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Tony Cueto Bad Guy! (reptile shows)

As I said before I have never had problems getting hold of Tony at any show I have done with him. At the FIRE show, on Friday for set up he was at the main tables at the check in almost the entire day. He made a few rounds through out the building to check on things but was always accessible to me. On Saturday & Sunday I can't tell you how many times I ran across him. He stopped by my tables many times to see how things were going as well as he stopped by many (if not all) other tables in the show. There were a few times I had questions for him during the show and like I said before I went to the main check in tables to find him. The few times that he was not at those tables he was within a 5 minute walk in the show. The show was not so large that he could be easily missed. In case you have never seen Tony he is a very tall man and is easily noticed in a crowd. Specially at the FIRE show as he (as well as all employees of his) were wearing BRIGHT Red Shirts with Flames on them. Almost impossible to miss.
 
Brian,
I remember you from the NC. show. I was the one trying to get you to come down on a ball. You said it was hatched from a normal to normal breeding.But everytime it shed it got lighter and lighter. So if i was trying to get you to come down on prices you could not of been to low. If i see an animal i want and it is priced reasonalbly
i do not ask if they can come down on prices. I remember you were facing the main entry way in the arena. All your snakes that i saw was in individual deli cups. They were stacked on one another. You told me you do not ship reptiles. You had some great looking animals. Tony should of been worried abut the moniter that was in a box narrower than it shoulders and it was sqeese in the box like a sardine. Or the guy across from you with the male retic cramped up in a sweater box. That did not know anything abut what he was selling, he did not know if they were male or female. I not sure if he knew what sex he was.
Tony needs to worry about a way to keep the building cooler. People fainting from the heat and animals dying as well from the heat. It was horrible. He needs to worry about placing Clyde next to a booth that sells mice and rats. While having kids and adults sit with the 18 ft giant. Good luck Brian.
 
Once again, I will ty to make the point that it doesn't matter if Dave or Tony are lying. It doesn't matter if Dave bounced a check, and it doesn't matter if Tony was not accessible at the show.

The point here and the point of this thread that has been reiterated by MANY vendors and customers is that Tony is having a had time dealing with both vendors and customers at his shows.

It has been shown that at one show, Tony didn't make a seating chart for the vendors. Daves story that he was supposed to get 6 end cap tables and a banner. nobody has argued that he didn't get 3 tables mid row and an incorrect banner.

The other stuff is just argumentative and plays no role in the subject of this thread.

It has already been verified that Brian was wrongfully banned from the show, based on the reasons that Tony gave, considering that there were obviously other situations in which animals were misrepresented, or in bad condition, according to witnesses, the basis of Brians banning.

To me it's pretty cut and dried that Tony's shows have reached an all time low in regards to the way that they are handled by the promoter. regardless of the situation with Dave, witnesses have supported this fact.

It's now time to stop badgering Dave (who will obviously not give any further answers) and concentrate on how to fix Tony's shows, or make them obsolete. I really wish Tony would come here and have a say as to what's transpired, and please don't go back in to the Dave debate. Tony's made it clear that Dave is no longer accepted there, and Dave hasn't argued that he even WANTS to be there. The specifics of that particular matter are now irrelevant.
 
Tony has sent an email asking for people who have complaints to email him at: [email protected] Perhaps if enough of you guys email him, he will come here and reply. I don't know why he can't post this stuff himself, but as I feel I have been vindicated and now have nothing to lose, I guess I'll be nice and help him out.
 
Thomas, thanks. The ball you are talking about, finally sold at the Expo this year. I lucked out and it shed 2 days before the show. It went pretty quickly looking like it did. Check that ad before this one, and send Tony an email, maybe he'll work on it.
 
I did email Tony at the Tampa reptile show email, but it was late Thursday night. I don't know if he got it before the show. I went up Friday night for set up and could not find him, actually did not see him all weekend. I never saw the Vet either there Friday night. It was a bit disorganized this time to say the least. This was why I tried to talk to the vendor that night, I had hopes he would pull the animals out of the show on his own. And also wanted to make sure he understood how contagious this is and that what risk he was putting others at.
Click to expand...

I pulled this from the general discussion forum. Someone was concerned about the possible spread of a "yellow fungus disease." And was trying to contact either Tony or the vet BEFORE the show even started.

As you can see, not only could she not find Tony, she NEVER SAW THE VET! This was a vendor! Doesn't Tony advertise that ALL animals must be inspected prior to sale? This vendor was there Friday night. Now perhaps I'm misreading this and she saw the vet on Sat. but if so, why wouldn't she have talked to the vet at that point about the disease and the presence of the possibly infected animals? If she never saw the vet, how many other's animals were never checked.

I know that each time I did the show I WENT AND FOUND the vet, just to make sure Tony could not say anything to me about not having my animals inspected. And no, I'm not saying she should have done this, it's just an extra step I took to try and keep Tony happy.
 
Granted I have no experience with the Tampa show or the vet/vets that handle inspections there, but at the Atlanta show, the vet comes around first thing Saturday morning and checks out the animals at every table row by row. And each year I've done that show it's been a different vet, but always the same procedure.

Again, not saying that the vet wasn't around in Tampa, but just once again relating my experiences with doing Tony's shows.
 
Robert, Atlanta is a bit different, because in order for one to purchase the GA permit ($200) all animals must have a vet health certificate. So you're right, the vet comes to each table and hands out the certs. Then the permitting agency comes sells you the permit (or robs you blind!! LOL). What I found amazing was that they (permitting agency) stayed ALL WEEKEND long to make sure no one got away w/ selling animals w/o that permit.

I agree, that usually the vet is not all that hard to find. But, from what I've heard, this last Tampa show was a MESS.
 
Yeah, GA is pretty screwy. Unfortunately, for those who come in from out of state, the pet dealer's license fee is pretty hefty. I don't understand why they jacked it up on out of state dealers only, but I don't have any say in what Dept. of Ag. does.

I have been hearing about Tampa being a mess this last go around, hopefully things will clear up next time. I guess every promoter ends up having a rough show weekend now and then.

Oh well, anyone coming up to Atlanta, I'll see you there!
 
ROTFLMAO!!!!!

Has anyone else noticed the water dragon in Tony's ad, and the case of nose-rub it's showing? LOL Wonder if that made it throught the vet check?
 
Update

Well folks, after letting things settle down for a couple of months, I contacted Tony and we have discussed things via email. It looks like we may be able to work things out.

Tony stated that he was simply not comfortable posting things here on the BOI, and got more and more upset when I continued to do so. At the time, I felt that doing things "out in public" was the way to go. Looking back, and reading Tony's emails, I now realize that not everyone works the same way I do. So, I will apologize for bringing things here, to the BOI, as quickily as I did.

Tony admitted, in the emails, that he should have discussed any problems he had with me, directly with me. And we both agreed that if we can work together in the future, that is how we should do it. I have agreed, that in the future I will give Tony more time to respond before coming here to post. My "rush" to post probably caused more damage than good (for both of us), for that I am sorry.

Tony was also very upset about the threats I made to his shows (handing out business cards w/ the thread address, etc.). I backed away from that idea on my own mainly because I found other shows to do and didn't have the time to bother w/ it. But, apparently Tony continued to worry about it. My intention w/ this thread from the beginning was simply to get Tony's attention. I felt I was banned and then ignored, and I was not going to take that lying down. If one looks at my posts, several times I state that Tony puts on great shows. All I wanted was the right to do them. I suppose if I had simply waited for Tampa to past as Tony requested, this may not have gone so far. However, at the time, not being able to do that show cost me a great deal of money because of timing of all that transpired. Hence, I was pissed, I wanted answers NOW!

Tony continues to state that he has a vendor which swears I sold ball pythons for $4. I would really like to meet this person face to face and ask him when and where. As I have told Tony, it simply DID NOT HAPPEN. The best price I have ever gotten on balls was $5. I'm not going to sell things for less than I pay for them, that simply doesn't work. I asked Tony for more specifics on customer complaints and unfortunately he cannot provide me w/ any because his files are missing (for reasons he asked me not to discuss). Again, I can't respond to complaints if I don't know what they are. And, I have yet to receive EVEN ONE complaint (from any of Tony's shows) myself even though my business card sits right in the middle of my table at every show with name, address, email, and not one, but two working phone numbers. I have received calls from people who bought from me or saw my display at the show and wished to buy more animals. In fact, I just got a call from the Carolinas last night, requesting more animals. Tony did admit that at least one complaint he received was researched and it was discovered that the customer had me confused w/ someone else. I think that shows that he too is willing to move forward.

In closing, I do apologize to Tony for trying to force him to do things my way. I guess I need to realize sooner that not everyone works the same way I do. And I hope that we can work the rest of this out so that we can get back to business (which is all I wanted in the first place).
 
Definatly unerstand your situtation. Tony is VERY hard to get in touch with around the time of the shows. I have been trying to get in touch with him concerning the NEXT show, and I cannot reach him at all--and I work FOR him directly at the shows!

I need to try and find his number to see if he's going to need me and my wife's help down in Tampa. If anybody has it, email me.
[email protected]
Eric A
 
I'm a bit tight-arsed when it comes to animal welfare - if I see an animal being treated poorly at a show, I tend to have a strong opinion on the subject that I am not shy about expressing.

I cannot recall ever seeing any animal held in a questionable situation at one of Brian's show tables. And if he had in fact been selling ball pythons for $4, I would have gone home with a good sized bag since I'm always shopping for king cobra groceries. But he wasn't. I spend most of my time at the nonvenomous shows looking for feeders, so I know who's got the real bottom-of-the-barrel cheapies. It isn't Brian.
 
Rob

Im not sure Brian is saying Tony is allowing him back at this point, but rather that they are negotiating the chances of it happening.

I just figured I would point that out, so nobody would read into it incorrectly and slam Tony later if it turns out Brian isnt allowed back in.

I personally have no axe to grind in this issue one way or another, as I honestly cannot recall Brian in a good or bad way from any of Tonys shows Ive done.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles
 
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