Bad Guy Bad Dealings with Dean Rourke!

[CalicoDragons]

I'm placing this bad guy thread up because I couldn't find anything on Dean before I did business with him. Sadly if I had gone onto the Kingsnake forums under BD I would have known better but its a bit to late for that now.
Basically he has horrible customer service, sold me the wrong dragon and shipped the poor thing in the worse box I have ever seen!(and ive been breeding and selling/shipping dragons for over 9 years now).

If you go onto Kingsnake and see the other posts about it it appears that we all have been scammed pretty similarly.

He seems very nice at first takes your money and then you never hear from him for days (or even a week for me) on end. Sends the wrong animals or mis-represents them (and in one case didn't even send anything to the buyer at all).
Then to remedy the issue with me he just states he can take it back and send me a new one. I tried to talk with him but after many e-mail attempts to understand what was going on with him I decided to just keep the dragon he sent me. I have no breeding use for her but I couldn't being myself to ship her back if this is how he does business. I was worried for her as an animal lover and also as a business person myself that I would again never hear from him or get the correct animal.
Just wanted to give everybody the heads up! Stay away from him.
Amy
CalicoDragons.com

 

[MissFirefly]

It will help your case if you post some evidence supporting your claims.

Do you have pictures, or a description, of the bearded dragon you were expected and pictures of the animal you received?

Pictures of the shipping box?

Posting your communication with the seller would also be helpful.

 

[CalicoDragons]

I can take pictures of the box when I get home later, and the dragon I received was a female has bitten tail and toes and I have the picture of the dragon sold to me. Which was suppose to me a male and in the picture he looked perfect and intact. I can post that later as well once I get home and im able to get on my home computer where the pic is saved.
I also have every e-mail between me and Dean Rourke but I didn't put them all up since it was going to be a lengthy thread post. I can post them now though no problem since you asked for them.

Ok so the first emails went as normal. He was nice and quick to respond. I paid for the dragon in full the day I inquired about it. Which I believe was Wednesday. I asked him to ship the dragon to me the next monday to arrive tuesday since mondays and tuesdays are the only days I'm able to expect packages. He said no problem and then Monday night came and at 10:03pm he sent me this e-mail..

"hey he is shiping out tmrw morning for wenesday arrival full address and shipping phone please im getting it all ready now"

I e-mailed him back saying...

"I needed him to arrive tomorrow not Wednesday.
And shipping them out usually happens over night so there not in a box for longer then 10 or 15 hours.
I won't be able to get him Wednesday-Friday. I'm only able to get him Mondays or Tuesdays. That's why I asked you this past week to ship him to me for a Tuesday arrival. Let me know what you want to do.
Also I gave you all the information to ship him already.
Amy"

his responds the next day...

"Oh geez im so sincerely sorry amy... please let me send him out next Monday then
I need him to go to a good home and his resale value is well worth it as well as breeding worth I don't want him to miss out on a trip and new life because of me please forgive me I have next Monday off though and this week only had today (Tuesday) off I didn't think he would miss out the whole week I have alot of mealworms and crix I just bought and he will be fat happy and cozy this week but like I said I don't want him to miss out on a whole new life just because a few days pass can you please still have him he is gorgeous and you will be very pleased he's a big guy with an even bigger heart."


So I felt bad and was fine with waiting another week. So he sent me this email and i felt reassured....

"oh he is such a geniune love he is a big guy a beautiful beardie and you will be very happy with him and hopefully even keep him for awhile after breeding. I was looking at him and how beautiufl and sweet he is scared he wouldnt get the oppourtunity to be a great breeder and companion . im happy for him . He will be excited and happy at your place thanks again monday he is out to your door."

So the week goes by and I email asking to get his bloodline info. Never ended up getting in after all this but also never heard back from him for that next week. Then monday the 10th comes along and I get an e-mail at 12:51pm that only had this in it...

"9471211899560252339721 tracking number"

Didn't tell me which service he shipped it through or what time it should arrive. I figured it out and awaited his arriving. He arrives in a very small box. No insulation and was placed in a cloth bag but the bag was not secure so he was out in the box free roaming when I opened it. Its a show box sized box with just holds punched on the side and newspaper sheddings in the inside which is where i found the dragon(ps the dragon is 10" long- not a baby-). I couldn't believe how small the box was, that there was no heat pack with the winter weather the way that is has been and also no insulation(unless you call a handful of newspaper shedding insulation-which I don't-). But thank god he was alive and seemed ok. I then see that its not a male and has bites on its toes and tail. I e-mailed him back to tell him that he arrived alive and how bad the box was and the issues with the dragon...

my e-mail to him....

"Hello Dean,
Ok so I don't really know how to handle this situation. I haven't heard back from you since I started to email you yesterday after I received the tracking number. First I want to say thank you for sending the dragon to the correct address. But here comes some issues. I now have the dragon about 2.5 weeks after I purchased it and still have no real info on its bloodlines. I really need that information, and most people provide that in the ad or right away. Second issue is the dragon I wanted was a male and you sent me a female. I'm a 100% sure it's a girl and while a pretty girl I needed a boy. Also she has some bites on her toes and tail end that I wasn't aware of(in the long run that's here nor there) but still something that should have been told to me. I am not trying to be a pain in the butt here. Just basic stuff that's being addressed. Please get back to me when you can.
Thank you
Amy"

the next day he just e-mailed me this....

"oh wow really ? can you send her back to us and we will refund and send another one for free? We would love to have her back"

and then sent this e-mail right after...

"we would need that female and its worth would be a lot higher. someone else boxed it for me and I have a lot of dragons here . can you send him back and ill pay shipping then send you another one that has been sexed female for no shipping charge ?"

so my reply.....

"Hi Dean,
Ok that would not be an issue. I can send her back once you send me the printable invoice that has been paid for. I don't feel comfortable shipping her back in the box she came in since it was far to small, had no insulation and the bag she was in wasn't even secured so when we opened it she was out in the main part of the box in the newspaper medium. Luckily we do have a box here I can send her back in though. Also I don't want to send you back a female to get another female. I need a male. Do you have any with the same coloration? I'm looking for a yellow(preferably with no orange). I don't care if it's hypo or not just that's it only yellow.
I would honestly as well like some kind of reply back from the issues I mentioned in my last email to you. I understand you had someone assets you with this and that is where most of the issues lie but that still doesn't help me to understand why I don't have info on the animal I already paid for. And if sending out dragons without responding back to customers to even find out if it made it safely is the norm for you I don't know if I feel comfortable sending her back. How do I even know you will let me know if and when she arrives or send me back another (that is a male and comparable to what I paid for). I would like some kind of assurance and acknowledge of these issues.
Amy"

the next day he replied....

"just keep the product then its all paid for and done. other option send back il send you a new one"

So my last reply to him was....

"I'm just going to keep her and chalk this up to bad customer service and you not having the right amount of time to properly deal with business transactions.
Amy"

Maybe I have been doing this to long but I just didn't feel right sending her back when he wasn't addressing any of the issues and just wanted her back when he found out it was a female and not the male he sold me. I just felt bad for the dragon and didn't really think I would be refunded or get the right one back since he was so evasive. I wasn't going to post anything about it at first either thinking it was a one time issue with him that I had and figured it was a lesson learned not to do business with him again. And at least I did get A dragon for my money even though it was the wrong one. But then I saw the forums on KS and saw it happened to 2 other people. So I figured I would put this thread up to warn everybody. As soon as I get home around 6pm tonight I will post the dragons pictures and pictures of the box.
Amy
CalicoDragons.com

 

[CalicoDragons]

Ok here are the pictures...

This is the box she came in....

The picture of the dragon I was suppose to get from the ad..

the dragon I actually got...

And a female not a male....

And see how small it was compared to her!

Now I know what you guys are thinking, the dragon I got looks a lot nicer but I was actually going for a yellow dragon with little orange for my citrus project. So yes she is a nice dragon color wise but still not what I wanted and not a male which is what I needed. Also you can kinda see the bites on the long toe's and she has some as well on her tail end. Not a big deal but something that should have been mentioned. Well I said my peace and hopefully now nobody else will have to deal with this bad seller like I did. Oh and I just copy pasted this posts from KS of the other 2 people that were scammed. I don't know how valid they are on here since I don't have there full names but I figured it was worth putting up either way.....

1st one posted by chelcdove on KingSnake.com forums....

Dean Rourke is a con artist. His dragons are far from what he described. He sold me a male and female pair. When I got them delivered finally after sending endless emails about when they would be shipped, I put them in their new tank and they started fighting! My male has several wounds on his tale that I am still battling to take care of. I decided to check the sex of the female just to be sure and it was a MALE!!! How can you be a breeder and not be able to sex your dragons?!? They both were way smaller than how he described and he always puts no nips, mint condition in his ad. My male has an entire toe missing! I don't know how you can over look that. This person should not be allowed to sell anything but until kingsnake decides to take action I thought I would warn everyone else before he scams you too.

2nd one posted by misary6264...

Buyer Beware!!! I have been scammed by Dean Rourke also!! He took my money and I got nothing and is refusing to refund my money because "HE SPENT IT". Just a warning if you want your hard earned money to pay his bills then he's your man! Do not purchase from him. We are out 240.00. I can't believe that I got NO dragons and he spent my money.


Thanks Everybody
Amy
CalicoDragons.com

 

[meowmeowkazoo]

Actually that looks like exactly the same dragon. The markings near and on the tail seem to match up.

 

[Ophion]

The dragon you received is the same dragon that is pictured in the ad photo. She has a very distinct pattern down her spine (three complete circles if you will and then two broken offset) and they are identical in all the pictures. She is obviously fired up much more in the pictures you took when you received her.

Of course being female and not male is another issue, perhaps he made a mistake and a regrettable one on multiple accounts.

 

[CalicoDragons]

After reviewing the picture I did see it was the same dragon, it wasn't so much the fact that I felt I was sent the wrong animal in the end just that he mis-represented it from the pictures and the sex and the bites and all the hassle I had dealing with him. Like I said before I chalked it up to a lesson learned and to have no more deals with Dean in the future, but after I saw 2 other people have issues I figured it was worth putting up to save anybody else that was interested in buying from him there time and money. I asked in the first couple of emails if he was yellow and made it very clear I was only interested in yellow and he assured me it was fired up in the pic on the ad and was what I was looking for. So to have to deal with everything that happened and then to get it, have it not look at all like what I was expecting, and then turn out to be a female was just a nail in the coffin. He also didn't seem to really know what he was replying to and kept saying off things. The whole thing was just a mess really.
Amy