I tried to buy a snake from this guy several months ago. Luckily he showed his true colors to me before I sent him any money. I had just bought an adult male water python a couple of weeks earlier at a show. I figured I'd have a hard time finding a female for him, but then I saw an ad he had up for an adult female.
I e-mailed him several times about the snake, and I was prepared to buy it. Then I noticed one thing--I had no idea who the guy actually was. Here are some of the last few e-mails we exchanged (warning--his get pretty graphic at the end):
Me:
Ok, I'd like to get her. One thing, though, I don't even know your name as you haven't mentioned it in any of your e-mails. How would you like me to pay you?
Jake
Him:
You can do paypal through this email address
[email protected] or send a money order to Northwest Florida Herpetological 903 w. tharpe st Tallahassee FL. 32303
Me:
Sorry I haven't had a chance to respond to your e-mail until now. I've been out of town. In my last e-mail I said, "One thing, though, I don't even know your name as you haven't mentioned it in any of your e-mails." I don't if you missed this part of my e-mail.
I would really like to get this snake, but to be honest with you I'm pretty apprehensive about sending money to people I don't know. This is further compounded by the fact that I still don't even know to whom I'd be sending money.
If you could put my mind at ease, and help reassure me that I won't get ripped off, I'd like to buy this snake from you.
Thanks again,
Jake Milbradt
Him:
I responded to your email shortly after you sent it. I said you could paypal the payment to this email address
[email protected] or you could send a money order to Northwest Florida Herpetological 903 w. tharpe st. Tallahassee FL. 32303 That's who you're sending money to this isn't just a jack*ss selling one snake online it's a business that's the name the bank account is under and paypal. We ship animals all l over the world and I assure you I wouldn't put my reputation at stake over a water python not to mention people who rip people off don't last very long in the business. If I remember correctly you mentioned you were either in FL or close by so I'm sure you could find someone who knows the business or if you're that uncomfortable with doing business online perhaps just stick to shows or petshops but in my experience I've had a touch of badluck with all of those methods almost equally.
Me:
First of all, I never said you didn't respond to my e-mail. I received your response telling me where I could send money, but totally ignoring my question about what your name was.
As for my location, I don't live in FL. I live in Kansas. I've never heard of your business before. You said you wouldn't put your reputation at stake by ripping someone off. How could ripping someone off hurt your reputation when you don't even give your name out? I could easily register on kingsnake as "Southcentral Kansas Herpetology" and refuse to give my name out to potential customers. Then when someone sent me money, I could screw them over, change my business name on kingsnake, and start all over again.
You should look at this from my perspective. You may think you have an outstanding reputation and you say you ship snakes all over the world. Like I said before, though, I've never heard of you in my 17 years of reptile-keeping. Do you have a website? Do you have references? Do you have any other evidence to actually prove to me that you are, as you say, a legitimate business besides a few ads on kingsnake and a paypal account?
I don't understand why you would make it so hard for someone to give you money. All I wanted was a little reassurance that I wasn't going to be totally screwed over.
One last thought--you said "this isn't just a jack*ss selling one snake online it's a business." I don't know what could have given me an impression like that--oh wait, maybe it was your total lack of professionalism in your e-mails, your horrendous punctuation, or the pics of the snake in someone's BATHTUB.
Jake
Him:
Haha you're such an ignorant pr*ck it hurts maybe thats why I don't pass out my name or hmmm oh yeah it's a goddamned actual f*cking business and anybody can respond to your emails dumb*ss. Now if it wasn't a for real business why would I say make a money order out to it? Obviously you can't cash amoney order if it's in a fictitious name unless that name is registered and you have a tax id you jack*ss. So in closing read before you write and I assure you in your oh so glamourous awe inspiring 17 years of reptile keeping you haven't met everyone so you turly showed your ignorance there. I could name 50 people off the top of my head who have been in this business since the 70's that I'm sure you've never heard of b ecause they wouldn't waste their time with a juvenile c**ksucker like yourself but hey by all means have a nice day.
Once again, sorry for the graphic nature of his e-mails. If they're against the TOS, then a moderator will hopefully edit them accordingly. Like someone else said earlier, I tried looking up his info on this site, but there was nothing positive or negative. I thought about posting this earlier on here, but decided against it since we never ended up having a transaction. It's sort of funny, though--I still never found out his name until I saw this thread.
Jake
