Anthony Chodan
Old School Member
John came off as a very nice guy and he may be, but I cannot recommend him. I bought some pines from John that he posted on ks. He sent me some pics of his stock, and I picked out 2 of them. He was super fast to respond to my emails (within minutes) as we made our deal. I paypaled $290 on 10/26 for 2 yearling northern pines shipped. This is VERY expensive for pines, but they were beautiful.
When I received the yearlings, they were very small for yearling pines (~24"), thin (not skinny), and at least one of them was different. One of the snakes I picked out was a VERY high white animal, and it was not in the box. I immediately e-mailed John and told him of my disappointment with the snakes' size and the fact that at least one of the snakes was different. I call this a bait and switch. John told me that he mis-sexed the high white snake so he sent a replacement for it. This made no sense to me, and I could not understand why I was not contacted prior to him making this decision.
Long story short, I asked John for a $90 partial refund for the sub-par snakes I received. He told me he would refund me $75 for the mishap. I agreed so that I could be done with the deal on 11/11. John's e-mail responses ended up taking longer and longer as I asked him about the money. He told me he ran into some problems with weather, power outages, and money shortages (all of which may have been legit). I took these in stride. However, I felt like I was being taken for a sucker when I saw that John was actively posting ads on ks when he had stopped responding to my emails for a few days after last telling me he had no money in his paypal (unacceptable to me). I finally had enough and feared that John was trying to stretch this out so that I would not be covered by Paypal's 45 day time limit. I initiated a Paypal dispute requesting $75 on 11/27 and was SHOCKED that within hours, the money was paid.
All in all, I got 2 nice (not amazing) pines for $215 shipped. I think its a shame because I believe John and I could have done future business. However, this transaction has left a bad taste in my mouth, and I cannot, in good conscience, recommend him to others due to the facts that I received different animals than were promised to me and getting a promised partial refund was a hassle.
When I received the yearlings, they were very small for yearling pines (~24"), thin (not skinny), and at least one of them was different. One of the snakes I picked out was a VERY high white animal, and it was not in the box. I immediately e-mailed John and told him of my disappointment with the snakes' size and the fact that at least one of the snakes was different. I call this a bait and switch. John told me that he mis-sexed the high white snake so he sent a replacement for it. This made no sense to me, and I could not understand why I was not contacted prior to him making this decision.
Long story short, I asked John for a $90 partial refund for the sub-par snakes I received. He told me he would refund me $75 for the mishap. I agreed so that I could be done with the deal on 11/11. John's e-mail responses ended up taking longer and longer as I asked him about the money. He told me he ran into some problems with weather, power outages, and money shortages (all of which may have been legit). I took these in stride. However, I felt like I was being taken for a sucker when I saw that John was actively posting ads on ks when he had stopped responding to my emails for a few days after last telling me he had no money in his paypal (unacceptable to me). I finally had enough and feared that John was trying to stretch this out so that I would not be covered by Paypal's 45 day time limit. I initiated a Paypal dispute requesting $75 on 11/27 and was SHOCKED that within hours, the money was paid.
All in all, I got 2 nice (not amazing) pines for $215 shipped. I think its a shame because I believe John and I could have done future business. However, this transaction has left a bad taste in my mouth, and I cannot, in good conscience, recommend him to others due to the facts that I received different animals than were promised to me and getting a promised partial refund was a hassle.