• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Northwest Reptiles are proving to be rip offs

K

Ken Foose

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I know this is not a herp matter, but the company is called Northwest Reptiles, and since they deal mainly with herps I thought a warning and complaint here was justified.
I purchased 5 Virginia Opossums from Olivier Allen-Moi representing Northwest Reptiles in July. I had originally asked for 10, but he told me he was down to 5 of them. I agreed to purchase them all. I over nighted a postal money order to him in the amount of $640, $500 for the opossums, $125 for shipping, and $15 for a health certificate, which is required by most airlines for shipping of mammals. He told me he's ship as soon as he received the payment. He got the payment the next day, and told me he'd ship the following day. It took me two weeks of emails and phone calls before he did finally ship the animals to me. I recommend Continental Airlines as Delta has a heat embargo for shipments of mammals coming into and out of Las Vegas, and Continental is one of the few airlines that will ship live mammals in this heat. Delta still ships herps into and out of Vegas with no problem.
I received a call from Delta letting me know that I had a shipment waiting for me to pick up. I thought it was some herps someone was sending me, as I get shipments from them all the time. Much to my dismay, it was the opossums. I saw the shippers name, and knew who it was right away. They were in a wooden box marked live reptiles. I made a quick getaway and took the box back to the store. When I opened it, I found 4 very hot but alive Virginia Opossums in the box. I called Olivier within minutes and he explained that the shipments had been mixed up and I was sent the wrong box. I asked him how this could be since I had ordered all the opossum he had. He could not explain. He then stated that my box should have also had a bunch of reptiles in it, and he'd like me to send them back. The only thing in the box were 4 opossum. I told him I wanted my $100 back for the shortage, and I want my $15 that I paid for a health certificate that was not sent with the animals. He agreed to pay me. That was about 3 weeks ago, and I have had no refund. I would normally wait much longer to post this here, but I'm emailed him many times, and have called his number many times, with no response. I think I'm being ignored. So here I am. The full name and contact info for this place is:
Northwest Reptiles
Olivier Allen-Moi
11922 152ND St. CT E.
Puyallup, WA 98374
253-377-2960
If you ever deal with this company or person, don't pay for anything up front. Just my advice.
Ken
 
Ken,
This guy is a well known scumbag in our neck of the woods here. i have known of his ways on a local level for years. He was booted from our yearly herp show up here. It is purely my specualtion for my reasons only but I don't beleive he had documentation on those....he probably trapped them locally as these buggers have been running thick from hunger and thirst this summer all over the Pacific NW.
Sorry for your loss.

Yasser
 
Sorry you got burned in this one Mr. Foose.
This scum is proof that some thieves can keep on running for years and years in spite of the negative press they get.
Sadly not everyone checks the BOI before spending their hard earned dollars so guys like this can continue to sucker in new prey.
 
Thanks very much for the responses. I'm not really out any real money. I just had to list the opossums at a bit higher price to compensate for the missing animal. He did send me USDA paperwork stating they were captive bred, but of course that could have been a lie, easy enough to do. I'm going to keep emailing him, everyday. And I'll be telling everyone I know what a scumbag he is. I know a few people. More then likely won't make any difference, but what the heck.
Ken
 
Ken Foose said:
I know this is not a herp matter, but the company is called Northwest Reptiles, and since they deal mainly with herps I thought a warning and complaint here was justified.
I purchased 5 Virginia Opossums from Olivier Allen-Moi representing Northwest Reptiles in July. I had originally asked for 10, but he told me he was down to 5 of them. I agreed to purchase them all. I over nighted a postal money order to him in the amount of $640, $500 for the opossums, $125 for shipping, and $15 for a health certificate, which is required by most airlines for shipping of mammals. He told me he's ship as soon as he received the payment. He got the payment the next day, and told me he'd ship the following day. It took me two weeks of emails and phone calls before he did finally ship the animals to me. I recommend Continental Airlines as Delta has a heat embargo for shipments of mammals coming into and out of Las Vegas, and Continental is one of the few airlines that will ship live mammals in this heat. Delta still ships herps into and out of Vegas with no problem.
I received a call from Delta letting me know that I had a shipment waiting for me to pick up. I thought it was some herps someone was sending me, as I get shipments from them all the time. Much to my dismay, it was the opossums. I saw the shippers name, and knew who it was right away. They were in a wooden box marked live reptiles. I made a quick getaway and took the box back to the store. When I opened it, I found 4 very hot but alive Virginia Opossums in the box. I called Olivier within minutes and he explained that the shipments had been mixed up and I was sent the wrong box. I asked him how this could be since I had ordered all the opossum he had. He could not explain. He then stated that my box should have also had a bunch of reptiles in it, and he'd like me to send them back. The only thing in the box were 4 opossum. I told him I wanted my $100 back for the shortage, and I want my $15 that I paid for a health certificate that was not sent with the animals. He agreed to pay me. That was about 3 weeks ago, and I have had no refund. I would normally wait much longer to post this here, but I'm emailed him many times, and have called his number many times, with no response. I think I'm being ignored. So here I am. The full name and contact info for this place is:
Northwest Reptiles
Olivier Allen-Moi
11922 152ND St. CT E.
Puyallup, WA 98374
253-377-2960
If you ever deal with this company or person, don't pay for anything up front. Just my advice.
Ken
Click to expand...
Many thanks for sharing this info, Ken. I'm seriously afraid Olivier is still trying to do this.
 
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