Bad Guy Snakes At Sunset - Terrible Communication

[Fatalis]

In my search for a male blue iguana (iguana iguana), it seemed that Snakes At Sunset was pretty well reviewed and had mostly good threads here on fauna. I first sent them a text back in October asking if they had males in stock and if they had time to send pictures, I got a speedy response that they were out of them and wouldn't have any until next week (though on their website it said they had some in stock).

So I waited a week and half before messaging them again, and then texted them again asking the same thing. This time I got no reply, and waited at least a week before contacting them again. I sent them an email, waited three or four days, and got no response. I then contacted them via Facebook, stating that I had tried texting and emailing them without any response. They said "sure someone will send pics tomorrow". Tomorrow came, no pictures, and when I asked they said "the picture guy was off Friday and will send pic Saturday." Saturday came, no pictures. Sunday I got no response after asking if there would be anyone there to get pictures on Sunday. On Monday (Oct 31st) I asked if they could send pictures, and added on that I would like to know their age/origin and if they had been treated for parasites. No response.

At that point later on Oct 31st I was contacted by a scammer (Nathan Lancaster) saying they had an 1.5 year old blue iguana, which I fell for. So at the time I texted Snakes At Sunset again saying someone else offered me a blue iguana that I would be accepting and apologized, and they actually did respond saying it wasn't a problem. (I foolishly deleted all prior texts from Snakes At Sunset at this time) When I found out I had been scammed and filed a claim with PayPal, I went back to Snakes At Sunset's website on Friday (Oct 4th) and ordered a blue male. They had a comments/requests section where I again asked if they were captive or farm bred, what ages they were, and if they had been treated for parasites. I texted them Saturday asking if my message on the order went through, they did reply that they saw the message. I also then asked in text if it would be a problem to pick an individual, no response.

Then on Monday (Oct 6th), they messaged me via their website and said that they are farm bred and if they took pictures I would likely not receive an exact one because they were in groups and if they could ship. I was completely fine with this and understood, but at this point the rest of questions had been dodged so many times I was getting quite flustered. I responded that that was fine and that I would like to know if they had been treated for parasites and what ages they were, and that shipping today (Monday) was fine. Well they never shipped. No response on Tuesday, which I guess is understandable since it was election day. Wednesday I messaged them and told them it was fine to ship today, when there was no reply later I messaged them saying they could ship tomorrow (Thursday). I got no reply Thursday but my ordered status changed to "awaiting shipment", but got no tracking number so I assumed they were not actually shipping as I got no confirmation that they would.

Well, today I was awoken by my housemate that a package from Snakes At Sunset had just arrived at around noon. At this point I was pretty fed up, because there was no way I could have known he was coming today and my housemate was about to leave for the store and I was asleep. Just moments later and that poor iguana would have been left out in the cold for who knows how long..

In the end, the iguana seems healthy, if a bit dehydrated from the trip. I need to double check if he's actually male. But I will NEVER be ordering from Snakes At Sunset again, what a headache..

 

[Snakesatsunset]

Sorry for the atypical repsonse times, but we were completely 100% honest, and you received a great iguana.
We usually text back pictures in minutes , and I do not know why your particular request was not done in a timely fashion.
You should have received BOTH texts and emails direct to your phone(if you used cell phone as contact number) from FedEx, our website, emailing you the following things:
label created
package tendered
package picked up
package delivered
and in cases of delays
package exception
package hold for pickup

Its all 100% automated from both website and FedEx so we do not have control over bounced emails, spam blockers, etc....as sometimes occurs but rarely.
If we print a label, all those processes go automatic as the package is scanned.

Also the iguana would not be left out in the cold, but taken back to the closest FedEx facility for pickup or re-delivery.

Thanks for the order though, and sorry about the slight delay in responding.

 

[Fatalis]

Michael Barrera,

With all due respect, I do not believe you or your employees were any amount of honest. I was promised pictures many times, did my best to remain patient, and yet even after a month of asking I never did receive ANY pictures. I STILL do not know if my iguana was treated for parasites or his approximate age. I ordered a male, and yet his femoral pores look suspiciously small to be a male. I can understand the chance of an email not getting through, but upon all the dodge questions and utter inability to get me the pictures I requested I don't see how anyone could not be thoroughly frustrated with the situation. To call what happened a "slight" delay in responding, is a completel understatement. I'll state again I waited a month for my requests to be answered, I would have even accepting a "sorry we don't know the answer to your questions", but instead I got no answer besides that they were farm bred, wherein the rest of my questions were again dodged.

 

[cool cat]

I had a similar incident happen , I was supposed to get an animal on a Wednesday delivery , the animals never came , Thursday , Friday same thing , I am freaking out thinking the worst .

Long story short the animals I ordered were out of stock and I was never notified that they wouldn't be delivered so I waited all week for my snakes .

After several calls I was told that they were indeed out of stock and when they come in they will ship them , well I got the snakes a week later and they were healthy , HOWEVER THERE WAS A LACK OF COMMUNCATION ON THEIR END FOR SURE .
Been hesitant to order again !!!!!

 

[Snakesatsunset]

Mike, you ordered three times, much appreciated.
Which snakes were out of stock? the red eye lavendars or the pueblans? You were specific on sexes and we do not send out incorrect sexes if something was out of stock.
the pueblans were ordered on the 15th and wanted two females, and on 16th we sent you this message :
"Re: Order #10437
Mike, we have your collard lizards....male is the high yellow type...pueblans we only have males till tuesday, can you wait? thanks admin 16th Jun 2016 @ 4:47 PM N/A "

could have taken a bit longer as we have to watch them and make sure they feed before shipping upon reciept.

as for honesty, most people claim their blue iguanas are cb, we claim them as they are, farm bred.
As for age, we have no idea but it is a 2016. Some iguanas are 3ft in 6 months, some are just 20" with tail after 6 months.
They are born May-July I think in the farms.
There is no way of giving you an exact age.
Pores as well may take time to develop but it was probably popped or probed to sex.
We would have checked through all of them till we found a male. If it by rare chance it turns out female, ill buy it back at double in 6 months.

We try to keep up and provide pictures via text or email as quickly and often as possible, and have someone dedicated to JUST THAT. It is rare, but with the amount of inquirees, we are bound to miss some or think we already responded. WE ARE ONE OF THE ONLY places that actually does send individual pictures on most occasions when requested.
If you want anole pictures, we send them, if you want 3 pictures of the 3 reptiles for sale such as angolan females in stock, we try to provide them.

If you are not happy with it , send it back as per our website policies and terms.
It is, and pictures show it, to be extremely healthy looking, and fat.
We do not deworm farmed iguanas as they usually do not need it, but on occasion they do.

 

[DavidBeard]

I'm not seeing any proof where any promises were made about pictures....screen shots only show a brief later conversation. The posts by Snakes At Sunset seem to backup their version moreso than the others.....

Evidence gentleman, you should know better.

 

[Fatalis]

David,

Apologies, I forgot to post the Facebook conversation.

 

[Fatalis]

Michael,

While I do appreciate your answers, I just wish I had gotten a more timely response so that this thread could have been avoided altogether. I never asked for an exact age, any answer would have been completely acceptable, even if you had no idea. I would have even been okay with being told that there was a long list of people waiting for pictures and it would take a month to get pictures to me, but I could only assume with every interaction that I was immediately forgotten afterwards.

 

[Snakesatsunset]

at this link on home page : http://www.snakesatsunset.com
there is a big bold red notice that states:
"Don't want to wait for an email answer to a question?


YOU CAN NOW TEXT US FOR UP TO DATE PICS, INFO, AND ANSWERS! 11-9PM EST

786-220-2953 (number will only recieve texts, no calls)

The best Reptiles for sale anywhere! "

We try to check facebook continuously but we check emails and texts much more regularly. Like I said, we may have sent the request to another inquiree by accident and thought we had fulfilled your request.....facebook is not our usual method of getting the pictures and such sent out.

 

[Fatalis]

Michael,

I understand that, but texting you was my first avenue of contact and I was met with the same lack of communication. I also emailed you after about of week of not getting a response, and I never got a reply there either. I would have happily ceased using Facebook if that meant clearer and easier communication, but I was never told so. When I was browsing Fauna BOIs regarding Snakes At Sunset after several failed attempts to get a hold of you, I saw in one you recommended Facebook messenger, so that it was why I tried it..

 

[Snakesatsunset]

we try to keep up, sometimes we miss a request here and there

 

[tim brophy]

This hardly seems serious enough to warrant a bad guy thread. Lizard was delivered and looks great. Enough whining already.

 

[Fatalis]

This hardly seems serious enough to warrant a bad guy thread. Lizard was delivered and looks great. Enough whining already.

I believe the purpose of the BOI is to review buyers and sellers in any and all capacity. A bad guy thread does not have to have a deadly serious topic to have merit. Communication or lack thereof definitely merits review. I do not deny that I am happy with the iguana and he appears healthy, but the lack of good communication and no proper notice of the animal being shipped will make me wary of ever purchasing from Snakes At Sunset again.

 

[minicopilot1]

I believe the purpose of the BOI is to review buyers and sellers in any and all capacity. A bad guy thread does not have to have a deadly serious topic to have merit. Communication or lack thereof definitely merits review. I do not deny that I am happy with the iguana and he appears healthy, but the lack of good communication and no proper notice of the animal being shipped will make me wary of ever purchasing from Snakes At Sunset again.

AGREED. Terrible communication!

 

[Fatalis]

And not to mention that age of the animal and potential treatment of parasites is definitely essential to know to be fully prepared.. While it states on their page for blue iguanas that they are hatchlings, one person who left a review stated that the one they received was about a year old.

 

[The Hairy Whale]

The one time I ordered with them it went fairly well (back in July). While they were slower at communication and I ended up getting a different animal than I was sent pictures of, everything else was acceptable on their part. No reason to not do business with them, in my opinion. Though I thought it was weird that they wanted to place the order via phone call.

 

[Black Adder]

I have heard some people have had comms problems with Michael, however we have bought 3 snakes from him, all comms were good and timely, animals were exactly as described and delivered exactly when stated.
If they had anything I wanted I would have no qualms buying from him again.

 

[TomC]

I can tell you Mike/Snakes of Sunset does a hell of a better job than some of the other larger reptile sellers. I have purchased animals worth thousands of dollars from overseas and they import and reship the packages. I can't imagine they make too much money off of this. It was done in a timely manner and even when I didn't get the automatic FedEx tracking number, I called Mike and he sent it to me within an hour on a Saturday. Knowing they do this for animals they aren't even selling I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them directly.

 

[Helenthereef]

I think this thread is worthwhile - it's not been bad enough to stop people buying from them, but at least future customers will know they might have to hang on a while.

Hopefully Snakes at Sunset can take this as useful and constructive criticism and step up their communications - it's fairly obviously not been their strong point.

 

[calebroad]

I did a trade with Mike/Snakes at sunset. Was very happy, he received my animals, and he promptly shipped his animals to me. I had no issues during my transaction.