Bad Guy Alec Sweet aka "mobiussweet"

Just wanted to let everyone know how my latest transaction with Alec Sweet went. I purchased a male pinstripe from him on June 23. I can't remember what day he ended up shipping on but I believe it was that same week. Sorry for the lack of details on some of this, it drug on so long that some of the emails have been erased and some of this was over phone calls. Anyway I asked him if he shipped out using FedEx because SYR was not allowing snakes at this time and he just replyed via text message with a confirmation so I tried to look it up and it wouldn't show up on FedEx's website. I then checked UPS and it pulled it up, I was pissed off that he had used UPS to ship but just let him know that he wasn't supposed to use them and decided to wait to see if the snake came in. It never showed so I called the UPS distribution center here and they let me know it made it to Colorado and had been turned back around for unknown reasons. Alec told me he went and picked the animal up and said he would re-ship when they unfroze his accound and said he didn't know why they didn't let him ship. When I repeatedly told him your not allowed to ship using SYR he told me they sent him a message that you could ship snakes through them. I then pointed out the fact that on their main page it says they are not allowed to ship snakes. I told him that if he can't get this thing figured out I would need a refund. In the mean time while all this was going on ReptilesExpress came along so I turned Alec's attention to them. He didn't seem too enthused about getting set up through them so I told him I kept persuing a refund. He then told me he had everything taken care of and would ship on Monday 12 July, even though I didn't know who he would be shipping through I agreed to recieve the package which was stupid on my part. Anyway on 13 July I never recieved anything so I told him I want a refund. He said he was in the "canyon" don't know what that means but his wife had sent him out already and he would give me a confirmation number when he got home. The next day came and went along with the next day now. On thursday I sent him messages all day letting him know if I didn't recieve a refund by friday I would be posting here and contacting paypal legal, I never recieved a reply back from him. On friday the 16th of July I recieved a phone call from the USPS post office on my base (I'm in the military) that asked if I had a live snake shipped in, I didn't know how to reply because I shouldn't have been getting a call from them. So I just replied well he should be alive, they said well he might not be because we put him through the X-ray machine. I said ok well I'll be there in less than 5 minutes. When I got there they told me they are waiting for my first seargant to come (NOT GOOD). I let them know I don't know how it came to them and they told me I'm not allowed to get snakes in the mail. I said yes I can I am FedEx and UPS ReptilesExpress certified and told them I can show waivers. They said thats fine but you can't ship through USPS, my heart sank! So now I'm waiting to find out how much trouble I'm going to get in through the military since it went all the way to the commander. Also they said I'm not going to be able to recieve the package. Luckily I have a lot of people who like me since I just won Amn of the Quarter and always go out of my way to do the best at my job. My shop chief ended up making a few calls and luckily my higher ups were all worried the snake would die if it sat on a shelf so they went ahead and let me recieve the package. So in the end the snake is safe with me and will have a happy new home but Alec Sweet made me look like an Idiot and took me for a ride. Shipping snakes through USPS is a federal offense last time I checked and to top it off it was packaged like Shit. Pictures will be coming as soon as I get them off my camera. Sorry if this is long and not wrote as good as it should be but I'm pretty pissed off right now and haven't had time to cool down.

Yes, shipping via USPS is illegal due to the Lacey Act.

Regardless of how long this drug on, however, e-mails, invoices and anything else of physical value towards credibility must be posted on the BOI. Otherwise it sort of turns into a he said/she said fiasco and those rarely end well, if at all.

Also, have you informed the seller of this post?

Yes, I told the seller I would be posting on the BOI. I will go ahead and post the paypal stating I purchased and later tonight/this weekend the rest of the emails/pictures will be coming.

Okay. It'd be helpful if you have a reciept from USPS as well. I know you likely don't due to the situation itself, but it'd still be helpful.

Paypal screen shot

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They didn't give me a reciept, this was done on a military level so no reciept was given. After my shop chief made a few phone calls they told me I could come pick up the snake. I will post before and after opening the package pictures as soon as I get home from work. which will be saturday.

This sucks, I know this guy personally but not all too well. And what he meant by "Canyon" is possibly the Grand Canyon in AZ, I believe he was going to be out of town this weekend in AZ and/or NV.

So is the snake ok even though it went through xray?

So far he is ok. I haven't had a chance to really check him out, I just cleaned him and unpacked him into his new box and put him in quarantine. I dont know the effect of an Xray on snakes but they told me they put him through twice.

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This is exactly how it was packaged. Only half the top had insulation if you want to call it that.

I had to retake the first one after I had opened it because I forgot to cover the personal information. I have a picture of the box before opened it but I forgot to cover up the addresses on it.

hopefully that pinstripe makes it ok. that box looks like it been reused a couple of times ( maz i reuse a box is once if ikeep it that long)
as far s ai know reptileexpress ships via ups. ( oh wait usps is the post office and Ups is the brown truck ) I got to pay more attention at times. lol

I think the fed ex should be the only way that reptiles are shipped oustide of personally picking them up or delivering them at a show.

Oh my God... he sent that through USPS in a flat rate box... Thank goodness the snake arrived safely!

Coming from a military background (grew up with Dad in the Navy, he still is), I can't believe he even attempted to do that. You could get into so much trouble... my heart dropped when I read it was shipped on base!

Hopefully the pinstripe will be fine. Poor little guy.

Terry- both shipping UPS and Fedex are both very good services that help the reptile industry out TONS but its when people get lazy and don't register with ReptilesExpress or get certified through FedEx that they make reptile owners look bad by sending through illegal routes. I don't think that FedEx is the only way to go both UPS and Delta are both great services, I've never used Delta Dash but I'm sure it's just as good as the rest. I have personally shipped using UPS and FedEx multiple times and both worked great for me.

Allee- The pinstripe is all settled in his new home and is doing awesome now. He eats really good and is loving life. No problems at all.

You gotta remember though, deliveries to military bases are rather restrictive. UPS and FedEx both end up dropping package off to USPS as they seem to be the only carrier to deliver to these areas.

Wrong, actually I have all my snakes mailed to my shop on base and its always either the FedEx or UPS guy that brings them to me directly. I have had dozens of snakes come to me this way and have four coming in next week this way. There is nothing in the regulations saying they can't and all my leadership have blessed it. Its cool because even people at work who don't necissarily like snakes all crowd around to watch me open the box. I think they are just as excited to see whats inside as I am. I'm sure it varies from base to base but I don't have a problem with it here.

Wow man that's horrible I go through ship your reptiles so should be no problems at all getting my geckos

Thanks for the heads up. I was about to pursue a BP he had for sale, not any more.

Focal X said:

Thanks for the heads up. I was about to pursue a BP he had for sale, not any more.

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Please don't believe a lot of the "hear-say" that goes on these forums... I know Alec personally, and he has a great collection of high quality BP's.

Well then you didn't do him any favors by bringing this thread back to the top. What is hearsay about the OP message? Looks like it was pretty well proven.

valleysnakeguy said:

Please don't believe a lot of the "hear-say" that goes on these forums... I know Alec personally, and he has a great collection of high quality BP's.

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Alec has responded to every negative thread about him but this one. While I could just see this as a "newbie" mistake, I can't because anyone that would be willing to change and do things right would have been in here and not only apologized, but would let any potential customer know this would not happen again. No way in hell would I purchase a snake that would be shipped in this manner.

I'm really happy Dustin didn't get fried for this because this could have jeopardized his entire career. Having been in the military, I can tell you I have seen careers destroyed for less.