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Bad Guy Chris Applegate=Beware!

DavidBeard

DavidBeard

The Louisville Lip
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If Chris Applegate from Ohio contacts you and promises to buy animals from you, do NOT hold them for him unless you receive a deposit or some sort of compensation. Also, if you buy animals from him, treat them for mites! (A friend of mine purchased a snake from him at the last KY show and I recently had to help her treat it for mites...its the only snake she had, so theres no doubt they came from him).

Chris was supposed to buy over $500 worth of tarantulas from me at a recent reptile show in Kentucky. We had been in communication via e-mail about the spiders and Chris promised to buy them from me if I held onto them for him (he had purchased animals from me in the past, and held up his end of the deal, so I figured he would honor his word again), he would pick them up at the next local show he would attend.

Well, as the show's date neared, I tried to get into contact w/Chris to no avail....a couple days before the show, Chris sends me an e-mail stating that he is having legal troubles (due to another botched deal with a KY show vendor where Chris jerked them around for more than 1k in goods and animals) and he would "try" to make it to the show to pick up the animals he agreed to purchase from me several weeks back.

The date of the show comes and goes, and I hear no more from Chris. He never purchased the animals he said he would and I was stuck with a large amount of livestock that was taken off the market under the assumption he was going to buy them from me.....now, nobody forced me to hold the animals for him, I know.....but is there no honor in today's society? Is it too much to ask for people to hold up their end of an agreed upon deal? I don't think so.

Heres a couple e-mails proving that Chris agreed to buy the spiders from me....(Chris' words are in bold to make it easier to read, I hope)

From:"Chris Applegate" <[email protected]>Add sender to Contacts
To: [email protected]
I can shoot you some money next week so you know I won't back out! lol


----- Original Message ----- From: "David Beard" <[email protected]>
To: "Chris Applegate" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 10:35 PM
Subject: Re: Re:


>
> Its no big deal man...you can just shoot me a part of the money (whatever works for you) if you want, or you can just get them in full at the show. Doesn't matter to me.
>

What about the P. pederseni. Those aren't on there are they?

Would it be a problem to send you cash next week? I am really strapped and
don't get paid for a week. I can send you some money to hold until next
week.. Let me know if that is a problem..

Chris

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Beard" <[email protected]>
To: "Chris Applegate" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 9:13 PM
Subject: Re: Re:


> The T. gigas and Chevron are both new world arboreals...easy to keep, but
> very fast. They're pretty impressive as adults.
>
> The total for everything would be $550, so how does $400 sound?
>
> --- On Tue, 3/3/09, Chris Applegate <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> From: Chris Applegate <[email protected]>
>> Subject: Re: Re:
>> To: [email protected]
>> Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2009, 8:56 PM
>> Can you tell me about these though?
>> -2"+ Tapinauchenius gigas (Orange Tree Spider)-$40
>> -2"+ Psalmopeous cambridgei (Trinidad Chevron)-$35
>>
>>
>> Here is a list that I will take..
>> -4" Brachypelma vagans (Mexican Red Rump)-$50
>> -4" female Ceratogyrus marshalli (Horned Baboon)-$60
>> -4" female Chilobrachys huahini (Huahini Bird
>> Spider)-$45
>> -4" female Pterinochilus murinus (Starburst
>> Baboon)-$30
>> -2" female Cyclosternum fasciatum (Tiger Rump)-$40
>> -3" Nhandu colloratovillosus (Brazilian Banded)-$30
>> -2"+ Tapinauchenius gigas (Orange Tree Spider)-$40
>> -2"+ Psalmopeous cambridgei (Trinidad Chevron)-$35
>> -2" Citharischius crawshayi (King Baboon)-$45
>> -Six 1.25"-1.5" Poecilotheria regalis (Indian
>> Ornamental)-$25 each
>> -Five 0.75" Pterinochilus murinus (Starburst
>> Baboons)-$5 each
>>
 
I had one successful transaction with Chris where we met up at the Hamburg, Pa reptile show and conducted a trade. Everything went well. The snakes were nice and healthy and he seemed like a decent kid. The second time I attempted to do business with him didn't go quite so well. We had arranged to meet at Hamburg again but he didn't show up. Never bothered to e-mail or call and let me know he couldn't make it. I know sometimes **** happens but a simple call would have been nice and would have saved me a pointless 2 hour round-trip drive.
 
Seamus Haley said:
Gotta name her David, you know that.
Click to expand...

Her name is Stacie Decker. I do not know if she will participate in this thread though.

And before anybody asks, yes, I have let Chris know about this thread.

Apex, that sounds JUST like Chris. I know of more than a few people he has no-showed on after agreeing to buy animals from, including myself.
 
Similar Experience...

I too had a similar experience. Our first deal went perfect, no complaints. He has contacted me several times about various animals since then and never keeps in touch. I guess this is just his style, but I could do without it...
 
It sucks that your friend got stuck dealing with mites. I have nothing against "flippers" but I know he's not at all opposed to selling a snake that he's had for literally a few minutes. After I had dropped the snakes off at his table he went outside with me to help bag a big anaconda I had brought with me. When we got back to his table his mother had already sold one of the snakes I had traded to him. He made it a point act like he was mad at her for selling it, but it wasn't very convincing.
I'm not very well versed on how the business side of this hobby is supposed to work..but it seems like you should KNOW your animal is healthy and mite free before flipping it. For all he knew, the snakes I gave him could have had severe URI and been infested with mites. They were venomous and in tupperware containers so it wouldn't really have been possible to pull them out and check them right there at the show.
 
Honestly, mites are not a HUGE deal to me, personally. I know they happen....its part of the hobby sometimes. But my friend is fairly new to the herp scene and discovering mites on her snake was not a pleasant experience, especially considering she (and I) trusted Chris and even considered him a friend.

But as you said, Dan....if you're going to "flip" animals, at least make sure they are healthy and represented honestly.
 
ApexPredatorBoids said:
I'm not very well versed on how the business side of this hobby is supposed to work..but it seems like you should KNOW your animal is healthy and mite free before flipping it.
Click to expand...
:iagree::iagree::iagree:I couldn't agree with you more. There are way too many :censored: out there just trying to make a quick buck. I'm not saying that it is wrong to make money at this, but c'mon, people are at these shows or in these "pet stores" trusting that they are buying a healthy animal not a sick animal that they have to take back and forth to the vet and/or watch die. Shouldn't you know what you're selling?
 
Mites are the devil. I took in a burm knowing he had them because the 16 year old girl who took it in was in over her head. This was my third time dealing with them, and I stand buy my statement, Mites Are The Devil.
 
If caught early, they are easily treated. But thats no excuse to spread them due to shady business ethics.

I just don't understand why some people feel the need to burn so many bridges needlessly.
 
David, I honestly think it's lack of thinking. People look out for number one all the time, and they don't think ahead. Yeah I make a deal with Joe, then Billy offers me cheaper. Is it worth losing Joe as a friend for one cheap buy? To me know, to many others I guess a true friend isn't worth much. but man they are hard to find....
 
I have made two transactions with Chris in the past month. I did not know Chris and found nothing either positive or negative in regards to him on the BOI. Since i could meet with him in person, i went ahead with the transaction, purchasing several WILD CAUGHT african house snakes. He was straight forward letting me know the animals were imports. He has checked on the animals via e-mail twice in the past month. I met Chris face to face a second time in which we traded a couple of snakes, again everything went well. He has checked again via e-mail to make sure I am satisfied with both of our transactions. My transactions went very well, enough so that i passed his info on to a fellow herper that i traded with yesterday.
As far as bringing mites home from a show, people go from table to table handling snakes usually, not always, but usually without sanitizing their hands.EVERY animal that I get from anyone, especially a show, gets treated for external parasites and quaranteened. I would think this would be common practice for everyone with even just a little experience.
I will do business with Chris in the future if he has anything that I want.
 
Should have known better

Chris had asked to buy an animal from me at a KY show. I did finally agree to bring it to the show and sell it to him.
I had the animal on my table on display and there were several people that asked about buying it. I told them all the animal was sold.
I had asked Chris when we first got to the show if he still wanted the animal and he said "yes" and he would bring the money back to me a little later in the show.
So it's comming near the end of the show everyone is packing up and he had still not brought me the money. I finally go and ask him if he is going to take the animal and find out that after I turned all those buyers away and the one that was still there had already spent the last of their money minutes before,,that no he was not going to buy the animal. So not only did I not sell the animal, I was out the $25.00 for the Ky travel permit I had to buy to bring it to the show.
 
That sucks you had that happen. I'm relatively new to the KY herp scene in general, and I do pre-order from time to time. But I make sure I show up and get what I ask to be held. I'll opt not to name anyone I've done business with, as it is more their place to vouch for me as for me to toss their name out, but I'm trying to bvuild up a good reputation as a buyer for myself. I also like to talk a lot, as David can tell you from an email conversation lol.
 
we never hold animals without a deposit full stop and it continuosly amazes me that people do!

IF a buyer is serious, and actually intends to follow through then they shouldn't baulk at dropping a 10-20% deposit. No deposit = animal still for sale, first come first served.

It's dead simple and avoids all these problems with timewasters.
 
Well, Richard...I had held animals for him before and he made good on his word.....I assumed (yes, I know, how silly of me) that he would do the same again.

As a result of this, I no longer hold animals for anyone unless paid for in full.
 
Strange as it may sound I would still like to try to do business with people the old fashion way. Where I try to believe a persons word is good. Most of the time people in the Ky group are as good as their word with a very few exceptions.
In this case my crystal ball had already told me this person was a bit "sneaky", however I listened when other people told me I was being an over reacting :censored: about something that was likely a misunderstanding. So to give him the benefit of the doubt. I gave him the inch and he took plenty enough to hang himself. I do not however feel I should hang others with his rope.
 
I know several people feel that way. But Mr Beard and I have a few mutual friends in the business. All of them will vouch that I do indeed show up for anything I ask to be held. I personally believe in honor, and I'll give a chance to anyone. You mess it up however, and second chances are slim with me. Like I'd hold something for David if he asked, and I would any of you unless you stood me up. I prefer to set up exacts though, a time limit on when you'll be there etc.
 
DavidBeard said:
Well, Richard...I had held animals for him before and he made good on his word.....I assumed (yes, I know, how silly of me) that he would do the same again.

As a result of this, I no longer hold animals for anyone unless paid for in full.
Click to expand...


We used to be the same. Then you get one too many timewasters..
 
i have also had experiences with chris and his mom on multiple ocasions telling me they were going to buy gators and retics off of me and had them never buy them or call to say they changed there mind. i have seen a few times where they had snakes covered in mites and respiratory infections bad ,and told them and they just blew it off like they did not care. they have been banned from the ohio shows completely . i do not know how there home conditions are they may be grate , who knows. i recently offered chris a trade for an albino ball he has he turned me down, no big deal probably better for me lol. as for all of you who held animals for him with out a deposit we all live and learn no matter who they are get a deposit before you hold an animal or agree to drive to meet some one . Chris is not a bad guy i just think they are in reptiles for the money not the animals hence half of there out ragous prices . Hopefully chris and his mom will either get a passion for these animals or just step out of the business. i guess my best advice for dealing with them or anyone else is check out what you are buying closely because once you take possession its now yours . Mike Schofield
 
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