• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Announcement: Bad deal with Stuart "John" McDonald of Pasadena, TX.

B

Bigman101

New member
Joined
Mar 17, 2004
Messages
65
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
44
Location
RI
A few months ago, i found a guy by the name is Stuart "john" McDonald in the classifieds of another website, The add was for a Pair of 03' 100%het albino boas. I Emailed him saying i would trade a 66%het snow and $75 using western union money order for the pair. I sent him a Pic of the snake and he said ok and proceeded to get all his info, at that time he called himself "John". he gave me all his info and i sent out the snake with the money. when the snake got there he told me that the snake i sent was not the snake in the pic and that it was a Mexican boa. i said no and emailed him the a copy of the receipt where i bought it from to prove it. he still said it was a Mexican boa. He demanded that i send more money and another snake to get the pair. i said ok, so I sent another snake and another $75 using western union money order . After i sent the snakes i realized that UPS made a Mistake and sent it by ground. and when i told them about it was to late, when he received the snake he said it had a RI and it looked bad. but he still said he would send me the pair. then when ever i would email me or speak to him he would say that they are going to be sent later in the week, this happened 3 times. then the next time i emailed him he said they were sent, and no was there to get them so they returned back to him. Keep in mind i had the snakes sent to my retired parents house to make sure some one was home. and he also did that 3 times, when i emailed him asking to prove that they were sent by giving me a tracking number, he wouldn't . then i asked for him to prove by any way he could that the snakes were sent. he couldn't. after that when ever i call he wouldn't pick up the phone, i email and he will not return the email. then a few weeks later i did some research about him and i find out that his real name is Stuart not John. I still have all receipts from the money orders, the tracking numbers and a few on the original emails to prove all of this. Now being 5 months later he still will not answer the phone or return a email from me.

If any one knows this guy or have worked with this guy reply with feed back. and if any one can give me info about what i can do about all of this please reply.
 
OK Al...I'll bite....what is the problem with his post? He has the offending gentleman's name in the title and his own name in the signature line.
 
I won't go so far as to suspend him, as this seems to be a first mistake.

As luck would have it, our HH-60s were late coming back, and the C-130 cancelled, so I have a bit of spare time to kill. Deleting the misplaced posts wasn't much of a problem.

Anyways folks, let's steer this one back on topic, as the multliple posts are a non-issue now.
 
Did you pay with US Postal Money Orders?

Did you pay with US Postal Money Orders? If you did that would be mail fraud and a Federal Offense. File a formal complaint with the US Postmaster General. That should get him moving.
 
I believe he said he sent the money via Western Union.

However, if you (Michael) paid for the money transfer with your credit card, I believe you can still try to reverse the charges, or has the time frame been too long? Perhaps, because it is a wire transfer, you did not use a cc???

Regardless, I see little that can be done beyond filing a police report for stolen property in your home jurisdiction and in the local jurisdiction where you had the snakes delivered. There is a small possibility that will help you get your snakes/money back, but it seems to be one of your only avenues of recourse.


I don't mean to scold you after you have been ripped off, so please take this in the spirit in which it is intended:

You had several "red flags" go off for you here, and you should have never made the deal in the first place.

1) You never, ever ship first in a trade ... unless you are the one initiating the trade (which in this instance you were, which leads me to ...)!

2) Never initiate a trade with someone you do not know very well and/or can be verified as a "Good Guy" here on the BOI!

3) If you DO trade with someone, and they question the veracity of your claims concerning your animal, demand the immediate return of your animal and cancel the trade instantly!

4) If the person with whom you are trading asks for more money/animals to even up the trade values, see #3!

5) If you really want something new, sell what you have, then use the proceeds to buy your new animal from a reputable breeder/hobbyist outright! Sure, it will take a while longer, but you will keep yourself from falling prey to the "impulse buy," and you are far less likely to be scammed by anyone in the process.
 
On the positive side, though...

You DID do the right thing in posting this guy's name here for others to see and be forewarned. Can you also post any other information (telephone numbers, address, etc) so that our "Watch List" can be completed?

Thanks in advance for your help on that!
 
Stuart John McDonald

I usually try to stay out of things like this as much as possible but this time I can not sit by and watch Stuart get slammed knowing what I do about this deal that took place in late November.
I came into a small amount of extra money in November and started looking for some boas. I got in touch with Stuart McDonald for the first time. He sold me some boas for a good price and we started talking after the deal. We have been talking 3 or 4 times a week since then.
I remember this deal with Michael in Philly where Stuart did send the 100% het pair to Michael and got the two Mexican boas in return instead of the boas that were supposed to be sent. One was sent overnight and the other was sent ground. The overnight was received fine and the ground shipped arrived dead (Not RI). The other thing that I seem to remember about this deal is that this Michael sent Stuart a CHECK that BOUNCED and that Stuart got in touch with him to get the money that was still owed to him since the check BOUNCED.
That is what I remember from the conversations with Stuart in November when all of this actually happened. Why all of a sudden is this comming up months and months later???
 
I just wanted to add that I do remember that Stuart did send the 100% hets because Stuart wanted to get them back but he didn't want Michael to ship them to him since the second Mexican arrived dead. I had offered to have Stuart send me the Mexican and I would drive to Philly and give Michael his 1 surviving Mexican back and get the 100% hets for Stuart since the check had bounced there would have been no money involved. I was going to ship the 100% hets back to Stuart if Stuart had talked to Michael and this was ok with him.
Stuart had told me at that time that he didn't want me to go through all of that for a few hets. He told me that he would rather let Michael have them and chalk it up to a loss instead of causing such a hastle for everyone.
 
prove it

prove it. i hve all the receipts to prove what i say is true. i never had a check book in november due to my moving to philadelphia. will even if i did find a way to prove it. if i had a bounced check in november i would have had some kind of money taken off the account. like i said in the original post, i still have a few of the emails that we sent back and forth. ok if he did send the snakes what was the tracking number to prove it, sure any one could say they mail some thing, but i asked him to provide some kind of proof and he never did. the snakes i send i have all the proof to prove they were 66% hets like i said in our email to each other. the email to prove this i still have.
 
Isn't everything that Jeff posted an anonymous 3rd party quotation? I don't see what business he has posting any of that if he has no proof other than Stuart's word.
 
I am sorry for posting third party and I now realize that is against the rules here. I will take warning points willingly for doing so without a peep from me about receiving them. I just have to add that I haven’t seen proof on Michael’s end either. He keeps talking proof and then telling me to prove it. If he has it himself then he should show what he has to make his case. I will say no more on this issue from this point on since I have overstepped the rules
 
Isn't everything that Jeff posted an anonymous 3rd party quotation?
Click to expand...

No... if it was anonymous, he wouldn't have Stuarts name attached to it. Third party information is acceptable here as long as the third party is identified. This way if there is a question as to the claims made, the identified individual can be hunted down to verify or deny the statements attributed to them.

I don't see what business he has posting any of that if he has no proof other than Stuart's word.
Click to expand...

Without judging the merit inherent in either of the arguments here, he had an obvious reason to post as he did. He had information pertaining to the situation which contradicted what had already been written. As he gained his information firsthand from one of the involved individuals he's well within both the rules of the site (as they have been explained in the past) and is simply offering an alternative perspective which could potentially be of value to everyone reading the thread.

There's also no rule requiring proof. It simply helps if proof or evidence can be provided, by establishing truth beyond doubt. Threads without some kind of evidence are simply less effective.

If it really comes down to it, the people who have "no business" posting on this thread would be those entirely uninvolved... Like you David. Thankfully the site isn't run that way though and people can contribute just about whatever they want where ever they want with really minimal boundaries.
 
Michael,

If you're lying about or "misremembering" any of this story, NOW would be the time to set the record straight. After Stuart comes here with whatever proof he has (tracking numbers, copies of bounced checks, etc.) it will be too late for yout to retract anything.

My above posts were made with the caveat that you are telling the truth; please make sure you are!
 
Stuart"john" Mc Donald

I'll not get into a he said I said ; I have done NOTHING wrong,I've been raising & selling snakes for over 40 years.ALL MY DUCKS ARE IN A ROW!!!I have all thats needed to back my part of this, My lawyer has everything in hand @ this moment,There are defferences of whats right or whats wrong..........I've tried to deal with Michale as an adult,People who know me , Know how I do things............This is why I don't use the BOI, Too much He said I said.I'm sorry if I have offended anyone,But like I said earlier All my Ducks are in a row.The legal system will handle this if nesasery.
Thanks,
John Stuart Mc Donald
 
John, I really think it would be good for you to post your proof here. Let the legal system handle it but let us who come here to find out about people know that you are what YOU say you are not what someone else says you are.

At this point I'm on the fence. Post some proof and I'll know which way to jump. Not posting proof after stating that you have it will also influence my, and most likely others as well, decisions about you. It's an unfortunate position to be in but I think it would be better to show what you've got than to not do so.

Wes Pollock
 
Stuart

prove it, any one can say their lawyer has the info. i want to prove were infront of everyone, later today i will post all my proof about this transaction that went bad.
 
Back
Top