Skyrunner75
New member
The snake I purchased from Kevin Lee Jarvis of Akron Reptiles arrived almost three weeks after the agreed ship date and was dead on arrival. Photographs were forwarded within an hour of receiving it, video was taken, and my offer to ship the snake back immediately after was denied. Although the container it was stored seemed much more appropriate for a neonate than a two foot long Mussurana, I understand the risk associated with shipping reptiles.
Compounded by the delay in shipping, questionable shipping conditions, sub-par communication, the seller is now ignoring my refund request of my purchase price $230 despite his stating that he had insurance from Fed Ex that would recoup his losses. Please be aware that he is selling other snakes in the classifieds.
The decision to post this warning did not come lightly. I respect a person’s opportunity to correct mistakes intentional or not, however I can no longer ignore obvious poor seller etiquette. Despite my opening of a PayPal dispute, it is obvious to me that he is hoping I give up and write off my $230 expense as a learning experience. That may in fact happen, but not as quietly has he may like.
If the seller does eventually refund my money, I will add it to this report.
Note: I debated attaching a photo of the Mussurana as I unpacked for fear it would offend snake lovers as much as it offended me. If a moderator suggests I do so, I will. There seemed no way this snake could even move in the container and reportedly had eaten two days earlier. The odor was unbearable.
Background:
I purchased a 2ft male Mussurana form Kevin Lee Jarvis of Akron Reptiles and member "Bull123"on Friday, Feb 9 from the “Other Snakes” classifieds forum. The agreed shipment date was the following Monday, Feb 12. Instead, after a number of delays on his part due to his work schedule, I did not receive the snake until exactly three weeks later on March 2 and only after informing him, I would be forced to leave a BOI and open a Pay Pal dispute in the hopes of recouping my purchase price. I understand delays happen, but it was left to me to track shipping status instead of him communicating those delays to me.
When I arrived at the Fed Ex station less than two hours of its arrival, I was met with a terrible odor and a Fed Ex agent that informed me that they had wrapped the box in a thin plastic bag to isolate the smell. Thinking that perhaps it had defecated enroot, I sped home. Once home fifteen minutes later, I found an extremely deceased snake that appeared almost liquefied in its skin. It was very sad and very frustrating.
I immediately grabbed my phone and took video and pictures of the storage container, snake and temp gun readings. I called Kevin Jarvis who genuinely seemed surprised and disappointed. I offered to send the snake back exactly how I found it and within two hours of picking it up. He declined, but asked me to forward the pictures I took and I did so within the hour. He was going to contact Fed Ex and initiate my refund. It never came. It has been over 48hours and I have not heard back or received replies to my subsequent emails.
I have saved all of our email correspondence, some of which was conducted through PM and personal email. I will certainly post it if readers feel it will help. There were also three phone conversations, the first was immediately after he received my PayPal payment on Feb 9 when he confirmed the ship date, another a day after the initial ship date past, letting me know that his work schedule had him out of town, and the third, this past Friday when I called to inform him I received a dead snake. In hindsight, I should have been alarmed when he informed me that he was selling his entire collection, as he could no longer take care of them with his work schedule. I do hope he did not ship a thawed dead snake or shipped it too soon after a meal.
Luke Salerno
South Wales, NY
Compounded by the delay in shipping, questionable shipping conditions, sub-par communication, the seller is now ignoring my refund request of my purchase price $230 despite his stating that he had insurance from Fed Ex that would recoup his losses. Please be aware that he is selling other snakes in the classifieds.
The decision to post this warning did not come lightly. I respect a person’s opportunity to correct mistakes intentional or not, however I can no longer ignore obvious poor seller etiquette. Despite my opening of a PayPal dispute, it is obvious to me that he is hoping I give up and write off my $230 expense as a learning experience. That may in fact happen, but not as quietly has he may like.
If the seller does eventually refund my money, I will add it to this report.
Note: I debated attaching a photo of the Mussurana as I unpacked for fear it would offend snake lovers as much as it offended me. If a moderator suggests I do so, I will. There seemed no way this snake could even move in the container and reportedly had eaten two days earlier. The odor was unbearable.
Background:
I purchased a 2ft male Mussurana form Kevin Lee Jarvis of Akron Reptiles and member "Bull123"on Friday, Feb 9 from the “Other Snakes” classifieds forum. The agreed shipment date was the following Monday, Feb 12. Instead, after a number of delays on his part due to his work schedule, I did not receive the snake until exactly three weeks later on March 2 and only after informing him, I would be forced to leave a BOI and open a Pay Pal dispute in the hopes of recouping my purchase price. I understand delays happen, but it was left to me to track shipping status instead of him communicating those delays to me.
When I arrived at the Fed Ex station less than two hours of its arrival, I was met with a terrible odor and a Fed Ex agent that informed me that they had wrapped the box in a thin plastic bag to isolate the smell. Thinking that perhaps it had defecated enroot, I sped home. Once home fifteen minutes later, I found an extremely deceased snake that appeared almost liquefied in its skin. It was very sad and very frustrating.
I immediately grabbed my phone and took video and pictures of the storage container, snake and temp gun readings. I called Kevin Jarvis who genuinely seemed surprised and disappointed. I offered to send the snake back exactly how I found it and within two hours of picking it up. He declined, but asked me to forward the pictures I took and I did so within the hour. He was going to contact Fed Ex and initiate my refund. It never came. It has been over 48hours and I have not heard back or received replies to my subsequent emails.
I have saved all of our email correspondence, some of which was conducted through PM and personal email. I will certainly post it if readers feel it will help. There were also three phone conversations, the first was immediately after he received my PayPal payment on Feb 9 when he confirmed the ship date, another a day after the initial ship date past, letting me know that his work schedule had him out of town, and the third, this past Friday when I called to inform him I received a dead snake. In hindsight, I should have been alarmed when he informed me that he was selling his entire collection, as he could no longer take care of them with his work schedule. I do hope he did not ship a thawed dead snake or shipped it too soon after a meal.
Luke Salerno
South Wales, NY
I can't imagine the horrible feeling one gets from opening a package expecting a live and happy snake only to see that... I'm sorry and I really hope that guy will man up and give you a full refund.
