TopShelfExotics said:
So he can buy wholesale and ship properly. Big deal.
Just goes to show you people would rather take a risk to save a few bucks. Go figure.
Chris,
For the record, these were not animals that Jim "bought wholesale". He produced them.
With all due respect, I didn't "save a few bucks". The snakes that I purchased were full priced, and comparable in price to others. I am putting together a breeding group of Aru locale chondros and he had ones that
I wanted. I bought from other sellers too. In fact, some were less money. So it wasn't about
giving anyone anything, it was about making a strategic decision to take the risk. Your suggestion that it was done simply for monetary reasonas was an unfair attack on my character considering you don't know the facts, don't you think?
So here are the facts. Jim's Aru type chondro hatchlings were priced at $400 each. Doug Price, a legend in my opinion, sells locality documented Aru hatchlings for $350. Part of my group comes from his stock too.
The risk paid off as they are healthy, gorgeous animals that eat well.
The deal was struck
before the recent huge blow out here started. Shipping was delayed by the long Michigan winter. I'll admit that I
might have thought twice about making it had the timing had been different. But this is the BOI, and Jim deserves the benefit of the good with the bad. Nowhere on
that other thread did anyone impugn the quality of Jim's animals. And his hot headed personality (and that of some others) speaks for itself.
The bottom line to me is that I had an
excellent experience in my transaction with Jim. And while Ms Therese may well be correct in her assessment about
selling to Jim, buying proved to be a different story for me.
To me the real bad guys ship dead, mite infested, kinked tailed, parasite infested, IBD exposed animals, or ones that are intentionally misrepresented. Or they simply take your money and never ship at all. Jim has done nothing of the kind. I will
never defend his actions, but they are of a personal nature. No doubt they have affected his business. But there are people here on this forum defending the actions of Mike Barrera, even having "Free Mike Barrera" in their signature lines and what he did was so much worse, IMHO. Not only is Mike Barrera a pompous know it all kid, he is a criminal who engaged in trafficking of endangered species for profit. Who will likely have hurt herpetoculture more, both for hobbyists like me and for those like you who work hard to make an honest living at it?
Chris, I respect you and I like you. We disagree about this. Let's not dredge this war back up. It's all been said and done. Even Webslave made a comment to that effect in that last thread. Everyone and anyone has had their chance to express their personal opinions. My experience, after the end of that other thread, is that I got two
fantastic snakes from Jim. He held them for 2+ months with a 50% deposit, fed them like they were still his, packed and shipped them well, and they arrived with detailed feed and shed records. During the wait for good weather I was never asked to make another payment. In fact, when he was ready to ship, he never even asked. He sent me updates on the animals via e-mail every one to two weeks while we were waiting for good weather. That level of service is as best as anyone could hope for, again IMHO, and better than a lot of the more mild mannered "good guys" provide. Had he been a real "bad guy" he might have taken the full amount and shipped when the weather looked like it
might be OK, and there were several such nights. The snakes likely would have done fine. But he was patient and clearly seemed to have the best interests of the animals at heart. When people decide whether or not to do business with him, they can take those facts into consideration along with his "caustic" personality and make an informed decision.
Peace,
