Jesus Cordova, AKA Xcape

WARNING!!!!! WHATEVER YOU DO ABSOLUTELY DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM JESUS CORDOVA (aka Xcape)!!!! I purchased 1.1 Chameleo calyptratus from him, and when they arrived I noticed that the female's left front leg was broken. I immediately contacted him and he said. That's too bad she was like that when he had purchased her.
I have been a working Herpetologist for over 15 years and can not believe that there are people out there that will misrepresent there animals. How he can live with himself I have no Idea. Must be hard to sleep at night being such a lowlife!!!!

It's a sad world when you cannot trust someone named Jesus.

Do you have any email messages and/or pics that you can post?

Dishonest Seller! Jesus Cordova, AKA Xcape

This is the email I received from Jesus Cordova. He never once told me about the animal's leg. In fact all the pictures he sent me were of the animals right side not the bad side. It is unfortunate that this site would allow people like this to mislead others. Please do not but anything from this very dishonest person. I have the pictures that he sent me and none of them show the animals leg. If anyone would like to see them let me know and I would be more than happy to e-mail them to you. I'm not going to get in a big dispute about this. It is certainly not about the money. It is just the principle!!







From Seller: Jesus Cordova . The chameleons leg was like that when i received them. All my animals are feed well. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. I sent numerous pictures to you before you purchased them. I asked you to make an offer and you offered 250.00 for the chameleons in the pictures, so for that i feel its fair. I did tell you 50.00 for shipping but surprisingly it was lower than the clerk said. Therefore i will refund 31.20 for the differences. Sorry it took so long to reply, i was out of town for a few days.

From buyer: James Giacobbe on 1/6/2007 16:52 PST
Jesus, The chameleons you have sent me are not in top condition. The female has a deformity in one of her legs that can only be a break. The male's casque is deformed and sunken in. I have worked with reptiles for over 30 years, specifically chameleons, and know for a fact that these are deformities that occur over time. This is not something that could have happened during shipping and could not be the fault of the shipping company. I am requesting that you refund me some of the money that I paid you. I paid you full price for these animals, because you advertised that they were in perfect condition. If I had been able to see these deformities beforehand, I would never have paid full price for them. Not to mention you charged me $50 for shipping when the actual cost of shipping was only $18.80. I have emailed you through my personal email and you have not responded. I am hoping that you will respond to this so that I do not have to pursue this matter further. Thank you, Jim

Dishonest Seller! Jesus Cordova, AKA Xcape

WARNING!!!!! WHATEVER YOU DO ABSOLUTELY DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM JESUS CORDOVA (aka Xcape)!!!! I purchased 1.1 Chameleo calyptratus from him, and when they arrived I noticed that the female's left front leg was broken. I immediately contacted him and he said. That's too bad she was like that when he had purchased her.
I have been a working Herpetologist for over 15 years and can not believe that there are people out there that will misrepresent there animals. How he can live with himself I have no Idea. Must be hard to sleep at night being such a lowlife!!!!

Jim, I understand you feel cheated here, but I gather you don't know how this forum works.

Starting three separate threads right on the front page of the BOI is going to get your posts deleted.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93884
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?p=471499
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?p=471502

I am going to assume you are trying to bring it back up to the top. You need to post within thesame thread. It will accomplish the same.

Jim Giacobbe said:

It is unfortunate that this site would allow people like this to mislead others.

Click to expand...

Allow?
Are you suggesting that this site willingly permits scammers to take advantage of unsuspecting patrons? Or is it expected that the operators of this website should display [size=-1]precognitive abilities and implement measures to prevent these previously unknown people to perpetrate their scams in the first place?
Unfortunately we know of no members here who are [/size]clairvoyant.

I realize you just joined this site recently and probably do not know its history. It was created for the sole purpose of exposing those who choose to mislead others in this hobby. The rest of the site merely grew out of that beginning.
The unfortunate fact is that we simply do not know who the bad guys are until they do something wrong. Then that experience can be reported here as you have done and others will know. However one thread concerning the transaction is adequate, and the duplicate threads you are posting will most likely be deleted.

Of one thing you can be certain, every website which contains reptile classifieds will have a few scammers preying on the public, but I feel completely safe in making the statement that you will find far fewer here than on any other site. That does not change the fact that a few will still try to play their games here.
I am truly sorry you had this experience, both for you and the animals involved. I definitely would not just let this go, the seller should make restitution which in my opinion should be a full refund. Inform him of this thread so he can respond here and see that his actions on this site will not go unnoticed.
This thread will now come up on any search made for his name and hopefully that will prevent anyone else from falling victim.

Should you want to post the pictures you have taken, you can do so directly here in the forum. When you make a post scroll down a bit and you'll see the area where you can attach an image. If you have problems with it you can email me or any other regular member and we'll be glad to help you.

Jim Giacobbe wrote"

Sounds like a bad buyer. can u believe a man at his age, as immature as he is, a herpetologist for over 15 years would complain about animals that he knew exactly what condition there were in. I told him about the leg as you guys can clearly see the condition shes in this picture that was on the ad(look in between the hands an elbow). Because of the leg, I posted on the ad "make offer".

Click to expand...

Are there any emails where you clearly state that the chameleon's leg is broken. If not that picture isn't sufficient. If you didn't make sure the buyer was aware of the leg condition you were attempting a scam - IMO.

Sorry this should have said Jesus Cordova said:

Sounds like a bad buyer. can u believe a man at his age, as immature as he is, a herpetologist for over 15 years would complain about animals that he knew exactly what condition there were in. I told him about the leg as you guys can clearly see the condition shes in this picture that was on the ad(look in between the hands an elbow). Because of the leg, I posted on the ad "make offer".

Click to expand...

Are there any emails where you clearly state that the chameleon's leg is broken. If not that picture isn't sufficient. If you didn't make sure the buyer was aware of the leg condition you were attempting a scam - IMO.

Kevin,
Thanks, You see that Jesus did not once mention the fact that the chameleon's leg was broken. When I asked for clearer pictures all the ones he sent me were of the chameleons good side. I guess there will always be some dishonest people out there.
Thanks,
Jim

Beware of Jim Giacobbe

See isn't that mess up you have a hard time believing somebody? ONE unsatisfied buyer that can't stop running his mouth because he was not happy with the decision he made about the purchase. So viewers who seen my ad for those chameleons(over 100 views), clearly can see the condition she in. So i will post the picture again so that you can see for the second time. As you can see we have a bad buyer in this forum and sellers must BEWARE OF JIM GIACOBBE. (look again between the hands and elbow) thats why the ad stated "make offer"

Jesus,
You keep making references to how you stated "To Make An Offer". That would be fine if at some point you disclosed that she had a problem and knowing this people could make an offer based on your disclosure. Only problem is you never disclosed that. This is the reason you are at fault here. The first picture was very blurry. If you recall I "stated" this fact to you and asked you to send me additional photographs. You sent me a few additional photographs of the right side of her body. When the broken leg was on the left side of her body. I then told you I would send you half the money and then the other half when I received the chameleons. You insisted that I pay you through paypal which I did in good faith. We exchanged over 6 emails and 3 phone calls prior to you shipping me these animals. NOT ONCE during these communications did you disclose anything about the female's leg. As far as you saying thats why you said make an offer. Well there is a problem with that fact also. You say make an offer on all the animals that you post for sale on this site. So is it safe to assume that all these animals have some sort of abnormality????

Jesus

Whether you think it is clear in the picture isn't relevant. If you were being completely honest you would have made sure the buyer was aware of it and not leave it up to chance.
What you were hoping was that the buyer wasn't aware of it, as Jim wasn't, and you could CYA by saying "I sent you a picture". Then you were thinking the buyer would just drop it.

If what you see is what you get from our friend Jesus, then I guess you are lucky that it has 2 eyes and 4 legs. I'm surprised he isn't wanting to charge you again for the extra eye and legs you received.

I don't know either party involved; I've never spoken to either party involved and I've never conducted business nor every contacted either party involved regarding any animal either of them has now or ever has had for sale. I don't know where or when the ad for these particular chams was posted nor when the transaction took place. That said....

I do however keep chameleons. If the photo that has been posted is the same one that was posted in the ad, it is very clear that the cham in the photo has a definite problem with her leg. I clearly see two small protusions in her leg that do not appear normal or healthy. A clearer photo is not necessary to see the possible bone fracture(s) at the "ankle" and above, near her shoulder. That leg is very clearly mis-shapen and thin. Her eye and casque also look sunken. She looks like an injured WC that has not acclimated well to captivity and in my opinion, not healthy. Based on that photo alone (no others would be necessary to confirm), I would definitely pass up on that sale, no matter how inexpensive.

I'm glad that an experienced herpetologist was able to procure and put both chams into a more caring, appropriate enviornment but I'm surprised that a 15+ year herpetologist wasn't able to see the obvious fractures if he, in fact, saw the same photo.

Laura,
Thank you so much for having faith in my observational skills. I feel that the point in all of this had to do with the seller not disclosing that there was a problem, not me not being able to see it. Also this is not the photo that I had available to me. The one that was posted was grainy and so out of focus that it was hard to see anything. The other pictures that were sent to me were of the chameleons right side, not left. Another problem is that they weren't cheap. They were a $125.00 each, which I certainly would not have paid if the seller had disclosed the problem with her leg. I'm only asking that the seller be reasonable and refund half the price ($62.50). I do not feel that this is a unreasonable offer. As far as my not being able to notice the problem with my vast herpetological experience, I'm truly sorry for not ascertaining the malady sooner!
Thanks,
Jim

Perhaps we should all just forward any photos of chameleons we are thinknig of purchasing to Laura for positive verification that they are healthy specimens.

Kevin stated it very well a couple of posts above. The whole point here is not that a picture was provided, it was the obviously deliberate attempt at concealing the injury from a prospective buyer by failing to make any mention of it at all hoping it wouldn't be noticed in the poor quality photo provided in the ad. That's a tactic I would expect on a used car lot, and it is not acceptable.
The fact he followed up with additional photos, all from the other side, further demonstrate his motives.

He wanted to pawn off a substandard animal at a good price to someone while hoping to leave himself an escape route to fall back on by claiming "but you saw the pictures". It's shady business practices to sell animals this way, and plenty enough reason for me as well as many other people on this forum to refuse to consider buying anything from him at all. He has plainly demonstrated by his actions here, and his refusal to rectify them, that you can't be sure you are getting good quality animals until you actually receive them, at which point it's too late.

Not to mention that instead of treating the animal, it was pawned off on another. That animal should have been undergoing some sort of vet care, I would think....not being shipped across the country. Obviously this guy cares little for the wellbeing of the animals.

A very valid point Cathy.
It does demonstrate a complete disregard for the well being of the animal besides the desire to make a sale over the satisfaction of the customer.

Thanks for all the support everyone. Does anyone know how to put pressure on the seller to refund my money? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks so much,
Jim