Well, after 10 years of running a USDA licensed facility and, literally, working with 1000's of animals and probably as many people, this was bound to happen, I suppose.
I remember asking Bob Clark several years ago how he dealt with such publicity (incase an incident like this should arise) and he replied with a smile and said "I just ignore those boards" (by the way, I would like to thank Chris Pearson for forwarding me the link to this post).
It is difficult though to read such a post and not reply though. I guess it is harder for me to control my ego than it is for Bob.
Anyway, I was contacted by Mr. Kirtley less than a week ago, via telephone.
He wanted to place an order and I obviously should have listened to my instincts. While he claims to hold a USDA license as an educator to 'young children', he acts like nothing shy of a young child (several phone calls in the same day, lots of basic questions,...if you've been working with, breeding, and selling animals for any amount of time, you're familiar).
Aside from my 9 year old niece being hospitalized, we lost our internet service due to a corporate boo-boo on att+t's part, I believe the same day that we received his payment, and he was made aware of this, as I called to let him know that he need not panic if he ended up with any returned e-mails. I told him that our service would not be restored until Fri. night, which it was not, and that we would have to bump the shipping date to either Tues. or Thurs. of next week, as we require an e-mail from our customers stating that they will be available to sign for an order before shipping. This is to safeguard us from any claims that could be made by people stating that they weren't expecting to receive the order. Without our internet service, we would not have been able to receive his e-mail and this was all explained to him.
I don't succumb to threats and Mr. Kirtley, even though he has left several of them on my voicemail, will receive his order this week, but we will never, nor would we suggest anyone else, do business with him again.
Mr. Kirtley,..... I am truly sorry that I was too ill on Fri. to answer your calls (my wife renewed the ads on kingsnake). I would have loved to have had the opportunity to retort to some of the things that you said in the messages that you left on our voicemail and still would.
However, since you have filed a claim through paypal, I believe, unless we meet in person, that we will, with the exception of an e-mail that will provide you with your tracking information, do all of our communicating through Paypal.
I can tell you right now though that you will receive your first and last order from us on either Wed., July 2, '08 or Fri., July 4, '08.
- Jason Thurber
