Red flag warning -- Anthony and Jill reptiles
Red flag warning -- Anthony and Jill reptiles
I recently had the following exchange with A and J reptiles. It raised enough red flags for me to back out of the proposed sale. Please note that A and J reptiles has not injured anyone to my knowledge, and the only illegal item they proposed is very, very minor. A and J is most likely be a fine, upstanding company, and I hope those who've done business with them will post and tell me what a dumbbunny I am. Still, I couldn't find much info about A and J reptiles here, so I'm hoping that even this much will help prospective buyers.
A and J posted an add on Kingsnake for a gorgeous axanthic female ball, either captive born or baby wild-caught (not clear from the add or further email exchange.) I emailed to ask a few questions. (Earliest emails first, phone numbers x'd out. I'm in red.)
Wed, 26 Apr 2006 16:59:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Tenley Schofield" <[email protected]>
Subject: Your axanthic female ball?
To: [email protected]
Hello,
I saw your add on Kingsnake for a female axanthic, and
was wondering if you might answer a few questions, if
she's still available. How does she eat, how
frequently, and what? Was she ever treated for
parasites as an import? Do you happen to have any
references available?
Thanks very much,
Tenley Schofield
801-599-xxxx
_____
[email protected]
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 22:09:08 EDT
Subject: Re: Your axanthic female ball?
To:
[email protected]
Hello Tenley. Thank you for your reply to the ad. She is currently eating either p/k or f/t medium rats every 8 - 10 days. She was treated for parasites , internal and external when she was obtained as a baby. And I do have references you can check if you would like to. I will leave some information for you below from past customers and feel free to e mail them and get their feedback. Let us know if you are still interested as soon as possible. Thanks again and we hope to hear from you soon.
reference # 1 - Greg Bryant - Underground Reptiles - Deerfield Beach FLA. - 954-428-xxxx
reference # 2 - Bobby Perrino - Past Customer - Fort. Lauderdale, FLA. - 954-615-xxxx
_____
Wed, 26 Apr 2006 23:26:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Tenley Schofield" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Your axanthic female ball?
To: [email protected]
Hi again,
Yes, I remain very much interested. Couple more
questions:
This would only be my third ball (though I have other
snakes) and I'm a little concerned about her eating.
Is she a very enthusiastic feeder? Do you offer any
kind of short warranty on voluntary feeding (or live
arrival, for that matter?)
How is her temperament?
Nighttime temps here are currently in the mid-upper
40s in Salt Lake City. Will shipping a BP be alright
in those conditions, or would you need to wait a few
weeks?
Do you take paypal? Oh, and cash only? or, just on
the off chance... are you at all interested in
cornsnakes?
I think that about covers it. My apologies for the
second long email -- thanks very much for your time.
Cheers,
Tenley Schofield
_____
From:
[email protected]
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 08:37:20 EDT
Subject: Re: Your axanthic female ball?
To:
[email protected]
Hello Tenley. To answer your questions, she is a very good eater, she is on a bi weekly schedule, and we do offer live arrival guarantee. If your temps are on the cold side , we will include a heat pack in the box with her to keep her warm. and we do accept paypal and U.S. Postal money orders only. If you are going to use paypal, Please add 3% on all sales, it is our friends account and his wife is real picky about that. Please let us know asap and hopefully we can make a deal. Thanks again.
_____
Thu, 27 Apr 2006 07:21:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Tenley Schofield" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Your axanthic female ball?
To: [email protected]
Oh dear,
No word about temperament or eating guarantee? Er,
well. I prefer paypal because of the additional buyer
protections, and it's actually improper (by the terms
of the paypal user agreement your friend signed) to
impose a surcharge for paying via paypal. Paypal
doesn't even charge sellers anything to receive
payments via simple bank transfer.
I guess some breeders do surcharges anyway, but at
least one is really kind of infamous on the BOI, so
I'm not certain it's a reputable business practice.
Plus the whole illegal thing.
I'm very sorry. Your snake looked like a gorgeous
little girl. Her marbled pattern was just splendid.
But that's just one red flag too many for a nervous
novice buyer. My apologies -- but I'm certain you'll
have no trouble selling her elsewhere.
Thank you for your time,
Tenley Schofield
From paypal's help desk:
"Under Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express
regulations and the laws of several states, including
California, merchants may not charge a fee to the
buyer for accepting credit card payments (often called
a "surcharge"). Sellers agree that they will not
impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting
PayPal as payment. This restriction does not prevent
you from imposing a handling fee in connection with
the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling
fee does not operate as a surcharge (in other words,
the handling fee for transactions paid through PayPal
may not be higher than the handling fee for
transactions paid through other payment methods)."
_____
[email protected] Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:02:04 EDT
Subject: Re: Your axanthic female ball?
To:
[email protected]
I DID INFORM YOU OF HER EATING HABITS AND I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT ANSWERING THE QUESTION ON HER TEMPERAMENT, SHE IS VERY TAME BY THE WAY. AND THE ADDED 3% WAS ON BEHALF OF THE ACCOUNT NOT BEING MINE TO BEGIN WITH. I AM SORRY THAT YOU NO LONGER WISH TO PURCHASE HER BUT LIKE YOU SAID THERE PROBABLY WILL BE SOMEONE ELSE LOOKING TO ADD HER TO THEIR COLLECTION. AND IF YOU COULD TELL ME WHICH BREEDER ON THE BOI WAS INFAMOUS FOR THE 'SURCHARGE'? . I HAVE COME ACROSS A FEW IN MY DAYS IN THIS BUSINESS AND THEREFORE I FELT NO DISGRESSION IN ASKING FOR IT. I WAS ALSO UNAWARE OF THE PAYPAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE POLICY AS WELL. AGAIN, THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AND I WISH THAT WE COULD HAVE MADE DIFFERENT ARRANGEMENTS.
_____
That's everything. Anthony (or whomever was responding) was very polite, even if his caps key did get stuck. Paypal and credit card surcharges are technically illegal, but perhaps not uncommon. I do have to wonder why A and J couldn't get a paypal account, since all that's required is a permanent address and a bank account, and perhaps not even those.
Hope this helps someone.
Thanks,
Tenley Schofield