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

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    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    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 Kyle Matuszak - KMDragons

If that were true, 135 Fahrenheit is still TOO hot :|

Manipulative scammer? lol he is literally one of the most pleasant people I have ever done business with — enough so that I will continue to buy from them for a long time.

We can see the screenshots of your messages, none of this is without proof, our thoughts are based off of what we are seeing with our own eyes.

Regardless of how you feel about the buyer or them picking the shipment up a whopping 45 minutes after it made it to the holding facility (which is NOT a big deal, by the way), YOU are at fault for shipping during poor weather, not shipping in a PROPERLY insulated box and choosing to use an improper heating source.

He didn't post this to be spiteful or to threaten a refund out of you, he posted this to warn people of your unprofessional business practices — something I applaud him for. You ARE being unprofessional and people SHOULD be warned of you.

In my opinion, you own this couple a huge apology and a 100% refund :|
 
If that were true, 135 Fahrenheit is still TOO hot :|

Manipulative scammer? lol he is literally one of the most pleasant people I have ever done business with — enough so that I will continue to buy from them for a long time.

We can see the screenshots of your messages, none of this is without proof, our thoughts are based off of what we are seeing with our own eyes.

Regardless of how you feel about the buyer or them picking the shipment up a whopping 45 minutes after it made it to the holding facility (which is NOT a big deal, by the way), YOU are at fault for shipping during poor weather, not shipping in a PROPERLY insulated box and choosing to use an improper heating source.

He didn't post this to be spiteful or to threaten a refund out of you, he posted this to warn people of your unprofessional business practices — something I applaud him for. You ARE being unprofessional and people SHOULD be warned of you.

In my opinion, you own this couple a huge apology and a 100% refund :|

Agreed.
 
SYR did contact me and told me how to ship so I'm not sending this way anymore.

I am really glad to hear that you are making improvements to your future shipments. The purpose of taking this issue to the BOI was to warn your potential future customers that the way you were shipping animals was wrong. Even after being contacted by SYR on the same day to discuss how to ship animals properly, you defended your practices.

Please take this as a learning lesson and improve what you are doing. Up until this post, you have sounded like you did not put the health of your animals first. That is what is most important. I do not want to see any more animals go through what this one has.

My understanding is that SYR will be keeping tabs on this seller, and in the event that another animal is shipped improperly, more steps will be taken. SYR has its own outstanding reputation to uphold, and they care about the animals that they have a hand in transporting.

Thank you for being willing to change your ways, and putting the health and safety of the animal first. In the future, it is best practice to actually send your terms to the buyer, so they know what to expect from you. If your terms are outside the realm of 'normal', that is important information the buyer needs to make an informed decision about their potential purchase.

It is also best practice to actually ASK the buyer when they can receive the gecko - not just state after the entire process is over that you do not hold geckos. I have not in 10 years done business with someone who has done that, so that was out of left field for me. I have never shipped a gecko, nor received a gecko without coming to a mutually agreed upon shipping/receiving time frame from both parties.

Improving these things can only make your business better. If you are not willing to make these changes, then this BOI post is here so that people can research what they are getting into before they purchase from you and another innocent animal suffers as this one has.
 
Obviously the seller should not be shipping any live animal until he knows what he is doing, ( a cardboard box with news paper is NOT AN INSULATED BOX!!) also shipping when bad weather is forecast and ignoring the purchasers request to hold until after it passed is asking for a problem but he seemed to have no concern for that. More telling though is the sellers reaction to the problem, rather than own up to his mistakes he tries to lay it on a 10:45 pick up...absurd. Honestly this seems like some novice kid that didn't have a clue...."hey I'm a reptile business".
The animal may or may not survive but I hope it does, female Williamsi are hard to come by these days.
 
If that were true, 135 Fahrenheit is still TOO hot :|

Manipulative scammer? lol he is literally one of the most pleasant people I have ever done business with — enough so that I will continue to buy from them for a long time.

We can see the screenshots of your messages, none of this is without proof, our thoughts are based off of what we are seeing with our own eyes.

Regardless of how you feel about the buyer or them picking the shipment up a whopping 45 minutes after it made it to the holding facility (which is NOT a big deal, by the way), YOU are at fault for shipping during poor weather, not shipping in a PROPERLY insulated box and choosing to use an improper heating source.

He didn't post this to be spiteful or to threaten a refund out of you, he posted this to warn people of your unprofessional business practices — something I applaud him for. You ARE being unprofessional and people SHOULD be warned of you.

In my opinion, you own this couple a huge apology and a 100% refund :|

:iagree:

This seller should be ashamed of herself! Absolutely DEPLORABLE shipping conditions, and after being contacted by SYR (who's email to the buyer regarding their conversation with the seller is VERY illustrative of the sellers attitude!), she STILL feels like she can defend her actions!:NoNo:

The buyer deserves a FULL refund and an APOLOGY!

Personally, I feel that the community as a whole is indebted to the OP, as we all benefit from this information!

Seller, have you no shame!?!? :angry:

~Beau
 
SALZY IS MANIPULATIVE AND SCAMMER. HE ALSO THEATENED ME TO GIVE HIM $75 OR HE WAS GOING TO POST THIS LOL

He is not the scammer, you are, and you owe him more than $75.

He delivered on his end of the bargain, he paid you the money. You are responsible for making sure that animal gets there in good health. Even if you had packed the box right and checked the weather forecast and with your customer before shipping, there is still no way that animal is of the quality promised in the ad. She does look young and not a proven breeder. But you didn't and now he is out money and out the gecko he paid for, and it is your fault. You owe a refund.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
I'm still just very concerned that you aren't owning up to this and admitting fault...and are reluctant to apologize, make this right, and then move on. Instead you call me a scammer...which kind of gets under my skin a bit because I don't think I've ever wronged anyone in the years I've been doing this, and I hate being falsely accused.

99% of other breeders and sellers would recognize that something went wrong, that the customer isn't happy, and that they should suck it up and offer a refund or a discount or something to compensate. That's not happening here, and I'm somehow stuck in this situation that was completely beyond my control until the box was in my hands. How can you blame the buyer for any of it? I can't understand that mentality.

Like Krystal said, I am happy that you are at least saying that you will be changing your shipping practices...which tells me that you are either worried about losing the SYR discounts, or that maybe your conscience is telling you that you made a mistake.


No its not.. I have the PM.

I also have the PM. I have all of our correspondence and I have posted it in the screenshots. There is nothing for me to hide, so everything is there.


I will post info tomorrow. SYR did contact me and told me how to ship so I'm not sending this way anymore. Gecko was in perfect shape and I hatched he 2 years ago. I also have pics to prove she was amazing. Can msg me for pics at [email protected]

It doesn't matter what the condition of the gecko was before it was shipped...what matters is how it arrived. The buyer/receiver has no control over the process on the seller/shipper's side, so they are at the mercy of every factor until the package is in their own hands.

You also didn't send me a photo at all, so I never saw the condition. I didn't bother to ask though because all Lygodactylus williamsi should look the same and I didn't find it to be necessary. I assumed that a CB proven adult female would be in good shape and that I would get her, could quarantine, and possibly pair her with a male by summer. That doesn't appear to be happening now.

Feel free to post a picture here...this is where it belongs now anyway, instead of getting people to text or email you for the photos. That's not how this works.



Again, I've tried to be pleasant, not rude, and non-argumentative...but I've become frustrated with the entire thing due to feeling wronged. Everyone reaches a breaking point, and I couldn't let this slide.
 
It's unreal to me that the seller can not see the wrong in this. The condition of that animal is disgraceful. Considering the complete lack of care taken on shipping and the condition the animal arrived in, the fact that only $75 was asked for as refund seems more than reasonable to me. I'd have been after a full refund given that the seller's actions will likely result in the death of the animal.

Scammers? I have never seen Kyle and Krystal handle any issue with anything less than grace and class.
 
Here's a real simple fact regarding this gross situation: when a healthy gecko is shipped correctly with adequate packing materials, respect for the elements, and appropriate hot/cold packs there is no reason that it shouldn't be perfectly fine for days during shipment. To make the excuse that the buyer is any how in the wrong because the gecko sat in the shipping hub for less than an hour is a pathetic argument. What ever happened to customer service or caring for animals that you ship? Calling a very respected and experienced hobbyist a "scammer" for your blatant negligence is just the icing on the cake.
 
Here's a real simple fact regarding this gross situation: when a healthy gecko is shipped correctly with adequate packing materials, respect for the elements, and appropriate hot/cold packs there is no reason that it shouldn't be perfectly fine for days during shipment. To make the excuse that the buyer is any how in the wrong because the gecko sat in the shipping hub for less than an hour is a pathetic argument. What ever happened to customer service or caring for animals that you ship? Calling a very respected and experienced hobbyist a "scammer" for your blatant negligence is just the icing on the cake.
^^ This ^^

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
 
I believe the seller ignored your request to ship the following week because he prob feared it would be dead by then. News paper is just news paper. It's used so that things don't shake around. Styrofoam is insulation period. The gecko I guess could technically be CB but it looks like a sickly import.
In all my years I've never seen an animal stuck to the side of a cup. It's hard to believe your getting treated this way. You should be getting an "I'm sorry" and a full refund.
PayPal isn't much help with live animals. Make sure they know the buyer ignored your request to ship at a later and safer date because this is the kind of situation you were trying to avoid. But I truly believe that if the animal was shipped in good weather it would still be bad. That gecko looks like it has been seriously neglected.
 
No it was in perfect health and buyer says ok to shipping. USDA clearly rules newspaper as insulation and I received other reptiles shipped this way so I also adopted this method. I already posted that I am changing my shipping methods. Also I am a bio chemist chemist and hot hands are made with the exact ingredients the other warmers. Surface area is 135F and was nowhere near cup. Also rapping in tape prevent spiking due to contact with oxygen. If you look at package it arrives at 8AM!!!!!!! And weather DID NOT affect package or arrival time they only got 4" of snow. Buyer also did not contact in 2 hour period WITCH IS STANDARD FOR EVERY SELLER. Just a FYI reptiles do not have C1 or C2 receptors and only react to stress it due to lactic acid build-up.
 
No it was in perfect health and buyer says ok to shipping. USDA clearly rules newspaper as insulation and I received other reptiles shipped this way so I also adopted this method. I already posted that I am changing my shipping methods. Also I am a bio chemist chemist and hot hands are made with the exact ingredients the other warmers. Surface area is 135F and was nowhere near cup. Also rapping in tape prevent spiking due to contact with oxygen. If you look at package it arrives at 8AM!!!!!!! And weather DID NOT affect package or arrival time they only got 4" of snow. Buyer also did not contact in 2 hour period WITCH IS STANDARD FOR EVERY SELLER. Just a FYI reptiles do not have C1 or C2 receptors and only react to stress it due to lactic acid build-up.
Can you post a screen shot of the conversation where the buyer agreed to ship? In the communications that have been posted, I see where the buyer asks you to hold until the following week...but I'm not seeing anywhere where he agreed to the shipping date you chose until it was already on its way; at which point he had no choice.

When shipping reptiles, newspaper is NOT considered an insulator. You did not ship through the USDA, you shipped via SYR which has extremely clear and redundant instructions for what they deem appropriate and allowable for shipping reptiles in their name.

I am not a biochemist, but I can be sure that an enclosed environment with a gecko and a 135 degree heat pack with only a few inches of separation between the two, is far too hot for the poor creature.

No matter how you spin this, you were in the wrong. Your reluctance to admit your fault in this situation does not bode well for your character or professionalism :(

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
 
So you're saying that the shipping was perfect, but in the short amount of time the animal sat in the hub that's when everything went wrong? That's about what I gathered from your typo ridden hissy fit.
 
No it was in perfect health and buyer says ok to shipping. USDA clearly rules newspaper as insulation and I received other reptiles shipped this way so I also adopted this method. I already posted that I am changing my shipping methods. Also I am a bio chemist chemist and hot hands are made with the exact ingredients the other warmers. Surface area is 135F and was nowhere near cup. Also rapping in tape prevent spiking due to contact with oxygen. If you look at package it arrives at 8AM!!!!!!! And weather DID NOT affect package or arrival time they only got 4" of snow. Buyer also did not contact in 2 hour period WITCH IS STANDARD FOR EVERY SELLER. Just a FYI reptiles do not have C1 or C2 receptors and only react to stress it due to lactic acid build-up.

Then you should know that having the same ingredients does not mean the kinetics, peak maximum, duration, and other functional aspects are identical to a proper heat pack (such as Uniheat). Mass is different. Pore size on the diffusion membrane is different. Surface area is different. Modification via wrapping in tape may change the diffusion rate, but do you know what you do not know? You do not know what that potentially altered rate is and you do not know the extent of change in the reaction kinetics (nor the actual change in peak maximum and change in duration of output).

Please explain the relevance of your mention of the complement system in this discussion as a basis for any conclusion relating to it.

Still wondering where the photos of the label for the product are, too.
 
Where are the photos you said you sent to the buyer? Post them here.

In fact, post all your communication with the buyer, as you have stated numerous times that he agreed to the shipping date, which I do not see.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
If the gecko had been properly packed, it could have sat at the hub for days before there was an issue. A couple of hours one way or another should make zero difference. Even if the max temp "only" reached 135, that's too hot for that animal. To blame the condition of the animal on a couple hours in that box is absurd. Still no pictures. No proof shipping at that time was approved by the buyer. I also don't believe that gecko was in good condition before shipping.
 
No it was in perfect health and buyer says ok to shipping. USDA clearly rules newspaper as insulation and I received other reptiles shipped this way so I also adopted this method. I already posted that I am changing my shipping methods. Also I am a bio chemist chemist and hot hands are made with the exact ingredients the other warmers. Surface area is 135F and was nowhere near cup. Also rapping in tape prevent spiking due to contact with oxygen. If you look at package it arrives at 8AM!!!!!!! And weather DID NOT affect package or arrival time they only got 4" of snow. Buyer also did not contact in 2 hour period WITCH IS STANDARD FOR EVERY SELLER. Just a FYI reptiles do not have C1 or C2 receptors and only react to stress it due to lactic acid build-up.

I don't know what you are somoking, but your not gonna blow it up my backside! Even IF you shipped the animal appropriately (and that is a WAY bigger "If" than I am gonna buy!), sitting an extra 45 minutes at the hub isn't going to account for the condition of the animal when it arrived!

MORE IMPORTANTLY:
1) Provide the emails you claim to have where the buyer agreed to shipping during a snow storm.
AND
2) Provide the emails where you sent photos of the animal to the buyer.

You claim to be in possession of these, so POST THEM. Otherwise, you are just blowing more of that smoke you seem to be smoking!

~Beau
 
No it was in perfect health and buyer says ok to shipping. USDA clearly rules newspaper as insulation and I received other reptiles shipped this way so I also adopted this method. I already posted that I am changing my shipping methods. Also I am a bio chemist chemist and hot hands are made with the exact ingredients the other warmers. Surface area is 135F and was nowhere near cup. Also rapping in tape prevent spiking due to contact with oxygen. If you look at package it arrives at 8AM!!!!!!! And weather DID NOT affect package or arrival time they only got 4" of snow. Buyer also did not contact in 2 hour period WITCH IS STANDARD FOR EVERY SELLER. Just a FYI reptiles do not have C1 or C2 receptors and only react to stress it due to lactic acid build-up.

Wow, a bio chemist chemist? Seriously?? Pulling random stuff off google and posting it like you know what you're talking about does not fool anyone here.

You are just digging the hole deeper here. There is no excuse for your shipping methods, and you can't simultaneously say that you're changing them because SYR finds them unacceptable AND argue that they are acceptable.

Acting like an adult, being professional, and admitting when you're wrong will earn you customers. Right now, I think most people will avoid you like Yersinia pestis. (google it if you missed that in bio chem chem class)
 
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