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Bad Guy Be aware when dealing with Andrew Blesh...

D

DJderon

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Andrew Blesh, username ERnurse, may back out on a "done deal" if he thinks he can get more money. I was going to let this go but I see he has re-listed the snake in question so I think folks should be aware. On October 27, 2011, I responded via text to an ad Andrew posted about a 6 foot green anaconda male he had listed to sell. The asking price was $200.00 plus shipping. Long story short, after some back and forth texts (one which said "btw I was just offered 300 bucks for it but I will keep the deal w you since you were first") we had a deal. We got the shipping figured at $102.00 FedEx and I sent him a verified paypal payment of 302.00. All was good to go....

Later that night I was on Fauna and noticed the ad for my purchased snake was still up. As I am seeing this I get an email from paypal saying you've got a refund from Andrew Blesh. The message with it said "I'm sorry but I just found condas are not legal in your state....." This of course is not true. Ohio has been in the news lately because of the fact that these animals ARE legal and as of yet there has been no legisaltion passed to say otherwise. I don't know where Andrew got his information but he obviously didn't dig very far to check this out and at the very least he should have called me to clarify this before just backing out on our deal.

I immediately called Andrew's home. His wife answered and said he was asleep, which I do not believe since the paypal message had just come in minutes earlier and those messages are usually immediate after the transaction. I informed his wife that he should have called me before the refund and that he is mis-informed regarding the legality of anacondas in Ohio. She said she didn't know anything about it, which again I don't believe. A few hours later the ad was removed from Fauna so apparently Andrew can work on a computer in his sleep. Now I see it has been re-listed a week later at 325.00.

First let me say that at least I got my money back (even though I had to pay the paypal percentage) so it could have been worse. My opinion is that Andrew realized he might be able to get more money for the snake then what he originally was asking and used the not legal thing as an excuse to back out on our deal. He had his wife run interference for him so he didn't have to talk to me and have his excuse rendered incorrect. The next person in line to buy the snake for more money apparently did not come through so he's listed it again. So....anyone looking to deal with Andrew Blesh just needs to be aware that he may not come through. Last time I checked Fauna Classifieds was not an auction site and not honoring a sale after money has been exchanged, especially when given your full asking price, is just bad business. :NoNo:
 
I would think that would be someone to avoid, most definitely!
 
If things are as you say then I agree with the last post that he should be avoided. Please post all correspondence as well as the paypal payment and refund. Also let him, or his wife, know about this thread. Thanks for the warning.
 
Yes I did not sell the animal to him...It was not about the money otherwise it would be sold. I read an article about the gov of OH enacting an executive order banning all "dangerous animals" including constricting snakes after that wack job released his big cats etc. I refunded the money immediately when I found this article. If the buyer was so offended by this why start the thread now instead of when it happened. To me it looks like he is just trying to torpedo my sale. If I am indeed wrong and someone can show me proof of that I will gladly sell the animal to the same buyer. I am not about to open myself to legal liability over a small amount of money. That is why in the new ad it states only sales where legal. Oh and by the way I was indeed sleeping....my wife removed the ad. I work 12hr day shifts and do not have the luxury of spending my entire life in front of a computer as some do.
 
ERnurse said:
Yes I did not sell the animal to him...It was not about the money otherwise it would be sold. I read an article about the gov of OH enacting an executive order banning all "dangerous animals" including constricting snakes after that wack job released his big cats etc. I refunded the money immediately when I found this article. If the buyer was so offended by this why start the thread now instead of when it happened. To me it looks like he is just trying to torpedo my sale. If I am indeed wrong and someone can show me proof of that I will gladly sell the animal to the same buyer. I am not about to open myself to legal liability over a small amount of money. That is why in the new ad it states only sales where legal. Oh and by the way I was indeed sleeping....my wife removed the ad. I work 12hr day shifts and do not have the luxury of spending my entire life in front of a computer as some do.
Click to expand...

FYI, you're not the only one that has a job. Are you willing to sell it to him at the agreed on price? I don't know Ohio's laws but you can't be held accountable for a law that hasn't been passed yet.
 
About the "paying the Paypal percentage", if your money was refunded, there was no fee taken. Paypal refunds in full, negating the transaction, unless they've changed their policy since the last time I used it.

There was a 'executive order' thing talked about that was done, with additional legislation proposed. To me(albeit I'm no expert on legality)that would mean that right now, owning/purchasing those animals listed may indeed curently be illegal.

However, if the refund was given due to "it's illegal" I would have hoped the seller would talk to the buyer instead of simply refunding. If it's not illegal after all, the seller should offer the animal again at the agreed upon price since it was his mistake that negated the deal.
 
If there is proof there are no legal issues I have no problem whatsoever honoring the deal as first agreed upon. There was no malicious intent here...at all. I just did not want to break the law.
 
I don't know.... Because, I've returned a buyer's money before under similar set of reasons that the buyer or others could have misconstrued although I was being honest.

In both cases, (his and mine) it would appear that the seller was trying to do the right thing. Also, turning down a buyer and refunding his money would not have stopped me from putting the animal up for sale again (as would have been my right).

***Thinks to self, perhaps TOS should start including the statement, "Management reserves the right to refund money at their discretion. :)

Who cries AFTER they got a refund??
 
deborahbroadus said:
Who cries AFTER they got a refund??
Click to expand...

Perhaps you missed a post.

The guy who askes is the one who sees the same animal for sale for more money after being told there was another buyer at a higher price.

It seems pretty obvious to me and I'm far from the sharpest tool in the shed.
 
Wilomn said:
Perhaps you missed a post.

The guy who askes is the one who sees the same animal for sale for more money after being told there was another buyer at a higher price.

It seems pretty obvious to me and I'm far from the sharpest tool in the shed.
Click to expand...

We may be emphazing different parts of the same post:
(one which said "btw I was just offered 300 bucks for it but I will keep the deal w you since you were first") we had a deal. We got the shipping figured at $102.00 FedEx and I sent him a verified paypal payment of 302.00. All was good to go....
Click to expand...

Doesn't seem to me as if he meant to do what some suspect for the reasons suspected, but I could be wrong. Because your perception of the incident is just as valid, he COULD have been paving the way for the refund later to sell higher...who knows? I can't read his mind.
 
I came very close to posting this here right when this happened and decided to let it go as I take this forum seriously and I didn't want to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Also I know there is always someone ready to flame you back when you are just trying to do the right thing. When I saw the snake was up for sale again, especially at an elevated price, I debated about it but felt obligated to at least let folks know what happened to me. I believe that's what this forum is for afterall. It hapened just as I described. As to why it happened the way it did, well that is my opinion as I stated and now it's my opinion he is back pedaling to save face on here.

If you search online for exotics in ohio, you will find the Governor has a workgroup set up to lay out legislation in Ohio regarding exotics and that is what the executive order was about. You may check the ODNR website under Dangerous Wild Animals to view PDFs of the meeting notes about what they are talking about. There have been NO LAWS PASSED to date and if it proceeds as past attempts have, hopefully there won't be in regards to these snakes. Large dangerous mammals really are more the problem here and many of us, including USARK are fighting to make sure the snakes are not included. There is also a separate proposed bill in the house, but again nothing has been passed.

When this thng went down, I called right away and made it very clear to his wife I was unhappy and he should have called me before negating our deal as he was mis-informed. I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing the seller was so sound asleep shortly after making a paypal refund that he couldn't have talked to me and cleared this up. I also texted him right away. He never responded to my text or phone call to find out more info. Why would anyone walk away from a sure sale if all he had to do was contact me to clear it up? Well, if he didn't clear up the situation with me, he potentially stood to get 50% more for the animal selling it to someone else.

Of course now after I post on here and another deal he had worked out apparently fell through, he is willing to listen about the legality issue and go forth with the deal. Honestly folks while I still would kinda like to have the snake, I don't trust the situation now and would not feel comfortable re-instating our original deal. Would you? At this point, this post is just to inform others about what happened to me, I am not trying to still get the snake.

As I stated I got the refund, I am glad for that, and it could have gone much worse. I did not acuse him of ripping me off. He did not. I do not trust his business practices for the reasons described in my first post and I just feel others should know about it.

As for the paypal thing, I have not yet pulled the money out of my paypal account. Everytime I have transfered from paypal back to my bank account in the past they have kept a percentage. If that is not the case in this situation, I apologize for that part of the statement as I have never actually gotten a refund from paypal before.
 
Indeed I do have the animal listed for a higher price now than I did before. I had lots of interest in it. There is nothing wrong with listing it at a higher price a week later. It's called capitalism. I am unfamiliar with the market price of 'condas and was informed by my friend who is that I was selling a breedable male for the price of a cbb hatchling. He told me that 10 minutes after I posted the INITIAL ad. I did have an offer for more money and still honored the first persons claim to the animal. I cannot know the laws for every state and when I read an article about a gov enacting an executive order banning the importation of the animal I was selling I am not just going to take the word of someone that I don't know saying that there is no such law. I am not about to take the chance of getting arrested for $200. I refunded the persons money with an explanation why. I do not need to explain this but when I go to bed my wife doesn't disturb me. Period. Unless its an emergency. This was not an emergency. He sent me a text that I got 2 days later (I don't have cell service at home). I don't feel I needed to give more explanation. I had already explained to him in the message I sent with the refund why I was refunding the money.
 
What is wrong though, is refunding and not discussing with the buyer first. The buyer would have known if it was legal in his state. You should have just said, "I am a little worried about if the snake is legal in your state, after reading an article on the internet. Could you clarify for me whether or not it is indeed legal to own one in your state?"
While it is good that you did not keep the money, it does raise a question of "will you do this to other buyers, who know the legality of an animal in their state just based off an article you might read on the internet?" There are alot of things on the internet that are not actually set in stone laws.
I'm not trying to be a jerk or attack anyone, but I'd like to know why you didn't verify whether or not the animal was legal or not before you cancelled the sale? A misunderstanding?
 
A little common courtesy on Andrew's part would most certainly have cured the problem. Unilaterally refunding the money without prior discussion and explanation is, at best, very poor business practice. The rest of the argument is just window-dressing to make Andrew look a little less self-serving and underhanded.
 
If you are not prepared to take the word of a resident of the state in question, and you don't think you can be expected to know the laws of all the states.....how are you going to be able to sell in ANY state? If you don't know the laws, you'd assume that they're illegal in all states but yours! I think it's a bit unreasonable to not take anyone's word as to the legality of ANY animal in ANY state. I don't imagine the article said for sure that there was DEFINITELY going to be a ban on giant snakes there. If there is a law you'd be able to find it.
I would have, when I read that article, begun looking for laws that already existed about it. Or I would have taken the buyer's word.
 
kingsnake1 said:
A little common courtesy on Andrew's part would most certainly have cured the problem. Unilaterally refunding the money without prior discussion and explanation is, at best, very poor business practice. The rest of the argument is just window-dressing to make Andrew look a little less self-serving and underhanded.
Click to expand...

I agree wholeheartedly with this!
 
I'll disagree about the "the buyer would know if it was illegal" statement. We see plenty of people all the time who don't have a clue it's illegal to own *insert X species* in their state or city. Also, plenty that do know, but claim they don't care, the authorities don't care or the infamous 'everyone does it'.

The seller would be liable if he shipped a illegal animal into the state.

And for Paypal, yes, to transfer the money from Paypal to your bank account there's a fee. If you leave it in Paypal to use buying a snake from someone else, you won't have to pay anything. So the Paypal fee isn't due to a refund, but due to you wanting to remove the money back to your bank.
 
That was why I said that either the seller should find out the laws first, or ask the buyer. Personally I think it'd be better to actually look up the laws yourself.
I found out that laws are different from town to town in the same state. Like in Omaha you can't have iguanas or any snake over 8 feet. But in many other towns you can. Each place has different laws. Buyers should always know the laws where they live so they can give sellers accurate information. :)
 
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