apreske
New member
My name is Allison Preske and my boyfriends name is Joseph Lagenour. We purchased 3 snakes from Mark, we received them May 19th 2011. I don't know Mark personally but he sold me 3 sick snakes. I know he has a good reputation so I'm guessing this is not something that he does often. I just want to put my story out there so people know what happened and that they can take precautions when dealing with this guy. I also want to make sure that I am not in the wrong for wanting my money back (he won't give me anything back). I have informed Mark that I am writing this post, he doesn't care. This is a long story but I will tell you everything I know. I have emails written back and forth between us. Right now I just want to tell the story, I will eventually put the emails up for review. I want everyone's opinion on this.
The 3 snakes I purchased from Mark were a hypo (kingsnake.com), a jungle and a het albino (kingsnake.com). They were sold to me under the impression that they were breed ready females. We bartered about price only on email. He didn't tell me about their health until Joseph talked to Mark on the phone. I was initially only interested in the hypo and het albino but he threw in the jungle during the phone conversation. He informed us that the het albino had a "swollen scent gland" and that it wasn't a big deal because his other snakes get those and they eventually go away. He didn't say anything about the hypo's health. He said the jungle was eating consistently and that she was a little underweight. We bought her too for some reason. I bought all of these snakes for a little over $740.
When we received the snakes on the May 19th I immediately wasn't happy with the het albino and the jungle. The jungle looked very sick and she was very mean. The het albino had the swollen lump and it was going to cost some money to get that fixed. On his terms of service he says that if you aren't happy with the snakes you have 24 hours to email him and tell him and then he will do some kind of exchange of his choice. I emailed him and told him that I wasn't happy with the two snakes and that I would like to return them for some other snakes. He emailed me back and said that he fully informed us of the health of the snakes and that the price that I purchased them for reflected that price (he did not inform us that the prices were discounted because of their health). The prices don't really reflect that either. He wasn't going to give us any kind of exchange because he stopped emailing us.
The jungle was very sick and she died a week after we got her. I paid $120 for her. He did inform us of her health although he dummed down her problems a lot. What threw me over the edge were the other 2 snakes that I bought from him. We were not happy with Mark before but now we were even more unhappy with him.
A couple of weeks go by and then all of the sudden we see that the het albino has a swollen mouth/throat. I immediately made an appointment to go take her to the vet, I needed to make an appointment for the "swollen scent gland" anyway. We figured it was from some kind of respiratory infection. At the same time the hypo started looking sick as well. There was residue coming out of her mouth so I made an appointment for both snakes. Joseph contacted Mark again and told him the situation (he sent us 3 sick snakes so he should give us some kind of compensation) and he said that he was going to send us 2 baby snakes that were probably worth about $250 total but he was going to make us pay for shipping. He repeated that he didn't know that they were in that condition when he sold them to us.
A day later we took them to the vet and Joseph and I were absolutely flabbergasted at these two snakes health problems. I have the paperwork for what was wrong with them and I will post those here as well.
Het albino:
The swollen scent gland was actually an abscess. The abscess was on her body for so long that it infected her whole body (making her septic) and that's why her throat and mouth were swollen.
Hypo:
The hypo had mouth rot and pneumonia in her lungs.
The vet also informed us that they were in such bad health that they may not survive. We bought medication for them and it cost us $400. At this point we were at our wits end with Mark. We were very frustrated and angry with him. First off we were mad that he sold us sick snakes and second of all we were mad because he obviously wasn't taking care of his snakes. Joseph called Mark again and told him what happened. He said he was busy and told us to send him an email. We did send him an email and I admit that it wasn't the friendliest message but I think any one in our position would have felt the same way and written the same thing.
I wrote him that I wanted a full refund of my money for the hypo and the het albino (which would be about $640). I think that we deserved that much. I might be wrong for feeling that way but I really hope that I'm not. He responded saying that he wasn't going to give us anything and said goodbye.
Today the hypo died and we are very upset about that. We put a lot of time, effort, love, and money into that snake trying to make her better. I can only hope that the het albino will live. We are trying our best.
All I know is that Mark shouldn't have sold these snakes to us or to any one else. He obviously didn't care about the 3 snakes he sold us. I can't speak for the other snakes that he sells or the snakes that he has in his collection.
I don't recommend that anyone buy snakes from him. I regret it, it has been nothing but a nightmare.
Please respond to this thread and tell me what you think should have happened. I hope we are not in the wrong for wanting our money back. I will post the emails and vet papers another day.
Thanks,
Allison Preske, Joseph Lagenour
The 3 snakes I purchased from Mark were a hypo (kingsnake.com), a jungle and a het albino (kingsnake.com). They were sold to me under the impression that they were breed ready females. We bartered about price only on email. He didn't tell me about their health until Joseph talked to Mark on the phone. I was initially only interested in the hypo and het albino but he threw in the jungle during the phone conversation. He informed us that the het albino had a "swollen scent gland" and that it wasn't a big deal because his other snakes get those and they eventually go away. He didn't say anything about the hypo's health. He said the jungle was eating consistently and that she was a little underweight. We bought her too for some reason. I bought all of these snakes for a little over $740.
When we received the snakes on the May 19th I immediately wasn't happy with the het albino and the jungle. The jungle looked very sick and she was very mean. The het albino had the swollen lump and it was going to cost some money to get that fixed. On his terms of service he says that if you aren't happy with the snakes you have 24 hours to email him and tell him and then he will do some kind of exchange of his choice. I emailed him and told him that I wasn't happy with the two snakes and that I would like to return them for some other snakes. He emailed me back and said that he fully informed us of the health of the snakes and that the price that I purchased them for reflected that price (he did not inform us that the prices were discounted because of their health). The prices don't really reflect that either. He wasn't going to give us any kind of exchange because he stopped emailing us.
The jungle was very sick and she died a week after we got her. I paid $120 for her. He did inform us of her health although he dummed down her problems a lot. What threw me over the edge were the other 2 snakes that I bought from him. We were not happy with Mark before but now we were even more unhappy with him.
A couple of weeks go by and then all of the sudden we see that the het albino has a swollen mouth/throat. I immediately made an appointment to go take her to the vet, I needed to make an appointment for the "swollen scent gland" anyway. We figured it was from some kind of respiratory infection. At the same time the hypo started looking sick as well. There was residue coming out of her mouth so I made an appointment for both snakes. Joseph contacted Mark again and told him the situation (he sent us 3 sick snakes so he should give us some kind of compensation) and he said that he was going to send us 2 baby snakes that were probably worth about $250 total but he was going to make us pay for shipping. He repeated that he didn't know that they were in that condition when he sold them to us.
A day later we took them to the vet and Joseph and I were absolutely flabbergasted at these two snakes health problems. I have the paperwork for what was wrong with them and I will post those here as well.
Het albino:
The swollen scent gland was actually an abscess. The abscess was on her body for so long that it infected her whole body (making her septic) and that's why her throat and mouth were swollen.
Hypo:
The hypo had mouth rot and pneumonia in her lungs.
The vet also informed us that they were in such bad health that they may not survive. We bought medication for them and it cost us $400. At this point we were at our wits end with Mark. We were very frustrated and angry with him. First off we were mad that he sold us sick snakes and second of all we were mad because he obviously wasn't taking care of his snakes. Joseph called Mark again and told him what happened. He said he was busy and told us to send him an email. We did send him an email and I admit that it wasn't the friendliest message but I think any one in our position would have felt the same way and written the same thing.
I wrote him that I wanted a full refund of my money for the hypo and the het albino (which would be about $640). I think that we deserved that much. I might be wrong for feeling that way but I really hope that I'm not. He responded saying that he wasn't going to give us anything and said goodbye.
Today the hypo died and we are very upset about that. We put a lot of time, effort, love, and money into that snake trying to make her better. I can only hope that the het albino will live. We are trying our best.
All I know is that Mark shouldn't have sold these snakes to us or to any one else. He obviously didn't care about the 3 snakes he sold us. I can't speak for the other snakes that he sells or the snakes that he has in his collection.
I don't recommend that anyone buy snakes from him. I regret it, it has been nothing but a nightmare.
Please respond to this thread and tell me what you think should have happened. I hope we are not in the wrong for wanting our money back. I will post the emails and vet papers another day.
Thanks,
Allison Preske, Joseph Lagenour
