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Bad Guy The Urban Gecko is threating to sue me

Dubibro said:
Has Urban Gecko threatened to sue Fauna Classified over this thread or do they only target minors?
Click to expand...

Nope. Perhaps because they know they wouldn't be dealing with another child with such a threat? :shrug01:

Sostic said:
I think what I'm going to do is leave all the videos down, but just make a very calm video explaining why they were supposedly going to sue me. I think that will be enough evidence for everyone about who they are.
Click to expand...

If they now know that you have folded after being threatened by a lawsuit over the first videos they will likely believe that you will fold when being threatened with another lawsuit over your followup video. IMHO.

Furthermore, where are they located? Canada? And you are located in Wisconsin? What court would have jurisdiction over both of you? Good luck with that. :rolleyes:
 
Honestly I would put the videos back up, and maybe make another one explaining your current situation and include a link to this thread so others can view it as well. I can remember watching those videos when this stuff first started happening. And I believe they are important not only for people who are already into the gecko hobby and may not know about UG yet, but also for new comers who might fall into the same situation as you experienced.

The Urban Gecko is using this "lawsuit" as a hollow threat. Plain and simple.
 
Sam
As a lot of people here ,who are very wise, have already told you ,TUG are NOT going to sue you, not even sure it would be logistically possible bearing in mind the two different countries.

I can understand your nervousness to their threats and it worked for them, they bullied and got what they wanted at the price of a couple of emails and a phone call.

Easy for me and others to say I know, but call their bluff, put the videos back up, make a new one explaining why you were pressured into taking them down, that TUG were very comfortable with threatening a minor with a lawsuit!

All this is going to do is hurt their reputation even more with the extra fuel they have given you.

Good luck with whatever decision you make though, its tough I realise.
 
My guardian thought I should take down all the videos even after I explained the situation. But it just feels wrong to let this slide.
 
If you realize that there will be no suit, that what you said is true and thus not defamation, the difficulties and expense on their part of even arranging an action which would be fruitless, I think you should do what you think is right. For your own sake.
 
Like several others have said, Craig does NOT have a good reputation, whatsoever. Especially up here in Canada.

Some years back he had mentioned was was going to attend the Western Canadian Reptile Expo, however cancelled his flight to Alberta the night before the show. Turns out he had a group of people decidedly unhappy with past business with him all attending the show, and Craig would rather not have actually faced them in person, and as such cancelled out at the last minute.

Take of that what you will, but like others have said, I would not be overly worried about any legal action. I watched all your videos as well, and they were very even tempered and fair. Not slanderous at all.
 
Sam if you feel you have been wronged go full force straight at them. they may never pay you but you will annoy them enough that you may get paid.
 
They'd have to prove what you said was untrue. As far as I can tell, the gecko is either not the same one or their image has been enhanced. Neither option puts TUG in a good light.

In addition to that, they have logistics issues, being that they are in Canada & you are in the US. You being a minor could also cause complications for them.

From now on, any further contact with them should be through email, which you can share here so that everyone can see their bully tactics. If you choose not to share, do not delete them; you may need them later.

I may have been a little harsh before, but bully tactics never set well with me.
 
This is just an observation on my part, and my own opinion, but the people dealing in basically penny ante stuff (relatively speaking) are NOT going to be willing nor able to fork out the money necessary to file a lawsuit, especially one they will likely not win. Many will even pretend to be an attorney rather than spend the money necessary to even issue bonafide demand letters threatening legal action.

Lawsuits are expensive to launch. To even consider that someone engaging in wrangling over disagreements on animals or products for less than $500 is going to spend 20 to 100 times that amount to retain a lawyer and take a person to court that is publicly complaining about their actions, is just plain ludicrous.

IMHO, of course.
 
WebSlave said:
This is just an observation on my part, and my own opinion, but the people dealing in basically penny ante stuff (relatively speaking) are NOT going to be willing nor able to fork out the money necessary to file a lawsuit, especially one they will likely not win. Many will even pretend to be an attorney rather than spend the money necessary to even issue bonafide demand letters threatening legal action.

Lawsuits are expensive to launch. To even consider that someone engaging in wrangling over disagreements on animals or products for less than $500 is going to spend 20 to 100 times that amount to retain a lawyer and take a person to court that is publicly complaining about their actions, is just plain ludicrous.

IMHO, of course.
Click to expand...


Rich,
VERY WELL SAID! :iagree:

Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles
 
Sam, first off I am very impressed how mature, well spoken, and organized you are and you are only 17! In your video you mentioned something about study hall, and I thought, huh I didn't realize they did that in college. So you are doing a great job dealing with this difficult situation.

Do what is right for YOU. The Urban Gecko has been shown to be questionable at best at the beginning of the thread. Now, we see that they are bullying a minor into silence. This is despicable behavior. Even if you leave the videos down, they have really shown their true colors. If you want to put the videos back up, that's great. But do what's best for you. Take some time to think about it, and talk to your guardian.

Whatever you do, you've done a great job standing up for yourself and in helping others avoid being taken advantage of.
 
Sam, I want to mention a few possible things they may try so that if you do decide to put up the videos, you are not alarmed.
The first is that they may talk about what their purported attorney is going to do. This should be given about the same weight as those people who call your home and tell you that the IRS is going to put you in jail unless you send the caller $2000.
Second, they may pretend to be an attorney themselves. But it doesn't matter who makes bogus threats, they are still bogus.
Third, they may get an actual attorney to send a cease and desist letter, which is just more of the same empty threats. A cease and desist letter is simply a notification.
All of these empty actions are free or cost them very little in terms of money (of course these actions may cost them their reputation, but there is some question as to how much of a reputation they had left before they even met you).

Please realize how weak and pathetic they are. Their actions in bullying you show that in my opinion they are not fit to do business with.
 
I wanted to add, In the US, minors are not supposed to be allowed to enter into a legal contract, which is why most breeders here in the US require an adult make the purchase. I have seen all the videos -- months and months ago when I was looking for videos about breeders. There is absolutely nothing that is defaming about your videos. As others have said, you went about this in a matter of fact manor. I have yet to see anything that is opinion based or defaming. I would not have handled this as well as you have. He is bluffing, and I would call him on it. It would be his burden of proof to prove this.
 
Really? Bullying 17 year olds?? Craig, you know you have problems with the business so stop blaming those problems on a kid who gave you money and expected what he paid for. This is disgusting. I have been biting my tongue to keep from posting my experience, as it seemed to just be adding to the pile for no reason...

I had multiple credits from TUG as well, for things like when my breeding geckos that were supposed to be het for nothing popped out with tremper albino babies in the first breeding. Or the time I received a gecko with no air holes in the container and they said they didn't notice that some of the ones they ordered didn't come pre punched. Or the fact they sent me a different gecko than what I had ordered on one of those "oppsy" credits. Or the horrible engima syndrome that I watched the poor baby suffer and die from. I understand that is a risk with the engima gene so that I took more as a "damn that was unlucky" one instead of their fault, but really... Come on TUG, you could learn from these mistakes instead of threatening kids.
 
o_O Seriously about the air holes?

I create tub enclosures, and my first purchase was a wood burning tool -- keeping in mind this was way before I ordered my crested geckos (no not from TUG). It takes all of a second to push a hole into a deli container with the soldering tool or wood burner. Who doesn't look at your shipping container when you are placing an animal inside it for shipment?
 
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