Bad Guy Bad Experience with Carson Phelps of Herps Etc

[guyiv]

Almost three years ago I paid Carson $3,000 for a pair of baby scaleless and a pair of her scaleless cornsnakes. I had purchased several scaleless ratsnakes from him previously so I did not question him when he asked me to deposit the money in his Bank of America account. Shortly after is when I started getting excuse for not receiving what I paid for. The first reason was the breeder he paid screwed him. Then the next year the breeder lost his entire set of eggs in the incubator because of the hurricane. Then last December(2012) we came to a new deal on ball pythons because it was clear to me Carson had no intention of completing our deal and I would not see the snakes or my money back. The new deal was 1.0 pied, 0.2 het pied, 0.2 yellowbellies, 2- 2013 Co Dominant Her Ultramel and one 2013 Spark, which I was to received by end of September 2013.

Then in September of this year Carson told me he did not breed any of his ball pythons this year and he could not get me what we had agreed on. So I asked for my money back and he said he could not pay me. He then came back trying to make a new deal on a male Banana. Which we never finalized because I wanted him to agree upfront of the whole complete deal so I would not get a Banana that cost me $3000, a long wait and a lot of headache.


I have never received any snakes or my money back. I would not have done business with Carson if I knew this is how he treats his customers. Any vendor that wanted to correct this problem would have done so as soon as they knew they could not fulfill what their customer paid for instead of stealing their money.

 

[jj-mitchell]

This is unusual, all I have ever heard of Carson is he is a stand up guy and a pleasure to deal with. I have went ahead and let Carson know about this thread via facebook. I hope we can help get to the bottom of the problem and get this resolved.

 

[herpsetc]

Very nice

Well first off
I was doing guy a favor on getting him scaleless cornsnakes which was my fault on trying to help him out
I was burned for the cash he sent me

So to make things rite

We made a virble agreement via phone a month or so ago that I would ship him a banana male
I asked guy if he wanted it now or after it had a few meals

He stated lets wait til he feeds

The banana has eaten once so far
And I haven't heard from guy lately
I have his snake no problem

 

[herpsetc]

And a super stripe male aswell

 

[Celtic Constrictors]

Very nice

Well first off
I was doing guy a favor on getting him scaleless cornsnakes which was my fault on trying to help him out
I was burned for the cash he sent me


I have his snake no problem

Does this mean the OP paid you $3,000 then you paid $3,000 (minus whatever your cut for brokering the deal was) to the breeder with the scaleless corns and he never delivered?

Just trying to clarify where the money went 'POOF'.


Evan

 

[herpsetc]

Ok

Here's the complete breakdown

Guy was buying scalesless rat snakes from me
Which he received plenty of packages
I received a call on some scaleless cornsnakes
So I called guy and I told him hey I was offered scaleless cornsnakes if your interested Lmk
There $3k my cost
So he said ok ill take them

I told him I'm not making any money off this deal just trying to help u get your foot in the door on scaleless corns

Well after a bunch of bullshit
I ended up get burned for the $3k
I asked guy what he wanted to do
He asked if I had anything else
Reptiles (wise) so I said Lmk how this sounds
I can give u some het ultramel balls combos etc
And he said ok that works for me
Well the male didn't breed this past season
He's breeding now (go figure)
So I said instead of the ultramel stuff
I have a banana a super stripe
He said ok that works this was all done via phone

So I told him the banana just hatched do u want it now or after it hasn't eaten a few times

He stated lets wait til it feeds

Since then I haven't heard from him and the banana and super stripe are here and ready to go

 

[Lucille]

I ended up get burned for the $3k

Carson, who burned you?

 

[herpsetc]

The guys name is Steve miles

From South Carolina

 

[herpsetc]

I just text message guy
Since I haven't heard from him after we came to a agreement on the banana etc
To see when he wants me to ship

Haven't heard back yet

 

[herpsetc]

It was a bad situation
Because guy was out of money and Steve miles had guys money
But since I was the middle man it was on me
Which I understand
The only good thing out of this whole bad deal was guy wanted other reptiles
Made it easier to fix the problem

 

[Lucille]

So I called guy and I told him hey I was offered scaleless cornsnakes if your interested Lmk
There $3k my cost

I'm just curious as to why you did not let the OP and the scaleless corn snake seller deal directly, it would have been off your back.

 

[Celtic Constrictors]

That is precisely why I don't do proxy sales **especially** when I'm not making any markup. I would have just told the OP Mr. Steve Miles' contact info and said "Merry Christmas, bub." I suppose hindsight is 20/20.

Carson, have you contacted Steve Miles about this blatant theft and/or attempted to take him to small claims court? I certainly would since technically the $3,000 was given to him by you.

 

[herpsetc]

I know I should have

I was just trying to seal the deal for guy
He was really stoked about scaleless corns and I was stoked that I could get them for him

So it was done really quick

I received pix if the scaleless corns and everything

Didn't think it was shady at all

It was my bad

After that deal
I told myself never again
It's was a costly lesson learned

 

[Celtic Constrictors]

I know I should have

I was just trying to seal the deal for guy
He was really stoked about scaleless corns and I was stoked that I could get them for him

So it was done really quick

I received pix if the scaleless corns and everything

Didn't think it was shady at all

It was my bad

After that deal
I told myself never again
It's was a costly lesson learned

Costly... how? As far as I can tell, you haven't been out of pocket a dime to date.

No offense but you probably should take this Miles guy to court and even if you lose the case pay the OP the $3,000. I wouldn't have been as patient as he has been to be honest.

 

[herpsetc]

I was in contact with mr miles for a few months and then his phones was off

I contacted my lawyer and had him send letter with 0 RESPONCE

I contacted local police and there was no one at that address

After a few months of trying nothin was accomplished

I asked guy what he wanted to do he stated he would like other reptiles
Which I have here waiting to be shipped and after there shipped I'm out the money I could have sold them for


So after its all said and done

I'm out and I can live with that

 

[Celtic Constrictors]

I admire that you are willing to make right with the OP even at your own expense. It's a shame things like this happen. I think it was 100% avoidable but life happens.

Keep us posted if the OP contacts you and the Banana and other snake arrives at his house.

 

[herpsetc]

I wasnt even aware that there was any problems with guy and myself
We had a agreement on other reptiles with no issues at all
We would even talk here and there
Until lately I haven't heard back from him
I tried to text message guy for his shipping address and I've made a few calls to him
And nothin

His snakes are here ready to be shipped

Hopefully he'll contact me soon so this can be handled

 

[jj-mitchell]

I do agree it was a mistake and a stupid one at that Carson making a proxy sale. That being said he is one of the good guys with a good reputation, and said he made an agreement with the OP to deliver a banana, and superstripe ball python. Says he has both of them and is only waiting for them to be feeding more regularly (at op's request from what I understood). That being said I am not sure why the bad guy post to begin with. I do see how this is going to cost Him a good amount of money as well. He is giving away some higher end animals because some one else screwed him. I think the two of them could have and should have settled this between themselves.

 

[herpsetc]

Yea it will never happen again

Bad mistake on my behalf


I'm just waiting to here back from guy with his shipping info

 

[Celtic Constrictors]

I do agree it was a mistake and a stupid one at that Carson making a proxy sale. That being said he is one of the good guys with a good reputation, and said he made an agreement with the OP to deliver a banana, and superstripe ball python. Says he has both of them and is only waiting for them to be feeding more regularly (at op's request from what I understood). That being said I am not sure why the bad guy post to begin with. I do see how this is going to cost Him a good amount of money as well. He is giving away some higher end animals because some one else screwed him. I think the two of them could have and should have settled this between themselves.

I don't doubt Carson is a good guy but I can understand why the OP came to the BOI and posted a bad guy thread. It's not like this all transpired over the course of a few days. This is years in the making. I can even empathize with him in that after paying $3,000 and not getting his scaleless corns, Carson offered him a group of BPs (IIRC) and even that fell through. This is the THIRD attempt to be compensated for several thousand dollars. I would be a bit skeptical too.

We shall see how this pans out.