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Inquiry Ron Billingsly

I was going to buy 2 baby yellow anacondas from him. Bought a prepaid card and set up a paypal account. I ended up seeing a friend I havn't seen in about 3 months yesterday and found out he was selling his 7' breeding pair of yellows for an insanely cheap price. This is the only reason I'm not buying from Ron.
 
As for my WC Spilotes, yes I knew the risks buying WC. But I was appalled at the obvious dehydration of the animal when I got it home and its cloaca problems ( I stated that that was something I probably should have noticed at the show, but it wasn't that bad until it tried to urinate and could not close its vent). I was also frustrated with how much work and how long it took to get a simple refund. Ron said he had a lot of problems and was running a bunch of shows one after the other, but I would think that he would have time to at least respond. He was very quick to respond when the animal was only ill, but after it died he started playing "dodgeball" with me. Whether it was intentional or not I do not know, but I will not be dealing with WC animals again and I personally will not buy from Ron again. He had the snakes on sand at the show and told me not to take it to a vet as in his opinion, vets do not know what they are talking about and kill more animals than they save. Not the words of someone I want to continue doing business with.
On the other hand, I do have a cave spider I got from him months earlier that is thriving and quite interesting. It eats well and drinks well and all around seems healthy. I'm sure he's not an all-around bad guy- the impression I get is that he overextends himself and makes himself just too busy to notice subtle problems in animals and to respond to customers in a timely manner. Not intentional, just poor time management and biting off more than one can chew.
 
Ron Billingsley said:
The name does not ring a bell, I did a show in NC one time.... it was god awful. No customers..... Never been back. But I did not have colubrids at that show either...... Sorry...
If I had sent you colubrids, I would have remembered. From 2004 until recently, all I really did was Ball Pythons. I didn't own, breed or sell Colubrids.
Now in 2008 I got back into some wholesaling... but that was bulk babies I purchased from other breeders. Or animals I got when I bought collections.
Not all deals go 100% swell. Some have problems, but I always do my best to correct or make the customer satifisted with the transaciton.
That is why I do 100% Pay Pal now with online sales. Everything is recorded and if the buyer is unhappy, the money can be refunded thru that site.
Since I can not verify and you can not verify I will just take the bad guy post.
I have had tons of postive transactions selling reptiles.. I have had dozens of deals not go so good.....either missed shipments, animals coming in DOA, animals not what they thought they were buying, etc. everyone has to deal with these issues..... I do what I can. I try my best to make things right.
With some people... unless you bleed.... they are not happy.... i.e. the lady who tried to get gravid balls for $20 each..... and I caught the addition mistake... she cried for two weeks on the BOI... because I wouldn't ship her the gravid balls for $20. Made me a bad guy..... I can live with it.
If I am guilty of something... I'll do the time and pay my dues... but if I'm not... then I will stand and say.... Not guilty.... I'm only human.
Click to expand...

This post alone is enough to make me not buy from Mr. Billingsley. It's obvious from his own words that he doesn't care either way, good guy post, bad guy post...whatever. If he doesn't care what his customers say about him then he certainly isn't going to care if they are happy with the transaction or "do what he can to make things right". For me, indifference is the worst quality to try to deal with from a seller.
 
Simply amazing.... That that story got so twisted.
She purchased a WC Spliotes at the Hamburg Show. She knew it was a WC Spilotes. That fact was never hidden. I had numerous ones, and by the time she made it to my table(s) I had two remaining.
I even cut the price for her for the one she purchased. We talked about the snake, and the absess it had. The reason I CUT the price for her. She paid me at the show with Pay Pal on my own computer. Along with the snake, she also purchased some Marty Mades, but that is going off the point.
When she called me some time later about the Snake, she was concerned it wasn't doing good, and wanted to take it to a vet. WHAT I SAID WAS make sure it isn't just a vet, but one that specializes in reptiles. THAT MOST VETS KILL MORE THEN THEY SAVE, when they don't work with reptiles.
We had communcation... I never not talked or return emails to her.
When the snake passed, and she wanted a refund, I could not do it that day because we had storms pass thru and tear out tons of trees and telephone poles, I had no service. The day they were back up I refunded her 100% of her payment.
I can not make everyone happy. Try as I may. Some people won't be happy until they think they are getting one over on you. Not everyone is like that, but some are.
Most of my transactions go off smoothly, and nothing is ever spoken of them.
The few that have problems, I attempt to fix, and some are posted here, for you all to assume and point fingers at.
What else could I have done to help this lady? I cut the price of the snake to lower then what I paid for it, she took the chance with it, and still got a complete refund. I can not believe to this day, that some of you want vendors/salespeople to jump when you say jump. Some things take a little time. So chill out. If I had scam this person... then yell at the top of your lungs I am Gulilty and point fingers to me... but here you are grossly mistaken.
Closed case. My last word on the subject. Have a good day, and ...... enjoy your animals.
 
Exacty my point. Here David is just being a ass. What is he bringing to the thread? The lady said her peace, I said mine. Wished everyone well, and to enjoy their animals.
David... trying to keep the pot stirred, posted something THAT DID NOTHING to help her or I.
Right David?
 
Ron Billingsley said:
Exacty my point. Here David is just being a ass. What is he bringing to the thread? The lady said her peace, I said mine. Wished everyone well, and to enjoy their animals.
David... trying to keep the pot stirred, posted something THAT DID NOTHING to help her or I.
Right David?
Click to expand...

Ron, I merely commented on your piss poor choice of words about enjoying your animals. And as I said it is difficult to enjoy DEAD animals. If you want me involved you'll open your mouth again and I'll show you what an ass I can be, if not shut your mouth now.
 
It is not for you to point out my wording. You had no business to even post anything. If you had brought some ideas to the table, or to have some kind of input, that would have been wonderful. But to just cut and paste to give you more numbers on your post count.. that was in poor taste.
And you people are wondering why the BOI is loosing it's popularity?
The BOI was a wonderful Tool, but with all the BS and thread stealing that goes on.... that is why most feel it's run it's corse....
David, you can threaten me all you like... call me any name you like....
I'm done. Take this and run with it.......
 
Mike, sorry I don't keep daily detailed logs.
This happen back in June? The animal was discounted because of it, and she knew it. Some time.... I don't have records.... a couple days. Full refund.
It even wasn't for that much money. I would have to go back and view history on Pay Pal, but that of cource is besides the point. She said she is no longer going to purchase WC animals. That's fine. I'm not offended by her post at all. People loose animals. Even CB animals die. It happens. What I was defending myself by was the fact she wanted a refund, and it took me a couple days to do that. When I got power back on, she was refunded. I emailed her the day I did, and I even got a thank you email back.
Case closed. If other "people" want to keep flaming the fire.... let them. I can't stop them from doing so. I've said my peace.
 
Ron Billingsley said:
It is not for you to point out my wording. You had no business to even post anything. If you had brought some ideas to the table, or to have some kind of input, that would have been wonderful. But to just cut and paste to give you more numbers on your post count.. that was in poor taste.
Click to expand...

Oh piss off Ron. I am entitled to my opinion and can post whatever I like as long as it is within the rules here and you have no place telling me what I can or cannot post here. The only poor taste was your choice of words as I pointed out.

Ron Billingsley said:
And you people are wondering why the BOI is loosing it's popularity?
The BOI was a wonderful Tool, but with all the BS and thread stealing that goes on.... that is why most feel it's run it's corse....
Click to expand...

Ah, the famous quote from the many who are on the bad end of a BOI thread. :rofl:

Ron Billingsley said:
David, you can threaten me all you like... call me any name you like....
I'm done. Take this and run with it.......
Click to expand...

I don't threaten Ron, I just do what I say I will do unlike some here. And Ron I haven't called you anything, yet. :dgrin:

Ron, since you want this thread to stay on track and since it is an inquiry into you, Ron Billingsly, I'll keep it on track. I have seen Ron a number of times at shows and I would not suggest purchasing from him. I have seen many animals that were below par and some that had absolutely no place even being displayed whatsoever. I have witnessed him having to remove animals from being displayed at his table because of their piss poor quality and and or condition on more than one occasion.

See Ron, I told you, you should have kept your mouth shut. :shootfoot
 
oooooo from a one table cricket vendor........ me so scared!
Please, your a poor exscue for a vendor, that only does what? two shows?
Next Taylor show, I'll bring 10,000 crickets.. and sell them for.... $5 a thousand. I'll do that for four shows.. no six shows. What else.... hmm.... let me think... I'm sure I can sell some other things... I'll get back to you on it.
Dude, I've been around for 25 years, and I'm sure, and god willing, I'll be around 25 more... nothing you can say is going to hurt my business.
I sell WC animals. I sell CB animals. I sell $2 geckos, I sell high dollar animals. It goes with the territory. Pet stores want cheap animals, vendors want cheap animals.
My personal collection, and high dollar animals arn't worth taking to Taylor.
No one there buys expensive animals. You know that. But again, you are trying to make yourself look important, and your not. you just sit behind the computer and talk smack. Let's talk smack at the next Taylor show ok? While I'm selling $5 boxes of crickets, ok? See you there David.
PS would 10,000 be enough you think? I can bring 20 or 30 if I need to.
 
DAND said:
Oh piss off Ron. I am entitled to my opinion and can post whatever I like as long as it is within the rules here and you have no place telling me what I can or cannot post here. The only poor taste was your choice of words as I pointed out.



Ah, the famous quote from the many who are on the bad end of a BOI thread. :rofl:



I don't threaten Ron, I just do what I say I will do unlike some here. And Ron I haven't called you anything, yet. :dgrin:

Ron, since you want this thread to stay on track and since it is an inquiry into you, Ron Billingsly, I'll keep it on track. I have seen Ron a number of times at shows and I would not suggest purchasing from him. I have seen many animals that were below par and some that had absolutely no place even being displayed whatsoever. I have witnessed him having to remove animals from being displayed at his table because of their piss poor quality and and or condition on more than one occasion.
See Ron, I told you, you should have kept your mouth shut. :shootfoot
Click to expand...

I have seen Ron at many shows and I have seen his tubs with dead lizards and other poor quality animals that had to be removed as well. Just stating what I have seen though.
 
NO he absolutely did not mention anything about an abscess prior to purchasing and he did not cut the price. The animal was $65. I had asked about a guarantee- and fortunately he gave me a 1-week guarantee because I had mentioned I was slightly leery about purchasing a WC animal. There were only two specimens present- the one had had an obviously bad shed and I decided to purchase the other one that looked cleaner shed-wise. I didn't notice the cloaca problem at the show because the animal had not recently passed waste I suppose. The snakes were on sand at the show, which should have been a tip-off to me not to buy one, but hindsight is 20/20. NO I WAS NOT MADE AWARE AT ALL OF THE CLOACA "ABSCESS" PRIOR TO PURCHASE. I did contact him immediately after I noticed the problem when I got the snake home and he responded very quickly and told me to soak it overnight in lukewarm water and hope for the best. I soaked the animal off and on throughout the night for 10 minutes at a time and each time it gulped water like it was the last time it'd ever see it. The next morning I offered it food which it declined. It passed a copious amount of green urine-like fluid with chunks of sand and pus in it. The animal passed away three hours later. Honestly Ron I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt- but the fact that you responded to my questions about its care while still alive within hours but took days, multiple emails and phone calls to get you to respond once it had died, piqued my suspicion. You asked for photos to prove its death and I sent them to you the next day, and again it took days to get you to respond. Then you said you'd send me the other animal you had, and again it took days to get you to follow up on that, whereupon when I finally got ahold of you you said you'd sold it! You offered me credit- I did not want credit as I do not want to buy another snake from you. It might have just been bad luck, but the fact that the animal did not last 24 hours in my care and was showing apparent visible signs of illness as soon as I got it home, says it wasn't my fault it died. If it had died in like 5 days I would not have bothered to ask for a refund, since then it could have been something I did. But I hydrated the animal aggressively, gave it a warm cage, tried to clean the vent out gently with a stream of sterile saline, and it still died. Had you been timely in responding to me- and I think 3-4 days is more than enough time to respond when you responded in hours while the animal was still alive, I would have absolutely no problem with you. I feel your customer service is severely lacking and that the animal I got was not cared for properly. I know it's a gamble with WC, but it was obviously not something I did to the animal as it didn't live long enough for my care to matter. And DO NOT EVEN TRY to tell people you told me it had an abscess and you lowered the price- that is a flat-out lie. I would not have purchased an animal that had an abscess or any infection I knew about!!!! I felt devastated when it died, as I tried my darnedest to keep it going, but it was too far gone. Here is the copy/pasted record from my Paypal. I bought the snake on August 1, and it was August 12 before I got a refund, and I'm convinced I only got it because I kept calling and checking up every few days.


Aug 12, 2009
* refund of Spliotes

Refund From Ron Billingsley Completed Details 65.00 0.00 $65.00 USD
Aug 1, 2009 Payment To Ron Billingsley Partially Refunded Details -195.00 0.00 -$195.00 USD


I don't know how to do a screen shot. If someone could tell me, I could take a screen shot for further proof. While 12 days is not completely unheard of, your lack of communication without me staying on your back about it really irked me.
 
Yes I did thank him for finally refunding me. He did eventually do it and I did mention that I can't say he was lying or not about power being out. The point is that it took a while and I was left with no communication and only after calling repeatedly and emailing repeatedly did I get anywhere. That could be explained by his power being out. The point was not that the animal died, it was the speed with which it succumbed and the obvious cloaca problem right away as soon as I got it home.

Ron said in his first email to me that he wasn't aware of it having any problem when he sold it. He did NOT tell me there was an abscess, nor did he discount the price. That much is a flat-out lie.
I'm not sure if the emails are still in my email box as it was back in August but I can go search. I'm not concerned about bashing the guy or anything- I just put in my honest opinion and that was all.
 
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