know im free on Wednesdays to receive animals ( i work every other stinking day of the week) So just let me know when you are able to send them out, and i can also see if i can change my schedule a bit. Im not in a massive rush, so when you have the time and things are settled. Just let me know! Not sure if you still have internet? If you want, my phone number is (860) 944-9763 If thats easier than getting online much. you can call me anytime really! Just let me know when you are able to send them my way ^_-

You take care chris! i hope all is well with you and yours! - Alicia "





Since i got the mailer Daemon back from that, i found his paypal email address and wrote to that one.

This is the email i sent to that address. and it did end up going through.


Alicia Holmes
to [email protected]

show details
Jan 2
How is everything going for you? I just wanted to Wish you a Happy New Year!! I just wanted to send you an email just to let you know im free on Wednesdays to receive animals ( i work every other stinking day of the week) So just let me know when you are able to send them out, and i can also see if i can change my schedule a bit. Im not in a massive rush, so when you have the time and things are settled. Just let me know! Not sure if you still have internet? If you want, my phone number is (860) 944-9763 If thats easier than getting online much. you can call me anytime really! Just let me know when you are able to send them my way ^_-

You take care chris! i hope all is well with you and yours! - Alicia

Also, not sure if this is the RIGHT email exactly, if you have another you prefer ill send stuff to that one from now on.

As i stated, Ive recieved no responses from either email.


I tried calling him Last night at phone number: (443) 327 9011 and left a message on the answering service that is still attached to that number. I am not sure if he can check it, but i am assuming that it is certainly still active because it would have responded that "This number is not in service" if it was not active.

I told him in the phone message i would still be understanding of things, and if he could just get back to me. I also left him my phone number.

It has been a month now with no responses to any email/calls from people i would think he considered friends as well.

I have filed my paypal claims but am not expecting much from it. i can include those emails as well, but dont feel theyre too important to actually post. If youd like to see them anyway, id be more than happy to post them.

If chris ever ends up reading this, i am still willing to resolve things if he needs to pay me the money back in payments. But i will go as far as i can to get this money back.

I hate the fact that I have to post this but I believe that the public needs to be aware of Chris Altizer (HerpLuver) and his recent actions.

On December 13th Chris entered Fauna Chat and proceded to tell everyone there that he was losing his house and needed to sell his collection to secure another residence. He gave a list of what he had for sale and said he would be posting the list in a classified ad. The ad he posted can be found here,http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92682 As I understand it he also posted an ad in the moderators forum. If a moderator could verify that and possibly provide a screen shot of that ad, I would appreciate it.
Chris then went on to tell all of us in chat about how his children would not be having a Christmas unless he got some money. Being that I a had a little bit of extra money that week, I approached him about purchasing the Helix T Stat he wanted to sell. I didn't really need it at that moment in time but I wanted his kids to have at least a small Christmas. He said it would be $75 shipped and that paypal would be perfect as he would get the money in time for Christmas. I told him I would sent the payment on the 14th after I got home from work. We continued to talk and he asked if he could continue to use the T stat until the end of the month so his snakes could have heat. I said sure, I'm in no rush. We agreed that he would ship after the 1st of Jan.

Between the 15th of December and December 23rd, I talked to Chris a few more times in the chat room and he always said things were looking better and he would ship the T stat on Tues, Jan 2nd as soon as he got done moving, if he had to.

On December 29th I tried to call him to see how Christmas turned out and his wife/girlfriend Crystal told me has wasn't feeling well and that he would call me when he felt better. I never heard back from him.

On Jan 4th I sent Chris a Pm since I had not heard from him. At that time I had no worries about him and just wondered how he was doing and if he had indeed shipped on Jan 2nd. And if he hadn't we could discuss the shipping of it then.


Shortly after sending the PM I noticed that he had not signed in to Fauna since the 1st so I called and left a message for him on his voice mail. I basically just left him the same thing I had typed to him in PM.



A couple day passed by and still nothing. So I decided to ask the other members in chat if they had heard from him or received what they bought. Neither of them had heard a thing. I decided to call Chris again on the 6th of January and I left him a message asking him to please call me so we can arrange shipping. He could even call collect if he had to. No responce. the number I called was (443) 327 9011

On Jan 9th I decided to file a dispute with PayPal. It was hope that it might get a responce from him concerning this transaction. I waited a few more days and still nothing. On January 13th I escalated the dispute to a claim and also sent him emails to both email addresses I had for him, an email via fauna and Pm. I still never heard back from him. [email protected] is the address I paypaled the money to and [email protected] is the email address that showed up on the payapl receipt.





At this point I guess I just need to call my bank and file a fraud complaint. When I called PayPal to ask how the claim works I was old the only way I would get my money back is if he has money in his account to cover the reimbursement. I think we all know the chances of that are slim to none.


Any suggestions on how we can reslove this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Rebel Dragons said:

As I understand it he also posted an ad in the moderators forum. If a moderator could verify that and possibly provide a screen shot of that ad, I would appreciate it.

Click to expand...

I'm not going to ask how you know this, but he did post the ads in the public forums that you can just as easily access. As for the moderator forum, I would think it best to ask Rich.

Here is one in the forums.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92682

On December 29th I tried to call him to see how Christmas turned out and his wife/girlfriend Crystal told me has wasn't feeling well and that he would call me when he felt better. I never heard back from him.

Click to expand...

He did post on the forum stating animals were still available on 1/1/2007.

Dennis Hultman said:

I'm not going to ask how you know this, but he did post the ads in the public forums that you can just as easily access. As for the moderator forum, I would think it best to ask Rich.

Here is one in the forums.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92682



He did post on the forum stating animals were still available on 1/1/2007.

Click to expand...

I will send Rich an email asking about it, Dennis. And the reason I know about it is because Chris himself told everyone in chat he posted there.

Mike & Alicia,
While there is some doubt as to whether Chris has access to the internet at this time, it does not excuse his lack of follow through or communication. I hope that Chris pulls himself together and makes good on this.
(so much for trying to help out a forum buddy, huh?)

hhmoore said:

Mike & Alicia,
While there is some doubt as to whether Chris has access to the internet at this time, it does not excuse his lack of follow through or communication. I hope that Chris pulls himself together and makes good on this.
(so much for trying to help out a forum buddy, huh?)

Click to expand...

That's why I was sure to add in my emails and phone messages that he could call me collect. White it is sometimes impossible to get to a com, there are public phones EVERYWHERE!!!

I really did not want to post anything on the BOI but seeing as I'm just 1 of 3 people that are waiting (possibly a 4th person) I felt I should back Alicia up.

At this point I just want a tracking # for the T stat or a refund. I'm more than willing to work with Chris as I know he's in a crappy situation right now. I don't expect miracles, just a little bit of communication. I don't think of him as a bad guy, I'm just disappointed more than anything.

I am not privy to any of the deals Chris made~ but I was in the Fauna Chat room the night "Herpluver" came in and announced he was losing his home and was selling his animals~ and he told all of us in chat that night that he had posted this in the moderator forum.

Cheryl Marchek AKA JM said:

I am not privy to any of the deals Chris made~ but I was in the Fauna Chat room the night "Herpluver" came in and announced he was losing his home and was selling his animals~ and he told all of us in chat that night that he had posted this in the moderator forum.

Click to expand...

I can second that; I was there as well.

I will say this; Chris might not have any internet service. But it is very easy to take a trip to the local library if needed to contact buyers. The whole (I can not get back to you) is far from what is easily done in this day in time.

Hi Mike, Alicia, Harald. I know this was a hard decision for you, but you are doing the right thing. There is no excuse for taking money and not sending a product without any form of communication as to reason. I wish you guys luck getting your money back.

Chris Canada-Smith

Rebel Dragons said:

At this point I just want a tracking # for the T stat or a refund. I'm more than willing to work with Chris as I know he's in a crappy situation right now. I don't expect miracles, just a little bit of communication. I don't think of him as a bad guy, I'm just disappointed more than anything.

Click to expand...

Thanks mike, i feel the same way, Im upset that theres been no contact but chris is, at any other time a good fella. Thats also why i avoided the "Bad Guy" title Right off the bat, because i know hes going through a hard time in his life and other people have had good experiences with dealing with him.

hhmoore said:

Mike & Alicia,
While there is some doubt as to whether Chris has access to the internet at this time, it does not excuse his lack of follow through or communication. I hope that Chris pulls himself together and makes good on this.
(so much for trying to help out a forum buddy, huh?)

Click to expand...

there has been alot of this going on lately... it really bothers me that things cant work out better than they have been.

I was there that night also. He stated that he was loosing his home and needed the extra money for the kids and his move. I would have been on the list too if he had anything that I needed at the time.

We are a very tight group in fauna chat, some of the best deals, firendships, and love connections have been forged there. We know each other well, poke fun at one another and share our lives with each other. This thread breaks my heart because Chris was one of the first people I met there a year a half ago. I hope that there is some resolution to this nightmare.

And people wonder why it's so hard to trust folks that you think you "know" these days.....and why some people hesitate to do others a favor.

Sad.

Chris is genuinely a good guy, and I think he just may be a victim of some bad luck and tought circumstances. and Im pulling for him to do right by you guys. he should at least give you a call and let you know whats going on!

varnyard said:

I will say this; Chris might not have any internet service. But it is very easy to take a trip to the local library if needed to contact buyers. The whole (I can not get back to you) is far from what is easily done in this day in time.

Click to expand...

I was not in chat when all this started so I am not privy to any of the details.

He does know how easy it is to use a library computer, back in June he told me that is what he was using at the time because his internet connection was cut off. I am not vouching for Chris, but between our last PMs and transaction, it was a three month span from when I PM him and he logged back on to Fauna to PM me back.

It is sad to see this happen. Chris, you need to pull it together and straighten this out.

The gentleman I spoke with today at PayPal urged me to call my bank and file a complaint with them. I faxed my bank the information they requested and I should either receive a refund within 48 hours or a request for more information.

At least the ball is rolling...........

Rebel Dragons said:

The gentleman I spoke with today at PayPal urged me to call my bank and file a complaint with them. I faxed my bank the information they requested and I should either receive a refund within 48 hours or a request for more information.

At least the ball is rolling...........

Click to expand...

I will have to do this as well. Good luck mike!

Since Chris hasn't signed on since Jan 1st I think it is safe to assume he has lost computer access. I know it is not my money that's on the line but I believe I would cut him some slack until I could actually contact him.
If he was on the tail end of a foreclosure proceeding then he could be out of his home now. He could be scrambling to place any animals he has left, moving etc. Of course I don't know if any of this is what is happening but from what I've read here it is possible.

kmurphy said:

Since Chris hasn't signed on since Jan 1st I think it is safe to assume he has lost computer access. I know it is not my money that's on the line but I believe I would cut him some slack until I could actually contact him.
If he was on the tail end of a foreclosure proceeding then he could be out of his home now. He could be scrambling to place any animals he has left, moving etc. Of course I don't know if any of this is what is happening but from what I've read here it is possible.

Click to expand...

Your correct, it's a possibility that he is just buried up to his eyeballs in everyday life. However, I have a hard time believing that he does not have access to a phone. A phone call was all that I asked of him.

He and I discussed the possibilities of him not having access to a com after the 31st. He told me not worry and that he would keep in contact. If it was just me, I would have never said or done anything but wait.......

The fact that there are 2, possibly 3 other people in the same boat as me, is what prompted me to take action. Rip me off for $75 and I'll get over it and probably never mention it. Rip me and a couple others off for hundreds and something needs to be done.

Well you can add me to the list of people that bought a animal from Chris and received nothing. I paid for his 1.0 06 66% Het albino BP and if you check http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92682 you can see where he even thanks me for it.

I paid using paypal, I sent $50.00 for the BP and $50.00 shipping and my husband and I were going to Md on a business trip Jan 6th and while there we were going to pick him up, But my husband got sick and we couldn't make the trip. I tried to contact Chris and let him know but I received no reply. My last contact from him was on Dec, 28th.

Chris if you read this I am going to pm you with my phone # all I ask is that you call. I would still like to get the BP.


~Robin Bennett~