Ricky Lewis-Deal gone bad.......

[DavidBeard]

I recently acquired a female Amazon Tree Boa from Ricky Lewis of J-Ville Reptiles, Inc. All seemed to be going well with the snake until I noticed it was having frequent, abnormal bowel movements the past few days and regurgitated a meal......I consulted a few friends on-line and took the snake to the vet yesterday. The ATB had intestinal parasites, which thankfully can be treated. I notified Ricky of all of this and here is what he replied with:

Tuesday, October 07, 2003 11:19 PM
From: "Jville Reptiles Inc." <[email protected]> Add to Address Book
To: dcbear01
Subject: RE: ATB update (not good)......
Status: Urgent New
<DIV>Dear Dave,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>i cant understand why shes having these bad valve movements, cause the mother of her and the father had the same thing last week, and i had to go get them some medication, the doctor informed me that it was from improper cage conditions, food that was being fed to it, and somethin else. The doc has had me move my full adults down to a small frozen fuzzy (which is smaller than feeder mice) jsut to get them to eat again, and so far they have not regurged yet.  Check the cage setup you have and all the conditions in it cause one slip up will cause them to get sick and need medication.  The petstore said the changes in temp and water caused my problems, cause the temp was irregular cause someone had changed it. As for the documents ill dig through my software and see what all i can find for you.  If anything else is needed let me know and ill see what i can do and when i get my next order of babies in ill send you a garden baby for free, jsut for all the trouble even
though its past the 7 day guarantee,  thanks....<BR><BR></DIV>



There are some other things about him that bothered me......he claims the snake he sold me was Captive Bred. I highly doubt this now. It is also apparant to me that he knows practically nothing in terms of care for these animals. He has been ignoring my e-mails for 2 days now and I don't think I'll hear back from him. I have a full record of every e-mail correspondance with him, so if more details are needed, I can supply them. I paid $135 shipped for this snake and $89 at the vet yesterday if any of you are wondering. I just wanted to let you all know that I do not recommend doing business with this guy. Thanks for reading.

 

[DavidBeard]

Well, I was surprised when Ricky e-mailed me back....here is what he had to say about the situation:

Thursday, October 09, 2003 2:17 PM
From: "Jville Reptiles Inc." <[email protected]> Add to Address Book
To: dcbear01
Subject: Do what??
Status: Urgent New
<DIV>Look sorry i havent writtin back but i have been busier than hell with 2 jobs and tryin not to get fired from my cookin job. i have had no sleep in teh past 4 days cause of this. I found out y shes the way she is my employee put some freshly imported ones from miami into her cage with out havin them cleaned like he should have, when they first come in, second im not ignoring you but i havent had  a chance to do much with my e-mail cause as soon as i get home i try to get a few minutes of sleep before i go back to work. But i asked my employees about your snake and told them im getting total hell from you and your going to post negavtive [bleep] about my business cause of them and thats gonna [bleep] me over for no reason, then one of them admitted he was in a hurry to get out of there and just threw the shipments into the same cage so that he could leave. Well hes gone alright cause i told him that was [bleep]ed and that now its costing me our business cause of this one lil mistake,
but dude look it was a simple mistake by my employee and i fixed it so lets jsut forget about it plz,  thanks,,,i have to go back to workk now...<BR><BR><B




See, my dilemma is that he seems like a prettt good guy, just one who doesn't know what hes doing when it comes to the animals and his choice of employees. Should I give him another chance or write this off as him trying to cover his tracks?

 

[Wilomn]

Sniff Sniff Is that tuna I smell?

If you paid for captive bred and got an import then you should get the captive born animal you paid for. Period. If he does that, at no additional expense to you, then I would think it a simple mistake that got taken care of. Anything else is just BS.

Wes Pollock

 

[DavidBeard]

You have a point, Wes....but I am not sure that he means he sent me an import.....I think he meant that his employee put the imports in the cage with my supposed CB snake, but I could be wrong.

 

[DavidBeard]

WOW....well, some new stuff has come to light regarding the situation....I just got a couple of e-mails from someone who knows Ricky......check this out:

From: "herperus" <[email protected]>
Date: Thu Oct 9, 2003 2:26:20 PM US/Eastern
To: [email protected]
Subject: Ricky Lewis

This is a message from herperus at FaunaClassifieds Forums ( http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/index.php ). The FaunaClassifieds Forums owners cannot accept any responsibility for the contents of the email.

To email herperus, you can use this online form:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/member.php?action=mailform&userid=2737

OR, by email:
mailto:[email protected]

This is the message:

I know Ricky , he lives about 20 miles from me , he is an 18 year old kid who is buying WC stuff from wholesalers and trying to resell it , I have not seen how he keeps his amazons but i did get an albino burm from him that had nasty bite marks from a retic that he kept it with.
I can try to get his phone number if you want it ,and if i see him i will tell him about your post.
Thanks, David Jarvis



Heres another e-mail:

From: "herperus" <[email protected]>
Date: Thu Oct 9, 2003 10:12:59 PM US/Eastern
To: [email protected]
Subject: Ricky

This is a message from herperus at FaunaClassifieds Forums ( http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/index.php ). The FaunaClassifieds Forums owners cannot accept any responsibility for the contents of the email.

To email herperus, you can use this online form:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/member.php?action=mailform&userid=2737

OR, by email:
mailto:[email protected]

This is the message:

Ricky has no employees.I did get his cell phone number 910-381-5490.
I hope this helps.
Thanks,David

 

[DavidBeard]

I just tried to call Ricky on his cell phone but it was temporarily out of service.

 

[DavidBeard]

I also got this e-mail from Ricky earlier this evening by accident I think:

Thursday, October 09, 2003 9:35 PM
From: "Jville Reptiles Inc." <[email protected]> Add to Address Book
To: dcbear01
Subject: RE: Do what??
Status: Urgent New
Charles,

Yes the animals are treated as they come in by a friends of ours that works at the wilmingtion zoo and he does all teh vets stuff on our animals for us as they come in cause he is alot cheaper. all i have in stock is garden phase males but i will send one out as soon as i get a chance as hes done shedding thanks....




ANY info or advice that you guys could give as to what I should do regarding this situation would be greatly appreciated, as I have no experience with being screwed like this.

 

[Wilomn]

I thought that was tuna I smelled.

If he just put the imports in with the captives for a short time it is unlikely that the parasites came from a short term exposure. Not impossible, but not likely.

If you paid for captive bred and this isn't then you're owed captive bred or a refund.

Wes Pollock

 

[JungleHabitats]

hes in North Carolina ????

i take it by the wilmington Zoo tag and the 910 area code . he is saying he has a buisness? and by the name if thats his its Incorporated ?? if this is so you should be able to call or do a search to see if there is a buisness by that name an incorperated buisness would have had filed papers on that company name. Sounds like to me that you did get subpar anaimals and should be entitled to a refund or a correct anaimal. i hope this guy makes your deal right ...

 

[DavidBeard]

Well, I just got off the phone with David Jarvis, the guy who sent me the e-mails informing me of Ricky's true identity.....I doubt that I'll get a refund because from what Dave said, he is a broke kid who buys things he can't pay for (he'll write CODs that he knows won't clear for 32 days so he can buy animals he doesn't have the $ for and resell them). Hopefully David's local contact with Ricky will make enough of a difference to persuade Ricky to do the right thing and refund my $ or at least my vet bills. I guess I am happy to get his name out there so others do not get taken like I did and I made a pretty good contact with David, so I suppose some good will come of this whole thing.

 

[DavidBeard]

Oh.....yes, he is in NC and is flat out lying about the connection he supposedly has with the Wilmington Zoo-Dave confirmed this for me as well.

 

[DavidBeard]

LMAO......heres another revelation from Ricky I just received via e-mail:

Thursday, October 09, 2003 11:58 PM
From: "Jville Reptiles Inc." <[email protected]> Add to Address Book
To: dcbear01
Subject: RE: Do what??
Status: Urgent New
<DIV>Na i spelled the name wrong sorry i was filling out shippin papers as well, yeah i should be but i had things to do at the shop so i called in sick today and the kitchen manager covered for me. I had to take in orders and do them right and then redo the ones from last week that they screwed up.....now cause of the employees half my animals have to be cleaned for mites....but yeah laterz<BR><BR><B><I>dcbear01 <[email protected]></I></B> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Uh, Ricky, did you send me the wrong e-mail? I'm not Charles......shouldn't <BR>you be at <BR>work?<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>>===== Original Message From "Jville Reptiles Inc." <BR><[email protected]>=<BR>====<BR>>Charles,<BR>><BR>>Yes the animals are treated as they come in by a friends of ours that works <BR>at the <BR>wilmingtion zoo and he does all teh vets stuff on our animals for us as they <BR>come in <BR>cause he is alot cheaper. all i have in stock is garden phase males but i will <BR>send one out <BR>as soon as i get a chance as hes done shedding thanks....<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>

 

[herpetological]

As was already mentioned it's likely an import. Cross contamination of internal parasites just doesn't happen overnight. If it was a C.B. then it would take some time for the parasite loads to build and affect the specimen. Mites and ticks however, can be transfered quickly. It's amazingly simple to treat any reptile for parasites. If this kid is getting imports and selling them, first...he should represent them as such. Second...his so called friend at wilminton should teach him the basics of treating parasites. In regards to the regurge there can be many factors causing this..stress, temps or parasites. Etc. If it was listed a a C.B. then a refund is in order. At least payment of the vet bill.

 

[DavidBeard]

I agree that a full refund would be the right way to go, but I honestly don't think I'll ever see my money again......this little twirp is spending money he doesn't even have on animals and the re-selling them to unsuspecting people like me. I truly wish there was more that I could do to wake him up to the severity of what he is doing....it saddens me to share a hobby with people such as this. Just to clear things up, here is a list of offenses that little Ricky Lewis has made against me:

-he is a flat-out liar about MANY things (his job, supposed emplyees, connectionw with the Zoo, etc.)!
-FALSE advertisement (putting WC imports up for sale as CB)!
-Selling a sick snake and blaming it on my husbandry methods!
-Being flat out dishonest and deceitful!

I suggest that those of you who wish to get an honestly represented, healthy snake, to STAY AWAY FROM RICKY LEWIS.

 

[DavidBeard]

Poor Little Ricky.....

Well, Ricky e-mailed me last night. He had some very interesting things to say, none of which I believe. Heres more of his lies and excuses:

Saturday, October 11, 2003 12:55 AM
From: "Jville Reptiles Inc." <[email protected]> Add to Address Book
To: dcbear01
Subject: Heres the deal
Status: Urgent New
Look im sorry if you feel scamed, i do have ppl working for me out of there own sheds and houses, i have been working with amazons for a while now.....the only reason i say what i say in the ads is because i go by what ppl tell me when i get the animals. Also soory if i lied to you in any way but im only goin by what ppl tell me, and i do pay the ppl that help me breed these animals and all out of my own pocket thats y i work 2 jobs to pay for this......Look the deal with your snake was that my buddy did mix some new imports from strictlys into it that had not been cleaned thats the deal with that, but as for everything else i didnt see how it was lieing if i was goin by what other ppl told me. but since you have made your point i will cancel all my business stuff online and jsut shut everything down and see what i can do for all your troubles dealin with refunds and stuff look im sorry but i was only goin by what ppl were tellin me.............






Saturday, October 11, 2003 1:19 AM
From: "Jville Reptiles Inc." <[email protected]> Add to Address Book
To: dcbear01
Subject: Ok so you feel like you got [bleep]ed
Status: Urgent New
Look thats goin a lil to far._ You got your snake and she ate. Yes i understand the worms ordeal with her bein a prob._ But she was fine ever since you got her until a few days ago then you said youve done all this stuff for her._ I had no idea bout her having any health probs at all._ Plus it was way after_the 7 day guarantee when she started having eating problems._ Dude look i wasnt ripping you or scamming you when i had her i sent you a healthy snake far as i knew that ate and all._ But as for you putting in the vet bill for her i mean thats expected when you get an animal your goin to hae to pay for them._ So_i understand you bein mad at me but_why make a big deal out of a few bucks that was spent on the snake, thats the whole point of having one._ But_i mean i was only goin by what ppl told me so how is it false advertisement if thats what i was told._ Also i mean Yeah im sure you feel you got ripped by the deal but your snake is healthy now (Not Dead) & yes i understand it came out of you own pocket and all._ But i mean It was healthy when i had her ._ But i was told she was a Captive Born not bred._ Man look i am only selling animals by what ppl tell me thats the only reason the ads say what they say._ Also i understand your getting frustrated with me but i work 2 jobs so i have problems answering e-mails much less gettin a chance to check them,_ Look i dont see how tryin to take legal actions is goin to help cause it was past the 7 day warrante,_ She at when you had her,_ She was shipped like i said. as for the advertisement how is that wrong when i put CB thats what i was told._ Look Ok so i guess i was lied to by all my friends also about there jobs out of town i jsut found that out....look if you feel scammed then ill see what i can do about gettin up the vet bill for you to pay you back.....

 

[JungleHabitats]

he said , she said , i said , i mean he said

thats story wouldnt wash with a box of lye soap and 100 gallons of clorox. Even if all he stated was true this would mean he needsto shut up buisness or go into it with Sal & Allison he could be there public relation rep.Having snakes are for just that having them not to haveto pour our money out of your pocket for someone elses problems ... if he pays all these other people then he should take there pay and send it to you or possibly get that 3rd job to pay you.Ricky if you read this heres what i suggest stop making excuses... be a man accept what happened make the change , make it right and STOP dealing with these "shed breeders" if you want to be in the buisness LEARN it study it live for it. if that doesnt work then get out of it keep your pets and learn from what hashapened. It seems WAY to many people like yourself are making pocket change to say they have bragging rights among friends. would you sell someone food that was pissed in and say "oh i was told it was ok " thats what they toldme ???? think about all this pay the man his vet bill$

 

[DavidBeard]

Now I'm just plain MAD.......

Check out the crpa this little punk is sending me know:

Saturday, October 11, 2003 12:35 PM
From: "Jville Reptiles Inc." <[email protected]> Add to Address Book
To: dcbear01
Subject: Look Dude
Status: Urgent New
Look this is all [bleep]in [bleep]._ THe ppl i got the snake from said it was CB so i posted it as CB,_ It was fine when you got it, And fine past 7 Days._ I didint [bleep] you out of [bleep] cause ive already talked to the cops about it and they said if i was told it was CB and posted it as that then thats not False Advertisement._ Second off i have posted on the site my 7 day guarantee and it was past that._ Then it was fine when i sent it out so as they put it i have done notthin wrong at all._ They said if it was fine when i sent it out, nad it was fine past 7 days, And i put what i was told then your doin notthin but [bleep]in bitching about loosing $89 bucks on a [bleep]in vet bill that you paid for._ They said that nothin was wrong and it was past all the warrantes and [bleep] so if you do try to take cival action you will losse more money then its worth by paying all the court [bleep] jsut to try to get back a small $100 bucks that was spent on it......So its not worth it....they said everything went by what my site states and everything else so i did everything legaly so that nottin can be said about it being wrong.........But the advertisement part as they put it aint wrong cause it was stated like it was when i got the snakes._ Also i asked them about you harassing me with cussing and stuff like that...then putting our e-mails on a site and harassing me like that with out my knowledge and they said you could get in trouble for slander and harassment....but i told them no cause me and you were gonna jsut drop this and forget about it cause this aint goin do [bleep] but waist more of your money cause everything is in my favor...and you have no proof it is a WC so quit saying i lied to you cause i have done notthin wrong at all and i didnt steal [bleep] cause you got your goods and they were fine until about a few days ago and thats kinda of funny dont you think how do i know your not tryin to [bleep]in me with lies so that you can jsut get a refund...look lets drop it im tired of the [bleep]....so lets forgetabout it cause there aint [bleep] that i have done wrong....latetrzssss

 

[JungleHabitats]

LMAO

so lets see this young punk has spoke to the pooolice about this YEAH RIGHT!!!! sounds like hes trying to talk out of his buttocks in hopes of making you back down.Well Little Ricky lets go over a few things .

1. Cops just enforce laws most rarely know anything of civil matterss such as this
2. for them to advise you of a matter such as this is down right stupid as the the police are not a lawyer and have no expertise in this field
   [/list=1]
   also lets cover this base i see your comapny is Incorperated? is that true did you hire a lawyer to incorperate your buisness?
   
   now as i see it YOUare the one with all the cussing ? why maybe you are mad due to being caught selling crap!!??
   
   you are the one suggesting to drop it why? maybe you dont wont the dirt dug up?
   
   Here is a easy way ricky to clear up a mess , post who you received these snakes from and lets see if they sold you wild caught crap? Now when i say Post we dont need a doctored up post from them via you editing that they sold you wild caught snakes we want them to post WHAT they sold you.
   
   Ricky basically you have failed in proving what you have done due to your first posts seemed to only back up what was stated by David and you admittedly said that you had unadequate "staff" that put wild caught snakes in with supposedly captive bred animals
   
   

   Look the deal with your snake was that my buddy did mix some new imports from strictlys into it that had not been cleaned thats the deal with that, but as for everything else i didnt see how it was lieing if i was goin by what other ppl told me. but since you have made your point i will cancel all my business stuff online and jsut shut everything down and see what i can do for all your troubles dealin with refunds and stuff look im sorry but i was only goin by what ppl were tellin me

   
   

   Yes the animals are treated as they come in by a friends of ours that works
   at the
   wilmingtion zoo and he does all teh vets stuff on our animals for us as they
   come in
   cause he is alot cheaper. all i have in stock is garden phase males but i will
   send one out
   as soon as i get a chance as hes done shedding thanks....

   
   

   Thursday, October 09, 2003 11:58 PM
   From: "Jville Reptiles Inc." Add to Address Book
   To: dcbear01
   Subject: RE: Do what??
   Status: Urgent New
   
   Na i spelled the name wrong sorry i was filling out shippin papers as well, yeah i should be but i had things to do at the shop so i called in sick today and the kitchen manager covered for me. I had to take in orders and do them right and then redo the ones from last week that they screwed up.....now cause of the employees half my animals have to be cleaned for mites....but yeah laterz

   
   Ricky you have more holes in your story then allowed by law, you start off by saying yeah its your fault then wind up saying you did nothing wrong .. simply put you know you were in the wrong with this deal even if the animal was a CB and not WC (which i doubt) you have already stated that you would send him a new snake soon as it sheds so do it
   
   also another point to prove what you say by the animals being CB do you have photos of the clutch where you produced them? or proff of who did prodcue and sell them to you? or were all these imports from strictly??
   please ricky show ussome proof here you know you name is in the mud so why not do the work to wash it off and have us all eat crow ?

 

[DavidBeard]

Yes, Alan, you make very good points.....but I do not think calling Ricky out will do anything. He won't show his face here nor will he give me a refund.....all I can do is get his name out there so no one else gets screwed by him.

 

[dwedeking]

I hate badguy posts but...

We received an order from Ricky on 8/29/03. He requested COD which we normally do not do, but he gave a sob story about his wallet being stolen and he had purchased from us previously and I relented to satisfy a customer. He ordered a large cage and had it shipped 2nd Day Air (expensive to do). A week or so later we received our check from UPS for the order. That check bounced. I notified Ricky of the issue about the same time this thread was started. He said he was sending out a money order that day. I waited two weeks and when we did not recieve the money order I emailed him. He was going to have it tracked and get back to me (said the USPS had lost 3 other money orders). A week after that I emailed him with no response. The check total was $141. I don't expect to see that money but wanted to give other vendors a heads up on the situation so they do not get taken like we did.

I will be much stricter on our COD policy in the future. It's a shame you have to do business this way.