Bad Guy Ben Siegel Reptiles

[Matt2979]

A pm is a Pivate Message - He chose to make it public. I had the decency to send him a pm instead of quarreling with him in public unlike what you posted earlier.

Since you made this "matter" a public discussion, why should you be able to talk about any of it privately and expect it not to show up here? I ask that because I have a policy that anything BOI related won't be discussed with me privately, as I too would have posted such a PM here.

 

[charleshanklin]

Wasn't the conversation that you and ben had via pm on Facebook?

 

[jsmorphs2]

I think at this point the OP is just doing himself harm. And while a bad phone conversation is no fun, its nothing to go crazy over.

I've purchased ONE ball from Ben (a small purchase, around $500) and had nothing but good experiences. I think this tread should be re-named "I had a bad phone conversation".

And you say you don't want to harm his business but you know posting a "bad guy" thread here it would do just that.

 

[kellysballs]

Well that sucks that you guys had a misunderstanding.

I have done business with Ben both at shows and in his store. I received good customer service from Ben and his employees and the animals I purchased are top notch and doing well.

 

[RachelSS]

Wouldn't you think if there's a bad cell phone connection, you'd hang up and call back? Not keep repeating the same stuff over and over? *shrug*

 

[David Scarboro]

I don't see where there is an issue. In all honesty if I have to repeat myself 3+ times you're going to see satan himself appear. I have been doing customer service for 7 years in my day to day job in a CALL CENTER. I have people yelling at me at the top of their lungs and guess what they get hung up on. So if everything is true that she raised her voice out of aggravation and finally hung up on you I see nothing wrong with that. It's their business and they can run it how they see fit.

Wow, Thanks for sharing that. Lets hope your employer isn't reading this. Some day when you are laid off due to lack of business, at least you will know why...

 

[JungleShadows]

I have done business with Ben and have some mutual friends. I have never had a bad dealing with him ever he is a great guy. To get bent out of shape over a phone call is silly, I did not know the BOI was for reporting customer service issues.

Don't worry about this one Ben you have enough good transactions to out weigh the bad, when in business for this long having so many transactions its bound to happen.

As for the complaining party as was suggested continue buying from your current supplier. I really don't see whats so hard about that and why the need to post this on here.

Keep up the good work Ben and Stacey!

 

[paulWTAMU]

David: have you done or do you do call center work? Most of them allow you to terminate calls with abusive callers.

 

[David Scarboro]

If they are abusive, yes. He stated that if he had to repeat himself 3 times, that they would see Satan himself. Customer Service???

 

[paulWTAMU]

I may be picturing something different than you. You know when you keep telling a client you cannot do something, but try to offer them alternatives that might be workable because what they want is not going to happen? After going through that 3-4 times I've disconnected calls, usually with a "I'm sorry that you don't want one of the other solutions but I cannot help you with X. If you change your mind, or want help with something else please call back."

 

[KelcifersDragons]

I called ben up this morning inquiring about a tracking number for a gtp I bought from him. My email was acting up and I couldnt get the number. So I called and ben answered and was polite on the phone and asked if I could wait two minutes for stacey because she was cleaning snake bins. I waited and once stacey had the number she repeated it to me and was nice about it even though I interupted her from something. The snake arrived safe and sound and is doing great! I will deffinately buy from them again.

 

[stxjoe]

First off - what proof do you have that I was "abusive" and or "yelling" - you don't
Second, the phone number listed on his wholesale list dosen't specify that it is a cell phone. When I call a "Phone number" listed on a wholesale sheet - 99% of the time I am calling an office not a cell phone.
Third, I have dealt with similar situations and have had to correct (privately) my own son for not being courteous to a customer.
Fourth, I knew I was going to get beat up for posting, but put yourself in my shoes:
I get to my store - open up - feed and water animals - open for business - talk to a few customers and make some sales- talk to a few sales reps and put some orders in - call to put a turtle order in- get spoken to rudely and get hung up on - then get blamed for it.

My intention from the getgo was not to hurt BS's business but to simply report the problem I had with their service which is what I thougth the BOI was for. I had no idea so many would take such a gesture so personally.

 

[David Scarboro]

I may be picturing something different than you. You know when you keep telling a client you cannot do something, but try to offer them alternatives that might be workable because what they want is not going to happen? After going through that 3-4 times I've disconnected calls, usually with a "I'm sorry that you don't want one of the other solutions but I cannot help you with X. If you change your mind, or want help with something else please call back."

My point exactly. If you have read the entire thread, the op didn't get the last part of the post.

By the way. As I stated before, I have never done any business with Ben. He appears to have some nice animals at great prices, and has established a good name in this business, and is probably a good guy. But even good guys make errors. I only began to participate after the piling on the op began. There were statements made like "Ben has had ZERO bad guy posts". Ben has had numerous bad guy posts. Many of them were worked out one way or another. He has also had a lot of good guy posts, he does a lot of business and things happen. I do not know the op either. But for some to belittle him with inaccurate facts will get a reply from me every time.

 

[stxjoe]

I sincerely thank you for your objectivity in the matter.

 

[Suncoast Herpetological]

So were the turtles on the wholesale list? OP says yes and BS reptiles says no. I think the answer to that shows were the error here lies.

I have looked through the thread several times...where did Ben state that the turtles were not on the wholesale list?

 

[ophidile]

Yes I think OP probably shouldn't have started a new BG thread here over a rather small matter (although maybe he should have contributed to the existing one over the seller's customer service)

BUT it does seem bizarre to me to list something, then get irritated when people want to order them. And then get more irritated when said person asks if ____ other animal is available to add to the order! Balls are pretty common, and even if they weren't on the wholesale list folks sometimes have things in stock that weren't on the list for one thing or another.

If the OP was abusive, then fine, he deserved to get hung up on. But so far it mostly sounds like someone trying to figure out an order with either a bad connection or poor hearing. Taken with the other threads, it sounds like the seller is a bit overeager to take offense where none was meant.

 

[akonitony]

This thread reminds me of a joke (surprise):
A guy walks into an icecream parlor and the sodajerk (man behind the counter) tells him immediately: Sir, thank you for coming in, but I must tell you we are completely out of chocolate. As long as you want some other flavor, we should be able to do it.
The guy looks up at the menu board and says, "I'll take a scoop of rocky road".
Slightly flustered, the soda jerk (SJ) reitterates, "Sir, rocky road has chocolate in it, and we are completely out of chocolate at the moment".
The guy looks again at the board and says, "how about some vanilla swirl?"
The SJ now takes a deep breath and re-explains: "Sir, vanilla is swirled with CHOCOLATE fudge to make that flavor, and as I've said, we are out of chocolate".
The customer looks for a little while, then asks, "How about a nice sundae?"
The SJ now takes a very deep breath, then asks the customer: "Sir, can you spell the 'van' in vanilla?" The guy says "V-A-N".
The SJ says "Very good, now can you spell the 'straw' in strawberry?"
The guy says "S-T-R-A-W".
"Very good sir", states the SJ, "now, can you spell the 'frick' in Chocolate?"
The customer thinks for a second, then says, "There is no frick in chocolate!"
The SJ replies "THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU SIR!"

 

[Focal]

I have looked through the thread several times...where did Ben state that the turtles were not on the wholesale list?

"We are not into wholesaling all turtle orders" in the first facebook response. Then he says they are "for customers who order a multitude of animals."

I may have it mixed up because each time I read it, it seems to come out different. But why give the wholesale list to people that aren't allowed to order them? I don't know the in's and out's of it so I'll walk away from that.



The lesson learned here is if the person on the phone can't understand you or if you have to repeat yourself, I would have finished the transaction electronically. Sometimes there are speech barriers, willingness issues, and time constraints and a quick email can help all those problems.

Also, when addressing an issue such as this, I think being a little less combatitive might help IMO. After that initial message on facebook, I would have posted something along the lines of "I'm sorry there was a miscommunication. I'm standing by the phone now and can take your call or please email me about your inquiry and I would be glad to help" and then I would proceed to comment on the guys attitude privately.

All in all, it was a bridge burnt on both ends, same as in the other thread with the minor. No offense to Ben and I'm sure this is not the cas, but businesses can go in different directions at any point. Members that come in here and comment on feelings are only going to keep other people from coming forward. If he is treating all his customers disrespectfully, it should be known because some people don't want to bother with that nonsense. I would rather deal with a nice person and the same goes for the customer here. Ben stated he was rude, that is now known and people can take from it when they search his name. I research everyone I sell to and if you are a problem child, I pass.

Ben is a good guy, I'm pretty sure of it, so something like this won't matter to a customer that doesn't care about the "petty stuff," however, his response to the situation might. He has not screwed anyone or conned anyone out of money and that is all that matters sometimes.

 

[BenSiegelReptiles]

Thanks for all the support in here. I just wanted to write this one last thing. Not about this op but about the kid that everyone keeps bringing up as reference and as this kid burned bridges and stuff. PLEASE REMEMBER--that kid wrote me a really nice apology letter and publicly apologized on that thread! You have to give him a little credit for that, and honestly, if he had his parents call to order, I would have no problem selling to him.

 

[dragonslare]

Hey,
I place a few small orders through out the year with various wholesalers, I placed my very first order with Ben a few weeks ago, when I first called, he explained that he was very busy putting together the orders that needed to be shipped out and if I could call back in about a hour, which I did, He took my small order, which was above his minimum, the phone call and order went very smoothly, he even took the time to answer some questions and concerns I had about some Gecko's I was not familiar with.

Joe M. dragonslare