• In the past two days I have gotten emails asking about being requested to provide credit card info in order to register and also to make a post in the classifieds forums. PLEASE NOTE: In no instance will this site ask you for this sort of information. The only time any request for payment is made is if you choose to opt-in for a higher membership level, and that is done SOLELY through PayPal. Anything else is coming from a source other than this site. My guess is that this is coming through Google Adsense, but when I can get someone to send me a screen shot of this sort of request, I will know more.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Enclosuresbydesign.com

Representation

Agreed! I am curious myself how this turns out. Does anyone know of another manufacturer of retail multi units? Either "wood" or other fabrications?
 
We are supposed to be getting some cages in for our boas this week (I think) from Moonstruck Exotics. They are made out of a plastic and we saw some examples at the San Diego IRBA show. They look nice, are stackable, light for shipping and look like they will be escape proof (very important for the escape artist "Bronson") I will definate post and let every one know how they work. :)
 
Brian

I have to say that I would agree someone has a right to post their opinion on an experience. The problem is when a good guy thread starts in on the thread starter for no other reason than the thread is about the guy everyone hates. (Did they put you up to this)(Are you friends) (Are you crazy for not checking the BOI first) If Vinny had bought the cages had a good experience and then posted a good guy post then everyone would have been on him for it. And the major problem I have is that 99% of the people ripping on a "bad" guy post have never dealt with the so called "bad" guy.

If you read my first sentence I say someone has a right to have an opinion on and experience, but do you really have a right to add 15 pages to a thread when its MY experience. Go to current post on Neil if you dont believe me:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25489


And in further context lets play the numbers game, take a dealer who in the course of 1000 transactions over the past six months has one that goes to the BOI as a bad deal..... Is that a "Bad" Guy??? it is if that one is the only post of the 1000 that gets made.

So here is the nutshell of this all, I have had one transaction with Sal and Alison. I did so knowing full well what was posted here and I was willing to take the chance. That transaction came off without a hitch. I would invite anyone else to post the good transactions without fear of the reprisals.

Or for some with limited intelligence I bought from Upstate and liked it!!

We all love playing little junior ferrets, sniffing out the dirt and beating up the bad guy for the sake of a better herp world. Sometimes we need to post and let be posted the good guy threads since the name of this is Board of Inquiry not Board of Conviction.
 
Hey michael, try this one, it for those of you with limited intelligence.

There are, let's say, 1000 boa breeders and resellers out there. We KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt that sal and alison are BAD GUYS. There is no doubt, it's been proven time and time again. So why would someone, unless they had limited intelligence, go with a known BAD GUY when there are 999 other breeders out there who are good guys?

Sure, it's your right to buy from whoever you want whenever you want. I'm even glad you got a good deal on the snake. Were they good at telling you about the animal? How and when it reproduces? What sex it was and how to tell for yourself?

Now the point that seems to have been missed by those of you with limited intelligenceis that some of us think it is foolish to put money into the pockets of KNOWN bad guys when there are so many other good guys out there. Don't be knocking on me or anyone else just because we choose not to give people like sal and alison our money. We too have made a choice.

Now you may be a junior ferret but I don't consider myself one. More like a blundering bear. When it smells fishy long enough, and I think this bear's nose is pretty good, it's gone bad. Once bad it RARELY if ever becomes good again.

So, once again I'm glad your deal went well and it would be nice if all of their deals went the same way. Not bloody likely though.

Wes Pollock
 
Michael,

Unless the moderators or admin say otherwise, then, YES, everyone has the right to post fifteen pages on your thread.

As for the Neil thread. Take a look at it yourself if you want to see how the board operates. Ivan's deal was questioned just as thoroughly as any other deal. Turns out Ivan may have jumped the gun. Turns out that the known bad guy here was actually defended in that case, rather effectively and impartially.

I agree to you that attacks on the person posting their experience are unwarranted. I think I said that in my last post, didn't I? However, if someone says something along the lines of wondering why you'd deal with a known bad guy, that serves a purpose too. It lets casual readers of the thread know that they should do a search for further threads. That lets these hypothetical lurkers have a chance to look at ALL of the info on the person, which is something a new good guy thread doesn't. Fact is you should have added your experience to an existing thread. By not doing so, you not only violate the terms of the board, but the spirit of the board. Having the info all in one place, good and bad, serves the goals of the board better than having to chase down multiple threads.

Will you get jumped on for posting a positive experience (or a negative one for that matter) of a deal with a known bad guy? Yeah, probably. People are going to do that. If you said, "Hey, I just played Russian roulette today, and I won!" then people are going to tell you all about the risks of Russian roulette. That's just human nature.

As I said before, though, since you took the risk, I think it's good to hear how it turned out. However, each person has a different threshold of risk taking, of trust, and of forgiveness. People are going to disagree on what's "smart" in regards to these very subjective measures, and on an open discussion forum, you'd better believe that someone's going to give their opinion. It comes with the territory. I think the average reader realizes these things and can sort through the details to arrive at their own conclusions, and to figure out where they lie along that continuum. You certainly did, and you ended up with a deal that was satisfactory to you.
 
And in further context lets play the numbers game, take a dealer who in the course of 1000 transactions over the past six months has one that goes to the BOI as a bad deal..... Is that a "Bad" Guy??? it is if that one is the only post of the 1000 that gets made.


I want to address this one specifically. Let's take this in context.

First, there is no concensus on what constitutes a bad guy. Read the threads with a little more attention to detail, and you'll find that everyone has their own opinion on this.

If someone sends out an animal that dies due to illness or poor packing, some buyers will elect not to deal with the person regardless of if they make the deal right with a refund or replacement. They just don't want to deal with someone who might screw up. Even more severe is the person who complains about a two day wait to get an e-mail response from a dealer, because the dealer isn't responsive enough, and starts a thread on them, even though they haven't bothered to even pick up the phone and call the dealer. There have been quite a few of those in the past.

Moving along, you get a bit closer to consensus with posts from people who have supportable, legitimate problems, which the dealer has refused to address. In some cases, there has been a communications breakdown, and the dealer wasn't fully aware of the problem. In some cases, the buyer isn't covered by the agreed-to terms of service. Usually, in both of those cases, the board members at large ask enough questions to get the whole thing straightened out. Sometimes these situations are caused by a buyer who posted in haste.

Then, you get the problems where the dealer flat refuses to make a deal good. Most of the time, it's pretty clear whether the dealer is responsible, and if the dealer is responsible, sometimes the dealer will make the deal right. Now, at this point, some people will say the dealer is a "good guy" because he eventually did the right thing. Maybe the dealer was just being stubborn about making the deal right b/c he didn't like the buyer's attitude or felt the buyer jumped the gun by posting on the BOI. Well, some people will decide that a dealer who had to be brow-beaten into making a deal right is a "bad guy." To each his own.

Then, you have the dealer who's in the wrong and never makes the deal right. This can be delivery of goods/animals that were misrepresented, not shipping the product, sending dead animals/damaged goods, etc. I think in these cases, where the dealer was obviously in the wrong, that, yes, ONE time is enough for most people. However, there are those who would look at even these deals and buy from that dealer anyway.

Then you have the people who repeatedly fall into those last two categories, and exceed them. Your pet peeve seems to be Neil He falls into the repeatedly making bad deals and having to be browbeaten into correcting them category, as well as scamming the community category, as well as the sending an email full of bile and profanity about the members of the community to the wrong e-mail address by mistake category. That e-mail address, by the way, was mine. FWIW, I hardly ever comment on Neil, but I'll tell you this: WAY before any of the above came to light, I couldn't stand him. He just came off as far too annoying, loud, and stupid to deal with.

And that's really the thing that gets people labelled as a Bad Guy in most people's minds: Their own words. Look at the names that keep popping up, then read their own words. If you can honestly read these people's post and say that you don't think their reputations are well-earned, then you have a far different perspective than most folks.

But you know what? You're entitled to post that here. It's an OPEN FORUM. It serves its purpose. By making comments like the one I quoted here, you seem to be saying that you don't think the board works, and that it's biased. Well, you're wrong. You're proven wrong every time a thread is started and the questioning starts. I think Rich knew what he was doing when he chose this format.
 
Dont know if I an handle all of this

My situation with Upstate is simply this, I bought an animal I wanted and at a price that was very comfortable. Did I ask for support? no, did I request information concerning sex or reproduction? NO didnt care about that with this animal. In other words they gave me what I wanted an animal at a great price that has cleared a vet check. The animal is now seperated from others(but would do this no matter who sold it to me)(Even your animals Wes). A statement has been made concerning "Upstate has been proven time and time again to be bad guys," and yet in my memory as supported in a post by Stardust, Richie Luna and others that there is probably only two legit issues that their customer service has been proven to be poor. The rest is just tripe that people have jumped on because the BOI has created the label.

Upstate link

What we have done is created a forum where because Upstate has beed found guilty then anytime someone may have an issue where they are actually in the wrong, they can get the support to pressure Upstate into making it good. That isnt what the BOI is about. Look at the link above and read the very first response. A good guy post where the subject of the good guy is called a liar, thief and scam artist in the first response and all done in the name of an opinion of someone who hasnt done business with them. Someone else calling them names later in the same thread who admittedly hasnt done business with them.


What I am saying is that any dealer can have a deal go bad, animals can die, get sick or have problems. Its what the dealer does after the fact that makes them good or bad.(I mean beyond the obvious of missrepresenting the animal) I think its funny that by my simply stating one thread about Neil he becomes my pet peeve. No I have had one deal with Neil that was bad, will I buy from him again? Maybe maybe not. Depends on him, not on what you or anyone else says about him. The bottom line is to me I had never heard of Wes Pollock or Brian Blalock until I got to the BOI. If I buy any animal for either of you or any of the so called 999 good guys how do I know that the customer service I get from you will be better than the other 997. Or for that matter better than what I got from Upstate. Can you both tell me that of the last 1000 transaction you have made they all have gone smooth? And does that one that went bad have the right complain to the BOI about how you handled him. \

Let me put the 1000 transaction senario to a more personal level. I did a fast search for "Wes Pollock" on fauna and after about 6 pages couldnt find a good or bad guy period. So Wes how would it be if the one person who posted on the BOI labled you a bad guy because you couldnt make him happy. You would be know as a bad guy all because the other 999 didnt post. Or have either of you considered that there are many more satisfied customers of Upstate out there than will post here, and sadly the good guy posts that do happen get buried by people who wont just let the search function of fauna work. Guess what Brian you search for Upstate you get the good guy threads with the bad guy threads so why should a good guy post be turned bad in the first response.

As Wes said dont fault him for not spending his money with Upstate, well I got news for you both dont fault me for spending my money with upstate. And since when isnt it within the scope of the BOI that when someone makes an inquiry about a dealer do I not have the right to post positive about the dealer and at the same time complain about what I consider poor treatment at the hands of people here. Or for that matter what good is it to post on an existing good guy thread when those turn nasty and 25 pages long. When I put the Neil thread up it was just an example, you go to this tread I linked above and its on page 18 of the BOI why because we all have so much more fun dragging everything through the dirt than we do seriously letting the system work.

I have had one bad experience with a dealer, I didnt know about the BOI at the time of purchase and I didnt know about the BOI when I had problems post sale. But when someone made an inquiry of about that dealer I was more than happy to share
"MY" experience with them.

So I do respect your opinions and you knowledge and if asked please do share your opinions based on your experience. But that is all I ask and that is all I want.

Since we are now way outside the realm of the BOI I would invite you to start a thread in any other appropriate place on fauna and we can continue the discussion there.
 
Micheal >more<

Enclosures by design

I understand your point in there defense micheal , but however if you read that post there this is a perfect example of why when people ask about upstate /Enclosures by design the rest of us get the magnifying glasses out. Now Granted the customer did finally get there refund after you read all of the transactions there and there practices / correspondence or lack of , falses and beating around the preverbial bush you can see why Upstate or enclosures by design have a "tainted name" that thread alone would cause me to walk or even run the otherway from dealing with them. Is that fair ? maybe not but from that thread alone it would be enough for me to send my $ somewhere else even if i was looking a reptile and not a cage .Why? due tothe fact that if one person got such a runaround over that ... what would stop that from being what i get ? maybe nothing maybe something who knows ... its like russian roulette ....(sp) if you dont have to take that chance after being informed with PROOF of a persons practices then why chance it ? now as i have stated to Vinnie i sure hope he has this go through w/o a single hick-up that would be IMO a mark for the goodside for Sal & Allison but yet in the same moment i would still not deal with them due to that . thats my personell opinion should that be everyones . while certainly not should it be my right to advise against any dealings with them ? why certainly if they ask other then that we all have to make a descision on who we make a deal with and why we make that deal.

now as a anology
if you had someone you dont know you lets say loaned $500 to and they said that they would pay you back in say two weeks .Well two weeks goes by and you KNOW this person has the means to do it but dont ... you call them ask them for it they dont respond .... you repeatedly ask for you $500 back then they tell you they mailed it and gave you a way to track that $500 and when you do you find out that what they give you was no more then a "stall tatic"and you see this person making post but not responding to you asking for what is yours then say a month 1/2 later after having several friends ask them to do it and strangers ask them to do it you get your $500 back would you then again loan them more money ?
 
Michael, it's a matter of personal preference and principles. I don't believe I ever said you were wrong for doing what ever business you wish with whomever you wish to do it with. The fact that you do business with people I would not is irrelivant here.

The plain and simple facts are these:

I will not give my money to someone who I think is a bad guy, whether that thought is based on personal experiance with that person or how I have seen them conduct themselves with others. It is a direct result of thier actions, or lack thereof, that has led me to the conclusion that they are deserving of the bad guy status they have so rightly earned. It matters not that they had 999 good transactions when the one or, in the cases of both neil and upchuck, multiple deals gone wrong and handled poorly. The first time you lie to me I lose almost all respect for you. The thirtieth or fortieth time it's gone completely. How many lies did both neil and upchuck tell here? It's not just about one or two or three deals that they had go bad. It's the principle involved that they think it's ok to lie, time and time again, to try to get out of their bad dealings.

I don't want to support people that act that way. So I don't. Your deal may have gone good. I'm actually glad that it did. But you can be fairly certain that there are several people out there who do not know of The BOI and NEVER will who did not have such a happy outcome. By supporting such businesses as upchuck and neil you allow them to continue to prey on the uneducated or uninformed. That's where the principle thing comes in. I won't support them because of that. I don't care if it's the best price in the world for the snake I've always wanted, if it's from them I'll take a pass.

You're right about me as far as my reputation goes. Nowadays I'm fairly unknown but, that doesn't mean I don't know good from bad as far as animals, sales and customer service. You also won't find me telling you your refund check is on the way, processed by paypal. lost, my mother died, I shipped the cage but don't have an accurate tracking number for a week or that the snake I sent you as a yearling captive bred animal is several years old and wild caught. If we ever do business, and as small time as I am it makes no difference to me whether we do or not, it will be smooth and you won't be wanting a refund.

You found neither good nor bad about me but, if you look closely you will see that I have also told the truth throughout. Can you say that about the people you choose to support?

There are plenty of tortoise breeders out there who will not lie to you or anyone else, espcially not time and again. If it's worth it to you to save a few bucks.... well we already know it is so I'll just let it go. It's really not a right or wrong kind of thing, it's principles and I'm not trying to shove mine down your throat because you are not wrong, I just don't agree with you.

A lot of people seem to think that it IS a right or wrong issue when they make a deal with someone like upchuck or neil and then I, or someone else, come on and say that they got lucky. To me they did get lucky because in my world when you trust someone who will lie right to your face you are asking to get that face slapped. Sooner or later it WILL happen. If it doesn't work that way in your world, well, cool. And good luck to you. Personally, I don't like getting my face slapped, especially by someone in whom I have placed my trust.

I don't have to get my face slapped to know that the potential exists when dealing with certain people. It's sort of like running a stop sign. Sure, most of the time, maybe 9 out of 10 there is no cop there to write me a ticket but, I know the possibility exists because I have gotten tickets from cops before and I know others who have gotten tickets for running stop signs. If I keep running stop signs I WILL eventually get a ticket, or in other words, slapped in the face. Cops don't change. They may not get you every time but eventually they will IF you keep running stop signs. The only way to avoid those slaps, er, tickets, is to not run the stop signs, or in other words, don't give your money to people who are known liars, thieves and cheats.

Wes Pollock
 
Alan, I respect the fact that even though you have your own opinion, you can still see and understand both sides of the coin, so in that alone it stays a nice level headed debate.
I can see where you are coming from, and I am the one to say upstate has made their share of mistakes. I would be angry but open as well, you have to admit, that sometimes there is a lot of pressure, so to speak, for the poster trying to make a fair assessment based on what they are experiencing??
What I try to do is cut out all of the opinions in a thread and just stick with the facts, not an easy task. I do this because all too many times I see people spouting off what they don't really know anything about. So once I have read one of their opinionated threads, I have basically read them all. I do read some opinions, including yours, ones that I see that are not droning on about the same thing and giving me a different perspective, that I find informative.
Anyway, I take most out, and just read the facts between the people who are experiencing it and then I make up my own opinion.
For now I am going to get off this thread, I like the idea of finding a more appropriate place for this discussion as I find it an interesting one.
 
I have taken the liberty of posting my last reply in the "sound off" forum, only because it is a anything goes type of forum. :)
 
You know, I read these posts, and I determine who I will do business with by the way that person posts.

I use my own judgement.

And I think that is all any of us can do and is expected to do. As individuals, we all have our own standards.

Things like, it is important to me that who ever I am buying an animal from (doing business with):
be HONEST
be TRUSTWORTHY
know about the species (product) and it's husbandry
know about the individual animal
provide good customer service

Now, you notice I capitalized two words in that list. HONESTY and TRUSTWORTHY, without those, none of the rest will matter. All of those totalled up = INTEGRITY and earn RESPECT

They need to know about the species and husbandry so that it is properly cared for and thus healthy when I get it.

Now, when I read posts reguarding establishments like Upstate, it is very obvious they have no concept of this. I determined that NOT by what the other people were saying about them, but by reading their own posts. You see, Upstate was kind enough to post their own proof of their own lies time and again. They were kind enough to post with plenty of attitude and lack of mental fortitude that showed by THEIR OWN POSTS that they are not HONEST, are not TRUSTWORTHY, in somecases didn't even know what species they had let alone how to care for it, and this occured multiple times.

Now, does everyone have a deal that goes wrong, make mistakes etc? Of course they do. But, if you are HONEST and TRUSTWORTHY to begin with, the chances are minimized and they are not going to reach the BOI because an HONEST and TRUSTWORTHY business person will fix it without hesitation. Let me repeat that: WITHOUT HESITATION.


Now, someone like Mr Gubitz, would I purchase anything from him? The answer is no and again, it isn't what anyone else said about him, it was his own posts that lead me to that choice. I have been reading the BOI long before I registered as a member and at that time, Mr Gubitz was a "friend" of the board. From the first post I ever read by Mr Gubitz my opinion has been that he is the south end of a north bound donkey and that every time he opens his mouth the apropriate fertilizer falls out. That was my first impression of him and it is still to this day. His own posts provided me with the information that I made that judgement with.

This is why this board is here. So you can read the posts and determine for yourself, what you think is acceptable, and not and so you can determine who you would do business with and who you would not. The fact that we are all individuals means we make different choices based on different criteria......or as my mother would say:

"To each his own" said the old woman and she kissed a cow.
 
Dangling thread

Deal's going well. Sal just contacted me as did UPS with the tracking info for the 3 packages (just the first unit). They should be here Tuesday with the other unit about 3 days behind. The invoice said Sal paid the difference between normal rate and "faster". He has also upgraded his site and I have heard from 4-6 other people that have dealt with him and were very happy. I will post the "last thread" when all have arrived along with pics of each cage and the store setup. Check back next week to see how it all turns out. I feel confident and I am the one with the cash on the line.
 
Sal and Alison have been known to toss out fake or bad tracking numbers in the past..
Have you verified them on the UPS site?

If not, would you mind posting the tracking numbers here for others to check into?
 
Tarcking Numbers

Here we go. This is a copy of the e-mail that Sal sent to me with all my UPS info. I have saved all e-mails and will post those also.


Package Information
Package 1 of 3
Tracking Number: 1ZY2666E7291587719
Package Type: Your Packaging
Dimensions: 56 x 12 x 8 in.
Actual Weight: 102.0 lb
Billable Weight: 102.0 lb
C.O.D. Amount: 22.00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.00
Reference#1: Small 12-Unit Double Enclosure 1/3

Package 2 of 3
Tracking Number: 1ZY2666E7293085329
Package Type: Your Packaging
Dimensions: 50 x 12 x 7 in.
Actual Weight: 68.0 lb
Billable Weight: 68.0 lb
C.O.D. Amount: 22.00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.00
Reference#1: Small 12-Unit Double Enclosure 2/3

Package 3 of 3
Tracking Number: 1ZY2666E7291953939
Package Type: Your Packaging
Dimensions: 73 x 12 x 4 in.
Actual Weight: 68.0 lb
Billable Weight: 68.0 lb
Additional Handling: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
C.O.D. Amount: 22.00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.00
Reference#1: Small 12-Unit Double Enclosure 3/3

3 packages enroute. I will have 3 more coming next week. And we shall see. I have spoken with Sal on the phone many times and he just left a message on my machine at 4:00pm 11/8/2003. Is every body on the edge of your seats. I know I am. I really need those cages. If not, my pet store will open with tiny sweater box systems. Not a impressive but very functional.
 
C.O.D. Amount: 22.00

Correct me if I am wrong, but is that Collect On Delivery charges?

I thought that all charges were taken care of when you paid Enclosures by design for the cages.
 
Well I wish you the best luck on getting your packages. If you check the status of them online, they were sent Ground and not a quicker service and they have not been shipped yet. They are being billed at C.O.D. for the Ground amount to you so you will have to pay for them when they arrive. The billing information has been received (this is done when the Airbill is filled out online) but the packages have not been received. I hate to say it but you won't be receiving them any faster than the normal ground shipping to your location if they are sent at all. It is beginning to look alot like the previous transactions but at least this time the tracking number shows up in the system but that does not mean they were shipped. Please keep us posted on this.
 
where is upstate located in NY?

can some one give me this info ? i am curious about something .
238lbs of shipping and the sizes of the packages ... all for $66.00
not saying that its wrong .. but that does seem AWFUL cheap to me .. so if any one knows a address i would like to just dbl chk this with UPS on ground prices lol if there right i have to open an account with them ASAP
 
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