Bearded Pets (Bad Guys)

Back in Feb I sent Bearded pets a 300 dollar(money order) deposit for a pair of het Albino BPs. Bearded Pets agreed to hold the hets until the weather warmed up to ship. Here is an email exchange from 1/23 before I commit to the deal. Bearded Pets wrote:
"Hi, they are still available. Im in GA I ship with stro lining and heat pads my shipping is guranteed so I cant afford not to pack them right. Can you give me your weather before shipping. I accept money orders and cashiers checks.......thanks"

I did talk to Bearded Pets on the phone and Jon sent me this email on 1/28:

"Hey, I just found your email. The pics are in the attachment. They are of the ones that I will reserve for you. I would like half down on them "$300" I will reserve them for you but I have to get confirmation to do so. Another words you telling me you will put the half down. I accept money orders or cashiers checks. Make it out and send it to: Elena Egidi, 2057 Alcovy Trace Way, Lawrenceville, GA, 30045. Please include your name, adress, phone nuber, email and ohter info I might need with the payment.......thanks"

So I sent the M.O... Around 4/18 I tried to call Bearded Pets, to complete the deal, at the last number I had for them and the person that answered said I have the wrong number and hung up before I could ask a few question. Then I started to email Bearded Pets. I finally got a reply from Jon saying he moved and has a new number, his email reply was:

" Hi, nice to here from you Jim, Its been awhile. I was almost going to get worried. My number is 678-558-9857. Sorry about that. Give me a call sometime tonight.............thanks"

No one ever answers that number, I left messages, and called at all hours and all days. I have phone bills to back it up. I also sent a number of additional emails.

I recently replied to yet another ad they posted to say I can't believe you (Bearded Pets) are still trying to rip people off and he replied:

"Hi, Your email adress is very familiar. Did you or did you not buy from us? and what is your name and adress if so. Second off did you receive the product or pay in full for it? and last but not least what animal is this in refrence to? Now if you did buy from us or put a deposit on any of our animals and did not receive them from us or are unhappy with a purchase please make us aware before just mindlessly emailing us. On the other hand if this is a bull <font color=red>[**censored**]</font> email from some one that did not buy anything from us either recently or in the past I would apreiciate if you would now stop emailing me. Or check to make sure you have emailed the correct company in wich you are making these remarks to."

I am not going to call Bearded Pets again, I am not an idiot, he is only trying to by time. I replied to Bearded Pets with this message:

"Bearded Pets,

Nice Try,
Like you do not know who I am. I have emailed you many times and called more times then I could count. I sent you a deposit back in Feb on a pair of het albinoes. 300 dollars, you did cash the money order. If you send my money back I might let you off the hook. Don't play #$%^% stupid with me, you are only pissing me off more.

Here is your reply to my message regarding the snakes you promised me. I am not going to call you anymore, the next time we comunicate it will be in person. If you want to plead for forgiveness you can call me at ########. This isn't about the money or the %@#$% snakes anymore, it is about a scumbag like you trying to rip people off that needs to be stopped.

Have a nice day %^$*&$

I have notified authorities in Georgia and the FBI along with a few other sources I do not want to disclose. The police in Georgia are living up to the reputation of southerners being dumber than dirt, but the Feds are pretty sharp. No offence to southerners.



Jim Mulhern

Sorry to hear that. Was it a postal MO?

Regards.

Alvaro,

It was a Western Union Money order.

Jim Mulhern

Don't forget these:

http://www.scambusters.com/
http://www.fraud.org/
http://www.bbb.org/

When you file your complaint you may do a search in the BOI on them.

In all honesty, if I were you I would probably cut my losses asking them for half a dozen normal female balls for those $300. If you accept a suggestion don't send more money!

Good luck!

If you have not already files a complain with Kingsnake I would suggest you do that immediately. According to their TOS any complaint that is of failure to deliver good is supposed to automatically suspend their account. This is something that Kingsnake should do without hesitation as these people are nothing more than scam artist.

Hey Elena, We know your reading this....why don't you give this person his refund and stop playing games with him.

Het albino BP's

BTW- There is already a long thread about Bearded Pets - use the search box at the bottom of the page to find it.

Sorry to hear you got taken by those scammers, I think the price of $300 for a pair of definate het albinos may have been a clue that it was a scam, if you check the web sites of reputable dealers and breeders you would see that a pair or a single female het albino is AT LEAST $600 plus. Unfortunately if it looks to good to be true it usually is..........................

Hey dzoo,

Just for the record the price was 600 for the pair, in my post I note that the 300 was half down. I do have a number of hets for a few different morphs, some bought from the "Big Guys" and some from the "Little Guys." I should produce visible morphs and hets next year and will want to sell some of them, but people like Bearded give the small guy like me a bad rap. Because of people ripping people off we are all hesitent to trust anyone but the "Big Guys." Next year when I have balls for sale I have no intention of ripping people, this is a hobby for me, I am a professional engineer with a real job and income. I just like doing this for the fun, if I can make a few dollars to support my hobby and add morphs to my collection I am happy. So next year when I have balls for sale, contact me if I have something you may want.

Jim Mulhern

my mistake

Sorry i misunderstood the price, at least you aren't out the whole $600.

I don't think they have neccesarily ruined the market for small breeders but if you are a small breeder claiming to produce hets it would certainly be wise to thoroughly document the process to reassure your buyers (something Bearded Pets can't do) i.e. if you are producing het for albino balls have proof that you own a breeding age Albino (receipt, photos etc.), photograph the breeding if possible with a date reference in the photo (newspaper maybe), photograph the female with eggs with a date reference, photograph hatching eggs, etc. etc..

All this will reassure a potential buyer that you are actually producing hets and not just passing Farm raised normals off as hets like someone we know...........................

I got taken by Bearded Pets, too.

They advertised a CBB American Alligator that was "super tame and leash trained." In an e-mail, the respondee wrote that they "never hissed or bit." I ordered the baby gator from him at the end of January. To make a long story short, not only was the gator I received NOT tame or leash trained, but has a severe lower jaw deformity (his bottom jaw is only half as long as his top jaw) that is irreversible. Not only did he hiss but he was extremely snappy. After months of work, I love my gator and would never give him up now but this was clearly a misrepresentation, especially since I payed considerably more for this "super tame and leash trained" gator than I would have a regular CBB Alligator from a different source.

-Jennifer Webb
(Jungle Gems)

JungleGems

Hi -

Did you by chance report them to Kingsnake?? If not, please do....just seeing the name BEARDED PETS makes me sick anymore. Somebody in Georgia needs to step up and introduce themselves, and KS needs to ban their a$$e$, period. They're a nasty, infectious scab on the skin of our hobby.

HET ALBINO BALLS

OK, THIS IS NOT GOOD. I HAVE FIVE (2.3) HETS FROM BEARDED PETS (JON) HE WAS SLOW BUT I GOT THEM. MY QUESTION IS HAS ANY ONE PROVEN THESE HETS OUT???????? THE BREADER WAS ELIJA COLLINS. DOUS ANYONE KNOW THAT NAME OR HAVE A WAY TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THEM.

I'm very sorry to say, I doubt this "breeder" exists. Trunk himhawed around about having them imported from Mexico, blah-blah-blah. Bottom line he's full of $hit BUT I honestly hope I am wrong with my opinion of him, and you prove your animals out.
Best of luck.

I'm new here, so this might sound dumb - Please exuse that.

Looking through the posts, I have found a few "Bad" experiences regarding out and out fraud. I have requested shipping for myself only three times. Thank the Good Guy upstairs all have been exceptional. Do people have anyway of guaranting shipment, is their anyway of verifying integrity of sender before sending hard earned money?

Sharon,

No, there's not 100% certainty. There are many examples of good guys turning to the "dark side". Although using the BOI decreases the chances of being scammed the risk is always there. From what we have been able to learn through the years there are several things you have to ponder. First, customer satisfaction (not an absolute guarantee, if not look at TSE saga). Second sustainability in time; chances are that those that have had problems in the past tend to exit the market (again not 100% fool proof as they may resurface with different identities). Third, check how they treat other people; chances are that if a "problem" arises with your purchase you will be treated exactly the same way. Just a few hints. Then again the BOI has proven to be an highly valuable resource, at least from my perspective.

Good luck!

Before this thread gets off topic anymore, please take this discussion to a new thread of it's own in the General Discussion forum.