• 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.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Bad Guy Bad Experience with Carson Phelps of Herps Etc

It was my understanding from your above post that you received your money back and some scaleless ratsnakes in addition- did he not address your concerns and refund your money and is giving you "something extra"?

My understanding is that you agreed on trades in lieu of the animals initially- this did not work out and at that time you requested a refund of your money.

After reading so many "bad guy" threads here yours doesn't sound so bad.

Yeah, it only took 3 YEARS to resolve. SMH.....lots of threads lately where the resolutions is taking a RIDICULOUS amount of time, yet people act like its no big deal. What is everyone smoking?
 
It was my understanding from your above post that you received your money back and some scaleless ratsnakes in addition- did he not address your concerns and refund your money and is giving you "something extra"?

Actually, from earlier posts, the OP received most (not all) of his money back...after an overly long wait, and this thread. He has not received any scaleless ratsnakes, just a message saying that he would. Now it's up to Carson to follow through with that offer.
 
William, our original deal was a refund if the scaleless corns did I not come through. Which I was told after I did not get them I could have ball pythons or nothing. It was not until I posted on BOI that anything progressed. For someone that sold 68 Banana Balls in 2013 it is odd how I never got anything. As you can tell I was just trying to recoup some of my money. There is a difference between agreeing and accepting something instead of nothing. Besides Carson had more than ample time to let me know the package he said last Dec he would ship by Aug 2013, to let me know before Step 2013 I would not be getting any of it. In all of our phone conversations Carson never argued over the timeline or deal we had. From the beginning all I wanted back was the money. Do you know of any lender who will lend $3000 for almost 3 years for a pair of scaleless datsbakes worth $250 or a small package of ball pythons?
 
After watching this discussion I can't believe anyone is taking Carsons side and that anyone thinks this is acceptable business practice. I wish I could ask clients of mine to lend me $3000 for 3 years interest free. I am new to this site and have already spent thousands with some dealers here but after reading some of these posts I will be copying names of those who think that this was handled properly. I will make sure never to do any business with them.
 
This is bad enough that this happened, but you have to scratch your head even more knowing this is how the seller makes a living, selling reptiles.

If he sold 68 bananas, why in the world did he not refund Guy? The first banana he sold would have been enough to pay Guy back (at the market value of a banana back then). In a worst case scenario, $68,000 in bananas (only $1,000 each), and couldn't pay Guy back???

I know people keep trying to say, "Well the OP agreed to snakes instead of a refund". He only agreed to snakes after he got told "no refund only snakes" by the seller.
 
Guy,
Any word on the scaleless rats he was going to get you to make up for the BS you had to deal with. Keep us posted.
 
With that question

1 there considered a morph (scaleless)

Corn snake morphs can be sold in nj just not the normal phase (as long as there captive born)

2nd it doesn't matter because the were never received or shipped

It's pretty much arelavent
 
I contacted local wildlife and asked before this came about

I following all my state laws and if there's something I feel is off ill call local wildlife and ask before I move forward with and reptile transaction
 
I'm with you David, I guess I missed the memo stating that 3yrs is average to be paid back from a transaction. I guess it has to mature like a Savings bond or a CD...
 
No. When someone has so little respect for us that he expects that offering zero explanation is enough...
First off, who are you that you are deserving of such respect?

I told Carson to send it Western Union and I'll pay the fee, it was the $3000 minus the fees.

Paul,
I have to disagree with you on Carson taking care of his customers. For starters I did not even get a full refund. I received $2950 in Cashiers Checks and $25 in cash from Carson. Had he repaid me as soon as I did not receive the scaleless corns he would have come closer to making me whole. But keeping my cash for 3 years without interest is not right.

Guy, you offered to pay the fees. If you were going to complain about it afterward, you shouldn't have offered.

I don't get this. Carson has a good reputation which means that his word has weight. This "Guy" comes in and makes an accusation against him with no proof and is never asked to provide any, yet Carson is crucified because he has no proof and then when he takes money out of his own pocket, he's supposed to do more? Carson is the one who's out money here over something that he had no control over. What ever happened to a presumption of innocence? You guys come across like Stepford wives waiting to tear each other apart. This isn't a place to come to get accurate information on people. This is a place to come for the drama of watching reputations gleefully destroyed. In my mind, after this thread and the lack of fairness or impartiality shown here by the members, the Fauna BOI has lost all of its credibility.
 
Paige, Did you read the whole thread? Carson has admitted that the accusations were true. Because you have a good reputation, does that mean you can wait a yr or 2, even 3 to refund someones money?

Carson decided to broker animals that he didn't have in his possession. He takes the full responsibility for anything that happens.
 
Paige......read the whole thread before offering inaccurate and off base opinions. It will prevent further public diagnoses of Foot-In-Mouth-Disease.
 
Yes, actually, I did read the whole thread. Carson didn't agree with everything said and in the cases where the stories don't entirely match up, it's entirely he-said-she-said with no actual evidence on the part of either party. Carson shouldn't have brokered a deal like that with someone he didn't know, but the money was gone and he's been trying to make it right out of his own pocket after making a reasonable effort to recover the money from the seller. Given that Guy knew all along that this was not going to be a speedy deal and has changed what he wanted from Carson at least three times in just the past three weeks on this thread, I can see that giving Carson some difficulty in satisfying him.
Hopefully both will learn a lesson on buying/selling with unknown people and animals that haven't even been produced yet. But this isn't sufficient to convince me that it was malicious intent on Carson's part rather than bad luck and bad judgment on the part of both.
 
I don't know that anybody claimed it was malicious intent...but it was poor judgment, and a major (repeated) fail at following through.
 
First off, who are you that you are deserving of such respect?





Guy, you offered to pay the fees. If you were going to complain about it afterward, you shouldn't have offered.

I don't get this. Carson has a good reputation which means that his word has weight. This "Guy" comes in and makes an accusation against him with no proof and is never asked to provide any, yet Carson is crucified because he has no proof and then when he takes money out of his own pocket, he's supposed to do more? Carson is the one who's out money here over something that he had no control over. What ever happened to a presumption of innocence? You guys come across like Stepford wives waiting to tear each other apart. This isn't a place to come to get accurate information on people. This is a place to come for the drama of watching reputations gleefully destroyed. In my mind, after this thread and the lack of fairness or impartiality shown here by the members, the Fauna BOI has lost all of its credibility.

I have all the info on Carson I need. If he provided one iota of "accurate information" here, he wouldn't be scrutinized the way he has. And get this straight, he took money out of the OP's pocket and shoved it in his own. I don't believe there was ever a third party. Je had complete control over this situation. THE END, as Carson likes to say.
 
Chris, that's the point. You don't know that any more than I know that there was. I could give you absolutely no information whatsoever on the person I got my first two ball pythons from aside from his name and where he was from. I don't have his phone number anymore. I don't have his address. His Facebook profile has been deleted. I've tried to find him again because he had wonderful animals, but I can't. That doesn't mean that he doesn't exist.
All Carson's refusal to provide "proof" means is that he doesn't feel the need to justify himself to strangers on the internet who want to believe the worst about him.
 
Chris, that's the point. You don't know that any more than I know that there was. I could give you absolutely no information whatsoever on the person I got my first two ball pythons from aside from his name and where he was from. I don't have his phone number anymore. I don't have his address. His Facebook profile has been deleted. I've tried to find him again because he had wonderful animals, but I can't. That doesn't mean that he doesn't exist.
All Carson's refusal to provide "proof" means is that he doesn't feel the need to justify himself to strangers on the internet who want to believe the worst about him.

He doesn't feel the neef because he let's others explain his case for him, wink wink. By the way, strangers on the internet keep lots of reptile breeders and dealers in business by spending lots of money. Kind of like the OP did.
 
Back
Top