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Dan Means AKA HerpLover (BAD GUY!!)

K

kenster

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Well this is my first and hopefully last “Bad Guy” post. I bought a pair of rosy boas from Dan Means AKA HerpLover. I sent him a money order and he was going to ship out on the 4th. Well it is now the 8th and still no snakes. I have called him at least 20 times a day and left countless e-mails with no response. So this is just a warning to stay away from:
Dan Means
317 South O St.
Lompoc, CA. 93436
(805)-735-7327
[email protected]

Here is the link to the Rosy’s: http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13661
 
AKA HerpLover

I'd be pretty worried after 4 days with no response, it's possible some sort of family emergency came up, but it's also possible that this person may not intend to honor his side of the deal.

I am sure everyone would like to know what happens or happened. Just wondering if you sent him a US Postal money order, if so and you don't get your snakes, but you run a check and find out the Money order has been cashed, then you have a pretty good case of FRAUD!

Either way, best of luck in getting them alive and healthy!
 
Scott,
It was not a postal money order. I figured I would save time and just get one from the bank since I was there. BIG mistake on my part. I guess that is what I get for being lazy and doing things the quick way instead of doing them the right way! I figure I will keep leaving him 20 phone messages everyday. Hopefully I will drive him crazy enough to either send back my cash or actually send the snakes. I doubt this will work, but hey it is worth the try. I will keep you informed if I ever do hear from this man again....
 
BANK MONEY ORDER

Hey Ken,

I would check with the bank and see if they could help you at all. In any case, if you still have the receipt you might be able to do something. If it has not been cashed, you might be able to jump in and cancell it. If it has, then you still might be able to make a case of Fraud with the FBI or local police, but I'm really not sure!

These days, I just pay for all my animals with a US postal money order. It doesn't mean you won't get ripped off, but least have something to hit back with and Fraud is Fraud!

Keep calling and emailing is a good way to annoy......... hopefully enough to get them. At this stage, I'd probably just want my money back and shop elsewhere.

Best of luck!
 
Sorry Ken

Man I'm sick of hearing about good people getting ripped, not to mention i'm tired of it happening to me too. Maybe if you keep calling 20 times everyday, and maybe if 20 of Faunas other memebers call him 20 times a day, he will get the point. In fact I think i'm about to make a phone call now. Keep us posted.....
 
Ken,

You may want to wait for a while just to give this person a chance to respond or contact the Lompoc police Dept. All their information is @ their web page: http://www.lompocpd.com/.

You can give them a call and tell them what happened. Maybe even fax them a copy of the money order.

Good luck!
 
Is it possible that something has happened to Dan or one of his family members that is keeping him from responding. I guess this is more of a caution to those jumping in ready to make Dan out to be a villain after such a short period of time, and without knowing both sides. Please make note of your posts and be ready to come back with an appology if Dan does come through and the delay was somethng beyond his control.

Steve Schindler
 
Is it possible that something has happened to Dan or one of his family members that is keeping him from responding. I guess this is more of a caution to those jumping in ready to make Dan out to be a villain after such a short period of time, and without knowing both sides.
Click to expand...

I agree with Steve, and that's why I suggested giving him some time to reply. One important piece of information is to know if he cashed the order. If he had the time to go and do it, he certainly should have had the time to contact Ken and let him know if there was a problem.

Good luck Ken!
 
Guys,
Don't get me wrong, I would more than happy to change this from a bad guy to a good guy post with no problem. I do understand if there was a big family problem! I guess the part that gets me is that I started calling him on Tuesday night and I got his wife ( I think). She had no idea about him selling snakes. This sounded a bit fishy to me. I would asume that if you were selling off your snakes your better half would know about it. She took my numbers (I gave her my work, cell and home numbers). Now this was Tuesday about 8 PM, CA time. And now everytime I call I get a voice mail system. Caller ID is a great thing! I'll keep calling and e-mailing! I will also call from work so it comes up as a private name if he is using caller ID! Thanks for the suport guys! The thing that gets me is that this person posted his animals here and IF he had no intention of ever sending them he knew about the BOI and what it can do to a person! The whole thing is kind of odd!! And to make things worse, this weekend was "moving day" so I am sure that my reciept got tossed out as nobody knew what it was. Oh well it looks like a write off for the 200. Good thing that came out of my "hidden" money or my wife would kill me for sure! ;)
 
Well a new twist on the matter. I finally got a hold of someone at the number he gave me. The number happens to be his girlfriends mothers house. She wouldn't give me his age or any other info, but she did give me his mothers number. So I will be calling her through out the night. Well I guess that puts me one step closer to Mr. Means and my 200!!
 
I just did a search on the new number and this is what I came up with:

C MEANS

COLORADO SPRINGS CO 80917
(719)638-8669

Yet another interesting twist, since my money order was sent to CA.....
 
sschind said:
Is it possible that something has happened to Dan or one of his family members that is keeping him from responding. I guess this is more of a caution to those jumping in ready to make Dan out to be a villain after such a short period of time, and without knowing both sides.
Steve Schindler
Click to expand...

Hey Steve,
How long would you wait before thinking something didn't add up? I thought 4 days was enough time for Dan to respond or to have a valid excuse. I'm not taking a shot at you, I was just wondering how long is long enough. I did get through to Dan's mother and she took my numbers as of 10 PM EST. it is now almost 3am EST and still nothing from Dan. I won't call and wake up his family again tonight so I'll just call back tomorrow. With all my "detective work" this evening I almost feel like a "ferret in training" no offence Ritchie! I think the way you always find out the truth is great!!
 
Ken,

In MHO you need to let his parents know what happened and what you intend to do. Furthermore, as the money was sent to CA and not CO, I would assume someone in the first state (his girlfriend?) received the payment and handled it to him. They too should be aware that you are planning to go through with this if you don't receive an acceptable explanation for not shipping or your money is returned.
 
Ken,

My comments were not aimed as much at you as they were to those few people who did, and possibly those who thought about, responding with negative comments about Dan. How long is long enough is up to the individual, and the facts regarding the matter. You are the only one with all the facts, at least the ones from your side, so I really don't have a problem with you posting after 4 days. What bothers me more is the people who chime in instantly and say things like, Thanks for the heads up I'll never deal with that crook, or crooks like that need to be outed, or I'm sick of people ripping off others in this industry etc. etc. only to have the story turn around and everything work out and these people either come back to appologize (the decent ones) or simply keep lurking in the shadows hoping no one will remember.

I am not saying that any one who did respond in this case is like that, I just wanted to caution people to think twice about getting involved with inflammatory remarks after such a short time. Without the benefit of hearing both sides. I'm sure we have all seen cases where john doe posts a bad guy thread about john smith, john smith comes on and responds, and in the end john doe winds up looking like the bad guy. I for one wouldn't want to be reminded that I originally stuck up for john doe.

4 days may not be too long if you are the one who feels ripped off, but unless there is more evidence then what you provided, I do think 4 days is a little too soon for others to turn on the guy. Of course, things may turn out as you have feared (hopefully not) and everyone will say "see we were right we knew he was a crook" but it will be another case where circumstances bailed them out of a potential jam.

Personally I am pretty trusting and patient, often to my detriment. I have waited almost 6 weeks on a deal that went south and I do believe it is finally worked out. Thats just me, but if I had made a bad guy post here, with the details of my case, I know that there would have been a dozen people condeming the other guy. Of course, I will probably never know if the reasons he gave me for the delay were valid, or just excuses, or if he only responded as a result of my threats to go public with the info, but it doesn't really matter. The fact that I do not know makes it impossible for me to post a bad guy thread about him.

Steve Schindler
 
I apologize first for my jumping in without thinking, I have just had some very similar bad experiences lately. Although, short time or not, 4-5 days with out making a 5 minute phone call?
In the least, that's unprofessional in itself in my personal opinion. If you take someone's money on a deal of which you already botched by not shipping when agreed, and then don't even make attempt to call or email, too much sounds like a Ripoff to me personally. Even in the least already it could be chalked up as Bad Customer Service. If Dan is sick or having some emergency, what would be such an emergency to leave a customer hanging out in the wind like that with NO communication? I understand life sometimes throws us all some cirumstances in which problems occur, even then though we never see posts like ((Jeff Ronne didn't call me back after 20 calls and 4 days, Bob Clark took my money and never shipped when her was supposed to and didn't call, Ron Tremper took my money and never bothered to email me)) the reason you don't see those guys names in posts like these as they UPHOLD A LEVEL OF PROFESSIONALISM no matter what!, this professionalism seems to be an endangered species lately in this and all businesses. Just my opinions nothing more......
 
Ken,

Sorry to hear about this deal gone bad. Let me know if there is something I can do to help.

You know, there are people who regularly post over on the consnakes.com site, who live in and around Colorado Springs. One, or more, of them may be willing and able to look this guy up for you. If he's incapable of communicating, they might be able to relay a message. If he's just scamming you, they might make the job of law enforcement a bit easier!

Let me know what I can do,
 
COLORADO SPRINGS

Hey Ken,

I live in Fountain, which is a ten minute drive from Colorado springs!

Let me know if I can help out in some way.
 
Alvaro,
I have talked to Dan's mother once last night and once again today. Still no word from Dan, but she once again took my numbers and promised that he would call. I figured I would give him 2-3 days before I get her involved. Yeah the MO was sent to CA but addressed to him, so I am sure she had to play a part in him getting it.

Mike,
I agree, I may have posted too soon, but I felt it was somthing I had to do. I have not heard from Dan since he mailed me saying he got the MO. Which was about 2 weeks ago. Two weeks of nothing then no snakes made me very upset. I am just a "nobody" in the herp world, and yeah it was just 200 but I hate to get burned! If I had a phone call or a mail that said hey somehting came up, I'll either send back you cash or send the snakes out on XXX day, that would have been fine with me. But nothing in two weeks has made me a bit jumpy.

Darin,
Thanks for the suport! I doubt there is much you can do, unless you want to send me a free pair of rosy boas..LOL!!

Scott,
If I get nowhere by phones in a week or so, I may ask for your help! Maybe you can be like Scott the "collection agency" and heck if it comes to that, I'd even give you 50 for your help! But I will give him a few more days...But I will be in touch!!


Thanks for all the reply's guys!!!!
 
I too live in the 805 area code in california. Lompoc is a very tiny town, and I have driven through it on many occasions when going on herping trips. It has the reputation of being filled with people of ill respute (although I have met some very intelligent respectable people from there). Just something I thought you might find interesting.
 
I'm sorry, but I'm new to the BOI and forget the rules. My name is Chelsie Romulo. Thanks!
 
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