• Responding to email notices you receive.
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  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

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    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

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    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Bad Guy Konstrictor Specialties/ Brian Shelton

MagickalMorphs said:
For what it's worth, before someone starts yelling that I must be on the scammer's side.. I'm on no side here. Yeah the guy wrote a bad check after the good one, but I see that as the OPs fault for accepting it and handing the snake over. I'd have at least waited until the check cleared my bank before the snake went out even if it meant I had to drag it back home.

Trust, but verify. ~ Ronald Reagan
Click to expand...

Having faith in your fellow herper is not the "OP's fault for accepting it". There should be SOME level of trust in this biz. Like you said in the other post, lesson well learned. And I agree with that. But, no, it is not Ted's fault. One can rationalize it any way they want. But that does not make it it Ted's "fault". You can not blame an act of unselfishness/kindness for a crime, lol. Ted is a victim that tried to help a guy out that seemed honest enough. The "fault" lies on the buyer. Anything else is ludicrous. That is like saying a guy that opens his door to a stranger to let him in to use his phone because the strangers car broke down and his baby and wife are waiting for him, and the guy gets robbed, deserves it, it is his fault. Well, that is not the case. When you go out of your way to help someone, you certainly dont deserve to get shafted. And it certainly isnt your fault. Should you learn from your mistake and not be so trusting next time, maybe. But he saw this guy in person, figured he could trust him, and i dont blame him.

Dallas Quarles
 
Really? If you see them in person that makes them instantly trustworthy?

A couple weekends ago I had a guy come pick up some snake racks. He sent a deposit ahead of time, and owed me $500 in cash. We loaded them into his car, and he handed me a wad of money then proceeded to climb into the car to leave. I counted the money. Eighteen ones. And I saw where the money came from, it was the same place the rest of the money came from when I called him on it. He was ready to leave here full well knowing he hadn't given me the full amount.

If I had pocketed that money without counting it, and he later refused to pony up the rest, whose fault would that have been? His for not giving it to me to begin with, or my own for trusting that it was all there and not counting it before he left? I see this situation as the same thing. Trust NO ONE.

I'm not saying it doesn't suck that the OP got ripped off. It certainly does. I'm just trying to figure out why on earth someone would accept a check from someone who gave them lame excuses all along and didn't let it clear the bank before handing over the critters. How can he not accept some of that blame? If he'd held onto the animals until payment cleared, he wouldn't be out a dime. I also don't like the fact that a mass email was sent out to everyone who ever even inquired about an animal. I've been ripped off before, but it never occurred to me to spam someone's inbox.

If you don't like what I have to say, you're free to disagree all you want. America is (at least for now..) a free country. But, I'm entitled to my view on this just as the rest of you are. All I'm saying is that it's not like there was no way he could have protected himself from being scammed. NOT that he's not owed the money.
 
Sorry to hear Ted. It truly does suck when someone knowingly deceives you and it is even worse when done face to face. Hindsight being 20/20 I am pretty sure Ted wouldn't have taken the check, but the first one cleared no problem so it wasn't as much of a leap of faith with the second one.

The bottom line is the guy intentionally scammed Ted and no amount of should of, could of, would of changes that. Ted was trying to be a good person and got nailed, which sucks for the next honest person who wants to work a similar deal with. I know if it were me, I wouldn't do it.
 
"Spammed someone's inbox?" Oh brother. Over-react much?

Ted is an awesome guy. I have always remembered kindly how Ted trusted me to take a snake home from a show when we could not get an internet connection to work at the show, telling me to just pay when I got home, which I promptly did. I thought that was an amazing thing to do.

Granted, I see Ted at almost every show, so we are not strangers, and he could have found me easily had there been a problem, but it was, at least to me, a significant amount of money, and I really appreciated his trust and admired him for it.

Now, of course, I understand that won't happen again. A shame when someone's trust in another is taken advantage of.

Ted, I am sorry that this happened to you. You are truly a good guy and I love the snakes I have from you.

Sonja
 
Since apparently the definition of the word "spam" is in question:

http://www.spamhaus.org/definition.html

The word "Spam" as applied to Email means Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE").

Unsolicited means that the Recipient has not granted verifiable permission for the message to be sent. Bulk means that the message is sent as part of a larger collection of messages, all having substantively identical content.

A message is Spam only if it is both Unsolicited and Bulk.


- Unsolicited Email is normal email
(examples: first contact enquiries, job enquiries, sales enquiries)


- Bulk Email is normal email
(examples: subscriber newsletters, customer communications, discussion lists)
Click to expand...

Spam is an issue about consent, not content. Whether the UBE message is an advert, a scam, porn, a begging letter or an offer of a free lunch, the content is irrelevant - if the message was sent unsolicited and in bulk then the message is spam.

Spam is not a sub-set of UBE, it is not "UBE that is also a scam or that doesn't contain an unsubscribe link", all email sent unsolicited and in bulk is Spam.
Click to expand...

It was unsolicited, and obviously in bulk. Therefore, it was SPAM. I sent an inquiry about a snake months ago, that doesn't give him the right to send his "oh poor me, I didn't cover my butt with both hands and got raped" email to me. Or anyone else who couldn't care less that he has no idea how to run a business.

I think the issue is more that people are upset that I don't think this guy can lay 100% of the blame on the guy who wrote the rubber check, and that's all you guys can find to nit pick. There's nothing for me to "get over", you guys are the ones who keep bringing it up. Chip on your shoulder much? The name's not Tony, either.
 
Nah, none of this buyer beware crap really matters. At least not to Ted and he is the thread starter. Ted ONLY posted this to warn the good people here. You have been warned. Now forget about it....

Dallas Quarles
 
There's a comma(That's the punctuation that separates my name from the "Get Over Yourself" comment) Shadera. MY name is Tony. I'm REALLY surprised such a phenomenal business woman as yourself would've picked up on that. Let me re-write it.

Dear Shadera Lorrain,

I apologize that you got ANY warning about Brian Shelton. I really wish you weren't on the list. It's too bad that you won't value the information until something like this happens to you. I know I know you don't have to say it. You're too smart to be fooled by a customer. Do you know what that says about you? You haven't had enough customers. Good Luck to you Shadera, I hope you never know what it feels like to be scammed.

Sincerely, Tony <---That's MY Name
 
Since you want to play it like that, Tony....
Notice that the name of the person I was addressing came after the comma; and, when I close, MY name will be on the line below my closing remark.
Thanks,
Harald
 
Yeah but what you wrote was structured totally different. When the last thing you have written is a name, after the comma, it is typcially understood that you are signing off with YOUR name. Both ways are correct. Is everyone just REALLY bored, lol :yesnod:
 
Brian is on the list to be at the All Animal Expo show Dec 5 & 20. Maybe someone can ask him if he aware of this thread, in person.

BTW, there is no relation between Brian and I.
 
Ted is an honest and trustworthy guy. He does this because he enjoys it, and is guilty of nothing more than poor judgment in taking the check. Some of us out there still try to give people the benefit of the doubt....sometimes we pay for it.

Now, back to the topic at hand....has Brian Shelton been made aware of this thread?
 
BOY TED ,THAT IS TERRIBLE.BUT PER THE EMAIL YOU WERE SENT ON OCT.12,2009 A POSTAL MONEY ORDER FOR $430.00 WAS SENT ON OCT.16,2009.DID YOU CHECK YOUR MAILBOX? IF YOU DID CHECK YOUR MAILBOX AND THE MONEY ORDER WAS NOT THERE ,DID YOU EVER CONTACT HIM AND LET HIM KNOW IT WAS NOT RECEIVED?BECAUSE THE WAY I SEE IT BRIAN HAD ALREADY PAID YOU OVER $1200.00 GOOD FUNDS,IN THE FORM OF CASH AND CHECKS,FOR ANIMALS. SO MY ADVICE WOULD BE BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO POST A NEGATIVE COMMENT ABOUT AN INDIVIDUAL, CHECK THE FACTS.
 
I'm pretty sure a twice-bounced check is one of the "facts" you say he should look at...

Do you have proof that you sent the money order, or are you just saying that to give yourself more time?
 
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