Dan Scolaro
New member
Luc Cauthorn (son) and Matt Cauthorn (father) of Leaburg, Oregon aka Mckenzie_river_reptiles are bad buyers who attempted to extort monies from my reptile sales company.
In October 2007, Luc requested to purchase four, ten to twelve inch long, captive born yearling 2006 (gender not guaranteed per the ad) pink tongue skinks, and a deposit was received the first week in November 2007. The terms of purchase were "live arrival guaranteed when delivered on time with express delivery service". Despite efforts to get the skinks paid for by December as agreed, I held the skinks for 4 months until final payment was made February 25th, 2008. The skinks were feeding great on snails and were quite healthy and robust. They were shipped on a warm day at their location, and although there was a shipper delay, Luc reported they arrived alive and fine. This fulfilled my companies terms of purchase regardless of the shipper error which obviously voided any further guarantees.
The next day, Luc was anxious to report that one of the skinks seemed a bit dehydrated from the obvious unfortunate shipper delay. Again, despite the purchase terms of live arrival were met and the company had no further obligation, I was kind to extend the companies guarantee to include an additional free skink this summer when I expected to receive more babies from the breeder. And this generous offer was made regardless of the positive outcome expected of the specimen that he reported as a bit dehydrated, and despite they were all fat and quite healthy here just a few days earlier. Luc responded to be quite pleased with the offer since it was well beyond the terms of the purchase and would provide him an additional free skink.
Several days or a couple weeks past and Luc informed that all of the skinks were all feeding well but the dehydrated one was not eating as much as the others which were a bit larger anyway as they were from a different bloodline. He also reported (without consultation with me or a vet) that he took it upon himself to decided to force feed the skink. I responded that force feeding was a risky course of action and recommended that he be patient and allow the skink to continue to feed on its own as they eat very little anyway. Luc responded to my suggestions that he was quite experienced in such matters with skinks and was confident with his techniques. A few days later, Luc emailed that he made a mistake and overfed the skink and it died. I offered my condolences/sorrows and again said that I would extend the companies guarantee and would provide him another free specimen this summer. Luc responded he was satisfied with the generous offer which again was beyond the companies guarantee.
Weeks later, Luc emailed to voice that he viewed another vendor's advertisement of 2006 skinks, and they appeared somewhat larger to him. I reinforced that the ones he received from my company developed quite normally and fantastic for that matter, and were well developed to be ten to twelve inches long in only 16 months age. Luc followed with immature and nasty emails making reckless charges of sick skinks and made outrageous demands to acquire a 2006 specimen despite my extended guarantee was only for a new born specimen or 2007 specimen. I reminded Luc of the terms and my generous offer but Luc kept emailing nasty writings, and I was nice to ask him several times to cease his nasty wordings of his emails. Luc refused and continued to harass/insult and I was forced to block his email and retract the kind offer of an additional free skink. Luc's father, Matt Cauthorn, emailed to tell me he was some big shot in real estate and the reptile business and made additional threats to include legal suites, references to robbing my collection to threaten and extort money for the skink. After much harassment, and despite I should have told both the father and son to take a flying leap in a lake, I informed the father (Matt) that I would reconsider a free skink this summer when I receive them from the breeder.
Regardless of the kind offer and future reconsideration, they started a bad guy thread under my name in a reckless and poor attempt to harm my companies reputation.
From dealing with them, it appears that both Luc and Matt Cauthorn are somewhat skilled at intimidation tactics/harassment techniques/extortion. It is strongly recommend that anyone wishing to buy/sell anything from them to proceed with extreme caution as their business methods are nasty, vicious, and its a sure bet they will try to use such nasty techniques when buying/selling their animals.
Dan Scolaro
DTS HERPS, INC
In October 2007, Luc requested to purchase four, ten to twelve inch long, captive born yearling 2006 (gender not guaranteed per the ad) pink tongue skinks, and a deposit was received the first week in November 2007. The terms of purchase were "live arrival guaranteed when delivered on time with express delivery service". Despite efforts to get the skinks paid for by December as agreed, I held the skinks for 4 months until final payment was made February 25th, 2008. The skinks were feeding great on snails and were quite healthy and robust. They were shipped on a warm day at their location, and although there was a shipper delay, Luc reported they arrived alive and fine. This fulfilled my companies terms of purchase regardless of the shipper error which obviously voided any further guarantees.
The next day, Luc was anxious to report that one of the skinks seemed a bit dehydrated from the obvious unfortunate shipper delay. Again, despite the purchase terms of live arrival were met and the company had no further obligation, I was kind to extend the companies guarantee to include an additional free skink this summer when I expected to receive more babies from the breeder. And this generous offer was made regardless of the positive outcome expected of the specimen that he reported as a bit dehydrated, and despite they were all fat and quite healthy here just a few days earlier. Luc responded to be quite pleased with the offer since it was well beyond the terms of the purchase and would provide him an additional free skink.
Several days or a couple weeks past and Luc informed that all of the skinks were all feeding well but the dehydrated one was not eating as much as the others which were a bit larger anyway as they were from a different bloodline. He also reported (without consultation with me or a vet) that he took it upon himself to decided to force feed the skink. I responded that force feeding was a risky course of action and recommended that he be patient and allow the skink to continue to feed on its own as they eat very little anyway. Luc responded to my suggestions that he was quite experienced in such matters with skinks and was confident with his techniques. A few days later, Luc emailed that he made a mistake and overfed the skink and it died. I offered my condolences/sorrows and again said that I would extend the companies guarantee and would provide him another free specimen this summer. Luc responded he was satisfied with the generous offer which again was beyond the companies guarantee.
Weeks later, Luc emailed to voice that he viewed another vendor's advertisement of 2006 skinks, and they appeared somewhat larger to him. I reinforced that the ones he received from my company developed quite normally and fantastic for that matter, and were well developed to be ten to twelve inches long in only 16 months age. Luc followed with immature and nasty emails making reckless charges of sick skinks and made outrageous demands to acquire a 2006 specimen despite my extended guarantee was only for a new born specimen or 2007 specimen. I reminded Luc of the terms and my generous offer but Luc kept emailing nasty writings, and I was nice to ask him several times to cease his nasty wordings of his emails. Luc refused and continued to harass/insult and I was forced to block his email and retract the kind offer of an additional free skink. Luc's father, Matt Cauthorn, emailed to tell me he was some big shot in real estate and the reptile business and made additional threats to include legal suites, references to robbing my collection to threaten and extort money for the skink. After much harassment, and despite I should have told both the father and son to take a flying leap in a lake, I informed the father (Matt) that I would reconsider a free skink this summer when I receive them from the breeder.
Regardless of the kind offer and future reconsideration, they started a bad guy thread under my name in a reckless and poor attempt to harm my companies reputation.
From dealing with them, it appears that both Luc and Matt Cauthorn are somewhat skilled at intimidation tactics/harassment techniques/extortion. It is strongly recommend that anyone wishing to buy/sell anything from them to proceed with extreme caution as their business methods are nasty, vicious, and its a sure bet they will try to use such nasty techniques when buying/selling their animals.
Dan Scolaro
DTS HERPS, INC
Esspecialy because he has no evidence just what he says, unlike me who supported all my statements. 
