Jules Stock
New member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2002
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
Hello, and thanks for listening to my ongoing problem. I am here to tell the story about what happened with my experience with Hunter Reptiles, and it is pretty sad. To start with, I believed Hunter Reptiles to be a good place to buy my cherry head redfoot tortoise from, they have many ads on Kingsnake, and I see them often. I emailed and asked about purchasing a cherry head tort. I did not act soon enough the first time Hunter Reptiles had them, but he replied that he would be getting more in. Couple days later, he emailed me and said he had 2, and then he emailed me pictures of them. I do say that he emailed back very quickly when I wanted to buy the tortoise, he does those parts right, but as you will see, he is somehow gone when you have a problem.. He told me he got them from a friend of his that did not really want to sell them but did, and there probably would not be any more after these two maybe forever. I thought they were both pretty, and said I would take either one. I told him I would not be home, for I work, but the tort could be sent to my sisters house, she would be home all day, I wanted someone to be there to recieve the package. I then paid 225 using paypal. He sent the next day, Aprial 9th, which was looking good. I brought all of the setup over to my sisters house. The 10th, UPS brought shipment at 1:20 or so, when I got back from lunch at 1:30, my sister called saying the package was there, the turtle was fine and in his setup, but UPS did not knock, but since she had the clear front door open, she saw them put the package down from another room, but was not quick enough to "catch" the UPS guy, but she picked up the package and put the tort in his setup. When I got there from work, I saw the tortoise. He was very pretty, but looked very sleepy, my sister had tried to feed him, and so did I but he did not eat, I knew that stress could be a factor the first day of shipment, and I figured he was tired from the was he looked. The next day, he still would not eat, I emailed Hunter Reptiles asking what his fav food was, I had tried everything from strawberries to even dog food, and told that he was very sleepy still, I thought it was stress. I tried to find a vet and could not, and told him this. Next day, same thing, no email until around the weekend, he replied that the other tortoise he sold was fine and eating, could he have it back to take to the vet? So I emailed again asking more about this, no answer, no answer, so I then called Hunter Reptiles Tues. The lady who answered, the secretary or something argued with me and my husband about everything we told her, saying you did not sign for it, and our terms are 3 hours, if its sick we need to know in 3 hours, thats our business terms. My husband replied that we did not buy a TV or anything, that they were not just a business, how can a place that sells live animals be called just a business, you cannot tell if something is sick in 3 hours, I cannot tell if I am sick in that long. She replied that, "yes we are a business, and thats all we care about." WE knew trouble was ahead then. She said that the owner would call us back, she could do nothing. So hour later, he did. He said ship it back, I had to ask about my money or anything, he said he would not give it. He said well see when the tortoise gets here, you may get credit when my vet checks it out. So I emailed him back that night, asking for the money back, almost begging, and saying if all you can give is credit, please put it in writing so i have something to show for, the tort could show up dead there, and he would blame me, the tort was very weak and sleepy, and still not eating, and I doubt he would have survived the shipment. The only reason I was willing to ship is because I had not found a vet here, and I would have had to chance it, but I needed something in writing. I told him that we worked hard for our money and that is a lot for us we had to save up a long time to get that tortoise, and that is just sad to be sent a sick one. And was he really for sure going to take him to a vet? The next day, no email, i searched hard and long and asked everybody I knew about a vet, finally, luckily, someone knew someone in my town, I was so happy, and figured Hunter Reptiles would be too, because I would be if I had someone who cared so much as I do to take care of an animal. Nobody could know how I just felt so hopeless and tearful over this poor tortoises state. The vet has worked on many kinds of reptiles, and is a good vet with a website, I am glad I have finally found him, none of my other reptiles have ever been sick, but now I know if they ever are, this is the guy to go to. i emailed him saying we would take it to the vet and he could pay the vet bill. We took him the next day after this email because that was when we could get in. He then came out of the dissapearing act and emailed quickly, saying he would not pay for a vet that was not his and that did not give good prices. He said that he offered me to ship and I didnt so i could now pay the vet bill, and he would not give me anything, i missed my chance. i replied long emails saying that a vet is a vet and that I did not think the tortoise would have survied the shipping, and that I had nothing in writing to prove anything, none of my emails about that were answered in writing. Who only knows what would have happened if I would have shipped the tortoise back, the poor lil one.. We went back and forth, but the fact remained that he only said terms are terms, and if i did not like someones terms i would not buy from them??? He also said that we knew he got the tortoise from a friend, that it wasnt his stock. Well, yes, it is his stock because he bought it from his friend, that makes it his stock then, and he should have had it vet checked then before sending it out. I dont get it, a person would not buy from himself because they know they are wrong? All i was asking was to pay a 65.50 vet bill, I also asked for him to pay other charges as needed, but if not, pay the 65.50. He said i could send it but he wasnt going to pay it, he said I did wrong by taking it to my vet that I found. The tortoise we also found out, was a female, not a male, but thats hard to see, the vet asked me if I knew it was a femlae, and I was like, "no, but I did not mind either way!" The vet said it may be worms or some blockage, but there was no fecal sample to see because she has not eaten. Terms may be terms as he said, but as I say, this is not a business here, this is not an antique dealer, these are live animals, and if Hunter Reptiles likes the "business" kind of deal, well then they should sell the tortoise I wanted, a HEALTHY cherry head redfoot tortoise. The fact remains that I did not get what I paid for, this poor lil girl may be beyond saving, me and the vet are going to work on helping her. I am going to send Hunter Reptiles a vet bill too, to see if they will do the only right thing and at least help pay on it some. This tort will probably be needing Xrays and who knows what else in order to see what is wrong, we are going to work with it and I am still trying to get her to eat anything at all, she is weak and just wants to sleep or soak in her bowl, I wanted to keep her outside in my pen for the summer, but now I cannot because of her condition, thats what I had planned. He wrote that I was a "bad customer" and that I didnt care about the tortoise. He told me that he would get his lawyer on me if I tried to do anything about it. Whatever happened to the customer is always right? And I waited to find out my written rights, and was wary about sending the tortoise and I did not have a vet at the time, but did find one, so whats the deal? I am just sad and upset, and want to save this lil girl, shes counting on me, I am sure she hasnt had it the best in the past, but at least now she will have some care. i am sure people have bought from him and are happy, and thats great, I do not like to hear of any problems, I am just telling you what may happen to you too if you have a sick animal sent to you from Hunter Reptiles. Thanks everyone for listeing to this long message, I am not here to "bash" anyone, just stating the facts as they are, and because I am so upset that a keeper and seller of so many animals could sell creatures so precious just for the business and money, and not go that extra mile it takes to keep the animals and the people who bought them happy...and that is their goal as on the site, "to make you happy...."
'>