OMG, just read through all this and couldn't believe it!!! Yeah, Adam should tuck tale and run, sounds like Michael was more than reasonable and went above and beyond to sort the problem out. Let me tell you what a 'bad guy' really is: I live in Northern Ireland and last September, I bought an 18 month old burmese python het albino from a shop in England. When he arrived he was in a terrible state - severely dehydrated, extremely underweight (basically a bag of loose skin and bones), covered all over his body in rough patches of layers of retained scaled from previous bad sheds and a very sorry sight to behold!!! I immediately weighed him (425g), stuck him in a lookwarm bath of dechlorinated water for a good soak, dipping his head under to encourage him to drink, got him into his vivarium and was straight on the phone to first of all my reptile vet, and second a freind that has kept burmese amongst other things for nearly 30 years to ask for their advice. My vet told me that from my detailed description, he sounded to be in a very bad way and that 425g was seriously underweight and my friend agreed saying that a burm of that age should be pushing on for 2kg. Armed with the opinions of both my vet and my friend, I phoned the shop to complain. The guy in charge tried to tell me that there was nothing wrong with him!!! Disagreed with him being underweight, saying that although their animals were all fed on a 'maintenance diet' rather than a proper diet that we would feed at home, his weight of 425g was not a problem. He asked me to get my vet to ring him, wich I did, but even after a conversation with him, he still tried to disagree saying that all of his animals were regularly checked by a his vet that he has been using for years. He offered to arrange a collection for the Tuesday (which was five days after he had been delivered) so that I could return him to the shop saying that all collections/deliveries were fully booked up until Tuesday, AND he wanted me to pay for the collection. I told him that I wasnt willing to pay for the collection as it was his responsibility, and that the animal was in no fit state to travel anyway, but that I felt it was only fair that he refunded part of the money that I had paid for the snake (£125). He offered to refund £30 to me on the condition that I sent in writing to him that I would make no further complaint even if the animal died, that I would not discuss the matter further with anyone, and that that would be an end to it and he would hear nothing more about it. I refused to do this saying that I was not willing to negate him of all responsibility for the sake of £30, and that he should make the refund anyway as a gesture of good will - I even offered to email a picture of the snake to him showing the terrible condition he was in. However, he just started to ignore me after this and I have not heard from him since, or seen any money refunded. THIS ALL HAPPENED WITHIN HOURS OF THE SNAKES ARRIVAL... NOT 10 DAYS+ AFTERWARDS!!! Luckily, with a lot of tlc and proper care my burm, Cillian, is now doing really well and you would not know that he was the same snake. Now this is what a bad guy looks like - not someone with a great reputation (even on the other side of the Atlantic), who replaces an animal at minimal cost 10 days later without any payment up front!!!
Unfortunately this is becoming common practice, as of late People trying to get something for nothing and when they cant get what they want, Lets just trash someones good name.It makes you wonder who's next and the future of this hobby/business. Adam, You are totally wrong for starting this Post, you dug yourself a hole that you may not be able to pull yourself out.But good luck trying.... 
