Bad Guy Greg DeCurtis aka Gregory Austin - disputes valid charges

[Gecko Ranch]

Greg DeCurtis ordered two Bandit morph leopard geckos from me on 5/8/16 and I shipped them to his address in Sioux Falls, SD. He called and told me how great they were and last Tuesday he e-mailed asking about a male bandit. So, I was surprised when I got a dispute for the $355 amount of his purchase on 8/22/16, over 100 days after the transaction. The reason given for the dispute was "no knowledge of purchase."

My credit card processor is Square and I am on the last step of submitting my challenge to his charge back. I will post the orders I received from him, the first one did not go through and I did not think much of it looked like a mother - son deal where her card did not work for some reason - the name he used on that order as the recipient customer was Gregory Austin (some people hyphenate their names). Immediately after that he placed a PayPal order which did not go through, but my website shopping cart does not always process PayPal so that did not phase me either. I ended up taking a Discover card and that ran fine.

When the dispute came about I sent them this info and some e-mails I got from him. In one of the e-mails he mentions a transaction with GeckoBoa on 5/8/2016, the same day he ordered from me. What a coincidence, both orders ended up in dispute after he received the geckos in good condition from both of us. I will let GeckoBoa explain their transaction with him in more detail.

Here is a letter I sent him via e-mail to two e-mail address he used. I will also post a scan of it. His e-mail also had attached to it these two order receipts. It did not bounce back and I have not heard from him or Beverly Austin was the ordering person on the first order.

"Hi Greg,

Nice to hear from you last Tuesday 8/16/2016 inquiring about a male Bandit leopard gecko for the two female Bandits I sent you. I am sure they are doing well in your care. I have attached the two orders you placed 5/8/2016 for the two bandits which I sent you 5/10/2016. Yesterday my credit card processor, Square, informed me you were disputing the charge of $355, the cost of the two female bandits and overnight shipping, with the claim "no knowledge of the charge." Obviously you have the geckos and you need to cancel the dispute with your Discover card.

If you choose not to cancel the dispute I have no choice but to pursue criminal charges with the police here and in Sioux Falls. I also will post the information about your transaction with me on the BOI (Board of Inquiry) on the Fauna Classifieds. I have already spoken with Geckoboa about the transaction you had with them on the same day for two afghan leopard geckos, which they told me you disputed with PayPal and lost. Your dishonesty is being communicated to other breeders in the Leopard Gecko community. It would be a step in the right direction to stop the dispute with your Gecko Ranch order and you could possibly earn people's trust again. If you are listed as a "Bad Guy" on the BOI your ability to purchase anything reptile related will be difficult.

Please do the right thing and cancel the dispute.

Regards,

Julie Bergman, owner

Gecko Ranch LLC"

I have already started spreading the word about this guy - it is most important that he does not continue to harm the Leopard Gecko and Herp Community by ordering stuff he does not intend to pay for.

Please add any relevant info or transactions you have. Thank you for your time.

 

[JButera]

Did he text or email saying he received the geckos? If so, please provide screenshots of the conversation.

 

[Black Adder]

Did he text or email saying he received the geckos? If so, please provide screenshots of the conversation.

In the first line states "he called and said how great they are"
inference being just a telephone call but if he did happen to text or email the same response it would be usefull and helpfull and posting it would only be good for everybody....bar the buyer of course...lol

 

[Gecko Ranch]

I completely forgot to check my texts. There are texts from him proving he got the geckos. I will post all that are relevant ASAP. There is also info in the texts that he went to a show in Columbia SC in February and picked up three leopard geckos there. Hopefully he did not rip off anyone there.

 

[Gecko Ranch]

More texts.

 

[Gecko Ranch]

Last texts and the FedEx tracking. As you can see he was quite complementary and really wanted a male to go with his females. I don't know who is going to send him one until he makes this right!

 

[Lucille]

- the name he used on that order as the recipient customer was Gregory Austin

His username here on Fauna is gregtula, and he listed his real name as Gregory Austin DeCurtis

 

[JButera]

Can you email this thread to Amex without the telephone number blacked out? It's pretty obvious the other party received the two geckos.

 

[Gecko Ranch]

Thank you all for helping me make this crystal clear. Would you like to respond Greg? Better to make this right here before law enforcement gets involved.

 

[Mistyck]

I am assuming that you have shown all of this evidence to Square on your end? If so, ask them if they are going to show it to his credit card company, or if you need to send the information to them.

Being that he opened a dispute with his credit card company saying it was an unauthorized charge/no knowledge of charge, yet you have proof of him acknowledging that he ordered them and received them; I think that his credit card company will probably go after him for fraud.

But, I would go to the authorities anyway just so you have a paper trail covering you on all sides. Good luck.

 

[Gecko Ranch]

Square has been extremely unhelpful. I got only automated responses from them after following their steps. When it came to submitting things, I was only able to submit a few things and not all this due to their restrictive response submission format. I noted that in my submission. I then sent a request for their dispute team to get back with me on this issue 8/23/16. Still have heard nothing and sent another request to them today.

 

[Lucille]

Find the corporate main address and send a registered letter with your info and proof. Be courteous but tell them that you had additional information and there was no way to add it in and would they please help.

 

[Gecko Ranch]

Here's an ambiguous reply I got from my e-mail about dropping the dispute I posted above.

 

[JButera]

Here's an ambiguous reply I got from my e-mail about dropping the dispute I posted above.

Why is it address 'Dear Bev or Greg'?

 

[CwnAnnwn]

Why is it address 'Dear Bev or Greg'?

In the original post, he stated that Greg talked to him and ordered the animals, but it was Beverly's CC that was used.

This is not completely uncommon.

 

[JButera]

In the original post, he stated that Greg talked to him and ordered the animals, but it was Beverly's CC that was used.

This is not completely uncommon.

I understand, but shouldn't it say 'Dear Julie'? Perhaps the email was accidently forwarded by Greg or Bev from another seller they're scamming.

 

[Mistyck]

Here's an ambiguous reply I got from my e-mail about dropping the dispute I posted above.

What was the email address that email originated from? Or did you send that email to Bev/Greg, and their response is the "Ok will email Monday afternoon"?

Either way DO NOT drop anything.

Here's some links to square (you might have already been through these, but if not then they're here.)

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/3882-resolving-payment-disputes

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/contact

 

[CwnAnnwn]

I understand, but shouldn't it say 'Dear Julie'? Perhaps the email was accidently forwarded by Greg or Bev from another seller they're scamming.

Here is what I got out of it. I could be wrong.

Below the black text, there is blue text that says.

On Aug 27, 2016 at 6:44pm, Bev Austin email redacted wrote

ok will email monday afternoon.

To which Julia wrote back in the black text,

Dear Bev or Greg

To me, it seems that Ms Austin is trying to undo the dispute on the CC. And Ms Bergman is saying, you don't need to wait until the weekend, you can do it now.

But I could be wrong.

 

[JButera]

Here is what I got out of it. I could be wrong.

Below the black text, there is blue text that says.

On Aug 27, 2016 at 6:44pm, Bev Austin email redacted wrote

ok will email monday afternoon.

To which Julia wrote back in the black text,

Dear Bev or Greg

To me, it seems that Ms Austin is trying to undo the dispute on the CC. And Ms Bergman is saying, you don't need to wait until the weekend, you can do it now.

But I could be wrong.

Julie stated the email was a reply, apparently, to an email Julie sent to Greg and/or Bev?

 

[Gecko Ranch]

Yes Bev (Beverly) was in the first order that did not go through. I suspect this is a Mom or Grandma. Their reply was in response to the original e-mail I did send them that I posted here. Very cryptic indeed. We'll see what happens if they drop the dispute or not.