NJHerpetologist
New member
Let me start off by saying I feel like this is MY fault for not listening to other people and threads, but here goes my story....
Matthew Oakley had an ad on Kingsnake for a $375.00 Lipstick Sunglow that looked amazing. I sent him an email asking about the snake and shipping. He responded with the prices and everything almost immediately. Then, I ran an inquiry on him and saw almost only bad things on him for shipping methods and a story of mites on his animal too. So I wrote back and told him although I'd love to buy your snake from you after the inquiry I ran on you I rather stay away and apologized. He then wrote this back to me:
From: Matthew Oakley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, November 14, 2010 1:20 PM
To: Patrick Rodrigues
Subject: Re: Reply to ad
Thanks and I understand, in the past 6-7 years (I started breeding when I was 17) I've had about 1000 herp related transactions and 5 or less people have complained on the net about. I really dont see that as bad. When i was younger I didnt know they correct way to do everything as I had no experienced breeder to teach me, but over time have learned. I can guarantee you im one of the most knowledgable people youve talked to when it comes to animals. I also have an awesome collection which you can search me on facebook to see. Everyone has has someone complain about them sometime or another but I always do what I feel is fair, I've even had customers express they weren't satisfied, done exactly what they asked me to and they've still gone online and complained about the transaction. Everyone is always quick to criticize and no one is quick to stand up for you. I just got emails with people telling me they agree with me but are afraid to post because they'll be attacked also.
This is a great animal as can be seen from his pics and he's perfect. I've never done this before, but if you want him and feel like you're taking a chance I'd be willing to send him to you for $150. If he is not as I've descriped him he's yours for that. If I did accurately describe him then you send me the total balance for him. This way i'm the one taking the chance and not you. Then feel free to post of the transaction. If you're not interested in this no problem.
Thanks,
Matt
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After reading something like that you think man let me give this guy a shot. So I did. Let's start with shipping. I know Shipyourreptiles.com is down right now in shipping snakes so he had no way of getting the snake to me. He then offered to send it through UPS direct because he's done it a couple times before and everything went well. He said he's deliver as close to 5:00PM as possible and the snake would get to me before 10:30AM. I was a little weary on this because it's illegal to ship through ups without using SYR or ReptileExpress but I trusted his judgement since he is a "breeder". Well he sent me the package "Next Day Air Saver" which means, yes, it gets to me next day but NOT before 10:30AM as promised. Well it got to me at 5:00PM. 12 hours on the road with 38 degree temperature that day. Luckily the snake was alive and looked very responsive. He did bite me though because I'm sure he was stressed. Let me add packaged perfectly, but still late. So I put him in my enclosure that was already all set up for him and I had to leave the house for a couple hours. I get back to re-examine him and notice MITES! I admit I freaked out. I never had mites in any of my snakes and at the time he was alongside my collection. I quarantined him immediately and notified Matthew at 10:00PM. No answer until 2:00PM the next day stating that he never noticed mites on him so it couldn't be that many. He also said that mites "will not affect this animal" and it couldn't of came from him because he was quarantined. When in fact he was NOT. He sent me a video of the snake feeding in a rack system along with other snakes. He asked me what I wanted to do and that he'd help me work things out. I notified him that I would not pay the second amount in full because I had to buy PAM $28 and he doesn't deserve the full amount for a sick animal. He asked me how much would I like to give him I never gave him a number I want to see the snakes progress after I received PAM and apply it to his enclosure. I texted him 2 days ago to talk about the mites he said he was reffing a tournament and would call me back and never did. My how his responsiveness has slowed down ever since I told him the snake had mites. What a surprise.
Matthew has a very professional approach and is very responsive, but he clearly does not care for his animals well being. With my story and past threads on him he doesn't care for the animals safety in transportation and this will be another account of his animal having mites. I feel that this is my fault for not listening to my gut instinct, but at least I have the opportunity to nurse this beautiful animal to good health. Everyone be advised
Matthew Oakley had an ad on Kingsnake for a $375.00 Lipstick Sunglow that looked amazing. I sent him an email asking about the snake and shipping. He responded with the prices and everything almost immediately. Then, I ran an inquiry on him and saw almost only bad things on him for shipping methods and a story of mites on his animal too. So I wrote back and told him although I'd love to buy your snake from you after the inquiry I ran on you I rather stay away and apologized. He then wrote this back to me:
From: Matthew Oakley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, November 14, 2010 1:20 PM
To: Patrick Rodrigues
Subject: Re: Reply to ad
Thanks and I understand, in the past 6-7 years (I started breeding when I was 17) I've had about 1000 herp related transactions and 5 or less people have complained on the net about. I really dont see that as bad. When i was younger I didnt know they correct way to do everything as I had no experienced breeder to teach me, but over time have learned. I can guarantee you im one of the most knowledgable people youve talked to when it comes to animals. I also have an awesome collection which you can search me on facebook to see. Everyone has has someone complain about them sometime or another but I always do what I feel is fair, I've even had customers express they weren't satisfied, done exactly what they asked me to and they've still gone online and complained about the transaction. Everyone is always quick to criticize and no one is quick to stand up for you. I just got emails with people telling me they agree with me but are afraid to post because they'll be attacked also.
This is a great animal as can be seen from his pics and he's perfect. I've never done this before, but if you want him and feel like you're taking a chance I'd be willing to send him to you for $150. If he is not as I've descriped him he's yours for that. If I did accurately describe him then you send me the total balance for him. This way i'm the one taking the chance and not you. Then feel free to post of the transaction. If you're not interested in this no problem.
Thanks,
Matt
----------------------
After reading something like that you think man let me give this guy a shot. So I did. Let's start with shipping. I know Shipyourreptiles.com is down right now in shipping snakes so he had no way of getting the snake to me. He then offered to send it through UPS direct because he's done it a couple times before and everything went well. He said he's deliver as close to 5:00PM as possible and the snake would get to me before 10:30AM. I was a little weary on this because it's illegal to ship through ups without using SYR or ReptileExpress but I trusted his judgement since he is a "breeder". Well he sent me the package "Next Day Air Saver" which means, yes, it gets to me next day but NOT before 10:30AM as promised. Well it got to me at 5:00PM. 12 hours on the road with 38 degree temperature that day. Luckily the snake was alive and looked very responsive. He did bite me though because I'm sure he was stressed. Let me add packaged perfectly, but still late. So I put him in my enclosure that was already all set up for him and I had to leave the house for a couple hours. I get back to re-examine him and notice MITES! I admit I freaked out. I never had mites in any of my snakes and at the time he was alongside my collection. I quarantined him immediately and notified Matthew at 10:00PM. No answer until 2:00PM the next day stating that he never noticed mites on him so it couldn't be that many. He also said that mites "will not affect this animal" and it couldn't of came from him because he was quarantined. When in fact he was NOT. He sent me a video of the snake feeding in a rack system along with other snakes. He asked me what I wanted to do and that he'd help me work things out. I notified him that I would not pay the second amount in full because I had to buy PAM $28 and he doesn't deserve the full amount for a sick animal. He asked me how much would I like to give him I never gave him a number I want to see the snakes progress after I received PAM and apply it to his enclosure. I texted him 2 days ago to talk about the mites he said he was reffing a tournament and would call me back and never did. My how his responsiveness has slowed down ever since I told him the snake had mites. What a surprise.
Matthew has a very professional approach and is very responsive, but he clearly does not care for his animals well being. With my story and past threads on him he doesn't care for the animals safety in transportation and this will be another account of his animal having mites. I feel that this is my fault for not listening to my gut instinct, but at least I have the opportunity to nurse this beautiful animal to good health. Everyone be advised
