The actual exchange
Here is the set of the email exchanges Mr. Schofield and I had. Admittedly, I got to a point to where I thought hey, this guy is fanatical and I might as well enjoy the ride since he is getting so heated. At that point, I made a few childish jabs to go along with his.
For some reason, I do not have my first email to him, which was just me inquiring about the animals and pictures of them. Here is what followed.....
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From Mr. Schofield:
Brad, I have no pics.All I can tell you is that they are adult females and way better than average ones.no tipping at all. I sold one female last week sight unseen and the guy was totally happy.Can give you his info if you dont believe me,dont know what else to say,Jeff
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I felt this was a bit pushy, but I kindly declined to purchase his snakes and figured we were done.
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My response:
I'm sorry Jeff, it's not about believing you, it's about being wise with my money. I will not allow myself to purchase animals sight unseen. If you are interested in selling them to me, then you will have to find a way to get some pictures, certainly you have a friend that has a digital camera? Please, do not take this as being rude, I just cant buy a snake without seeing it first.
Best regards,
Brad Alexander
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Mr. Schofield decided it wasn't over and wanted to give it one more push. It seemed he was trying to convince me that his snakes were so great, that with photos, they would have been sold a long time ago.
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From Mr. Schofield:
Brad,believe me if I had pics they would have been gone a long time ago,Jeff
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With his response above, I decided that this guy was a bit too pushy and I'm just going to call it like I see it.
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My response:
Believe me, you are nothing more than a scam and a bad one at that.
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I can understand not taking any enjoyment in me saying he was a scam. But come on, to be honestly defensive is one thing, to take the route he took, one can only question his motives. And to think, it was an email exchange, not an open forum where he would feel the need to go overboard defending yourself.
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His response:
Hey,what the hell was that?? Calling me a SCAM?? I have been breeding for over 15 years there buddy,I suggest you get your facts straight before trying to confront me online or anywhere else. In fact I will forward the email I got from selling the one female thayeri missing from my list last week. Just to see who the SCAMmer is....J
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It seemed he was still trying to justify his lack of photos and maybe even still giving it a push to sell. He could have easily forged an email to make himself look better. His forwarded email (which I never received), would make no difference at all.
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My response:
Whatever man, your little forwarded email means nothing to me. Further more, I call it like I see it, if you don’t like it, oh well.
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This is where he really started getting crazy. I thought to myself, if this is the kind of guy he is, I doubt seriously people would want to do business with him. Maybe they should know about it?
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You call it as you see it? You dont see well I guess. I know you may be new at this,but if you have any problems feel free to ask anyone on kingsnake.com about me,my snakes or my reputation. In 15 years I have had maybe 2-3 customers that were not satisfied,and that is pretty good considering the Aholes I deal with daily from kingsnake. All the big milk breeders know me, and I have never ripped off or misrepresented anything. As stated, my snakes are being kept by a friend during my move. I do have a camera,but the animals are 2 hours away and I certainly would not drive there to take pictures for anyone,let alone you. I sell on reputation,so when you choose to poke at my character I poke back. Bottom line is I dont NEED to sell them, and they will always be worth the money I ask because I only deal with hi-end colubrids to begin with. Maybe you would be better off going to a show or maybe getting those UGLY thayeri that are for sale on kingsnake. I would rather not deal with someone who complains BEFORE they see the snakes anyways,Jeff
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He felt compelled to take it further than need be. He could not defend himself in a possitive way and that only strengthend my belief in him being a scam.
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My response:
You are extremely funny. Well, I’ll tell you what, you can take your supposed snakes and ………. You know the rest. In the mean time, I’ll leave you with this thought; your defensive posture speaks volumes, and I appreciate you confirming what I already knew. Oh, and only a fool would expect someone to purchase animals without seeing them first, beyond that, only a complete idiot would buy animals sight unseen.
Best regards
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This is where it just gets crazy. His supposed 2 degrees in Biology is a hoot too.
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From Mr. Schofield:
This isnt supposed to be funny. I have dealt with punks like you for years. You come and go like the wind,killing a lot of snakes in between. Maybe you get lucky and actually breed once or twice.....then watch out~! YOU KNOW EVERYTHING,lol. I have 2 degrees in biology and have worked in the field for over 10 years. I was doing this long before KINGSNAKE.com was even around. You found this site when? You have bred how many snakes? You have what in your collection? My point exactly.
Its your attitude after I had explained myself thoroughly that is indicative of your age or mental state. Who is Brad Alexander anyways? Why would I care? There have been literally HUNDREDS of "idiots" who have bought snakes from me online. Call me a fool or any name in the book, if you can read one. In this battle of wits I am afraid you are unarmed.J
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Really, I should have stopped there and let it go. But hey, this guy seems nuts and I want to see if he'll hang himself out to dry.
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My response:
Yes Jeff, you are great. Thanks for the laugh; maybe someday you’ll grow up a bit.
Best regards
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I have no idea where he is going with this now??? Just crazy it seems to me.
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From Mr. Schofield:
How old are you? If you are over 18 I would be very surprised. Maybe you have done some homework? Maybe you will be sent to your room without dessert if you dont.J
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My response:
The laughs never seem to end, please, continue to amuse me. It would be interesting to meet you in person. Something tells me you would not be so confrontational if I were standing anywhere near you. Since you insist on being so confrontational, I guess I should do some background on you.
I’ll lay this out nice and simple so you can understand. You insist you have extremely nice thayeri you want to sell, yet you will not prove it. You push and prod for me to purchase them from you, quote, “believe me, they are very nice, others have bought from me sight unseen and have been happy”. Given the pushy attitude and lack of proof that someone I do not know even has said snakes, I decide to consider you a scam. I still stand by this conclusion 100%. Upon my coming to this obvious conclusion, you prove just how correct I am by getting in my face in a very abrasive, condescending and defensive manner. With every continued email, I get closer and closer to doing something very REAL about your harassment and scandalous behavior.
I only hope you will continue to humor, yet enoy me enough to cause me to place multiple complaints against you with kingsnake and anyone else that will listen. Your gig is up, quit scamming people. And incidentally, if by some incredible chance you are not trying to scam people, all you need is proof, word is no longer an option in regards to internet sales.
Best regards
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He has now told me to go both to KS and to Fauna to check him out. So I did.
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From Mr. Schofield:
Listen, I have been selling on kingsnake longer than you have been out of diapers. If you know anything about these forums you should go to fauna and look me up. Most will come to my defense, but alas there are the 2-3 people that no one could please. I dont have to do anything, I dont even have to defend myself but I refuse to let some punk call me an idiot in this or any other world. I would like to meet you in person and take care of this. I am 6'3.,250 and I have a real job,white collar. I live south of Boston,MA..
GO ahead, email that guy I sent the thayeri to last week. He will tell you that it got there a day late, but that was due to a shipper error on DHL. It was packed well and despite heat problems in the area it was fine the 3rd day. He paid $200 sight unseen and is very happy with it. These are $300+ thayeri if I had pics. To me its just not worth the time. Someone will get a deal on them,but I would not ever sell to you. Further, I will forward your emails to some of the other dealers around and let them decide if they want to deal with you either. No one wants someone that complains AFTERWARDS(note you are complaining BEFORE),and you are complaining about something that is frankly none of your business. If you dont want them without pics, point taken. Now drop it.Jeff
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He wants me to drop it? He has the insults and exchange of words probably trippled or even better in our exchanges. Go figure. In this next response, I've decided that mildly ribbing him back is justified.
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My response:
The funny thing about all of this, and damn, I really cant stop laughing about it, is how BIG you claim to be in the herp "world", yet you do not even know me. I'm no punk and well respected within the herp community. You have no idea how deep of a hole you have dug yourself. I've only allowed it to continue out of pure fun. If you only knew....
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That's the bulk of it with a little more of the same BS from both of us. I cant imagine anyone wanting to do business with a guy like this. So, I thought it best for everyone to at least have access to such info. I want it clear that I do not claim to be innocent in all of this and it does take two. But how Mr. Schofield defends his lack of pictures, pushes for a sale, talks about how great he is and how nothing someone else is, should be the focus here.
Purchase from this guy at your own risk.
Brad Alexander
. Seriously though, it's great to be credentialed(?) in the field you love, but doesn't call for, what seems to be a pattern of arrogance.