This saturday I was at repticon Atlanta and purchased a bts from Bill Gangemi's table. I took it home and it died within 20 hrs. I contacted him immediately and his response was bluntly that it was impossible bc bts were bulletproof and it must have gotten too cold. I reassured him of the parameters of my setup and the ambient temps of my fish/reptile room. When I contacted him again today (after my payment went through, mind you) he said there's nothing he can do about it once I left the venue. Before I continue, let me say that I understand he or any other live animal vendor do not know what kind of care the animal receives once out of their hands, and dealing with claims of dead animals from customers can be very risky for them. To me, that just seems like the risk you take (upon proper investigation) in the name of customer satisfaction, but I guess that's his business prerogative.
I've never had an animal die on me after a con like this before. I wrongly assumed that he, while not legally obligated to give me a refund, would have had a more reasonable policy. I also didn't appreciate how his immediate response was that there's no other way the skink could have died and thus had to be my fault. It was very off-putting as I wasn't even trying to blame him or anything. All I can say is I can't believe I could have been cause for the skink's demise given the short amount of time it was in my care and knowing the conditions I kept it in. Other than being in shed and not eating the night I brought it home, I didn't notice any other potential symptoms. On the flipside, I don't know the details of the care the skink had been provided up til the con. Did it travel with him across the country from con to con? I should have asked that and many other questions, and that's my bad.
He later offered that maybe we can work out some kind of credit, which is great, but thus far he hasn't been very forthcoming or willing to explain how this is going to work, or for how much. He already stated he's not going to send me another skink (I would have been willing to pay shipping).
At this point I'm just upset about my loss (I've been wanting a bts for awhile) and I don't know if it would be worth dealing with him again. I may just accept this as an expensive lesson learned and make sure I select a vendor next time that has some kind of policy and seems like they care about their patrons as well.
I am not here to slander or accuse anyone of selling sick animals, but if you want a seller/breeder who will be willing to work with you if things go wrong, this might not be your guy. Or be sure to clarify his policy before you do decide to spend any amount of money you'd be sad to not get back. Maybe he's better with his customers when ordered from directly vs at a con,
