kenmare
New member
I have just gone through a horrific transaction with Kelly Smith of Kelly's Chameleons. Her website is: Rainbows End Chameleons. I purchased a trio of ambilobe Panther chameleons from Kelly in late January. We were unable to ship until early March due to the winter weather on both ends. The male depicted in the ad on Fauna was a seemingly very nice Red body blue bar specimen. She advertised that if you purchased a male at full price, she would sell you unrelated 7-month old females for $50 each. At no time, did she mention any defects or imperfections. I sent her the money via Paypal. She asked me to do a favor for her and send it as "Family and Friends" versus the usual "Pay for Goods and Services" so that she wouldn't have to pay the Paypal service fee. I use Paypal very infrequently and naively agreed to send it that way as a favor to her. I didn't realize that sending it that way left me unprotected in case I am dissatisfied with the transaction. Needless to say, that decision has come back to haunt me.
I received the trio on March 9th, the same day that Kelly said she was moving. The first female I took out of the bag was the worst chameleon I have ever received in over 20 years working with various species. She was emaciated, had a big scar on her back, her ribs stuck out, she was missing nails on both front feet, and kept one and sometimes both eyes closed the entire time I had her. The other female was in somewhat better shape but was also very dehydrated, underweight, and kept an eye closed at all times. The male was colorful but looked nothing like the male in the ad on Fauna. He also had eye issues and kept an eye closed or squinted. His aim was way off and I had to hand feed him crickets to make sure he was getting adequate nutrition. I was obviously very displeased with them and tried to contact Kelly immediately with a text. I was astonished that she would send out such obviously unhealthy animals. I tried to call her also that day but no response from her. She was moving but I thought she would at least check her messages. I tried again the next day with calls and texts but no response. On Friday, 2 days after receiving them, I contacted 2 breeder friends of mine that I thought might know her. They both volunteered to contact her on my behalf. I sent both of them pics of the emaciated female and they were horrified that any breeder would have the nerve to send her to someone.
Kelly finally texted me on Saturday afternoon, 3 days after I received them. She admitted she hadn't paid much attention to them the last couple of weeks due to her move and apologized for their condition. I told her I wanted to send them back and wanted a full refund. She agreed to take them back and refund my money but said I would have to pay the shipping fee back to her. I thought that was very unfair but finally agreed to do it just to be done with the whole affair. She asked me to hold off until the following Wednesday to ship due to her move. I agreed and sent them back to her on March 16th. I texted her on the 17th to see if they had arrived safely. She responded that they had arrived safely. I asked her to please Paypal me my refund of $344.11 that afternoon. She responded that she was now broke from her move and that I would have to file a dispute with Paypal to receive my refund. I immediately called Paypal to find out how to file a dispute and they informed me that I was not entitled to a refund because I had sent the money "Family and Friends" like Kelly had asked me to do. I texted this to Kelly but she again refused to respond. As it stands now, Kelly has her chameleons back and also has my money. She has made no attempt to contact me or even respond to my texts. Several other breeders have come forward since I posted this story in some chameleon Facebook sites and have
similar accounts of dealing with her: unhealthy chameleons, eye issues, obvious crossed locales being passed off as pure, no communication if there are any issues, poor husbandry, etc.
In my over 20 years working with various reptile and exotic bird species, this is by far the worst dealings I have had with any breeder. She is dishonest, unethical, and has cheated me out of almost $400 with no attempt to make it right. I highly caution anyone from doing business with her. She often advertises on Fauna so buyer beware!!!
I received the trio on March 9th, the same day that Kelly said she was moving. The first female I took out of the bag was the worst chameleon I have ever received in over 20 years working with various species. She was emaciated, had a big scar on her back, her ribs stuck out, she was missing nails on both front feet, and kept one and sometimes both eyes closed the entire time I had her. The other female was in somewhat better shape but was also very dehydrated, underweight, and kept an eye closed at all times. The male was colorful but looked nothing like the male in the ad on Fauna. He also had eye issues and kept an eye closed or squinted. His aim was way off and I had to hand feed him crickets to make sure he was getting adequate nutrition. I was obviously very displeased with them and tried to contact Kelly immediately with a text. I was astonished that she would send out such obviously unhealthy animals. I tried to call her also that day but no response from her. She was moving but I thought she would at least check her messages. I tried again the next day with calls and texts but no response. On Friday, 2 days after receiving them, I contacted 2 breeder friends of mine that I thought might know her. They both volunteered to contact her on my behalf. I sent both of them pics of the emaciated female and they were horrified that any breeder would have the nerve to send her to someone.
Kelly finally texted me on Saturday afternoon, 3 days after I received them. She admitted she hadn't paid much attention to them the last couple of weeks due to her move and apologized for their condition. I told her I wanted to send them back and wanted a full refund. She agreed to take them back and refund my money but said I would have to pay the shipping fee back to her. I thought that was very unfair but finally agreed to do it just to be done with the whole affair. She asked me to hold off until the following Wednesday to ship due to her move. I agreed and sent them back to her on March 16th. I texted her on the 17th to see if they had arrived safely. She responded that they had arrived safely. I asked her to please Paypal me my refund of $344.11 that afternoon. She responded that she was now broke from her move and that I would have to file a dispute with Paypal to receive my refund. I immediately called Paypal to find out how to file a dispute and they informed me that I was not entitled to a refund because I had sent the money "Family and Friends" like Kelly had asked me to do. I texted this to Kelly but she again refused to respond. As it stands now, Kelly has her chameleons back and also has my money. She has made no attempt to contact me or even respond to my texts. Several other breeders have come forward since I posted this story in some chameleon Facebook sites and have
similar accounts of dealing with her: unhealthy chameleons, eye issues, obvious crossed locales being passed off as pure, no communication if there are any issues, poor husbandry, etc.
In my over 20 years working with various reptile and exotic bird species, this is by far the worst dealings I have had with any breeder. She is dishonest, unethical, and has cheated me out of almost $400 with no attempt to make it right. I highly caution anyone from doing business with her. She often advertises on Fauna so buyer beware!!!
