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Bad Guy BUYERS BEWARE OF BRAD PENROD!

A

anamlgrl

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THIS IS IN REGARDS TO BRAD PENROD ([email protected]). His member name as I know it is bplakers.

My name is Melissa Hazelton (member name anamlgrl. I am from NJ).

On another board (www.beardeddragon.org) I answered a For Sale post (here) for 800 mixed dubia @ $68 shipped. I happily paid for this "too-good-to-be-true" deal.

He claimed he had experience with shipping and that he never had any DOA (see screen shot below). When they arrived at my home & my partner opened the box, she described the smell as PUTRID and when she looked in the box there were babies stuck to tape in the box and some trying to crawl out.

The box was lined with styrofoam and it was not ventilated. She also said that 90% of what she did see were all dead and were almost "soup like". After counting them out there were only 400 in the box (around 300 were dead and they were all adults). We we took pics of the box and dubia (see below).

Oh and did I mention it :censored: stunk????

We contacted BRAD PENROD via email & to say he was not helpful is an understatement (our email convo is below). I tried to get him to just refund $20 and he did not. I then sent the transaction to the Paypal Resolution Center and dispite BRAD PENROD being on "vacation" he escalated it immediately. (He could escalate the dispute but not refund $20???). I am sad to say that Paypal did not rule in our favor so we are out $68 which we cannot afford as we are now out of feeders for our 4 dragons and tight on cash. Please do not buy from Brad. He is currentlly trying to sell Roach Chow & who knows what else. I plan on writing to Paypal, Ebay & any other forum he is on. I know temps are high but to not even VENTILATE the box?? I have had other feeders shipped here during the heat waves and they never had more then a few DOA.

I hate even putting this out there but he really was not flexible at all.

Picture1-1.png







:ack2:




THIS IS WHAT WE WERE LEFT WITH :angry:


Subject: RE: Dubia
> To: [email protected]
> From: Melissa.Hazelton@*****.com
> Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:37:15 -0400
Send me some pics & i'll see what I think. I'm going to be taking off for the weekend here in a few mins. So it might be Monday before refund is issued if issued.

Thanks,
Brad


Subject: RE: Dubia
To: [email protected]
From: Melissa.Hazelton@*****.com
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:32:34 -0400

I was thinking $20.

- Melissa


From: brad penrod <[email protected]>
To: <melissa.hazelton@******.com>
Date: 07/29/2011 01:27 PM
Subject: RE: Dubia

How much are you asking for a refund?

Thanks,
Brad

Subject: RE: Dubia
To: [email protected]
From: Melissa.Hazelton@******\.com
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:27:14 -0400

Wow Brad thanks for nothing. Did you think to at least ventilate the box?

- Melissa

From: brad penrod <[email protected]>
To: <melissa.hazelton@*****.com>
Date: 07/29/2011 01:25 PM
Subject: RE: Dubia

Unfortunately I didn't offer a live guarantee on them. With temps this
high you can't. Why I had no quarantee in my add.

Thanks,
Brad

Subject: Dubia
To: [email protected]
From: Melissa.Hazelton@*****.com
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:21:15 -0400

Hi. We just received the dubia, but unfortunately a lot of them were
dead (working on getting a pic for you). The box had no ventilation which
led to them cooking to death or not enough air. I do not mean to be a pain but is there any way I can get some of my money back? I only ask because I
could of bought 500 dubia shipped (with guarantee) for $50 from another
member but you had 800 and didnt have a dragon to feed so I figured I
would help you out instead.

- Melissa
 
Melissa,

How much did you pay for shipping and how were they shipped?
 
anamlgrl said:
I tried to get him to just refund $20 and he did not.
Click to expand...

So the bugs were sold on the 26th:

700-800 dubia colony SOLD
by bplakers » Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:54 pm

I have a dubia colony I sold my bearded dragons and have no need for them. I've shipped dubia before with 0 doa. There is around 7-800 dubia in there. Atleast 150 adults. First 55 plus shipping gets this deal. 75-80% are 1/2'' or bigger with a majority of them being over 1''. Never buy feeders again!!!!!!!!
bplakers


It looks like you contacted him on the 29th and he agreed he might consider a refund but he asked that it be Monday before the refund was sent.

You then contacted paypal. Why did you not wait until Monday?
 
anamlgrl said:
I paid $13 for shipping. They were shipped Priority Mail (2 to 3 Day).
Click to expand...

When I used to buy crickets, unless I paid overnight shipping I recall there was no guarantee. Did y'all discuss shipping methods?

I'm sorry some of your bugs died. It does seem like ventilation might have been a good idea. But he said he would consider a refund and it seemed like a reasonable request that the decision be left for Monday.
 
I didnt wait because I was getting pressure from my partner and I was hoping he would refund sooner as I had to buy more feeders ASAP. After reading that he would see what he thought about it I just became more irate. I was only asking for $20 not the entire amount. And not SOME of the roaches were dead, but 300 of the total 400 that were sent were DOA. In addition, his ad said he was selling 700-800. You can't mistake 400 dubia for 800. :NoNo: To me that seems like he posted the ad with the intent of being dishonest or he can't make a proper estimate and should have tried to count them. I emailed him before I made the Paypal claim and he ignored me.

I have never been one to be a complainer but this was too much.
 
anamlgrl said:
I didnt wait because I was getting pressure from my partner and I was hoping he would refund sooner as I had to buy more feeders ASAP. After reading that he would see what he thought about it I just became more irate. I was only asking for $20 not the entire amount. And not SOME of the roaches were dead, but 300 of the total 400 that were sent were DOA. In addition, his ad said he was selling 700-800. You can't mistake 400 dubia for 800. :NoNo: To me that seems like he posted the ad with the intent of being dishonest or he can't make a proper estimate and should have tried to count them. I emailed him before I made the Paypal claim and he ignored me.

I have never been one to be a complainer but this was too much.
Click to expand...

I think you might have asked for more, and might have gotten it. Your points are reasonable: the dead bugs, and what you allege is an undercount.

But he was not being unreasonable. You contacted him as he was leaving for the weekend, and he agreed to consider a refund. Had you presented your additional points a better refund might have been negotiated.

Instead, you smacked him with a paypal dispute. After telling you he would consider a refund, and then getting smacked, I can see why he escalated. I would too.

I think there was some wrong on both sides here. But before hearing from him, I honestly don't see him as a bad guy. Quite the opposite, he sounded like he could be persuaded.
 
He mentioned in his ad that he had experience shipping dubia and never had any DOA. Even with the heat I would expect most to arrive alive. He also implied in the post her was good at shipping, but if so why did he not ventilate the box at all?
 
anamlgrl said:
I didnt wait because I was getting pressure from my partner and I was hoping he would refund sooner as I had to buy more feeders ASAP. After reading that he would see what he thought about it I just became more irate. I was only asking for $20 not the entire amount. And not SOME of the roaches were dead, but 300 of the total 400 that were sent were DOA. In addition, his ad said he was selling 700-800. You can't mistake 400 dubia for 800. :NoNo: To me that seems like he posted the ad with the intent of being dishonest or he can't make a proper estimate and should have tried to count them. I emailed him before I made the Paypal claim and he ignored me.

I have never been one to be a complainer but this was too much.
Click to expand...

So because you were getting pressure from your partner you thought he would refund sooner?? Even after he told you that he was going out of town and would consider the refund when he returned? So you decided to go to paypal BEFORE he returned to tell you whether or not he was going to issue the refund? I feel that I would have escalated it as well if it had been me. You didn't even give the man the time that he asked you for before putting in a dispute.

While I don't agree with him not ventilating the box, and you having so many dead, I still think you should have waited to see if you were going to get the refund before starting a dispute.

He shouldn't have exaggerated the amount of dubai he had for sale, that is a given, and if he was experienced at shipping them out, then he should have known how to ventilate the box better. Sorry to see how many dead that you had. That's never a good thing.

Would like to hear what Brad has to say about all of this.
 
anamlgrl said:
He mentioned in his ad that he had experience shipping dubia and never had any DOA. Even with the heat I would expect most to arrive alive. He also implied in the post her was good at shipping, but if so why did he not ventilate the box at all?
Click to expand...

I don't know why he did not ventilate and that is a good point. But had you waited and negotiated, pointing out the packing and so on, you might have gotten quite a bit of money back. He said he was considering your refund.

I sympathize that you have hungry critters, but he may not have been aware of the urgency and your money situation.
 
I do not see how I was doing wrong? I emailed him before the claim not long after the initial contact & if he was so busy on vacation, how did he have time to escalate it and not time to refund just $20 of my $68 paid or respond to my email? He sent me HALF of what was offered in his ad & acted like I was wrong for asking for $20???

I never had ANY issues with any private feeder sellers or feeder supply businesses, this includes shipping in heat and not having to discuss too much of the shipping beforehand. He said he was experienced and made a HUGE beginner mistake by not ventilating. If there was at least an attempt at ventilation I may have just written it off as a mistake and never complained. I know there is a risk when shipping anything live. Also, I do not believe any content in the email responses he gave me suggested he was susceptible to being "persuaded".
 
anamlgrl said:
were almost "soup like".
Click to expand...

With all due respect, I would like to hear from your seller before having an opinion on the count. The count was not done by you, and if the bugs were soup, it might be hard to tell exactly how many dead there were.
 
I did point out to him that it was not ventilated . Then he asked me how much of a refund. I said $20. Seriously everyone, if he would have just given the $20 back this would all have been avoided. I didnt even ask for half of what I paid for.

I am done explaining my complaint. I don't think I can make my point of view any clearer and I am not the vindictive type whatsoever, but it was just bad business. I think my request for $20 was fair or even more than fair.

Thank you for the suggestions & dialogue. Its appreciated.

Enjoy the rest of your day.
 
I'm sorry but all normal BOI attacks and bickering aside.... By his add wording and his response to her regarding a refund, I believe he needs to give her a partial refund. Yes she should have waited per his request, but that is no reason that Rey can not come to an agreement at this point in time and make it a done deal..

He did not ship them correctly anyway.. Cold packs should have been used. The woman I order feeders from ships in all weather using heat or cold packs between packing materiel where needed. No different from reptiles. Nothing will survive 95 degrees in a box like that where it was 100+ inside it. That's common sence.


He worded it to in such a way that he sounded Luke he knew what he was doing. Apparently he didn't because most of them died. That is not fair to the customer or her dragons in this crappy economy.

So the OP needs stop trying to get something from paypal because she did not wait like the seller asked..

The seller needs to realize he F'd up and killed almost ALL of the bugs that she bought and paid for from him.

Both of you get off your horses and fix this.
 
Anyone one who knowingly ships ANY animal, be it a Roach or a Snake, in this heat is just asking for trouble. Especially not using a Cold Pack, or VENTILATION? What the heck?

I'd say your entitled to a partial refund, like Monica said, he asked to wait.

IMHO, If you're going to order any type of feeders, pay the extra shipping and have them overnighted. Especially in this heat.

Trey
 
So what's the update? It's Wednesday, just wondering if he refunded, or if the escalation is still going through PayPal?
 
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