Bad Guy Painted Reptile Lied for Money

[Geoffrey Mantonya]

Hello,

I would first like to thank Lucille for bringing this thread to my attention. Like she stated she sent me the link to the BOI board through and I responded with the email below and the one she already shared. I later responded with the pics of the email time stamp and the receipt given to the customer.

(Email below form em which also contains the email the customer sent.)

Wow,

Thank you SOOOOOOOO much for sending me this link. This 11 year old kid is doing everything he can to make us look at fault for his impulse purchase at the expo. Even his dad did everything in his power to not have the kid buy the animal. I sat there repeatedly asking his dad if I should sell him the animal, as he clearly did not want the kid to buy it.

Not only is everything on this thread a lie, I gave him the animal for $60 not $75 (AND HAVE THE RECEIPT!) and the "call" he made was to our retail location which is Los Angeles, Ca over 400 miles away with a team that had no idea what is going on at the expo.

God, and the stuff about the info being wrong is so funny, he was so hell bent on buying the lizard that everything he was told he distorted to something that he wanted to hear. For example I told him Lacertas CAN grow up to 2 feet long. CAN!!!!! Which is not incorrect, and I told him that the LIGHTING was similar to a bearded dragon. MEANING THEY NEED UVB and BASKING LIGHTS. Also, when animal has a growth range of 16-24 inches how does the kid imply that they won't grow more then 16 inches? It seems like that number is being unfairly thrown around to prove his point.

The kid was never looking for a monitor, he was looking for a bearded dragon or a smaller lizard. Even his dad was telling him no to monitors and monitors were never discussed. Then he asked me if he could hold the Lacerta at home and I told him they were more squirmy and like to walk around and climb a lot more and ARE NOT AS LAZY AS BEARDIES, but in these exact words I told him "That there were two people walking around the expo this weekend holding their lacertas, so it is possible!!!!!!!" "SO IT IS POSSIBLE!" and there was!!! Someone with a nice melanistic lacerta and someone with a jeweled.

I did not lie to make a sale AS I EVEN GAVE IT TO HIM FOR $15 off because he was so hell bent on buying it and would not stop talking about $60 was all he had and he worked hard for his money.

Now going on to his email, the email he sent was at 7:35pm, 7:35!!!!!!! Not only is that about 2 hours and 35 minutes after the expo closed, but its about 4 hours and 35 minutes after he was in the expo. He was in the expo with his dad around 3:30pm. Even if he bought the animal right at 5:00 when the expo closed it still would not have been an hour after he bought the animal?!?!?! Not only was I eating and getting ready to go to sleep because I was working at an EXPO the next day but, the email was sent to an inquiry email where we get 1,000s of emails a day AFTER WE WERE CLOSED!!!!!! The email was not responded to because of that, plus the next day was Sunday and our online crew doesn't work on Sundays. We were still at the expo all day, the next day I would have gladly worked things out, but no one ever showed up. If I'm such a bad guy and ripped off an 11 year old kid, why wouldn't the dad be able to pay $10 for his kid, so his kid can get his hard earned money back?!?!?!?!

I have copied and pasted the email THE KID SENT ME below for you to see.

Name: Drake Erpelding
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 5309021970

Comment: Just about an hour ago, I left the reptile show with my new jeweled lacerta which is quite pricey compared to the $20 beardie I was going to buy. I decided to get this lacerta because the guy selling it to me told me that when this female gets older it will be 2.5 feet long and will be able to go places with me like a bearded dragon. Excited I bought her. After research I highly regret this purchase finding out she will only get about 16 inches, half the size i was told it would be. I also found out that they are lizards mostly for looks and should only be briefly handled very different than what I was told. That was almost all of my money I have about $10 left. I am expecting to get a refund when I spend the last of my money to enter the reptile show tomorrow. It was fed dubias, not stressed out, its hydrated, and I have the receipt as well as the original container. I am hoping that this negative experience does not happen again and I come home with a bearded dragon tomorrow and the rest of the money I am expectin to be refunded. (END EMAIL)


If you notice in his email he also talks about feeding the animal, within two hours after leaving the expo? Not only that, he was feeding Dubias within two hours to a large baby lacerta? WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE HAPPENED WITH THE ANIMAL, so when he called our retail location in Los Angeles, CA my manager expressed concerns over it eating already, but still told him returns need to be worked out with me at the expo. The kid also then proceed to ask if him and his dad could drop if off at the shop at return it and the manager explained we were all the way in Los Angeles, ca and that it would be better at the expo.

In the email as well, the kid is claiming I said it will grow to 2.5 feet, but yet on fauna he said I told him it was 3 feet and similar to a monitor?!?!

ON ANOTHER NOTE: WE DO NOT CHARGE ANY TAX FOR ANYONE AT THE EXPOS!!! NO ONE DOES!!!!

I would love to see this kid post the $75 receipt as that is a complete STONE COLD LIE! A COMPLETE LIE. As, soon as I make the account I will post the picture of the receipt.

If this kid made a bad purchase then I would have been willing to work it out and take the animal back, but for him to distort the facts to make us look bad is entirely unfair.

I am really happy you sent me the link to this thread, I don't really deal with fauna, but I will be making an account immediately to talk with this kid. This is absurd!

Please share my email response, as someone else in the thread said we didn't respond over a savu inquiry.

As soon as I get our store opened and settled I will be replying to the thread.

______________________________________________________________

I then later emailed these pics to Lucille to back up my point. Which I cannot figure out how to load? Can someone explain to me how I would load up the photos?

Also, I can't seem to figure out how to respond to peoples quotes. The information given to the customer WAS NOT incorrect, it was distorted by the customer to try and justify his impulse buy and bad purchase!! I have clear back up and evidence of the kids email and the pics of the receipts of the lacertas sold to him and others in the expos which immediately counter acts everything he is writing in this thread.

I am sorry for my delays, as a company we don't use fauna that often, but this misinterpretation of the info I gave the customer, if unfair and distorted.

Can anyone explain to me how to upload photos? and respond to quotes like i can see in other peoples comments?

 

[MissFirefly]

Have attached two images - one showing what to click to use the "Quote" functionality and for images, there might be an easier way, but when you write a post scroll down to "Additional Options", click the Management Attachments button, and upload the images to the pop-up screen.

 

[Geoffrey Mantonya]

Hey everyone,

I have added the two images i mentioned to the post that i just made. Not sure if i did it right because you have to click gallery to see them. I hope everyone can see the images there?!

Thanks misfirefly, like i said we are a little bit new to fauna but i hope i did that right.

 

[Geoffrey Mantonya]

Have attached two images - one showing what to click to use the "Quote" functionality and for images, there might be an easier way, but when you write a post scroll down to "Additional Options", click the Management Attachments button, and upload the images to the pop-up screen.

Thanks for you help! I am not sure if i posted those photos correctly though? Are they directly seen on the thread?

thanks,

 

[Geoffrey Mantonya]

Below is the second email that I sent to Lucille, which had the attachements to the photos. The other people who bought lacertas from us were the Phoenix Herp Society who was going to be using the animal for educational purposes.

That would be amazing!! Thank you so much. I have also attached and pic of the email showing the exact time stamp as when I copied the email it would not copy the details from the top of the email.

I have also attached pictures of the two receipts for the lacertas, one which was sold to the kid and the other which was sold to the HUGE ORGANIZATION called the Phoenix Herptelogical Society- to the director of education who had no problem with the sale or the info I told them!!

And as you can see he was clearly not charged $75 at all.

Please feel free to load this email and these pictures as well!

I really appreciate you telling us about the thread!

Thanks,

This customer cannot even remember the price of the animal I sold to him, let alone remember any of the facts given about the care or details on the species.

 

[bcr229]

I wonder if the buyer is really 11. Thought you had to be at least 13 to register here on Fauna.

LOL and people under that age wouldn't simply lie about it if they wanted an account?

MissFirefly also brought up a good point. If a minor wants to buy an animal, but the parent says "No" or isn't fully supporting the kid on the purchase, I'm not selling the animal.

 

[Lucille]

LOL and people under that age wouldn't simply lie about it if they wanted an account?

And if further information presents itself, perhaps they should prove their age (in private, to the site) in order to retain their membership.

MissFirefly also brought up a good point. If a minor wants to buy an animal, but the parent says "No" or isn't fully supporting the kid on the purchase, I'm not selling the animal.

I agree, that is a good selling practice.

 

[Geoffrey Mantonya]

LOL and people under that age wouldn't simply lie about it if they wanted an account?

MissFirefly also brought up a good point. If a minor wants to buy an animal, but the parent says "No" or isn't fully supporting the kid on the purchase, I'm not selling the animal.

Yes, I totally understand that! And I did everything in my power to not sell the kid the animal. Even when the child was asking if he could pay $60, I kept asking the dad if he wanted me to check if I could do that?

The dad proceeded to say that it was his money and he can spend it how it wanted to and APPROVED THE PURCHASE of the animal.

I did not sell the animal to the kid with out the dads go ahead, and I even told the kid that he may not touch the animal or talk details about the animal without his parents being there.

The customer proceed to plead with me and his dad about how he really wanted this animal. After the dad approved him buying the animal, I would have felt horrible if I then was the one who said no you can't buy this animal.

But, you are right... maybe i should have just gone with the dads original gut instinct and told them I couldn't sell them the animal.

Thanks,

 

[CwnAnnwn]

What happen the next day. He said he was going to return it the next day?

 

[reptileguy112]

This does not excuse the incorrect information being provided but some vendors bring "helpers" to reptile shows that don't actually have first hand knowledge on the animals. That could be the case here but it still falls on the vendor to ensure customers are not being misled.

You stated you emailed and called them. Do you have a business card? If so, does that not have an individual's name on it?

Do I, I will check it when I get home

 

[reptileguy112]

Googled jeweled lacertas, several sites say they grow to two feet, so both buyer and alleged seller seem to be wrong.

Males grow of a max of about 2 feet

 

[btmansfi]

Males grow of a max of about 2 feet

So if you were able to Google it that easily, why didn't you do your homework before buying the lacerta?

 

[reptileguy112]

As I posted above, I sent Painted Reptile a link to this thread.
They replied to my email, I am posting the reply below:



Wow,

Thank you SOOOOOOOO much for sending me this link. This 11 year old kid is doing everything he can to make us look at fault for his impulse purchase at the expo. Even his dad did everything in his power to not have the kid buy the animal. I sat there repeatedly asking his dad if I should sell him the animal, as he clearly did not want the kid to buy it.

Not only is everything on this thread a lie, I gave him the animal for $60 not $75 (AND HAVE THE RECEIPT!) and the "call" he made was to our retail location which is Los Angeles, Ca over 400 miles away with a team that had no idea what is going on at the expo.

God, and the stuff about the info being wrong is so funny, he was so hell bent on buying the lizard that everything he was told he distorted to something that he wanted to hear. For example I told him Lacertas CAN grow up to 2 feet long. CAN!!!!! Which is not incorrect, and I told him that the LIGHTING was similar to a bearded dragon. MEANING THEY NEED UVB and BASKING LIGHTS. Also, when animal has a growth range of 16-24 inches how does the kid imply that they won't grow more then 16 inches? It seems like that number is being unfairly thrown around to prove his point.

The kid was never looking for a monitor, he was looking for a bearded dragon or a smaller lizard. Even his dad was telling him no to monitors and monitors were never discussed. Then he asked me if he could hold the Lacerta at home and I told him they were more squirmy and like to walk around and climb a lot more and ARE NOT AS LAZY AS BEARDIES, but in these exact words I told him "That there were two people walking around the expo this weekend holding their lacertas, so it is possible!!!!!!!" "SO IT IS POSSIBLE!" and there was!!! Someone with a nice melanistic lacerta and someone with a jeweled.

I did not lie to make a sale AS I EVEN GAVE IT TO HIM FOR $15 off because he was so hell bent on buying it and would not stop talking about $60 was all he had and he worked hard for his money.

Now going on to his email, the email he sent was at 7:35pm, 7:35!!!!!!! Not only is that about 2 hours and 35 minutes after the expo closed, but its about 4 hours and 35 minutes after he was in the expo. He was in the expo with his dad around 3:30pm. Even if he bought the animal right at 5:00 when the expo closed it still would not have been an hour after he bought the animal?!?!?! Not only was I eating and getting ready to go to sleep because I was working at an EXPO the next day but, the email was sent to an inquiry email where we get 1,000s of emails a day AFTER WE WERE CLOSED!!!!!! The email was not responded to because of that, plus the next day was Sunday and our online crew doesn't work on Sundays. We were still at the expo all day, the next day I would have gladly worked things out, but no one ever showed up. If I'm such a bad guy and ripped off an 11 year old kid, why wouldn't the dad be able to pay $10 for his kid, so his kid can get his hard earned money back?!?!?!?!

I have copied and pasted the email THE KID SENT ME below for you to see.

Name: Drake Erpelding
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 5309021970

Comment: Just about an hour ago, I left the reptile show with my new jeweled lacerta which is quite pricey compared to the $20 beardie I was going to buy. I decided to get this lacerta because the guy selling it to me told me that when this female gets older it will be 2.5 feet long and will be able to go places with me like a bearded dragon. Excited I bought her. After research I highly regret this purchase finding out she will only get about 16 inches, half the size i was told it would be. I also found out that they are lizards mostly for looks and should only be briefly handled very different than what I was told. That was almost all of my money I have about $10 left. I am expecting to get a refund when I spend the last of my money to enter the reptile show tomorrow. It was fed dubias, not stressed out, its hydrated, and I have the receipt as well as the original container. I am hoping that this negative experience does not happen again and I come home with a bearded dragon tomorrow and the rest of the money I am expectin to be refunded. (END EMAIL)


If you notice in his email he also talks about feeding the animal, within two hours after leaving the expo? Not only that, he was feeding Dubias within two hours to a large baby lacerta? WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE HAPPENED WITH THE ANIMAL, so when he called our retail location in Los Angeles, CA my manager expressed concerns over it eating already, but still told him returns need to be worked out with me at the expo. The kid also then proceed to ask if him and his dad could drop if off at the shop at return it and the manager explained we were all the way in Los Angeles, ca and that it would be better at the expo.

In the email as well, the kid is claiming I said it will grow to 2.5 feet, but yet on fauna he said I told him it was 3 feet and similar to a monitor?!?!

ON ANOTHER NOTE: WE DO NOT CHARGE ANY TAX FOR ANYONE AT THE EXPOS!!! NO ONE DOES!!!!

I would love to see this kid post the $75 receipt as that is a complete STONE COLD LIE! A COMPLETE LIE. As, soon as I make the account I will post the picture of the receipt.

If this kid made a bad purchase then I would have been willing to work it out and take the animal back, but for him to distort the facts to make us look bad is entirely unfair.

I am really happy you sent me the link to this thread, I don't really deal with fauna, but I will be making an account immediately to talk with this kid. This is absurd!

Please share my email response, as someone else in the thread said we didn't respond over a savu inquiry.

As soon as I get our store opened and settled I will be replying to the thread.

I just read this, no I'm not 11, I am a freshman. My father was with me and the person behind the desk said I needed a guardian because im not 18. I do realize now that I mixed up the asking price to what I purchased it for, it was not a lie just a simple mix up. I was going to probably get a bearded dragon or an akie monitor and my father never told me no monitors and if you said monitors were not discussed why did you day he said no? I am not trying to attack the company it was simply a bad experience and you should be able to recognize that as an employee. My father never tied anything not to buy the reptile he simply said it was my money and to do what I want. You are exaggerating so much, it even says in the email you pasted that I said about 16" not that is wont get more than 16", it might get a couple inches bigger.

 

[reptileguy112]

So if you were able to Google it that easily, why didn't you do your homework before buying the lacerta?

Your right it was spur of the moment and I will learn from this experience

 

[Lucille]

I emailed them an hour later with no response so I called them the next day (they were closed that time) and told them I got some false information about a reptile probably on accident and its not the reptile for me and I would like a refund. They told me they wouldn't do a refund because no one does refunds at the reptile shows and they aren't going to because everyone else isn't so I told them about how I got a male veiled from lll reptile and it turned out female so I DID get a refund and they changed there story to they wont do tax returns so I told them that I didnt get taxed, it was $75 flat and I have the receipt to prove it and they told me that everyone gets taxed and they dont believe me. Then they changed it to they cant do refunds at a reptile show if I already left because the people up front wont let outside reptiles inside (untrue, they let me bring in one of my nicest chameleons that same day) and basically thats it.

I do realize now that I mixed up the asking price to what I purchased it for, it was not a lie just a simple mix up.

Let's see the receipt please

 

[CwnAnnwn]

I just read this, no I'm not 11, I am a freshman. My father was with me and the person behind the desk said I needed a guardian because im not 18. I do realize now that I mixed up the asking price to what I purchased it for, it was not a lie just a simple mix up. I was going to probably get a bearded dragon or an akie monitor and my father never told me no monitors and if you said monitors were not discussed why did you day he said no? I am not trying to attack the company it was simply a bad experience and you should be able to recognize that as an employee. My father never tied anything not to buy the reptile he simply said it was my money and to do what I want. You are exaggerating so much, it even says in the email you pasted that I said about 16" not that is wont get more than 16", it might get a couple inches bigger.

What happened the next day when you tried to return it?

 

[Geoffrey Mantonya]

I am the one that was behind the desk!! I am the one that told you to go get your dad. I remember you perfectly, you had long hair and the tips were color bleached with either green or purple!! Your dad was about 5'11" and wearing an Ohio state tee-shirt!!

There was no bad experience, it was you not listening. It was you misinterpreting the info I gave you. I have uploaded the receipts to show you lied about the price (I'm sorry, the price you mixed up)

I posted the email to show you lied about the time frame you said you emailed in! (maybe you mixed that up too!)

Now your saying you googled it and lacertas can grow up to 2 feet? And I stated that in my email as well. I am not sure how you can continue to imply i lied about anything.

You say your not trying to bash the company but you made a thread that was titled, "BAD GUY PAINTED REPTILE LIED FOR MONEY"?!?!?! Sounds like you were trying bash our company.

In your feed you also say that i said all of a sudden they grow to 3 feet and are like monitors, but if you were interested in a monitor why would i be comparing them to monitors?

On top of that, I am new to fauna, but you seem to have gone on and changed the title of your thread. The thread title is not the same as it was this morning (i may be wrong)

 

[Geoffrey Mantonya]

What happened the next day when you tried to return it?

No one ever came! The $10 to get back in the expo was too expensive according to the email.

Which doesn't make sense, if the kid was mad he got ripped off wouldn't spending the $10 to get the $60 back be a huge upside and an easy decision?

 

[Lucille]

I am the one that was behind the desk!! I am the one that told you to go get your dad. I remember you perfectly, you had long hair and the tips were color bleached with either green or purple!! Your dad was about 5'11" and wearing an Ohio state tee-shirt!!

There was no bad experience, it was you not listening. It was you misinterpreting the info I gave you. I have uploaded the receipts to show you lied about the price (I'm sorry, the price you mixed up)

I posted the email to show you lied about the time frame you said you emailed in! (maybe you mixed that up too!)

Now your saying you googled it and lacertas can grow up to 2 feet? And I stated that in my email as well. I am not sure how you can continue to imply i lied about anything.

You say your not trying to bash the company but you made a thread that was titled, "BAD GUY PAINTED REPTILE LIED FOR MONEY"?!?!?! Sounds like you were trying bash our company.

In your feed you also say that i said all of a sudden they grow to 3 feet and are like monitors, but if you were interested in a monitor why would i be comparing them to monitors?

On top of that, I am new to fauna, but you seem to have gone on and changed the title of your thread. The thread title is not the same as it was this morning (i may be wrong)

Geoffrey, he cannot change the title and I assure you that the site would never do that.
Did I miss the recent and so on or perhaps you missed the final step in displaying the info?

I get the sense that Drake is backpedalling.

 

[Geoffrey Mantonya]

I just read this, no I'm not 11, I am a freshman. My father was with me and the person behind the desk said I needed a guardian because im not 18. I do realize now that I mixed up the asking price to what I purchased it for, it was not a lie just a simple mix up. I was going to probably get a bearded dragon or an akie monitor and my father never told me no monitors and if you said monitors were not discussed why did you day he said no? I am not trying to attack the company it was simply a bad experience and you should be able to recognize that as an employee. My father never tied anything not to buy the reptile he simply said it was my money and to do what I want. You are exaggerating so much, it even says in the email you pasted that I said about 16" not that is wont get more than 16", it might get a couple inches bigger.

What am i exaggerating about? Now the lacertas may get bigger that 16". I'm confused. First they stay 16" now they get bigger then 16" inches... I have given everything I need to, the pictures of the email you sent are in my gallery and the pictures of the receipts I GAVE YOU are in my gallery.


I am hiding nothing, yet everything you have claim about your purchase, you have either backed out on or claimed it was a mix up on you behalf? Is it not possible that in the spur of the moment when you were hell bent on buying a lacerta, that you also confused the information i was telling? You have mixed up everything else so far?!