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Bad Guy Avoid Howard Leong of HC Premium reptiles

Now Brandon, if you will forward me your PayPal account, I will immediately forward you the payment of $250. I will of course include paypal's service charges. I will then immediately post a snap shot of the transaction here for all to see.
 
Brandon, you sound like a cry baby to me. What else do you want from him? Obviously since you didn't get a necropsy done on the dead snake, no one can know for sure what happened. But the only "proof" in this thread is from Howard, which shows him promptly attempting to solve the problem. This did not deserve a bad guy thread.....
 
Howard, I do not see you being a bad guy in all of this. When Brandon became upset about the cash difference, you immediately offered it straight up, with no additional costs to him. I call that a good guy move.

It seems that Brandon is more upset at the fact that you valued the spider banana at $250. I have seen the price of bananas fall quickly over the past few months, so $250 is not unreasonable or low.

If anything, Brandon is coming off as a difficult customer.
 
Thank you NTReptiles and Snake-Queen for your comments. No a necropsy was not done and I did not request one nor was it bought up. The animal was fine in my care and Brandon had a chance to see him, hold and exam him before taking him. However the fact remains that he did die and that was totally unacceptable to me. I did not request nor require proof, his word was good enough, I just wanted to make it right and compensate him for the lost. And yes, banana males are that cheap now.
 
I have done business with Howard in the past and even been to his house. I can tell you that his animals are top-notch and I've found him to be a very stand-up guy. I have many friends who would all say the same.

Brandon, there is simply no more that *could* be done to rectify the situation! He never questioned you, doubted you, and immediately sought to make the situation right. At this point, the only harm being done is to any reputation you may have or are trying to build. Take a step back for a minute, review the texts, and think again about how you're "getting screwed". The evidence is simply not there...

RR_20 (Mike)
 
Spider624 said:
I asked him on site if the banana was eating on its own since it was smaller than any snake on the table. He assured me he ate at least 3 meals on his own, and he came from a small clutch. Considering this was a breeder to breeder trade, I assumed he had no reason to BS me.
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Maybe I'm reading too much into it but this quote just oozes shady to me. You think honesty is only required in breeder to breeder trades? It's ok to lie to the dumb customers, nobody would dare take another breeder for a sucker?
 
I'm glad i'm not the only one that caught this! Its a shame to open a bad guy thread on someone that clearly isn't deserving of it. Shame on the OP.

Skinker said:
Maybe I'm reading too much into it but this quote just oozes shady to me. You think honesty is only required in breeder to breeder trades? It's ok to lie to the dumb customers, nobody would dare take another breeder for a sucker?
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Hi! I just wanted to get a good guy post in here as well. I bought a boa from Howard last year. He was very easy to work with and my girl came healthy, hungry and is growing beautifully!

Anyone who has dealt with BPs know how finicky they can be. There are so many factors that can go in to them refusing a meal. What were the temps? The humidity? Maybe it was a shy eater? I have a BP that will only take f/t rats, after dark and no one can be around! She's a pain! Anyway, sorry you got a bad guy tag Howard. Hope things get straightened out. And I hope to buy from you again in the future!
 
Thank you everyone for your comments. I did reach out and contact Brandon several days ago, again asking him for his PayPal information so that I could compensate him for his lost. I was told in no uncertain terms that he does not want my money. As he replied, he makes plenty of money, to keep it, that it will not buy him another spider banana but that it will hopefully buy me some integrity. Unfortunately there will be those few times when a transaction does not go smoothly but to have been blasted on this site, have my integrity questioned when all I tried to do when this went down was to try and make it right and to reimburse him for the lost is a first for me.
 
I generally lurk here more than post. However, I do want to say that I think you handled things pretty reasonably, Howard. You were calm and willing to work out any issues the OP had.

That all said, I do agree that $250 seems low for a banana spider. The few I have seen listed recently are in the $400 range. Still doesn't warrant a bad guy thread, in my opinion, though.
 
As he replied, he makes plenty of money, to keep it, that it will not buy him another spider banana but that it will hopefully buy me some integrity
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From what has been presented, you do not need to buy integrity, Howard. You have been more than cooperative and generous in attempting to rectify the situation.

Perhaps Brandon should research the BP market and exercise a little maturity in the future.

Thanks for posting the texts, Dan.
 
Valor said:
That all said, I do agree that $250 seems low for a banana spider. The few I have seen listed recently are in the $400 range. Still doesn't warrant a bad guy thread, in my opinion, though.
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That may be retail price, not a vendor to vendor price.

I like most vendors will sell my animals, to other vendors, below retail value. So IMO, $250 is on target for a vendor to vendor transaction.

Also, there has been no proof that the snake is actually deceased ...

If I was in the market for BPs, I would buy from Howard in a heartbeat.
 
Snake-Queen said:
That may be retail price, not a vendor to vendor price.

I like most vendors will sell my animals, to other vendors, below retail value. So IMO, $250 is on target for a vendor to vendor transaction.

Also, there has been no proof that the snake is actually deceased ...

If I was in the market for BPs, I would buy from Howard in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I don't think I'd hesitate to buy from Howard, either. His customer service when things went bad was very impressive, as was how he has handled himself here.
 
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