• In case most of you have not noticed, I made changes to the donation amounts as well as the durations for all of the paid membership levels. Things are winding down here, and this seems to be the most prudent way to deal with the "end of life" period of this site.

    Contributor level members - $10 per 30 days
    Sponsors - Eliminated
    Benefactor level members - $25 per 30 days
    Endowment level members - $50 per 30 days

    Account Upgrades Page
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Bad Guy Bobby Hill - Varnyard Herps: Buyers Beware.

Focal said:
Speaking of responses, has bobby even made an attempt to apologize to any of his customers for not coming through? Any kind of remorse?
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Not that has been reported here. He seems to be avoiding the issues people have with him.
Bobby is still banking on his previous reputation, soon it will catch up with him. People are going to be hesitant in sending money through a wire transfer (hopefully).
 
DO NOT SEND HIM MONEY

I hate resorting to this but I unfortunately did not read these posts until it was too late. I had purchased a tegu from him in 2010/2011 with no issues so it did not occur to me to check before putting a deposit down last year on an all american. I didn't hear anything from him when they should have been close to due, so I emailed him and got a few short words back, "due in Aug." Never heard or saw another invoice or anything. I also breed other stuff and have a full time job. I realized I never got anything this year and delayed on getting around to contact him (my fault) until a couple of weeks ago. So now it has been over a year. He dug through all of his stuff, responded, said he had never gotten my deposit, etc. I emailed him while he was on the phone with the paypal verification. He said he would have to contact paypal but sent me an invoice for the balance. I did not really want a tegu at this point because I have since acquired some rehabs and now have 4, however, he did not seem inclined to refund and I did not want to mess with it any further since part of the delay was my fault. I got the invoice and paid it promptly on paypal. We agreed he would ship the following Tues or Wed if temps were okay. He called me mon 9/10 and I do not like things shipped on Thursdays for fear of lost animals over weekends so we agreed to ship the following Tues. That was the last contact I had with him. I attempted to call him when I did not get a tracking number on wed and then each day after through the following week. After receiving no response, I emailed him. Each time I gave him the opportunity to explain or swap out the tegu w an extreme giant. I sent him a copy of the paypal payment. I finally emailed him 2 days ago demanding a refund within 48 hours or I would be posting this and telling this board what someone has has already pointed out. I am an attorney and a former prosecutor. Conducting business like this is a federal crime, particularly in a larger group like this. It becomes the jurisdiction of the US Attorneys because it is wire fraud and involves the post office, which Varnyard uses to conduct business, thereby making him subject to charges of fraud by US Mail. Between just the couple of us that have posted, the aggregate amount is now over $1,000 and there are multiple counts. Given that there appear to be more victims out there, I see this actually being up there in a much higher range, each punishable by prison and fines. Paypal has already escalated this because when I asked for a refund, they stated that the seller was unable to respond (translation: he has been cut off from paypal) and they were escalating and asking for my cooperation in the fraud investigation. This is very similar to ebay investigations and scam investigations where I have seen it pushed to the Feds due to a rapid influx of complaints and theft. What does this mean? Anyone who thinks they are getting a tegu needs to immediately contact paypal and request a refund. It would also be a really good idea to get a list of anyone who is in the position because it is a lot easier to have it all investigated under one case with multiple charges instead of a lot of people running around trying to get someone at a local DAs office to pay attention to them. Do I wish trouble on Bobby? NO...Did I give him every opportunity under the sun to resolve this? YES!! And the bottom line is...stuff like this make it hard for legitimate reptile breeders to do business honestly because someone out there is not conducting business in an ethical way. I also spent most of my career as a prosecutor dealing with people who took things from hard working people and I have issues with anyone who takes someone else's hard earned money and does not hold up their end of the bargain. Last time I checked $350 was not just sitting around burning a hole in most people's pocket. I won't get all of mine back because I let the first part go too long, but there is no reason anyone else should pay the price for this dishonesty.
 
Thanks for coming forward Ashley, sorry you had to go thru this with Bobby Hill. the list of people being robbed by Bobby grows longer, I can't imagine him thinking he is going to get away with this.

He is advertising for 2013 deposits as we speak.
 
I have the same problem. I paid the deposit and the remaining 75 balance so i already paid in full. He doesnt answer my calls or my emails. I talked to him once on the phone and was told my tegu was ready to go but the weather was bad for shipping. Ok i believed that because there was bad weather at the time so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. That was the beginning of September which was weeks ago. Still no replies or call backs. i left him A few emails and voice mails. I'm very upset and even if he sent me one now I would be missing out the first stages of its growth. I wanted to raise him from baby to adulthood not from juvi stage.
 
This just gets worse and worse! I am glad I was only out 75 dollars....it hurts but not as bad as it could.
 
azn_dragoon said:
I have the same problem. I paid the deposit and the remaining 75 balance so i already paid in full. He doesnt answer my calls or my emails.
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Sorry this happened to you Matt. from the number of victims reporting that they had similar experiences with Bobby Hill it looks like the list is going to be a long one.

I don't expect him to show up here to post anything, honestly...he is just afraid to show his face on the BOI!
 
He won't show up here because he has nothing to defend. It's not like people are accusing him of having accidents or anything he can dispute. He is intentionally committing fraud. Thats his plan. Bobby will show up to explain his side of the story right after the exiled Nigerian prince who always emails asking for your social security number so he can wire 30 million dollars to your account. It's basically the same thing at this point.
 
WOW this really sucks, iv been slimming down on bp's so i can get room for a Tegu. Bobby's name and company came up every time i did research on breeders as a " great guy with great animals" and all that. What a shame!
 
Go to teguterra and talk to johnny larocca top notch guy i just got a chacoan baby from him hes awesome super nice guy and great communication
 
Mr Taffet - as I said in post 139 - this thread is about Bobby Hill, and it is not appropriate to post remarks about other sellers here./COLOR]
 
I paid for a black and white and a red tegu in September 2011 ($350). In June, I was told that they would be hatching soon. In August, I was told that he was out of red tegus and if I wanted an extreme giant or all american I could send another $75. I was set on getting a red tegu so told Bobby I would like a refund. He told me to send an email with details so I did. I was suppose to get a black and white tegu and a $200 refund for the red tegu. I sent the same email a few times over the course of a couple weeks starting on August 12th. I never got a response so I called again and Bobby told me he had been busy, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and was patient. More time passed and still nothing so I called him again. He said he was still busy and that he would try to send a money order soon. About 10 days ago I called and left a message with no response. Last monday I sent an email and left another message and still no response. A friend of mine emailed him last tuesday as well and got a response in less than 12 hours. I called again wednesday morning and left another message. I know Bobby is getting my messages and/or emails because he has responded to other people. I am a very patient person but am really pissed off at this point. I've called Saturday and today and left messages saying that I'd just like an extreme giant tegu since I have sent $350. That way he doesn't have to send an refund, just a tegu. Still no response. Paypal and my bank have told me that it has been too long to dispute it.I am out $350 and Bobby is dodging all of my calls and emails. It appears there is nothing I can really do but hopefully this thread will save someone else from being scammed out of their money!!
 
Zach,

I'm really sorry as I am for everyone out here. I am pretty sure he is only responding to anyone he can get additional money or fresh money out of at this point. As I had the exact same experience as you, I can only hope that you at least get your money. Thank for posting though in hopes more people read this BEFORE sending him money. I know I didn't.
 
ZachClapperton said:
I paid for a black and white and a red tegu in September 2011 ($350). In June, I was told that they would be hatching soon. In August, I was told that he was out of red tegus and if I wanted an extreme giant or all american I could send another $75. I was set on getting a red tegu so told Bobby I would like a refund. He told me to send an email with details so I did. I was suppose to get a black and white tegu and a $200 refund for the red tegu. I sent the same email a few times over the course of a couple weeks starting on August 12th. I never got a response so I called again and Bobby told me he had been busy, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and was patient. More time passed and still nothing so I called him again. He said he was still busy and that he would try to send a money order soon. About 10 days ago I called and left a message with no response. Last monday I sent an email and left another message and still no response. A friend of mine emailed him last tuesday as well and got a response in less than 12 hours. I called again wednesday morning and left another message. I know Bobby is getting my messages and/or emails because he has responded to other people. I am a very patient person but am really pissed off at this point. I've called Saturday and today and left messages saying that I'd just like an extreme giant tegu since I have sent $350. That way he doesn't have to send an refund, just a tegu. Still no response. Paypal and my bank have told me that it has been too long to dispute it.I am out $350 and Bobby is dodging all of my calls and emails. It appears there is nothing I can really do but hopefully this thread will save someone else from being scammed out of their money!!
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Texas has a particularly strong consumer protection law called the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. In some situations you can get triple damages, attorney fees :D, and other costs. Small claims court in Texas is easy to navigate and not expensive to use.
I'd file, marshall your evidence, and bring a copy of this thread.
 
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