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How do you handle receiving a snake smaller than advertised?

steve671

steve671

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So I bought a 1900g Female Butter for $800.00 shipped with the intension of breeding her this season. When I received the snake, she was only 1515g; still breeding weight, but in my opinion significantly smaller.
I brought this to the attention of the seller who offered a resolution but I am not sure if the resolution being offered is consistent with what others are doing in similar situations as this has never happened to me before.
I only want to do what is fair, so I would like to hear what others have done if this has happened to you. If it has not happened to you, what do you think would be a reasonable resolution to this if I went ahead and kept the snake?
Thanks,
Steve
 
Steve, what happened, that is a significant discrepancy. If they in error sent the wrong snake, maybe you can return this one (at their expense) and have them ship the other one.
If it was an actual misrepresentation and the alleged advertised weight and your reported actual weight were that far apart, perhaps you could request a partial refund.
What did your seller offer?
 
My first thought was that they sent the wrong snake my mistake. The seller confirmed that it was the correct snake. The seller was not sure how the mistake was made but thought that he accidentally didn't reset the scale to zero after placing the tub on the scale before the snake was placed in the tub for weighing. I think this is what happened as well. I have bought one other snake from this seller without a problem and I don't think he deliberately misrepresented the snake.
My issue is that there was another 1800g butter available at the time for the same price that I was going to buy but didn't because this larger one came available. Now that other one is sold.
You mentioned a partial refund, how much do you think would be appropriate?
Any other ideas or experience?
 
I would let a 10% difference slide, over 20% is pushing it. If she has been back on feed for a bit after laying and slaying rats, I could see 10% or even 15%. If I made a 20% mistake in weight, I would offer at least 20% of the total price.
 
steve671 said:
thought that he accidentally didn't reset the scale to zero after placing the tub on the scale before the snake was placed in the tub for weighing. I think this is what happened as well. I have bought one other snake from this seller without a problem and I don't think he deliberately misrepresented the snake.
?
Click to expand...

It sounds to me that this could have been an honest mistake, Based on your post above, it sounds like we are all on the same page. If I were the seller, I would offer you a full refund and pay to have the snake shipped back. I'm sure the seller wanted $800 for the snake. not because it was 1500 grams or 1900 grams. We are way beyond the days of basing an animals value by weight (price per ounce). I remember the days when adult pastel females went for $1 an ounce... those were the days.

Again, I think you need to decide if you really want the animal or tell the seller to give you a full refund and send it back. I personally, would not discount the price of the animal. I would ask you to send it back for a refund. She is a breeding size animal, If she is eating well, she will probably be #2000 grams plus very soon.

Also, Big snakes don't always give big clutches!!! Here are the results of (4) clutches I got this week:

1. 1600 gram virgin YB- 8 good eggs
2. 2200 grams Proven Pied- 5 good eggs and 2 slugs
3. 1700 gram virgin ButterBee- 6 good eggs
4. 2400 gram Proven Citrus Pastel- 3 good eggs and 2 slugs

You never know!
 
I'm with Jason on this one. If you're unsatisfied with her, send her back. Otherwise, you have a breedable female at a decent price.
 
steve671 said:
My first thought was that they sent the wrong snake my mistake. The seller confirmed that it was the correct snake. The seller was not sure how the mistake was made but thought that he accidentally didn't reset the scale to zero after placing the tub on the scale before the snake was placed in the tub for weighing. I think this is what happened as well. I have bought one other snake from this seller without a problem and I don't think he deliberately misrepresented the snake.
My issue is that there was another 1800g butter available at the time for the same price that I was going to buy but didn't because this larger one came available. Now that other one is sold.
You mentioned a partial refund, how much do you think would be appropriate?
Any other ideas or experience?
Click to expand...

This seems like an accident and not a deliberate misrepresentation, and your seller has made you an offer to make you happy.
As you can see, different people have different ideas, so there does not seem to be one standard way of handling such an occurrence. You are asking how much your partial refund should be but it does not appear that there is going to be a unified response.

You say your seller offered you something. Maybe if you are not satisfied with what he offered, you could send it back.
 
Hey Steve. I would say it was an accident. If he is aware of it and you have bought from him before, there is a good chance you will buy from him again and he will remember it. When you bought the snake from me I kept in touch with you about it for what, 6 months? If something went array and I messed up but you wanted to keep it, I would take care of you the next time either way. He didn't make excuses or tell you to pound sand so do what you both can agree on that's fair. If you just tell him to make it up on the next snake, I bet he will and you will make out better.
 
Ill keep my two cents short and sweet. Either return it or keep it. I've been in this situation before, I bought a 600+ gram clown male and when I got him he was 280 grams, and this was mid november 2004. The breeder basically told me sorry I thought it was bigger and gave me those two options. I kept it.

Caveman
 
If I was the seller and I made that mistake I would offer a full refund and pay you to ship the snake back to me. I'm not big on partial refunds. If I were the buyer this is solution I would prefer as well. Again, not big on partial refunds. If he offers a partial refund and you are happy with it then fine but to base your decision off of what we say is probably not the best way to go about it. Most likely you are not going to get a consensus from us anyway. Some will think it's too little, some will think it's too much, some would keep it anyway and some would demand it be sent back. Bottom line, and I know this is not what you want to hear, it's totally up to you. I'm not trying to be a smart alec or anything and it's fine to ask us what we would do but don't expect us to come up with a solution you will be happy with. That may very well happen and if it does then great but then again, it may not. Good luck. Did I mention I am not fond of partial refunds.
 
I would offer $100 back to "fix" the mistake if I was selling it to someone and made a 400 gram mistake.
Taking it in the butt isn't reasonable and shipping the snake back isn't either.
 
Thanks everyone for their input. This was the second snake I bought from this seller, and I have no reason to think the seller did this intentionally. I decided to just keep the snake.
Thanks,
Steve
 
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