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Bad Guy Brendan Tighe - Evolution Reptile

Kilzac

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I've decided that it is now time that I post my experience with Evolution Reptile and Brendan Tighe. Last year on February 11th, I ordered two white 4x2 cages from Evolution Reptile. There was nowhere to order them on the website, so I contacted them directly in an email to see if I could pick them up at a local show. The initial email that I sent to them is included right below.






POINT A: this will make sense in a moment.

Now at the time I had a flight scheduled for the same day I had asked to pick the cages up. It turns out I had less room than I thought I did in the back of my truck and was unable to make it to the show. So I had emailed Brendan back telling him I would not be able to make it to pick them up. So we rescheduled my pickup for a later date. The second date we agreed upon came and as my luck would have it, I became very sick, as I had worked in a hospital at that time, one of my patients had given me quite a contagious staph infection, and it was better for me not to be around people. I had informed Brendan that I would have to get back to him at some point to reschedule another attempt to pick up, as I worked every weekend at the time and was not able to just request off.

After trying to find someone to cover my shift on the days of the two local reptile shows did not work out so well, I asked Brendan if it would be possible for a refund. Brendan informed me that since it was a special ordered cage, being it was white PVC and not black PVC, he could not refund me unless the cages were sold. I had not known they were specially ordered because they were an offered product. So Brendan and I agreed we would wait a couple months and see if they could sell my cages in order to refund me.

After a few months had passed and my schedule did not open up for me to still get back down to a show I had contacted Brendan again to see if he was able to sell my cages. Brendan informed me that the cages had still not been sold.

POINT B: from point A to here I do not have the emails, I'm hoping if Brendan comes to this thread, since he states he has every email between us, he can post them.

In November of last year I was finally able to make it back down to a local show due to me switching jobs. This was the last show I could go to before I started working every weekend again, unless I took precious vacation time to do so. I had hoped it would be easier to speak with Brendan in person about this issue and get everything solved. So after going down to the reptile show, I was informed there that Evolution Reptile doesn't vend the show anymore.

At this point I was so frustrated I didn't even want to email Brendan back because I felt as if we were getting nowhere and I was being ran in circles. So two months later in January of this year I had finally emailed Brendan back. The emails I have between us two from then until now are included below.



At this point I questioned the refund policy again because it seemed as if this was just a whole big game to Brendan





After this email I became increasingly upset as I was definitely getting the run around, as I had no previous knowledge of this "Casey" that he was speaking of. I questioned him because I honestly don't know how I was supposed to know that someone else had my cages. A heads up of this would have been great.



After this email, I started having even more questions, because Brendan stated that he had every email from the beginning, which I have the beginning emails as well, and he tells me that we agreed for me to make the drive down to Virginia to pick up the cages, which we never agreed upon. He also told me he had emailed me the Terms of Service which were also not included in the email.

So I sent Brendan another email after seeing if I could pickup the cages in January when I could request off for vacation time. I was exhausted with playing the games, and at this point would try again to pickup my cages. Also I had informed Brendan I would attempt to file a dispute with PayPal, but I had not realized that there was a time frame for doing so, so that would not work.



I went to the show and did not see my cages anywhere. So again I emailed Brendan back and gave him more of a time window and asked if my cages could be there for the March reptile show. I had given him over a months time to have the cages there and thought this was an ample amount of time. I also informed him that I would post my experience here if they were not there. I had never got an email in return.



So today, March 15th, I went to the reptile show. I found the guy Casey and explained to him what had been going on. It seemed as if he didn't have a lot of time to answer my questions and after telling me he sold the white cages at a Baltimore show months ago, had walked away. This left me questioning Brendan again, as he stated before if he were to have sold them he would have issued me a refund.

I figure at this point I will not be seeing the cages, or the refund. While I do accept responsibility for missing the first 2 shows we scheduled pickup for, I believe I probably would have never seen them. So I've decided to post my experience with Brendan Tighe at Evolution Reptile with all of you, and to let you be the judge. If there is anything I could make more clear, please let me know.

Thanks,
Zac
 
You made a custom order, you failed to pick up the cages on at least two occasions, and the "ferry" is not an infinite free ride here. You should have spent the precious vacation day or paid for shipping since you failed to appear at least twice when you arranged for the appearance to pick up the cages. At this point, I am not sure what should be done. Maybe some partial refund. Maybe. You ran out the clock and then some, though, and you are basically advertising that you are a self-entitled nightmare at this point.
 
Thanks for your opinion Nick.

While I agree with you that it is not an infinite free ride, I had tried to get this resolved last year, long before this thread was created. And after finding out that my cages had been sold months ago, it leads me to believe that even if I was able to go to the reptile shows sooner, the cages may have not even been there since they were apparently sold...

While you say I am advertising I am a nightmare to deal with, I would have to disagree. I have made many transactions with buying and selling, whether locally, or over this website itself, and I have to say they have all went rather smoothly. This is the only transaction I have ever had that has went wrong, and maybe it could have been resolved sooner, however I am not one for confrontation and would avoid it if possible. I am sorry you do feel that way.

Like I stated in my original post, I understand I may not get a refund or the cages, I am just posting my experience.
 
So I've decided to post my experience with Brendan Tighe at Evolution Reptile with all of you, and to let you be the judge.

I think your seller was extremely accommodating with multiple efforts to have the cages ready and waiting when you said you would pick them up. These were not even very expensive cages but they went out of their way to help you anyway.
 
I do value all your opinions, and please don't get me wrong, I do agree with you to an extent.

Yes he did seem very accommodating in his emails, but do you not have questions like I do?

My questions being, when he stated he would give me a refund if they cages sold, why didn't he contact me again to let me know the cages have been sold?

Why didn't he let me know that he no longer vended the reptile expo I was going to?

Why couldn't he have informed me that his distributor who goes by another business name has my cages?

I very well may be in the wrong here, and I accept that, I did have a run of bad luck last year, but everyone has their rough times. I'm not going to sit here and pound my fists against the ground like a child and demand restitution, but I feel as if there could have been better communication.

I wouldn't have even had to post this if I could get replies to my emails, but Brendan has not replied to any of my emails in over a month.
 
And not to beat a dead horse, but why would Brendan run me around in circles about picking up cages that his distributor Casey said sold months ago. As shown in the emails at the end of January, Brendan stated he had the cages at his shop. How are the cages at his shop if they were sold in Baltimore?

Maybe I am the only one that sees this as not adding up.
 
I made him aware I would be posting this thread. However he has not replied to me like I've stated before.
 
While I agree you dropped the bomb on picking up your cages. .. Twice... It is still no excuse for your money to be kept without no product in return. Where is Brandon ? Brandon why haven't you returned his money ? Clearly the cages where sold months ago. Why do you still have his money ? I get that the seller was difficult, but that is life. Stealing is unacceptable, and that is what is going on here. Regardless if he missed his two pick up dates. Clearly work took him away from the first show , and he was sick the second. He did show up the 3rd attempt to pick them up and you no longer vendored at that show. He deserves his refund. Be grown about this be compassionate about this. He paid promptly kept you in the loop as to what was going on, and this is what he gets ? I will be following this thread as I am in the market for a new rack supplier myself. You need to do the right thing refund him his money and be on your way about your business.
 
Clearly the cages where sold months ago.

That is not clear to me. The OP is saying that this dealer said they were sold. I would like to hear verification from the other party, because Brendan said that Casey owns all of the cages he sells but also delivers product and Brendan sells directly, so Casey would be selling cages he did not own if he sold the delivered cages.
It would be good to hear from either Casey or Brendan here.
 
While I understand your skepticism Lucille, I am just stating what I have heard from Casey.

He (Casey) told me today, that he had sold white cages months ago that Brendan said were "kicking" around the shop.

You are more than welcome to invite either of the parties to this thread, in fact I encourage it.

I never knew I would have to deal through Casey, from what I expected, Brendan vendored the shows, and Brendan is who I was going to deal with. Adding Casey in as a third party definitely makes things more difficult and confusing, but since Brendan no longer vendored the shows, I didn't have a choice.
 
I will post here only one time about this customer. When you S/O custom cages or racks from me that are not a standard stock item they need to be paid in full and there are no refunds. It's a special order. This customer ordered 2 custom 4' white cages from me. We took the order and had them available at the next Steel City show as agreed. The cust was a no call no show for at least 4 shows. We finally received a response after we had them ready at many shows. We stopped vending at all shows in the Pittsburgh area. The customer agreed he would come to pick them up at our shop. Months went by with zero contact. During this time Casey became our dealer and started selling at Cheswick. Cust contacted me 9 month after placing the order for a refund. I stated if we sell them I would be happy to refund his money. I explained he can pick up anytime or I can ask Casey for a favor to bring them to Cheswick. He then decided to threaten me and was a complete Asshole. That ended any favor I would ever do for him. I am not a storage facility. This has gone on for over a year. Casey buys all of the product he sells at shows. Casey was given a bunch of scratch-n-dent and other item sitting around our shop. He was told sell them cheap to help clean up our shop and we charged him nothing for these items. Some of the item where 30" white cages not 48". We still have this customers cages and the same thing he has been told many times still goes. He has 2 options. Setup a time and pickup his cages from our shop or pay the shipping cost and I will ship them. That is it. He has until the end of this month or they will be donated to a reptile rescue or USArk. Keeping them for over a year is way to long. We bend over backwards for are customers. Dont special order something and expect them to be at a show a year later. Things change. If you call with a legitimate problem we will be happy to work with you. If you S/O something with many, no calls and no shows at our agreed pickups its now your responsibly to make arrangements. Let me know when you will be down to pick up your cages before the end of the month.
 
It is a bit disheartening to realize it had to come to this thread for a response from you Brendan.

Besides from the 2 shows I scheduled to pick up from and informed you I was unable to attend them due to the reasons I have stated, I hadn't scheduled another pickup after that because I wasn't able to make any of those shows, which you were aware of. So the 4 no call/ no shows that you are speaking of are beyond me.

You say that I agreed to coming down to Virginia to pickup the cages, will you please provide the screen shots of the email for those? Because we have NEVER agreed upon that.

When I tried to arrange pick up at the show since January, you said we could do that, and that you would have Casey bring the cages to the shows. I've notified you twice of the shows I would be at, and I've been at both of them. And there have not been any cages.

And when I asked Casey about this today, he had no recollection of you ever talking to him about this besides him selling the white cages at a Baltimore show.

And you're stating that 9 months after I originally ordered the cages is the first time that I contacted you and demanded a refund? This is not true. I had contacted you in July/August last year again when we agreed that you would try and sell the cages and provide me a refund.

What you are saying is not adding up.
 
As for your request for me to either pay shipping or make a trip down to Virginia by the end of the month, I will not be able to meet your requests. I've wasted two days of vacation time this year to try and get these cages. My son is due at the end of next month and I can't afford to use any more.

I am not going to put forth any more money to have the cages shipped to me.

Honestly I don't believe you even have the cages anymore. It is too much of a risk to put forth any money at this point.

If you are threatening to donate them to USARK, then so be it.

I would love to have some proof of documentation that you donated those "New 4x2 White cages" to them.
 
I also apologize for the repetitive posting.

But would it be too much of me to ask for maybe a picture of the cages? With my name on a piece of paper inside of them to at least prove that you still have them in your possession?
 
I dunno.. This situation is a nasty one. Zach, why not just bite the bullet and pay for shipping? I seriously don't understand the issue here. You refused to pick them up when you said you would, and didn't arrange for anyone to pick them up for you. Furthermore, you wasted Brendan's time by having them pack up the cages and wait around for you, without you even sending a courtesy email to let them know. This is a year later, and it's kinda ridiculous. I'd understand if all these situations happened and you kept Brendan updated, but that doesn't seem like the case here. Pay for shipping, or don't expect a refund.
 
I don't know if this point is being made, but I am NOT just NOW trying to get my cages. I have emailed Brendan multiple times last year seeing what could be done. I just don't have those emails like I've stated before, but Brendan claims that he does.

I did not just no call / no show the whole year. Yes I was unable to make the first 2 scheduled pickups. But those were the only 2 occasions that we had scheduled for me to pick up the cages. It was out of my control that I could not pick them up and I made Brendan aware of this. But after that I had not scheduled any pickups due to me not being able to make the shows.

I had emailed Brendan July/August last year about doing a refund since I explained to him it was quite difficult for me to make it to a show, that is when he told me originally that he could not refund me because I ordered white cages and they were special order. He told me if they sold at the shows, he would refund me.

I did not know that ordering white cages was a special order item. If you actually read the original emails about me purchasing these cages, it was never stated that they were special order. They were available on his site and I had just decided to get white instead of black. I honestly didn't realize it would cause this much chaos based on the color of the cages.
 
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