Vince,
I think Mickey brought up something that I had thought of before. That being your age.
I might be completely wrong, but I would bet that you ARE a younger person who has a great interest in reptiles. One thing you really need to understand is although this MIGHT be a hobby to you, this is a LIVELIHOOD and a way to SUPPORT FAMILIES to others. This site, although I believe in it 100%, can be the final straw for people and their future. Like Mickey said, that is why one MUST take the time to think about what they are saying in replying to a post and even MORE SO when starting a thread like you did.
I can understand where you may have been 'worried' about your money, no matter the amount, our hard earned money is important. On the other hand, there are VERY FEW people that would rish everything they have for $140. Not to make light of it, ut that is change when compared to the money people have invested in their collections. There are people, like you learned with Jeff Houston, that have 10's of thousands of dollars invested in what they do for a living on be it on the side.
If you are worried about your money, and again rightfully so, you need to think LONG AND HARD before you decide to ever do a deal on the internet again. When I first learned of the internet world I spent MONTHS before I said anything in relation to a single post anyone made. That was even with 9 years prior experience (at the time) in the reptile trade. I am not suggesting you sit by and not speak, but just keep listening to what I have to say. I spent months reading all I could. I wanted to learn about the people that were here. I wanted to know who was the 'good guy' and who was the 'bad guy', who had knowledge I cuold learn from and who did not.
One thing alot of people think, and this may or may not apply to you, is that these forums are just chat rooms. In some cases they are, but in others, like this very BOI, they are far from.
I have no idea how much experience you have with reptiles, who you know, who you don't know, how long you have kept reptiles, and what you have. All I can say is, like someone mentioned before, take this as a lesson learned. Don't appologize like you did in regards to Jeff and then go around and do the same thing again like you did here. Appologies only work if you do not make the same mistake again. First time is a lesson learned, second time and beyond is shame on you.
I am NOT trying to lecture, talk down to you, or put myself on a high horse. I am just trying to let you know that what you have potentially done is messed with the future success of someone who, in this case, did NOT and I repeat did not deserve to have his name put up here for what you thought was just letting out frustration or whatever it was.
You sent the money yesterday and just because you did not get what you wanted the very next day does not warrant a post that someone is a 'bad guy'.
Customer service is a great thing. I will do whatever I have to do (and so will many others) to insure that I get what one pays for in a healthy and safe manner. I will do so even if it makes someone mad for having to wait a few extra days. Chris took all the right precautions in deciding that he may not be able to ship next week due to the weather. I would imagine he did not want to ship tomorrow because there are very few people that will take the risk of shipping past Wednesday for the next days arrival. If he were to ship tomorrow (Thursday) and something happened to where it could not get there Friday (something with shipping) it would then have to sit in a box until Monday. If he shipped to you on Monday, regardless of the weather, just to make you happy so you can get your way and the animal died due to temperatures would you be willing to write it off as a loss? I did not think so. So then CHris would have to refund your money for an animal that died in shipping and now he is out the money AND the animal. NOT a risk I would take for you either!
The last suggestion I could make is this. If you cannot handle the time it takes to insure safe arrival of another living creature and you cannot control your patience, I suggest you forget the internet and go buy from the local pet store!!
