Proceed With Caution Dealing With lauriefl5 (AKA: Matt Goldman Reptiles or MGR)

I just wanted to make people aware of some curious activity from a seller that goes by the name lauriefl5 (AKA: Matt Goldman Reptiles or MGR for short). I was negotiating a deal with him to buy a male clown Ball Python in the spring of 2005, so I called him and spoke to him and he sounded like he knew his stuff and had an incredible Ball Python collection. After our phone conversation I decided I'd like to see a photo of the female that would be producing my male, so I e-mailed him and requested a picture of her. He sends me a picture straight off of Ralph Davis's web site. When I questioned him he said "no ralfs line is much darker then mine as you can see...my line is a much brighter yellow then his line" I guess not realizing he had sent me not just a picture of the same snake, but the exact same picture. I was a little suspicious, so I asked Ralph about this and he informed me this snake belonged to Dave and Tracy at VPI. I was surprised to here this so I asked him if he got her from VPI and he informed me "yea tracy loans alot of there snakes out for breeding loans". So I call Tracy and she informed me that not only does he not have her snake on breeding loan, but she's never even heard of the guy. Now I am not trying to crucify this person, but I just thought people should be aware of the less then honest information he was feeding me about his snakes considering the high dollar specimens he's been offering for sale lately. If someone has good experiences to share about this seller that could put my suspicions to rest I would love to hear them, but for now I would proceed with caution before dealing with this seller.
Matt Ozsvath
Lizards of Oz

lauriefl5

Im doing a deal with dude now!

im getting a bit impatient!

Ill report BACK TUESDAY...THATS WHEN I ''EXPECT ''my snake...

woops

i forgot my name above again sorry!



ISAAC FIELDS

laurifl5

I can say this, with me being so impatient...DUDE has at least maintained e-mail conat,and or private messages....

He stated that he was sorry for such a long wait..and that he was gonna make it worth my while! SO we'll see!




Isaac Fields

thanks

thanks for replying to my persistant nagging dude...you seem to be an ok dude...I only hope that what the WIZARD says isnt true!



REPLY PLEASE

Not That I Doubt

NOT THAT I DOUBT YOU WIZARD!

Woops Again

I Ment Lizard Of Oz



And I Forgot My Name Again Sorry

Isaac Fields

Quick, stop and make a complaint with Paypal about being scammed now before your 30 days is up.

I inquired about a 1.1 het Lavendar Albino pair he had posted for sale. He sent me a photograph directly from NERD's website making claims of Lavendar x Spider het Lavendar breedings. I asked for photos of actual copulations, he said he didn't have any. I proceeded to ask him if NERD always let him host photographs on his website and called up NERD simutaniously.

He's completely *not* together. When contacted NERD was furious with this act of photograph stealing and fraudulent claims. I would call up VPI and let them know that this guy is stealing there photos for false claims of sale.

This guy is bad news with a capital S(cammer).

Hope it's not too late to get your money back.

I was looking at his ads, and thought something just did not feel right. I too would be VERY careful. If you are buying actual homo animals, it would probably be alright, but I would not get hets from this guy. Craig

Just a note...

NERD has NEVER been associated with a Matt Goldman of any sort. He does not have permission to use NERD photographs, we do not have any of his animals in any sort of partnership, and anything that he says to the contrary is a bold-faced LIE.

Please be very careful when dealing with this character. He's stolen several photos from our website & spun a huge web of BS concerning them.

If you need verification, please call us at 603.382.6361

Kevin McCurley, Kara Glasgow & the rest of the NERD gang.

dude

I Received 2 snakes from Matt today...3 minutes ago infact.....I gaurantee! that I will be reading and asking about everyone on the BOI from here on out!

Matt it took 3 weeks past the original ship date to get my snake! then you throw in a extra! ''Nice of you to do that!''..

But, if you want a snake to live ,especially when you send an im sorry gift! you need HEAT PACKS! dO NOT WORRY i WILL never DO BUISNESS WITH YOU AGAIN...

No garantee- no lineage documentation-horrble shipping..


Money has never really been a prob for me, but dealings with people like you and bearded pets can make a person go broke quick....LOL

i see your in the room

gonna say anything?

I can't figure this guy out. He acted all concerned about his reputation when I posted this on here and quickly contacted me with "references" or should I say friends. He sent me this e-mail to start....

"before you start bashing me i think i will give a person i just sold a snake to you should ask them how things [email protected] his name is derck.......i would like you to talk with him before you start with words or this will become a losing battle for you"

so I reply back and again ask why he lied to me about having Tracy Barkers female clown Ball on breeding loan and he says....

"i sent you a pic of that snake cuz i dont have any of mine.....as soon as i get some pics of her i will send eveyone i get to you with my face in the pic.......sorry for using her pic but i do have clowns i just never took pics of them....l;ike i said my bad.......but i am a good guy i always make good on my deals i have never scrwed anyone cuz thats not the person i am but my line does come from the bakers cuz i bought her from ben segel whice in turn had bought it the them as a baby"

At least he admits lying here, but again still has no explanation as to why he would say he has Tracy's snake on loan. I mean it's bad enough to use someone else's pictures, but to say you have their snake on breeding loan is a whole new ball game. He went on to ask me what he could do to make this up to me and how can he make this go away. At one point saying....

"what can i do to make things better between us.....i dont my name ran through the mud"

He is obviously lying to everyone he talks to about what he has, so I would avoid him at all cost.
Hey Matt,
here's some advice. If you are going to try to lie to people about what you have in your collection it's probably not a good idea to steal your pics from some of the biggest names in the Ball Python world. It make's it to easy to figure you out. I don't know if you just get some kind of enjoyment out of wasting people's time or if you are just really bad at scamming people. As I told you in our e-mails I don't like being lied to and now I hear your lying to other people, so I have no sympathy for your name being run through the mud.

Anybody know how we can get this guy banned from Fauna?

Matt Goldman

Well Guys, it is us at Loki Herpetology...and I have been doing this business for years, and this is twice now we have be ripped of in the last month...we went to purchase 3 HUGE female Balls from Matt that were all hets, and he was like I sent them out...and then they never showed and no tracking numbers, he said he was on his way home and would call us with the tracking numbers and never did. We have tried calling his cell 954-629-4188 and have just asked for our money back but nothing now. If anyone can help us out and get us any creditable info on him like his address and such and contact us with the info that would be great. You can call my cell 757-897-7410 and let me know anything you find out. PLEASE HELP US!




***Anyone who knows about Mr. Merritt ripping us off, we do have some great news. We are filing a suite with the Indiana State Prosecutor this week, and will happily keep you guys posted on the entire situation. ***

Sorry, forgot our full name in the last post.

Michael Davenport
Loki Herpetology

Loki Herp said:

Well Guys, it is us at Loki Herpetology...and I have been doing this business for years, and this is twice now we have be ripped of in the last month...we went to purchase 3 HUGE female Balls from Matt that were all hets, and he was like I sent them out...and then they never showed and no tracking numbers, he said he was on his way home and would call us with the tracking numbers and never did. We have tried calling his cell 954-629-4188 and have just asked for our money back but nothing now. If anyone can help us out and get us any creditable info on him like his address and such and contact us with the info that would be great. You can call my cell 757-897-7410 and let me know anything you find out. PLEASE HELP US!




***Anyone who knows about Mr. Merritt ripping us off, we do have some great news. We are filing a suite with the Indiana State Prosecutor this week, and will happily keep you guys posted on the entire situation. ***

Click to expand...

Michael sorry for your misfortune, I was hoping to prevent a bad deal with the link to this thread. I wish you would have made your inquiry before the purchase.

As do we.... we'll know better next time. Thanks!

Thanks again.
Michael Davenport
Loki Herpetology

.......but i am a good guy i always make good on my deals i have never scrwed anyone cuz thats not the person i am but my line does come from the bakers cuz i bought her from ben segel whice in turn had bought it the them as a baby"

Click to expand...

Anyone notified Ben about this? I'm not saying asked, as I already suspect what the answer will be.

you guessed it!

yes-never heard of this guy, and i have never bought a het from tracey--not that i wouldnt--just never have, and we dont really sell many het animals unless we produce them, or get them from somebody we really know very well--this guy has pulled a few fast ones from what i have heard already--i think he tryed to scam ken foster down here with some bogus het pieds.--Ben Siegel

"before you start bashing me i think i will give a person i just sold a snake to you should ask them how things [email protected] his name is derck.......i would like you to talk with him before you start with words or this will become a losing battle for you"

"i sent you a pic of that snake cuz i dont have any of mine.....as soon as i get some pics of her i will send eveyone i get to you with my face in the pic.......sorry for using her pic but i do have clowns i just never took pics of them....l;ike i said my bad.......but i am a good guy i always make good on my deals i have never scrwed anyone cuz thats not the person i am but my line does come from the bakers cuz i bought her from ben segel whice in turn had bought it the them as a baby"

Well well well...
This guy must have read the Scammers Handbook. It is all there in his two small e-mails. First, gives the old "you better stop or you will be sorry" threat, and then he follows that up with the oldest lie/excuse used by every pic theif out there. I can't believe he he thought anyone would buy that load of crap. I suppose the dog ate his homework when he was a kid, and now it is eating his pics... Then he finishes with a little more name droping and the assurance that he would NEVER screw anyone, and that he is a "good guy."

Hey Jack Ass (that's you Matt) if you have to tell everyone how good you are than you are wasting your time. If you are a good guy, you will have a good reputation and people will know it. Lying and pic stealing is NOT the way to get a good rep. Now let me show you where you can find the reputation that you seem to have lost.