Reptster.com experience with show sponsorship not good

[ArpeggioAngel]

Are we going to need to have a moderator give access to the BOI to make sure people LISTEN to the full name rule!?

Please post your full name after each post, or contact Rich, the owner of this site (Webslave) OR a Super mod to change it in your profile for you. They are in Dark Blue.

Ok - relax....
After I posted that I recalled reading something earlier in the thread about full names and was just toying around with my profile to try to fix the problem. My apologies - I was not trying to be a rule breaker....but no need to get nasty about it.

Katie Haluska

 

[KathyLove]

I should mention that he did not ask me to post anything at all about our conversation. I asked if it is ok to post what we discussed, or post emails, and he said fine, do whatever I want with them. I don't want anyone to think he asked me to plead his case here. Maybe he assumed I would, maybe not. I don't know. But he did not ask me to.

 

[Mooing Tricycle]

Ok - relax....
After I posted that I recalled reading something earlier in the thread about full names and was just toying around with my profile to try to fix the problem. My apologies - I was not trying to be a rule breaker....but no need to get nasty about it.

Katie Haluska

Thanks! Theres been about... Three different people in the past few hours that did not read the rules. ( Three of a grand total of "six" were actually one person....*sigh* )

 

[ArpeggioAngel]

I should mention that he did not ask me to post anything at all about our conversation. I asked if it is ok to post what we discussed, or post emails, and he said fine, do whatever I want with them. I don't want anyone to think he asked me to plead his case here. Maybe he assumed I would, maybe not. I don't know. But he did not ask me to.

I imagine that knowing the type of good-hearted person that you are Kathy that he pretty much knew you would post about your conversation. I would almost bet that he was counting on it. I really hate to think that you are being taken advantage of here - but I honestly believe that to be the case.

 

[LakesideBoas]

I have always though Kathy Love was a class act. Now I see she has a big heart as well. Those of you that know her personally have a gift in her friendship. David's actions will not change my feelings about her.

Lady, you are wonderful!

 

[KathyLove]

Well, it is not as though I am going to run out and buy anything from him, lol! I am taking a wait and see attitude - that seems safe enough. If things work out and he regains a good reputation, then I will be very happy. If not, then I will have to change my mind again. And everyone here is free to change their mind - or not.

 

[KathyLove]

Thanks for your support of ME, guys, even though you aren't happy with David. It may seem that I am trying to change your minds about him, but I am really not. I am just advocating a "wait and see" attitude towards it all. It can sometimes be really rocky trying to "buck the crowd" here, so I do very much appreciate your kindness in this matter!

 

[LauraB]

He said he wanted to talk to individuals individually, not on the BOI..... Give him a call and ask him - maybe he can answer your questions. If he is willing to answer all questions on an individual basis, but not on the BOI, I don't think that is necessarily a hanging offense.

First let me say I'm sorry to see Kathy being put in this position and I totally respect her desire to want to do the right thing by posting not only her phone conversation with David but also the forthcoming emails David has promised (yet again). I also respect & understand her desire to want to help someone she considers worthy (David) and doing so to try to help another worthy individual (Kelly).

However, David has had ample opportunity to contact ALL parties individually all along! He has chosen not to. He has chosen to ignore his problems until now, when they've been brought to the surface for all to see.
He could even have contacted those parties individually at the onset of Kelly's original post to head off further bad press he should have known would surface once Kelly's situation was made public.
I suppose I don't understand why he wouldn't just contact all parties individually in the first place, instead of calling Kathy and telling her he wants to contact them individually. Well, I do understand ... it's damage control and an attempt to save face. All of which he could have and should have done before now, and not using the kindness of another (Kathy Love, who just happens to be very well establish and respected) to try to accomplish.

As far as "giving him a call" ... I don't believe anyone should have to give him a call. Those individuals he has commited to and already blantantly ignored should receive calls from him, not vise versa.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

We have been waiting for Mr. Young's response before posting the deal we had with him. I am not here to call names, insults, ect. Here is the deal we had:
Mr Young agreed to pay X amount of dollars for Tote Bag sponsor.
He would have a large screen print ad along with Repticon's Logo on the front of each Tote. He agreed to do this with a number of our shows for the same amount of dollars for each show.
He did pay for the first show (Ft Meyers ). The next couple of weeks was the Columbia SC show. Totes were printed with His ad on front as it was before with the promise from Mr. Young that payment would be coming shortly. Calls and emails were made with no response from Mr. Young asking for payment.
Payment never came after the Columbia show so we removed him from the Tote Bag.
The amount he agreed to pay us was way less than what he agreed to pay Kelly and Matthew.

Kelly I know everything you two are going through. I have been there with all the hurtles you have to jump, hills you have to climb.You are headed in the right direction. Keep your heads held high. Remember if we all work together the herp world will be better off!

Happy Herping Everyone!
Cathy Elrod
Member of the Repticon Team

Cathy, did you have the totes with the logo's already printed up for the other shows and just have to toss them out and eat the cost?

He said he wanted to talk to individuals individually, not on the BOI. I don't know why he and Kelly couldn't seem to talk together. He says he is usually very prompt about answering the phone or returning calls, and that he only didn't return one call to Kelly. She said there were more calls not returned. I have no idea whose memory is correct.

Kathy, it would appear that we don't have to rely just on the OP, or the second complaint with regards of failure to communicate.

Calls and emails were made with no response from Mr. Young asking for payment.

Seems to be a pattern.

 

[Claudius]

To the BOI:

I'm not here to put my boots into this guy I got no stake in any of it. However there are some big picture considerations concerning this Repster outfit that I have not seen mentioned anywhere; but were the first things to cross my mind when I heard of what they were trying to do regards shipping everyone's merchandise. I've decided to share them.

One of these considerations is information. By doing business with this Repster outfit, we are enabling the creation of a bottleneck through which information flows past one individual. This in turn facilitates the amassing of information by a private individual on all Repster associates, their customers, who their customers are, where they are, what is shipped to them, and when.

I think this kind of private information would be very valuable; obviously valuable for marketing purposes or to someone who is in the breeding business or someone(s) who fancies getting into the breeding business or is somehow involved in another way, in the reptile business.

I'm also concerned because when I click on the 'Privacy Policy" page at Repster.com, the page is blank as of this date. At this point everyone has signed up, given the farm away by clicking "I agree" to hold Repster harmless in their terms agreement page, but without any Privacy Policy defined. Too late now.

I'd like to make some comments. What I feel this amounts to, were it to grow into the huge success that it has been touted as potentially being capable of, is the creation of a privately owned database that smacks of Orwellian Big Brother. That is where I believe Repster's endgame lies and I can visualise all sorts of people wanting to get their hands on it.

As an American, this naturally makes me pull back in the halter. Not for an instant did I consider putting my head in that noose held by the smiling man with the pretty white teeth. I want to say, I think you all are better than this too. Get your own certification. Be independant, and fork your own bronks. We don't need to bend over for The Man, and ship boxes with The Man's name printed on the outside of them like some spooky cult.

 

[BryonsBoas]

Kathy Love

You my dear are a saint to have the heart for people the way you do. I don't think anyone here truly believes that you are doing damage control for David.

With that said , I'm not anywhere near as forgiving. I believe respect is earned and not given. If David wants the kind of respect that he had prior , manning up and posting himself would serve him far better.

It matters not to me if he likes the BOI or not , none of us could save face by dodging our responsibilities and David needs to grow up and realize that himself.

It would go a long way for him to bring himself here to play his side. I for one WILL NOT waste my time calling him for damn thing right now. I've done what needed to be done to get my account / membership terminated and it will stay that way until brings himself to give one seriously good argument as to why I should change that. Until he comes here and fixes what needs to be fixed with the OP & Cathy and anyone else he left hanging , I will continue not supporting anyone who chooses to use his service and will not recommend Reptster to anyone.

As for his slap at the BOI , it goes farther than that in my eyes. That slap hit everyone who ever posted a bad experience seeking help. It slapped everyone who ever posted a good experience. It slapped every good guy that worked hard to build a reputation of trust and quality, that went the extra mile to provide good animals and service. It slapped the man who brought the ability for us to have that. It wasn't minor in my eyes. When he said the BOI didn't matter , he said WE didn't matter. So its going to take a bit more than a phone call to great lady to fix that for me.

There isn't anything about David right now that really makes me want to consider giving him the benefit of the doubt. He'll have to come here , just like any of the rest of us would , take his lumps and put a ton of effort behind any promises he would make to even potentially sway what I think right now.

I'd guess about now , more members have dropped their accounts/memberships as well and this is nothing more than tossing a band aid on a gaping wound. Its going to take better than that , much , much better. This seems to be a very hot topic on various forums and David needs to spend some face time fixing it. Damn a phone call.

 

[KathyLove]

BryonsBoas - Yes, I can totally see your point of view. I hope he decides to do what he can to fix it.

 

[MiIguanaLvr]

He said he wanted to talk to individuals individually, not on the BOI. I don't know why he and Kelly couldn't seem to talk together. He says he is usually very prompt about answering the phone or returning calls, and that he only didn't return one call to Kelly. She said there were more calls not returned. I have no idea whose memory is correct. Give him a call and ask him - maybe he can answer your questions. If he is willing to answer all questions on an individual basis, but not on the BOI, I don't think that is necessarily a hanging offense.

So.....Mr. Young had a chance to present all of this to the BOI himself but instead made a specticle of himself and now wants a third party to present them, and his point, for him?

Does anyone else find this totally unacceptable?

 

[BryonsBoas]

BryonsBoas - Yes, I can totally see your point of view. I hope he decides to do what he can to fix it.

Sorry , only this part was really directed towards you ...

Kathy Love

You my dear are a saint to have the heart for people the way you do. I don't think anyone here truly believes that you are doing damage control for David.

Everything else was a sort of general rant. My apologies if you thought the entire post was directly solely towards you.

 

[jayefbe]

To the BOI:

I'm not here to put my boots into this guy I got no stake in any of it. However there are some big picture considerations concerning this Repster outfit that I have not seen mentioned anywhere; but were the first things to cross my mind when I heard of what they were trying to do regards shipping everyone's merchandise. I've decided to share them.

One of these considerations is information. By doing business with this Repster outfit, we are enabling the creation of a bottleneck through which information flows past one individual. This in turn facilitates the amassing of information by a private individual on all Repster associates, their customers, who their customers are, where they are, what is shipped to them, and when.

I think this kind of private information would be very valuable; obviously valuable for marketing purposes or to someone who is in the breeding business or someone(s) who fancies getting into the breeding business or is somehow involved in another way, in the reptile business.

I'm also concerned because when I click on the 'Privacy Policy" page at Repster.com, the page is blank as of this date. At this point everyone has signed up, given the farm away by clicking "I agree" to hold Repster harmless in their terms agreement page, but without any Privacy Policy defined. Too late now.

I'd like to make some comments. What I feel this amounts to, were it to grow into the huge success that it has been touted as potentially being capable of, is the creation of a privately owned database that smacks of Orwellian Big Brother. That is where I believe Repster's endgame lies and I can visualise all sorts of people wanting to get their hands on it.

As an American, this naturally makes me pull back in the halter. Not for an instant did I consider putting my head in that noose held by the smiling man with the pretty white teeth. I want to say, I think you all are better than this too. Get your own certification. Be independant, and fork your own bronks. We don't need to bend over for The Man, and ship boxes with The Man's name printed on the outside of them like some spooky cult.

You make an excellent point! I have been spending some time wondering where exactly David was expecting to make his money. I'd be surprised if the actual shipments made too much of a profit. I'm sure advertising on his site would make some money, but that too wouldn't really amount to a sizable profit. But a list of reptile breeders and customers, that could be worth something.

 

[Cat_72]

You make an excellent point! I have been spending some time wondering where exactly David was expecting to make his money. I'd be surprised if the actual shipments made too much of a profit. I'm sure advertising on his site would make some money, but that too wouldn't really amount to a sizable profit. But a list of reptile breeders and customers, that could be worth something.

Well, that and the fact that through his service, some people were getting charged for a 5 lb shipment through Repster, when Fedex was charging him for a 2-3 pound shipment. That would add up after awhile as well....

 

[Rextiles]

He told me that right after he agreed to send the check (at that point he thought he was sending it for $250), he found out that it was really supposed for $750, and that he backed out at that time.

What I don't understand is, why didn't he then just send the $250 in good faith knowing that at least the flyers were printed up and some amount of advertising for Reptster had already been done for him? If anything, the check for $250 could have easily had a note stating that he wasn't clear or comfortable with the $750 deal that was discussed previously and that this money was to cover whatever sponsorship they had originally discussed for the $250 price range. Instead, it seems like he just totally flaked altogether and had no intention of sending any money even if it would have even been for the original $250 deal. I'd like to know how much money he's now lost due to this whole ordeal. I'm sure $250, or even the $750, will seem like small potatoes once the smoke clears.

As far as his behavior in regards to his reply on the BOI and the mockery he tried to make of it and everybody that was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, the only way he's going to even come close to making amends is if he steps up to the plate and apologizes here publicly just like he insulted all of us publicly, simple as that. Judging from his current stance as using someone like Kathy as a surrogate, whether he verbally asked her to reinstate his case or not, only shows his true character probably knowing full and well that Kathy would mention her conversation with him to the BOI. I agree with everybody that instead of talking to Kathy, he should have been patching things up with Kelly and anybody else whom he has bent over. That only seems like the only logical thing to me.

The sad thing is, I was really excited about the whole Reptster thing but some very fine points have been made about not only his weak business practices (which obviously there are patterns), but the ones made on the matters of privacy and sellers divulging their clientele shipping information to Reptster which is no doubt part of a huge database. Considering that Repster has had it's share of glitches in it's system, it can sometimes just be a matter of time until they get hacked and all of that information gets in the wrong hands. I don't personally know what all kinds of that information might be, but surely some customers might not feel comfortable or want a third party knowing who they are purchasing from or anybody else for that matter. It definitely raises some interesting questions...

But seeing how David, who told us he had so little time to even waste on the BOI, fabricates this ridiculously long mockery of an email and then asks for anybody who wants to call him so that he can clarify his side of events, just sounds very goofy to me. If he's so busy, it would make more sense to me to take a little time responding to this forum to divulge these alleged emails, write a sincere apology for insulting so many people and a great forum and then be on his way and put this behind him. Heck, I'm sure 3 or 4 phone calls from people that are just inquisitive about this matter would eat up at least that much of his time and really accomplish nothing at all in clearing all of this up.

It's really a shame but based on all of this garbage, I have deleted him from my myspace friends list and will no longer mention his business as an alternative shipping method as I have done so readily and ignorantly in the past. Do I even need to state that I will no longer entertain even using Reptster at this point?

What a waste!

 

[Southern Wolf]

I just got a call from David Young, and talked to him for quite a while. Now I do feel that this has been a real problem in communication. He told me that right after he agreed to send the check (at that point he thought he was sending it for $250), he found out that it was really supposed for $750, and that he backed out at that time. He says he thought he clearly backed out at that time, but obviously Kelly did not understand that or she would not have proceeded. I don't know who, if anyone, is at fault, but I am willing to believe at this point (after talking to him) that each party believed something different, and that David is very sorry for the misunderstanding.

As for the unprofessional post from David on this forum, he said he did not intend to offend anyone on this thread who was really trying to help resolve the problem. He really does like and appreciate the rest of the Fauna site, but has a real problem with the BOI. He admits that he let his feelings for the BOI get the better of his judgment in his post, and apologized for offending anyone who was really trying to help, rather than inflame the situation.

He said he will email the missing emails to me tomorrow, along with his explanation of events. If it is not against the rules here to post his email (third party email), then I will post them here. If it is against the rules, then I will email them to anyone who wants to see them.

I want to say that I still feel his post was unprofessional and unwarranted, and I told him that. But I do believe that there were extenuating circumstances and that there was no malicious intent in his handling of this situation, just carelessness and lack of thought at the time of posting. I truly believe that he will be much more careful in the future should he run into a situation like this. He does not want to post on this forum himself, but he is happy to talk to anyone individually who has questions.

Let me say that I do not expect anyone else to change their mind just on my say so from my own phone conversation. I am only posting this to publicly state that my own opinion has changed. I do not think David's conduct here was exemplary - far from it. But after talking to him, I don't feel his actions or intent warrant blackballing him either. I really think time will tell, as always. I am hoping that his great behavior in the future will eventually overcome this problem and that he get beyond it.

Kelly - I wish you the best in your show promotion and will send a donation in support.

David - I hope Reptster overcomes this bump in the road and goes on to become the star I was expecting.

I will let you all know when I get any emails from David.

Kathy,

I admire you and respect you... and that is why I have started breeding corns. Albeit on a much much smaller scale

I have been quiet up till now... primarily because I wanted to finish reading all the posts (I just found this thread tonight... woops last night.. its now 2.30am)... anyhow... as far as Im concerned.. him contacting you now.. is just his way of trying to do some damage control. He has found out how his handling of this incident has really hurt his business and his creditabliity.

I sent this to his customer support email after I read his childish post with all the fake emails. You claimed to have proof... but just put up BS.

Please delete my account with RIPster... I no longer want to be associated with you or your company.

Way to go on the BOI.... you just drove away ALOT of your potential clients. This is not the way to do business.

I am also in the process of pulling all my adds, because I WAS gonna use ripster while I was getting certified... I guess selling snakes will just have to wait.

Now back to your regularily scheduled program.

 

[KNOBTAIL]

Eventually,

some savvy, entrepreneur will pick up Davids idea and do a more efficient job of insuring the viability of his own business. Its amazing how someone can kill themselves over advertising which would only have benefited Reptster.

I wonder if the blemish was worth the large amount of people that were following this thread.. In this case the advertising was free! But to Davids detriment . A very foolish business man !

 

[ninthof9]

Kelly,
I appologize for not posting on here sooner or calling you...I know you could use a good venting. I have been up to my eyeballs with stuff with the kids, I have barely had time to post my ads. I admire you for sticking to your ultimatum and doing what you said you were going to. I think Repster just banked on the fact that most people make idle threats. I have been privy to this whole nightmare for you and I really feel for you. It is just not right that some people don't hold up to their end of a bargain.
I want to also respond to some of the earlier posts that the amount that was agreed upon does not matter...it could have been 25,000 and that should not matter. If he agreed to the amount, he should be bound by it, especially after kelly fulfilled her part of the bargain. I also want to state that you can't really say that what she agreed to with Repster was a little too much because her show is not established. He agreed to it and there are different levels of aadvertising so you can't just state that a certain amount is too high. I have seen the expo site and before she pulled Repster, you could not possibly miss the name. I for one am one of the small breeders that Kelly mentions who advertise on Repster due to her advertising of him but I don't like the thought of dealing with someone who I know is dishonest.
Kelly is right, Repster has allready reaped huge benefits from her advertising and did not even have the decency to advertise the show. That just stinks.
Kelly, I do hope you find a better sponsor.
Dale