Info Reptiles Express - interesting situation

[ExoticEmporium]

As of right now we only know that a UPS hub told our customer RE is in trouble and not allowed to ship reptiles. Then took his snake and shipped it to the destination with out problems.

Just to be clear: They shipped my snake and THEN told me that RE wasn't allowed to ship. Not the other way around.

 

[Lucille]

we have only been in business about 1-1/2 months.

I understand that your business is new. However, if a valid waiver exists, UPS should know about it.

I only email copy's of our waiver to members, per owners instructions, due to the fact someone may use it for fraudulent purposes If you want to apply I will be more than happy to email it to you .

Debbie,

Did you not see that the waiver is on post 40?
It is not signed. If it is indeed a genuine document, I'm sure that UPS will validate it per my request to them.

 

[Abby]

Debbie,

Did you not see that the waiver is on post 40?
It is not signed. If it is indeed a genuine document, I'm sure that UPS will validate it per my request to them.

Lucille -

The signed version is available if you are a member. I just printed it out and it does indeed have a signature. I fully understand why RE won't post the signature or a screenshot of the full waiver on a public forum. Anyone could print it out, print a UPS label out without using RE and then claim they are verified to ship snakes/reptiles with UPS. I think RE will get this cleared up as soon as they are able. I have a feeling the UPS hub has RE confused with SYR.

 

[full_metal97]

Lucille - why are you so rude? The way you act I don't understand why anyone would ever want to do business with you. Give it a break!

 

[deborahbroadus]

Lucille - why are you so rude? The way you act I don't understand why anyone would ever want to do business with you. Give it a break!

I just slapped you for this post. You are being polite by calling Lucille rude?

Personally, I find nothing "rude" in Lucille's posts, I find her to be direct and sometimes blunt, but never rude.

Rude is a negative attitude or character trait to have; however, directness and bluntness can be refreshing and honest.

Now back on topic....

After reading all the posts and thinking about it last night. I have (personally) come to the conclusion that more evidence would be needed to "suspect" RE of attempting to create the same kind of filmsy structure that SYR seems to have done.

The fact that RE does give the document to their members seems to point at the existence of a valid contract as any of the members are able at their initiative to follow up and verify the validity of the signatures and shipping contract existence.

I am on the same page as Abby, it was probably a mix up.

Still, just to be on the safe side, I would encourage everyone to have their own shipping procedure/account set up it's always good to have back up if anything goes south with RE.

I wish them luck!

 

[Python Dreams]

I dont post much, but I thought the same thing as full-metal. Lucille seems to be "direct and blunt" to the point of rude! To a company that has come here and answered questions and has had exactly how long to get to a handle on this situation? Has let everyone know they will be getting to the bottom of this... Has explained why they dont post the sig on an open forum...
Rude seems to fit perfect.

 

[Ameivaboy]

I dont post much, but I thought the same thing as full-metal. Lucille seems to be "direct and blunt" to the point of rude! To a company that has come here and answered questions and has had exactly how long to get to a handle on this situation? Has let everyone know they will be getting to the bottom of this... Has explained why they dont post the sig on an open forum...
Rude seems to fit perfect.

Rude or blunt- doesn't matter. She's on point!

 

[ExoticEmporium]

After reading all the posts and thinking about it last night. I have (personally) come to the conclusion that more evidence would be needed to "suspect" RE of attempting to create the same kind of filmsy structure that SYR seems to have done.

The fact that RE does give the document to their members seems to point at the existence of a valid contract as any of the members are able at their initiative to follow up and verify the validity of the signatures and shipping contract existence.

I am on the same page as Abby, it was probably a mix up.

I feel the same way. RE has been incredibly professional with their approach to shipping through UPS and dealing with their customers. In my personal experience, UPS has NOT been very professional and has seemed to be rather schizophrenic in their positions. In a situation like this I'm inclined to side with the people that have presented themselves professionally and haven't jumped around on what is/isn't ok - in this case those pros are definitely RE.

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if this was a mix up on UPS's part.

 

[deborahbroadus]

I dont post much, but I thought the same thing as full-metal. Lucille seems to be "direct and blunt" to the point of rude! To a company that has come here and answered questions and has had exactly how long to get to a handle on this situation? Has let everyone know they will be getting to the bottom of this... Has explained why they dont post the sig on an open forum...
Rude seems to fit perfect.

Everyone has a different way of posting. It is nearly impossible to read a person's intentions from a quick post in a thread. We all have various ways of posting and as you get to know the people involved you will probably get a better handle on their personalities.

We also all have a right to have an opinion on a member's post. My point was...there are ways to express that opinion. Coming and calling names is not that way. THAT'S why he got slapped, and I went ahead and told him so in case he wanted to whine about it later.

I am sure that RE has a business entity has not taken offense at Lucille's directness, and attempt to get clear and concise answers to her questions. They should have experience by now fielding and answering such questions put in exactly that way. However, members having a thin skin on "someone else's" behalf isn't going to benefit anyone.

 

[TripleMoonsExotic]

Deborah, stating someone is rude is not "name calling." That's just petty that you "slapped" someone with negative karma over that. It is very rude when someone keeps demanding the official waiver when it's clearly explained on their website and in this thread who gets it and why it's handled in the manner it is. I don't give my son his way when he rolls around screaming on the ground either.

REPTILESexpress clearly has a policy in place that requires you be a verified member to have the official copy of their UPS waiver. It's meant to protect the waiver. How do any of you know if it's not a UPS requirement per their business contract? If you don't like how they're running things, simply don't use their service.

 

[Python Dreams]

I have actually been impressed with how RE has handled this situation. To have a customer service rep and owner show up in a thread, explain their situation, ask for information on the negative aspects of the hub, and expect to take action if possible! Seems great.
I really dont have thin skin at all. Slapping someone for being "on point" could be thought of as thin skin also, which is what made me reply. I was thinking the same thing he was and you slapped the guy! Was way too violent!

 

[JudyC]

I understand that your business is new. However, if a valid waiver exists, UPS should know about it.

Lucille, this is the part of your argument that I simply don't understand. Since when does "UPS know" anything? We've seen time and time again how one hand of that company has no idea what the other hand is doing. And we're talking about hundreds of hands (hubs) here. "UPS" isn't an individual that should be or could be aware of anything at all. It's a disjointed, dysfunctional corporation that can't keep it's own rules straight.

I find it entirely plausible that some individual at some level of management just KNEW the document was a fake and therefore said something to someone and that someone ended up calling the OP to pass that information along as fact.....when, in fact, this person was just a mid-level manager that had no idea what sort of deals upper management was making.

I completely understand the paranoia about a deal like this with ANY company, based on this history of repster and SYR. But at this point, RE hasn't given us any reason (that I can see) to not take their word. And even if they did post that signature, as you keep demanding...what would that prove to you? There's obviously a signature involved. Showing a copy of it online wouldn't prove it's real or fake...but it might, indeed, jeopardize the integrity of their waiver letter by allowing someone else to make a fake copy of the sig.

 

[deborahbroadus]

Deborah, stating someone is rude is not "name calling." That's just petty that you "slapped" someone with negative karma over that. It is very rude when someone keeps demanding the official waiver when it's clearly explained on their website and in this thread who gets it and why it's handled in the manner it is. I don't give my son his way when he rolls around screaming on the ground either.

REPTILESexpress clearly has a policy in place that requires you be a verified member to have the official copy of their UPS waiver. It's meant to protect the waiver. How do any of you know if it's not a UPS requirement per their business contract? If you don't like how they're running things, simply don't use their service.

Sigh...are we here to debate the validity of their contract or not? Lucille has a right to ask questions, however she wants to ask them. She also has the right to have her questions answered politely (as RE has done) Members need (IMO) to focus on the issues and not become personal.

To me calling someone rude (Why are you so RUDE?) is calling them a name. "You are rude!" However it's put. There was nothing "petty" about it, but you are welcome to your opinion.

IMO: When we start calling each other Rude, Stupid, whatever, it's name calling. it's off topic and it doesn't address the issues involved.

 

[TripleMoonsExotic]

Deborah, you brought yourself up for criticism when you publicly did the same to someone else and bragged about giving them negative karma. To now tell me to stay on topic is hypocritical.

I have no worries about the validity of the contract. I do have serious concerns that UPS is mixing this company up with SYR and lower management is taking it upon themselves to make calls on things they shouldn't be.

 

[rabernet]

Deborah, stating someone is rude is not "name calling." That's just petty that you "slapped" someone with negative karma over that. It is very rude when someone keeps demanding the official waiver when it's clearly explained on their website and in this thread who gets it and why it's handled in the manner it is. I don't give my son his way when he rolls around screaming on the ground either.

REPTILESexpress clearly has a policy in place that requires you be a verified member to have the official copy of their UPS waiver. It's meant to protect the waiver. How do any of you know if it's not a UPS requirement per their business contract? If you don't like how they're running things, simply don't use their service.

Agreed - I didn't see any name calling and found Deb's "announcement" that she had slapped him was petty. It makes it look like you're trying to "sheriff" the thread from where I sit.

 

[coldbloodedcages]

Thanks for the support Stephanie and I agree. I think if a few on the people posting on this thread would actually apply for a membership they would see how we do things and would have access to all of our support documents. Being a member does not require you to ever do business with RE. It way help clear up a few issues for some. Posting about RE without actually going through the process or going business with us makes it tuff to understand how we do things. I fully support Ross for publicly stating his concerns and his experience with RE. I have posted in many threads that I want feedback good or bad. Most has been positive (until now). That is the only way RE can become a better company. It was just 1 problem with a hub that will be corrected. Our reps have already contacted the person in charge of that pedicular hub. I have asked Ross for a copy of his call log showing the number and time he received this call. That info will be given to our rep so we can prevent these problems in the future. This is still a work in process and a long road ahead before UPS will be comfortable shipping snakes.

 

[Shadera]

If it is indeed a genuine document, I'm sure that UPS will validate it per my request to them.

This is the part I have issue with, not the being blunt or honest part. Not a customer of the service, but for some reason is convinced it's her business to contact UPS about this. And why can we not give RE a chance to do handle this situation on their own before we all run crying to UPS demanding answers? Do we really think that will help our cause? Why are some people so dead set on bringing RE down when they've been nothing but professional and patient? Is UPS really going to give this information to someone not involved in the company?

fwiw - announcing you've given someone negative karma is about as bad as the people who whine for receiving it.

 

[brandonsthaman]

I have to say I'm impressed at how RE has handled this situation. There are two people from RE taking time to come here to answer questions. They both seem to respect the BOI and it's purpose; unlike some of the other guys.

I've seen comparisons of BOI to a court of law, with the people who ask questions being the jury. I like (and agree) with this analogy. I think in this situation, given RE's participation in this and other threads, maybe we should go with the innocent until proven guilty ideal, instead of the other way around...

 

[chamgirl99471]

RE has answered Lucille's questions professionally and I'm sure they aren't offended by them as she did bring up some valid points, however.. trying to demand that they post the waiver with signature without being a customer of the service isn't going to happen. That waiver with signature is a perk of doing business with them. They have been nothing but professional and, in my opinion, are trying to better their business by receiving the negative comments that some UPS employees and HUBs are causing us to post! This is a new business and I'm sure that things will run more smoothly once things get ironed out. I myself have access to that waiver and print it out with every shipment I make whether it be geckos, turtles or snakes just to be on the safe side. Thanks Brendon and Debbie for trying to clear this up. You two Rock and I won't hesitate to use your sevices for my future shipments. I am now in the process of getting certified FedEx just in case but until that time comes that I Have to use them or a customer requests it.. I will be shipping through ReptilesExpress.

Just my opinion and thanks for reading

 

[hhmoore]

announcing you've given someone negative karma is about as bad as the people who whine for receiving it.

I was just about to make a similar comment...
Let's also try to minimize the interpersonal stuff - there's no need to add drama on the sidelines when the people involved (the OP and Reptile Express) aren't bringing it to the table.