Bad Guy Chad Johnson - Chadscresteds

So I had hoped to never have to write up a BOI thread. I guess six or so years is a pretty good run.

I contacted Chad Johnson of Chadscresteds on the Pangea Forums (it is also his member name here) on 2/8/11 about an adult female crested gecko he had forsale. He answered all my questions promtly, and I purchased her later that night for $130.

I will note, that Chad specifically asked me to send him the money as a gift. I obliged, as I also am involved with various art communities and am used to people asking for gifts to try and dodge fees. In retrospect, I should have just paid regularly and then paid extra for the fees (though that's incredibly tacky of a buyer to have to do..)
I also was unaware that you could not dispute a 'gift'. Learned my lesson. I hope other people will see this and be wary of that feature also.

I contacted him about two weeks of warm weather later that month on the 17th and asked if he was good to ship on his end. He let me choose the date and we agreed to have him ship on the 23rd for a 24th delivery. Later, on the 21st, I paid him $35 and told him that if shipping went over $35 dollars, I would pay the difference.
He then informed me he was having engine trouble with his car while on vacation. I told him if he was still having problems on the 23rd, to let me know. Two days later, I sent him a pm inquiring if he had sent her out and he said that he wasn't able to purchase shipping supplies. I told him that was completely understandable and that I'd let him know when I had warm weather again.

In the mean time, Geckoluv of the Pangea Forums posted a thread on the 28th (now edited to remove his name, per the Pangea forum rules- regardless here is the link http://pangeareptile.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47050 ) asking if anyone had heard from him. This made me a little nervous, but I figured he must have been offline for a few days or something. As luck would have it, I had a small spot of good weather and combined with my concern after reading the thread- shot him a private message on Pangea to see if he'd be able to ship.
I never received a response. I thought initially that he's probably not expecting a private message (from me anyways) since I had said I probably wouldn't have good weather until mid to late March and tried to chalk it up to short notice plus troubles he'd been having in his own life.
I waited and felt kind of like a jerk for being so impatient but at the same time feel if I had other peoples' money in my pocket I'd keep in touch online just in case questions or problems arose. However, I kept in touch with Geckoluv of PangeaForums and eventually started talking to Kristyheartshergeckos as well as JoseDepacos (the former a current customer, the latter a previous customer.)
I had started watching to see if Chad would sign in to Pangea Forums or Fauna classifieds. At this time I didn't make screenshots of the times he was checking, I figured the problem would resolve itself. I can't quite remember, but here is a time line of what's been going on lately.
It may seem like I was jumping the gun a bit and nagging the guy, but at the same time he was avoiding me, he was talking to Geckoluv-promising to ship her gecko.. and then later never did...

3/4/11 - Chad checks Fauna Classifieds
3/5/11 - I leave a message on Chad's Fauna page asking him to get in contact with me.
3/6/11 - Geckoluv tells me he's planning on shipping her gecko tomorrow. To talk to her on Pangea, he would have to had skipped my previous pms about good weather & shipping dates. I also send Chad an email telling him I'd been talking with Geckoluv, JoseDepacos, and that if he's not interested in the sale anymore, just to reimburse me the 165.
3/7/11 - I'm pretty pissed at this point and send him a private message telling him I'd like to cancel the sale due to him avoiding me.
3/8/11 - I post a note on Chad's Pangea forum page letting him know I'd appreciate him getting in touch with him. I know by now he's not going to respond- but I thought I'd kinda let other people know some folks were lookin' for him.
3/9/11 - Chad logs into Pangea Forums & Fauna classifieds. Geckoluv informs me she never received the gecko.
3/10/11 - Chad logs into Pangea Forums.
3/11/11 - Chad logs into his Fauna Classifieds. (Forgot to make screencap)
3/13/11 - Chad logs into his Fauna Classifieds.

As soon as I click send on this thread, I'm going to get the link and send it to Chad via pangea/email/fauna since he's on some and not the others some days apparently.

Geckoluv, JoseDepacos and Kristyheartshergeckos have all consented to me mentioning them in this thread, and all three intend to come here and share their transactions with Chad Johnson.
I'm going to be kinda busy today, but I will do my best to keep up with this thread and respond to any and all questions.
Thanks,
Ansli Pemberton

Below are screen caps of some of my transactions with chad, conversations with other people, and screen caps of him logging into various accounts.












I just took the screen shot of the last one today (obviously).

If there's anything you're looking for a screen shot of, I have all my conversations with Chad saved, and can post my original order/proof of payments/etc etc. Just ask. I tried to keep this thread from being MASSIVE and just posted related information. But yeah.. Ask if there's anything you'd like to see a screen cap of.

I also made a purchase from chad. i sent $250 by paypal to him on 2/4/11 for a baby leachianus. soon after i did not hear back from him. he had set up a shipping day for me and that day came and went with no gecko and no response from chad as to why. stupidly i had deleted my inbox of his messages but i do have proof that i paid and now have a dispute in paypal so that i can get my money back. ive never posted a bad guy thing so please let me know if im leaving anything out.

I also had a bad experience with Chad. I asked for a specific shipping date (a Monday) but my box was sent on a Tues without asking me if it was ok first. I can't receive boxes on Weds because of work. Additionally my package was marked "release at door/wave signature" with out me asking for it. This caused the driver to leave the package outside in upper 30 low 40 degree weather all day while I was at work instead of the box being left inside my leasing office the way it would have been if there was a signature requirement on the box.
The gecko came cold and barely moving but did survive.
I found out after the fact that Chad did not even ship the gecko, his Mom did. I usually do not have problems dealing with minors, but I guess there is a first time for everything.
I would never deal with him again, I would not even sell to him in the future.

ryan- you were lucky to get that gecko! lol. i know of at least four other people that gave him their money and he made a run for it i had no idea he was a minor either. wow. how in the world did he get all of those nice geckos?!

I had no clue you could not dispute gift money in paypal. WOW that is good to know. It seems more people are asking for money to be sent that way lately.
He also tried to get me to pay the 4% fee, but it says right there in the rules that is a cost to be incurred by the receiver not the sender as a fee for getting the money. People that go out of their way to get that 4% are lame in my opinion. If the extra few bucks is big deal to you just roll it up into the cost of what you are selling, don't add it on as a separate thing, it just irritating I guess.

I should count myself lucky I got my gecko, but it still was a terrible buying experience and I would caution anyone else that thinks they might want something from him. It's just not worth it.

I should add that my deal with Chad was a trade, so no money changed hands. BUT the two baby geckos he did get from me he turned around and tried to flip for stupid sums of money. The two babies together might have sold for around $350. He was trying to sell them for 700-900 each!

That's terrible Talkenlate04, I'm glad the animal survived.

After I talked to JoseDepacos about his terrible shipping experience, I wanted to cancel the transaction. I wanted the gecko, but I didn't want her so bad it might cost her her life..

I think there's a way I can still open a claim up against Chad on paypal- though I wouldn't be able to really get my money back. It would just be a mark on his record. I'm still looking into it.

Also, I even mentioned to Chad when he requested the gift, that if you have too many people send you gifts (or you send too many yourself) paypal can, will, and has locked down accounts to investigate them.
It happened to quite a few people from art & jewelry communities I was on.

So if you must send/receive a gift- do it sparingly and for actual gifts.. not goods.

Ansli- i really hope theres a way you can get your money back. i opened up a claim over a week ago. he hasnt responded yet but has until the 16th. hopefully paypal sends the money back to me then if he still hasnt responded.

kristy<3sgeckos said:

Ansli- i really hope theres a way you can get your money back. i opened up a claim over a week ago. he hasnt responded yet but has until the 16th. hopefully paypal sends the money back to me then if he still hasnt responded.

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Surely you will get it back because literally nothing has been shipped to you.
I hope he has enough paypal disputes to lock up his account. Rude of me to say so, but this is just blatant theft if he never comes back and tries to make it right.

thats not rude of you to say! he stole your money. it sounds like that was his intention. his account should be locked and hopefully anyone considering purchasing or selling to him will see this thread.

Wow guys... good luck. I hope that he pulls through and reimburses you all and/or sends your animals- AND that they're in good condition.

(562)292-9589 that's his cell if you don't have it, maybe you can reach him that way? I don't know him well (he bought a few leachianus from me, and later tried to resell them on fauna), but he did text me last week trying to wholesale me back some of them for more than I charged him for them, stating his engine on his car blew.

Good luck-
Jordan

thankyou jordan! i for one am fed up with him and just want my money back but im sure there are a couple other people out there that need his number to try to get ahold of him.

kristy<3sgeckos said:

thankyou jordan! i for one am fed up with him and just want my money back but im sure there are a couple other people out there that need his number to try to get ahold of him.

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If he is a minor maybe a call to mommy will straighten things out? Worth a shot IMO..

chongorojo said:

If he is a minor maybe a call to mommy will straighten things out? Worth a shot IMO..

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from what it sounds like mommy spoils him rotten maybe thats his problem? someone should call though it might be an amusing conversation (that is if anyone would pick up)

I'm intending to give him a call. Soon. He logged into fauna yesterday, I can't imagine he didn't look at this thread.

Don't know exactly how old he is, but he's old enough to drive and possibly hold down a job. From what I've read he's told other people.

ansli- please let me know if you get ahold of him and what he has to say if you do

Someone might want to PM Matt on Pangea or the mods and notify them of this thread. Possibly they need to take away his sale thread posting ability!

We've got an eye on the thread. He is banned from the Trade section there until he makes it right, though we didn't remove his ability to post entirely so he can't use that as an excuse.