dirty_harry
New member
Let me just start off by saying that I have wanted a Mojave for a long time. Ever since I first laid eyes on one, I knew I had to have one. When I saw that the super form was a blue-eyed Lucy, I was sold. Of course, the only thing holding me back was the price. A few months back, about November 2005 or so, Brandon hatched out some really amazing Mojaves. I have never met Brandon, but we have had many great conversations for quite some time on message boards and private messages. I asked Brandon out of curiosity how much they were going for and his price was extremely reasonable. After some time, I told Brandon to put my name on one, if it would be OK to work out some type of payment plan. We worked out a payment plan that was agreeable for both of us. Thus, the long, arduous process of eating brown bag lunches, and not going to the bar with my friends on the weekend began. Throughout the entire payment process I talked to Brandon on the phone and through email numerous times. It was very reassuring that he was so easy to get a hold of, because when you are sending thousands of dollars to someone you hardly know, it can be rather nerve racking! There were multiple occasions where I talked Brandon's ear off for at least an hour, so I can honestly say I KNOW he is a real nice guy and super easy to talk to.
Brandon clearly cares for his animals and their safety throughout their journey from point A to point B. The more you talk to him, the more this becomes abundantly clear this takes absolute precedence with him. I live in PA, and for those of you that aren't from around the area, I have to tell you, we have been having some genuinely wacky weather. A few weeks ago, it was about 80 (EIGHTY) on Monday, and then it FREAKIN' SNOWED on Wednesday!!! The first week we were going to attempt shipping the Mojave, the weather was going to be in the 40's to low 50's straight through the time that my little guy would have been in the box. I know there are some people that have successfully shipped in such conditions without incident, but at the end of the day, we both agreed that it would be best to wait a week and see if we could get better weather the following week... And it's a VERY GOOD THING WE DID.
I work about an hour from my house, so needless to say, I can't be waiting around all morning for the UPS guy shows up, so Brandon was great in arranging a Saturday delivery so that I wouldn't have to miss work. The following week the weather was MUCH better, and everything went into play. Let me just say - When I am getting a new animal, I am worse than a kid waiting for Christmas morning... after a nearly sleepless night, I woke up around 6AM and put a note on the door:
"Dear UPS person,
I am here... come hell or high water; I will not leave the house unless it is on fire. I am upstairs watching TV, so if I do not answer the door, and you don't see smoke billowing out of the house, please, the door is unlocked- just open the door and yell for me."
So anyway, like the herp-a-holic that I am I put some snake shows on TV and waited... and waited.... And waited. 11 o'clock came and Brandon called to see if I had gotten him yet, and/or to see how I liked him. I told him the UPS person wasn't here yet, but that they are habitually late to my place for some reason. Brandon said he made sure that the Mojave was sent overnight for Saturday delivery and UPS should have been there. Even though I told Brandon this is normal for me, he decided to check it out. About 30ish minutes later, Brandon called back...
I am a firm believer in Murphy's law and the old saying "Poop happens" : Somehow, in UPS's infinite wisdom, they changed the delivery to a "Next Day for Monday delivery" shipment, even though Brandon checked with the guy innumerable times and verbally verified at least three times that "this package will be there- tomorrow- Saturday- around 10AM, riiiiiiiiiiight? The guy said, yes, yes, yes, but apparently UPS had other plans. This is where I ask- who in their RIGHT MIND would pay overnight shipping charges for something to be delivered in three days, when they could pay less then half and send it for "3-day delivery" at the same price, and get it there at the exact same time? Why would Overnight for Monday delivery even be an option? If you are sending it on Friday and want it delivered on MONDAY, then send it 3 day, duh! ANYWAY, I digress...
It was about this time that I realized my little guy was going to have a 3 day tour o' duty instead of a 12 hour flight... needless to say, I needed to change my pants! Brandon was on the phone with UPS immediately, attempting to move both heaven and hell to get this sorted out and even told them that he was willing to pay extra to get the Mojave to me, no matter how much it would cost, and both of us told them that wherever he is, we will drive there and pick him up. Sadly, UPS would have none of it, so that was not happening.
Now outwardly, this may sound like a bad thing with all this shipping hub-bub, but let me tell you, this is what separates the bad breeders from the good breeders, and the good breeders from the GREAT BREEDERS. Brandon immediately got back to me after slugging it out with UPS and told me several things that really put me at ease (at least as at-ease as I could be): 1) We waited until the weather was much more tolerable: all along the route the Mojave was going to travel, it was never going to dip below 58 degrees, and most of the time, he would be in 60-70 degree weather. 2) Brandon had insulated the box. 3) Brandon had put 40-hour heat packs in with him, so he would be around high 70's to mid 80's until about Sunday. 4) Brandon was on the phone with me practically every few hours when I would call him and say... are you SURE he'll be ok (I know, I'm a worrywart!) 5) Brandon GUARUNTEED me that if ANYTHING bad happened within any appreciable amount of time, he would see to it that I got a replacement, and that he would do everything to make sure everything turned out exactly as planned.
It really speaks well of breeders when transactions go well and everybody is happy. I personally believe it speaks VOLUMES of breeders when something goes awry and they skillfully handle the situation to quell any and all worries you might have, and they do everything in their power to keep and make things right.
Anyway, in an attempt to keep an already long story short, let it suffice to say that UPS was very "difficult" to deal with throughout this, but on Monday morning, I drove over to the UPS depot to get the box. Needless to say, I was on pins and needles the whole time! Would he be ok? Would they even give me the package??? After some negotiating, the UPS guy came around with the box. I grabbed it from him, signed something that looked like how a chicken would draw my signature and ran to my car like a fat kid to a "free cake buffet." There were times where I thought my feet weren't touching the ground because I was running so fast. I got back to my car and tore through the box like a rabid dog through a pound of meat. This was actually kind of hard, because the box was well sealed, and insulated quite well. I was actually very surprised to see that the heat packs were still working ever so slightly, so the Mojave probably never experienced temps any lower than 75 degrees (educated guess). I then got to the snake bag and carefully opened it. I was absolutely enthralled when the little guy slid into my hand and gave me this look that almost perfectly said, "Where the heck have you been honkey?!?!? You were supposed to get me like 2 days ago, WTF?!?!" (yeah, ball pythons can really say a lot with just one look.)
I immediately called Brandon and told him everything worked out perfectly! I kept my blabbering on and on about how awesome the Mojave is to a minimum since I had to get to work, but I promised Brandon I would call him back later that night to tell him what he already knew.... THAT THE MOJAVE IS FREAKIN' A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!!!!!!!.. When I got home, I gave Brandon the long version of this information that took about an hour, and he was more than happy to talk the whole time (well, listen actually, LOL!).
After giving the Mojave a few days to settle in, I threw in a weanling rat, and the Mojave was on it like white on rice! The Mojave took it in literally less than 10 seconds. After he was finished eating, I snuck a peak, he was giving me that look that almost says, "More please!" The icing on the cake is his temperament is most excellent! He is still a tiny bit flighty at times, but has largely been exceptionally tame and content with being held. Believe it or not he has not tried or even offered to bite yet!!!
Even though the shipping did not go 100% as planned, I do NOT see this as a negative aspect. It is just a statistic- if you ship enough stuff, sooner or later, you WILL have a problem of some sort. Fortunately in this case it was still a happy ending, and really it could have happened to anyone at any time, so again, it is not something to fault Brandon on. (As an aside: Statistically speaking, it should be a long time before Brandon or myself experience any future problems, so future customers are in the clear!
)
To sum it up, I think it goes without saying that once I have the money I will most certainly be buying from Brandon again! His customer service, professionalism and animals are by far- of the highest standard and are what others should aspire to achieve! As you can imagine, it would not suffice to say that I am happy- I would have to say that I AM THRILLED. Absolutely, positively, the best money I have ever spent on any animal, and I am ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY THRILLED. I would personally recommend Brandon/Priceless Pythons to anyone and everyone. As a matter of fact, I have been a member "in limbo" of this site for quite some time. HOWEVER, I have been so happy and so thrilled about this experience that I had to post it here, and I bought a membership so I could blabber on about it here. I have been so happy that I have been going on and on about it to anyone and everyone that will listen (hence this post). THANKS BRANDON!!! YOU RAWK!!!
Bob Meck
Brandon clearly cares for his animals and their safety throughout their journey from point A to point B. The more you talk to him, the more this becomes abundantly clear this takes absolute precedence with him. I live in PA, and for those of you that aren't from around the area, I have to tell you, we have been having some genuinely wacky weather. A few weeks ago, it was about 80 (EIGHTY) on Monday, and then it FREAKIN' SNOWED on Wednesday!!! The first week we were going to attempt shipping the Mojave, the weather was going to be in the 40's to low 50's straight through the time that my little guy would have been in the box. I know there are some people that have successfully shipped in such conditions without incident, but at the end of the day, we both agreed that it would be best to wait a week and see if we could get better weather the following week... And it's a VERY GOOD THING WE DID.
I work about an hour from my house, so needless to say, I can't be waiting around all morning for the UPS guy shows up, so Brandon was great in arranging a Saturday delivery so that I wouldn't have to miss work. The following week the weather was MUCH better, and everything went into play. Let me just say - When I am getting a new animal, I am worse than a kid waiting for Christmas morning... after a nearly sleepless night, I woke up around 6AM and put a note on the door:
"Dear UPS person,
I am here... come hell or high water; I will not leave the house unless it is on fire. I am upstairs watching TV, so if I do not answer the door, and you don't see smoke billowing out of the house, please, the door is unlocked- just open the door and yell for me."
So anyway, like the herp-a-holic that I am I put some snake shows on TV and waited... and waited.... And waited. 11 o'clock came and Brandon called to see if I had gotten him yet, and/or to see how I liked him. I told him the UPS person wasn't here yet, but that they are habitually late to my place for some reason. Brandon said he made sure that the Mojave was sent overnight for Saturday delivery and UPS should have been there. Even though I told Brandon this is normal for me, he decided to check it out. About 30ish minutes later, Brandon called back...
I am a firm believer in Murphy's law and the old saying "Poop happens" : Somehow, in UPS's infinite wisdom, they changed the delivery to a "Next Day for Monday delivery" shipment, even though Brandon checked with the guy innumerable times and verbally verified at least three times that "this package will be there- tomorrow- Saturday- around 10AM, riiiiiiiiiiight? The guy said, yes, yes, yes, but apparently UPS had other plans. This is where I ask- who in their RIGHT MIND would pay overnight shipping charges for something to be delivered in three days, when they could pay less then half and send it for "3-day delivery" at the same price, and get it there at the exact same time? Why would Overnight for Monday delivery even be an option? If you are sending it on Friday and want it delivered on MONDAY, then send it 3 day, duh! ANYWAY, I digress...
It was about this time that I realized my little guy was going to have a 3 day tour o' duty instead of a 12 hour flight... needless to say, I needed to change my pants! Brandon was on the phone with UPS immediately, attempting to move both heaven and hell to get this sorted out and even told them that he was willing to pay extra to get the Mojave to me, no matter how much it would cost, and both of us told them that wherever he is, we will drive there and pick him up. Sadly, UPS would have none of it, so that was not happening.
Now outwardly, this may sound like a bad thing with all this shipping hub-bub, but let me tell you, this is what separates the bad breeders from the good breeders, and the good breeders from the GREAT BREEDERS. Brandon immediately got back to me after slugging it out with UPS and told me several things that really put me at ease (at least as at-ease as I could be): 1) We waited until the weather was much more tolerable: all along the route the Mojave was going to travel, it was never going to dip below 58 degrees, and most of the time, he would be in 60-70 degree weather. 2) Brandon had insulated the box. 3) Brandon had put 40-hour heat packs in with him, so he would be around high 70's to mid 80's until about Sunday. 4) Brandon was on the phone with me practically every few hours when I would call him and say... are you SURE he'll be ok (I know, I'm a worrywart!) 5) Brandon GUARUNTEED me that if ANYTHING bad happened within any appreciable amount of time, he would see to it that I got a replacement, and that he would do everything to make sure everything turned out exactly as planned.
It really speaks well of breeders when transactions go well and everybody is happy. I personally believe it speaks VOLUMES of breeders when something goes awry and they skillfully handle the situation to quell any and all worries you might have, and they do everything in their power to keep and make things right.
Anyway, in an attempt to keep an already long story short, let it suffice to say that UPS was very "difficult" to deal with throughout this, but on Monday morning, I drove over to the UPS depot to get the box. Needless to say, I was on pins and needles the whole time! Would he be ok? Would they even give me the package??? After some negotiating, the UPS guy came around with the box. I grabbed it from him, signed something that looked like how a chicken would draw my signature and ran to my car like a fat kid to a "free cake buffet." There were times where I thought my feet weren't touching the ground because I was running so fast. I got back to my car and tore through the box like a rabid dog through a pound of meat. This was actually kind of hard, because the box was well sealed, and insulated quite well. I was actually very surprised to see that the heat packs were still working ever so slightly, so the Mojave probably never experienced temps any lower than 75 degrees (educated guess). I then got to the snake bag and carefully opened it. I was absolutely enthralled when the little guy slid into my hand and gave me this look that almost perfectly said, "Where the heck have you been honkey?!?!? You were supposed to get me like 2 days ago, WTF?!?!" (yeah, ball pythons can really say a lot with just one look.)
I immediately called Brandon and told him everything worked out perfectly! I kept my blabbering on and on about how awesome the Mojave is to a minimum since I had to get to work, but I promised Brandon I would call him back later that night to tell him what he already knew.... THAT THE MOJAVE IS FREAKIN' A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!!!!!!!.. When I got home, I gave Brandon the long version of this information that took about an hour, and he was more than happy to talk the whole time (well, listen actually, LOL!).
After giving the Mojave a few days to settle in, I threw in a weanling rat, and the Mojave was on it like white on rice! The Mojave took it in literally less than 10 seconds. After he was finished eating, I snuck a peak, he was giving me that look that almost says, "More please!" The icing on the cake is his temperament is most excellent! He is still a tiny bit flighty at times, but has largely been exceptionally tame and content with being held. Believe it or not he has not tried or even offered to bite yet!!!
Even though the shipping did not go 100% as planned, I do NOT see this as a negative aspect. It is just a statistic- if you ship enough stuff, sooner or later, you WILL have a problem of some sort. Fortunately in this case it was still a happy ending, and really it could have happened to anyone at any time, so again, it is not something to fault Brandon on. (As an aside: Statistically speaking, it should be a long time before Brandon or myself experience any future problems, so future customers are in the clear!
)To sum it up, I think it goes without saying that once I have the money I will most certainly be buying from Brandon again! His customer service, professionalism and animals are by far- of the highest standard and are what others should aspire to achieve! As you can imagine, it would not suffice to say that I am happy- I would have to say that I AM THRILLED. Absolutely, positively, the best money I have ever spent on any animal, and I am ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY THRILLED. I would personally recommend Brandon/Priceless Pythons to anyone and everyone. As a matter of fact, I have been a member "in limbo" of this site for quite some time. HOWEVER, I have been so happy and so thrilled about this experience that I had to post it here, and I bought a membership so I could blabber on about it here. I have been so happy that I have been going on and on about it to anyone and everyone that will listen (hence this post). THANKS BRANDON!!! YOU RAWK!!!
Bob Meck
