| Author | Subject: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD! |
| Jeff Houston | Posted At 14:15:45 09/28/2001
I have posted in the past about my troubles with Jerry Detwiler of One World Reptiles in VA. I thought that with his site down and his email address down he was gone. I guess not! A few months ago I was told he was back, selling on kingsnake like nothing ever happened. Now he is using the name Canopy Creations and Gerald. (No last name and uses USA in his adds instead of VA) I bought a trio of red tegus from Jerry and they turned out to be 2.1. He never fixed this problem. I also bought a pair of ackies and that sale went fine. (I made these purchases before I knew the tegu order was screwed up) I also bought a freckled monitor and a pair of timor monitors for $400. I overnighted the money order to him and he sent me a pair of Timors. The only reason I wanted the deal was for the freckled, but Jerry said it was sick and he could not ship. This went on and on I told him I wanted to send the timors back for a refund and he did not want to. He kept telling me he would replace the freckled. (I am trying to make a 1 1/2 year stry very short) This went on and on for 6 or 9 months until I got mad. He offered me a pair of spotted pythons which I refused. I told him I wanted a freckled, ackies, tegus or money and that was it. I did not want snakes. He never came up with any trades and never sent my money back. He even tried to tell me that the bulk of the cash in the deal was for the timors! Anyone who knows monitors knows what that freckled was worth and it was the only reason I did the deal. (and he knew that) On June 23, 2001 I emailed jerry and asked him why he was still seliing reptiles. Jerry wrote, "Jeff, it is my intent to reimburse you for the freckled. It always had been" "I promise you you will be compensated real soon" "I feel you are a very nice guy and I am trying to scratch out a living selling reptiles. Believe me at the time if I had the money I would have made it right then. I appologize and hope you will forgive me for my error." In another email the same day he wrote; "Jeff you truley have my sincer apologies and I truely intend to make this up to you. Please trust me. If I was truley intending to rip you off I would not have sent the emails admitting that the freckled died. that I would make it up or offer you other things" On Sept 5 I emailed him again because I had not heard anything since June. I asked him what he was going to do. I have never had a reply from him. This morning I am checking the kingsnake classifieds and see Canopy Creations has an albino boa and some DH ghost boas up for sale. The price of the three snakes totals $2100! This is not the first time he has had some high dollar animals for sale. How does this reflect his commitment to make his debt right? He has animals to trade and profits from them. Do I get an email from him, no! I get screwed and he continues making money selling reptiles. My warning is this; Jerry AKA Gerald Detwiler talks a good game. He has a bag full of sob stories but he is a crook. He has admitted he took my money and sent me nothing and has made no honest attempt at making things right. I understand people can go through hard times but enough is enough! This started in April of 2000!!! Things can't be all that tough if you have over $2k in baby snakes for sale. I wish things were that tough for me. If you send him money you must have rocks in your head. I know he has had good deals with people, I was one of them. You never know when he will decide the albino boa he is selling will die and he will then never send YOU anything for your money. Buyer beware! Before you send money ask yourself this, why would someone use a different company and personal name??? Jeff Houston -I don't know how to cut and paste but I have tons of emails from Jerry. I can forward the latest ones or all of them to anyone interested. |
| Brian Oakley |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9473.html Posted At 14:36:22 09/28/2001 Jeff, I appologize for the hastle you have gone through. I have never bought from Jerry, I only spoke with him on the phone once or twice a few years ago. I DID see his ad from I believe Wed., I would not get too upset at him yet. My point is, he is selling a albino boa with a price tag on it of $1100 I believe. Why would ANYONE buy that one for $1100 when they are around for as low as $700, but more often between $800-$900. I do understand your point though. People are people and nobody but themselves have to live with it. Hopefully one day he will come to his senses and give you what is rightfully yours!! Brian Oakley |
| Arnold Calderon |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9517.html Posted At 15:40:06 09/29/2001 Jeff, You are a big liar. You do this often accusing people of ripping you off. You have the biggest lying mouth I have ever heard. Get a job! Arnold PS I order from Jerry often and I have never had an issue. Stop trying to destroy your competition. You should be ashamed of yourself, You can't cut and paste. |
| Ritchie Luna |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9530.html Posted At 01:35:01 09/30/2001 Jeff Sorry your deal went bad.... I dealt with him and my deal was excellent... Arnold....he was just posting his experience with the guy....where is your proof that he is lying....You say he does this often? funny..I did a search for Jeff houston....and I realize it is you who are lying.....He does not do this often. He has been posting this same story about this same guy. Can't a guy post a bad experience without everyone jumping on him without knowing the facts...... Do yourself a favor and do a keyword search....exactly where does he lie |
| Jeff Houston |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9590.html Posted At 21:32:45 09/30/2001 Arnold you sound like an 8 year old. Calling people a "big liar"! Are my pants on fire too? Liar, liar pants on fire... blah blah blah. Child. I have had 2 deals go bad. (and I think wormman sucks) I got screwed both times. I have several positive posts on here about me. Should I request my customers come here and flood this thread with positives about me? No, I think it is tacky when others do it and I am willing to bet that 99.9% of the people who read this are smarter than you. I think you should email Jerry aka Gerald and ask him about it. Forward the email he sends you where he calls me a liar. I will forward you the one I just got where he offers me a $275 refund. I guess I am a liar and he just feels like donating to me! Pull your head out! I do not sell ANY snakes, do not even own ONE! I have no competition with Jerry. He just took money from me. I am not a big computer guy, I don't know how to cut and paste. I feel like an idiot, NOT! Tell you what, why don't I forward you the emails, you read Jerry's admition to all that I wrote here and then come back. You can then appologize, tell everyone that you shot off your mouth without knowing a damn thing and made an ass out of yourself. I wrote in my post that anyone with questions could email me for the emails from Jerry. You did not email me for the facts, what does that make you? By the way, if I am lying how is it that Jerry does not post a reply?! If he did not do what I said, I am SURE he would be on here telling his story. I know he read the post, as he emailed me and apologized AGAIN. (and offered me $275 which I accepted, we will see if I get the money order) He does not reply because he has nothing to say, what I said here is 100% fact. *Sorry to everyone else that reads this, my tone is snappy but I got screwed and don't like to get blamed for getting money stolen from me. This Arnold guy is a liar. I sent money to Jerry 18 months ago in good faith and got nothing. I have SEVERAL emails including one from the same day I posted this thread from Jerry and they all say the same thing; I owe you and I am sorry. Arnold you go down on my list as a "bad guy" I wouldn't buy a thing from somene like you. |
| Gerald (Jerry) Detwiler |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9710.html Posted At 08:24:20 10/03/2001 First of all, allow me to start out by saying that Jeff is stretching the truth. There was in fact a freckeled that died. Just prior to shipping it just seemed like it lost all its pep. I told Jeff that I would like to keep an eye on it for a few days instead of subjecting it to the stress of shipping, He agreed. A few days later the monitor expired. I notified Jeff and asked him what he wanted to do. He explained that he getting back into reptiles and would like something to replace it with. I made him offer after offer! Some of them he accepted then a day or two later he backed out. He accepted a trio of Spoted Pythons (Proven) Dave at East Tennessee Reptiles was going to ship then direct to him once again Jeff backed out. He contacted me regarding a breeding pair of Stempson Pythons, all I had left were babies. He wanted something to breed now. He was being totally unreasonable, asking for a refund of more than he even paid for the deseased Feeckeled. All the time smearing the twisted story to anyone who would listen. Then he complains to me that he opened a cage with a Timor in it and it bolted out his back door, down an alley and under a dumpster! What the hell did this have to do with me? I never told him that monitor lizards couldn't run! I sent him an issue or Reptiles Magazine. Frank Retes adressed proper caging and setups for monitors. It seemed that we could never agree on replacment on cash value! I never denied what happened or tried to rip him off. If I was going to cheat him, I would not have written e mails to him to try to solve the issue at hand. I called his place of business, ( Blue Bell Pools) many times to discuss this and have phone records that reflect this fact. Jeff stated that he thought I was not seling reptiles anymore, then suddenly I an back on Kingsnake. Let me state this, for the record. The business I had traded under the name of One World Reptiles. One World specialized mainly in lizards. One of my Sons and I decided tofocus more on Boas and get away from the intense labor required by lizards. Since One World was knowen for lizards we chose a name that would indentify with our changing plans. We notified everyone on our mailing list of our intent. Jeff goes on in this post to state that I no longer use Virginia on our Kingsnake advertising but instead USA. Well here again, that is half true, We have never used Virginia prior on Kingsnake because we were never on Kingsnake until this year! We have always used , (USA) to indicate what boundries our business actually works within. He also acts like I now use another name! I was giver the name Gerald at birth. The nickname for Gerald is Jerry. My Son is also Gerald (Jr.) since He does not like being refered to as (Jr.) We solved the idenity crises by this method. You called a guy a liar on this thread stating you don't sell snakes! Didn't you have Pythons for sale? I personally know have delt with alot of people within this business. There is no big secret or conspiracy regarding my business or who we are. I am glad you agreeded on a reasonable settlement. All I ever wanted was fairness for both of us. Well thats all I have to say and I am sure you need to get in the last word so, Heres your chance. As far as the rest of you go, Have a nice day! |
| Jeff Houston |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9716.html Posted At 14:20:54 10/03/2001 Wow, what a load! I better put my boots on it is getting deep in here! I would like to thank Carlos for emailing me and telling me how to cut and paste! What a time saver and a great way to show a liar. Here is ONE of MANY email I sent to Jerry, this one is from Oct. 25 2000, yes, almost a year ago! Jerry, you emailed me on 10/12 and said you were going to let me know about an ackie on 10/13. I emailed you regarding the status of this on 10/18 and still have heard nothing from you. It is now 10/25, 2 weeks have gone by and I have no word from you on how you plan to rectify this. It is painfully clear that you are playing games and seem to have no intention of giving me my money back. Do I need to take action to force a refund? You have had ample time to come up with a replacement, I emailed you and said that I wanted the Stimsons pythons and you did not accept that proposition. I think you need to send me $250. now. I expect an email from you tomorrow at the latest. Jeff What des that email show? Does it sound like the same person Jerry is describibng? Does it sound like a person who sent money on May 22, 2000 and has been getting jacked around ever since? I asked for a $250 refund a YEAR ago! But wait there is more... Here is one from Nov. 7, 2000; "Jerry, as you know I emailed you on October 30. I heard back from you when you called on October 31. During our conversation you told me that you were going to handle this debt. You said that you had a deal with some ackies that were being shipping 11/2. I have not heard anything from you since then. You told me that you were not trying to cause a problem but all I have received from you are empty promises and countless excuses. What is the status? If you are unable to locate an acceptable animal you need to send me $250. Please let me know, Jeff Houston" Need more proof? How about my email from Oct 30, 2000; "Jerry, I have heard from Roman and I understand that you have contacted him. I have received NO emails, phone messages, or any refund from you. It has been 3 weeks since you were supposed to get back to me. I have heard NOTHING from you. You have contacted Roman... but not me! This is the last email I am sending you. I am going to turn this over to the US Postal Inspectors office. You received payment for an animals that you never sent. You have not made a good faith effort to rectify this situation. You have just been putting it off. You have refused to refund my money on several occasions. What you have done is fraud. You owe me a Varanus Tristas. The value of this animal is $400-$800. I offered to take a refund of $250. and you ignored me. I also offered to return all the animals for a full refund again you ignored me. You have one more chance, send me $250. NOW! (Express mail a postal money order for $250.) If I do not hear from you (with a postal tracking number) by tomorrow I will file a complaint with the Postal Inspector. If you choose not to refund my money NOW I will seek the value of the animal. The value of the animal you fraudulently sold me was $400-$800 and that is the amount I will ask the Postal Inspectors to award me. Jerry, do not forget that I have ALL the emails. I have all the proof of what you've done. I would assume that out of shame you would satisfy your debts, but maybe the law can force what you are unwilling to do. Jeff Houston" As far as trades and what I accepted and did not accept check this one out from Oct. 5, 2000; "Jerry, I just checked the classifieds for spotted pythons. I found a proven adult trio for $200. Spotteds are only worth $60-$80 each. I found an ad for spotteds at $80. each and some on kingsnake for $60. (hets) The Timors are not going to sell for more than $200. I am working on a deal for them now. One just sold on Varanid.net for $75. I am left with a deficit of $200. (not taking into account the food/space) which I do not think is a fair price to pay for 1.1 spotted pythons. I think 1.2 is fair, which means that I will just barley break even on this deal. I am still looking for another female red tegu to replace the one from the 1.2 that I bought from you that turned out to be 2.1 . As you know I am very eager to get this situation resolved. I am not in the market for these pythons but I would take them as an easy way to end this. I think the deal needs to be fair though. Let me know if 1.2 is acceptable to you. I can always return the Timors to you if that would be a better solution for you. It is entirely up to you. Thanks, Jeff" Does anyone see a constant in all my emails? I do. I keep saying I will return the Timors and just take a FULL refund. I also keep requesting a refund of $250! Does that sound like I am being unfair? Does this sound like what jerry said about me is true? He tried to get me to take 2 spotted pythons and I said NO, I thought a trio was fair, he did not. The bottom line is that I can cut and paste all day long and the same thing is true. Jerry took my money in May of 2000 and has yet to make it right. I offered to return his animls if he would give me a refund and he refused. I offered to take $250 for a settlement and he refused. (actually he told me he sent the refund but it never came) He just said in his post that "we could never agree on a cash value" Read my emails I pasted! I offered to send everything back for my money back! Who could not agree on that? What does that tell you about him? As far as his post, yes I was getting back into reptiles. So? I told him on the phone that the Timors are nuts, I wanted to sell them. (I told him before I got them I would be selling them) I had one fly out of the cage and run down the back alley of my shop, so? I was telling Jerry about a funny thing that happened. I fail to see what that means? Jerry had a "great article" on dwarf monitors, he said he would copy it and send it with the lizards, BFD. He sent the magazine because he said he could not copy it and he had an extra copy! I have that in an email too! So? I sent him $400 and he sent me an old reptiles magazine! What a good guy you are Jerry. I bred snakes (pythons) about 10 years ago. Lots of them. I got out of it and just got back into reptiles about 2 years ago. No, I don't have any snakes. I had a trio of spotted pythons that I bought for $200 with shiping and sold them a few months after that. I realized after buying them that I did not want to get back into snakes. Why don't you read my posts for tegu babies for sale, it says in the add I will not trade for snakes! In closing, Jerry said in his post that he is "glad I finally agreed on a ressonable settlement. All I ever wanted was fairness for the both of us" Read my emails, I asked for a settlement 18 months ago! Now Jerry finally thinks that is a good idea and I should thank him for it. Keep in mind it is NOT the first time I was told by him that money is in the mail, hasn't happened yet. Here is the last email I will post, it is from an email Jerry sent me on 9/29/01; "You say you don't recall them well so be it, its water under the bridge. How dose a $275.00 refund sound. The Timors were well worth$125.00, were they not? Please let me know your thoughts. Gerald" Wow! I was so unreasonable that I asked for $250 and all the time Jerry never paid it, now he is offering $275! Like I said in my reply to this email Jerry, Yes, I will take your offer of $275 as a settlement. I will notify the FBI and Postal Inspector when (if) I get it. Is it just me or does EVERYTHING Jerry says sounds too hard to believe? Like I said from the start, I have TONS of emails. If anyone wants them just let me know. I think I posted too many here already. If you are thinking about sending Jerry aka Gerald Detwiler money just read through these emails and ask yourself, is it worth it? Thanks for your time, Jeff Houston Thanks again to Carlos who told me hw to cut and paste. |
| Arnold Calderon |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9722.html Posted At 18:11:55 10/03/2001 ...and I am a baby? FBI? Do you think they are sitting around awaiting a call from big bad Houston? What a joke. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Ritchie Luna |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9766.html Posted At 11:34:03 10/04/2001 Does arnold calderone have any mature posts? enquiring minds would like to know. First he says Liar liar. But now that there seems to be proof.....he is screaming cry baby |
| Jerry Detwier |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9768.html Posted At 12:12:53 10/04/2001 Recreate, cut and paste! Great job! The e mail in regards to the spotteds was sent 3 days after accepting my offer over the phone. You found some cheaper I guess. There was alot of phone conversations that took place as well.Believe me, If you were asking for only $250.00 I would not have offered to settle this for $275.00 this far in the future. ...I never told you I was sending you a refund because until now,we never agreeded on an amount. |
| Jeff Houston |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9774.html Posted At 13:34:12 10/04/2001 Jerry, I was the one who told you NOT to call me. I told you after one of your calls that "this is getting ugly and we both need this in writing" Need that email too? You can see in my emails that I was very careful to document everything that happened and to restate anything said in our phone conversations. I had a feeling I was being screwed after all how long does it take to give a refund?! The emails I posted were from October. That means that 6 months had past! Like I said, I can forward lots of emails from you and from me that tell the whole story. I think anyone with a brain can see what is going on. After several negative posts about you, after filing complaints with the FBI and Postal Inspectors, after countless emails you now break your silence and start lying. You got caught lying, I proved that here. Now you just keep digging a hole. I posted several emails where I asked you for a refund. You now claim they are lies. What is clear is that you have had my money since May 2000. You have not responded to the Postal Inspector and you have not resonded to me. Why didn't you just send me the $275 in the first place? At least you would have done what YOU thought was right. (I bet you didn't loose much sleep over stealing peoples money though, did you?) Why didn't you tell the postal inspectors about your offer when they contacted you? I am sure they would have liked to know about how fair you are! I know why, you are a liar. You said in your first post that I turned down the "trio" of spotted pythons. It is clear by my email to you that I was never offered them, you offered a pair! I counter offered and said I would take a trio, but wait you posted that I refused that deal??? Another lie?! Like I said before, if ANYONE sends Jerry Detwiler money you have to have rocks in your head! I had good deals with him, I had sent him money and thought he was a cool guy. I think what happened was that he needed the money and sold the monitor to someone else. On here he said it died in a few days. I have emails from June and it was still alive, just not doing well. More lies. This guy is one bad lie after another. Good luck Jerry, 18 months of lies can't be fixed. Everything you say just makes it clear that you are all lies. Why don't you deduct the $12 and send me the money Exress Mail Jerry? You can post the tracking number here and when I get it I will post. Then this can be behind us. Yes, Arnold I filed a complaint with the FBI's internet fraud dept. That is what you do when someone has stolen from you. Sorry if that bothers you. You know, you seem to be a huge fan of Jerry. He has said on here that he is fine with sending me the $275 that he offered. Since you think he is so great and such a nice guy why don't you step up and send me the money. Since you are fond of getting involved with things that are none of your business why not get involved in a positive way? Email Jerry and get my address. Idiot. Ritchie, thanks for being an "normal" human. There seems to be so few in this industry. I liked it before the Internet, people were much cooler. |
| Ritchie Luna |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9805.html Posted At 20:39:01 10/04/2001 Jeff. as aforementioned...my experience with Jerry was good. So here I am trying to get the story straight.....and what do I encounter? Arnold Calderones immature posts "liar liar, oh you have proof? nevermind you are now a cry baby" I can't believe his parents let him use the computer. Maybe they should put an age limit.....You have to have a mentality over nine years old before you can use it. But alas this is probably gonna turn into mud slinging with the nine year old.....So I am out. Good Luck to the both of you.....I hope you both get to work this out. I do have lots of respect for you both. and remember...we are all americans PEACE. |
| Arnold Calderon |
Re: Canopy Creations/ Gerald or Jerry Detwiler- BAD!
9839.html Posted At 06:45:23 10/05/2001 It is "Calderon" not "Calderone" I am not Italian! Why don't they make and age limit, and an idiot limit. That would preclude you and big bad Houston from getting on the internet. Please don't call the FBI or CIA on me, big bad H. Later! |