• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Bad Guy Garret Smith ( Scammer )

uromastyx13 said:
Hey tom, as of today nothing . I been MIA due to health issues i been dealing with since October gone through several treatments and still am going through several treatments weekly and i need to avoid as much stress as possible reason i fell off the grid.
I think i been more than patient with garret but like always it's just more false promises to buy time i have accepted my loss since the stress hes caused me and will continue to cause doesn't benefit my or my family's health at all. I have asked for several refunds or payments and like always he refuses.
Click to expand...

Mike,
Truly sorry to hear your not doing well, you have been, and always will be, in our prayers! Get well soon!

Garrett has lied, over, and over and over, and over again, can you say SOCIOPATH.......

It should be Sooooo OBVIOUS by now, he's NOT paying anyone back, PERIOD, can you say, CON-MAN.....

Can't stress it enough, AVOID Garrett Smith like the PLAGUE, he CAN'T be TRUSTED, PERIOD!

Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles


 
Frogman11 said:
Chris. You are good at calling people names and making up things. But when asked 2 simple questions you have nothing to say? This is what I expected from you.

1. How is this a scam?
2. How am I a bad guy?

Garrett
Click to expand...

Perhaps now you could answer two questions. How is this not a scam? How are you not a bad guy? Well over a year. Proof of nothing. No lizards. And no money. AVOID GARRETT SMITH LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!
 
Michael,
Hope you're feeling better!

Curious, any progress with Garrett??

Here's some food for thought, Michael Russo some time ago posted, about a deal he had, and mentions the way he was going to proceed through legal means.

"This afternoon I met with an officer from the Nassau County Police Department and I am now working directly with a detective from the Computer Crime Division who is helping me proceed with filing charges against Mr. Tummons for Attempted Grand Larceny"

Granted his money was returned through PayPal, and he no longer had a case.

You didn't use PayPal, and to date Garrett Smith has not returned your funds. My point, it won't cost you 1 red cent to contact the Detectives with the Computer Crime Division in your county, and or HIS county.

Your deal with Garrett Smith, IMO, is NOT Attempted Grand Larceny, It IS Grand Larceny, Internet Fraud, & Theft by Deception.

Michael, if I had one foot in the grave, and the other on a banana peel, and Garrett owed me $6500, I'd be at his front door so fast it would make his head spin.

Can't stress it enough, AVOID Garrett Smith like the PLAGUE, he CAN'T be TRUSTED, PERIOD!

Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles


 
Nicely put Lynn, but futile. Unfortunately. There are too many missing pieces of this puzzle and they've been hidden by some of his victims. In post #1400, Mike said he needs to avoid as much stress as possible. I would think that there would linger a greater stress, via pressure at home, from letting his lack of action allow Garret to walk away with $6,500 of his (?) money that is surely missed when facing hardships regarding medical expenses and every day bills. The weight on Mike's shoulder is not of his own doing, but of his not doing. Perhaps money is no object to him, which might explain his other statement in post #1400, "I have accepted my loss". This is the only time I have ever seen a victim here walk away satisfied that justice is no issue here. Again, something is missing. It will one day all come out in the wash. AVOID GARRETT SMITH LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!
 
uromastyx13 said:
This Post is about Garret Smith and how he is collecting money from numerous people including myself and has taken several months to deliver the animals or money to refund , I sent him money back in 1-07-15 when he told me weeks before he was able to get Saara Hardwickii legally exported out of Pakistan i asked him many times to send me copies of CITES and a Invoice of it and still to this date I have not received anything to show any sort of proof of it. He has been importing animals in between and actively posting listings of animals for sale or animals he can get , but yet has never any attempt to refund me my money of $6500 whether he really is selling animals or is falsely making false ads to reel people in , I want people to know to save themselves the hassle and not deal with him . He has been taking me for a ride on refunding me my money cause i sent it through a bank transfer which was a horrible choice for me to do , i should of paid through paypal cause i know i would of got my refund a long time ago. He Has told me he would give me a group of Ctenosaura Defensor and we could call it even even though i would still be very short on money for the 3.3 group he offered me , he has also said as soon as he would sell some geckos he recently imported and start refunding but yet again has not paid back one penny. He is recently now starting to say i was his business partner importing the Saara Hardwicki but we never signed no legal document or has he ever showed me paper work for them . I will be posting several pics of text messages of how many months i been waiting for animals i paid for and how many times i have been asking for a refund.
Click to expand...

This was posted on July 20th, 2015. Garrett recieved money on January 7th, 2015. Still NO LIZARDS. Still NO REFUND. Still NO PROOF OF ANYTHING! Including Pakistani contact, paperwork, money trail...NOTHING!!! So Garrett, I'll ask again. HOW ARE YOU NOT A BAD GUY? HOW ARE YOU NOT A SCAMMER? You won't answer that because YOU CAN'T! Your name is mud in this industry, and so are your cohorts.
 
Big Time Reptiles said:
Michael,
Hope you're feeling better!

Curious, any progress with Garrett??

Here's some food for thought, Michael Russo some time ago posted, about a deal he had, and mentions the way he was going to proceed through legal means.

"This afternoon I met with an officer from the Nassau County Police Department and I am now working directly with a detective from the Computer Crime Division who is helping me proceed with filing charges against Mr. Tummons for Attempted Grand Larceny"

Granted his money was returned through PayPal, and he no longer had a case.

You didn't use PayPal, and to date Garrett Smith has not returned your funds. My point, it won't cost you 1 red cent to contact the Detectives with the Computer Crime Division in your county, and or HIS county.

Your deal with Garrett Smith, IMO, is NOT Attempted Grand Larceny, It IS Grand Larceny, Internet Fraud, & Theft by Deception.

Michael, if I had one foot in the grave, and the other on a banana peel, and Garrett owed me $6500, I'd be at his front door so fast it would make his head spin.

Can't stress it enough, AVOID Garrett Smith like the PLAGUE, he CAN'T be TRUSTED, PERIOD!

Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles


Click to expand...

This is great advice Michael. I would ignore the drama here and just make a few phone calls. These organizations might be able to investigate for you and put pressure on Garrett.
 
spinytail said:
I figured I should run an update. I had chatted with Michael and a few friends of him. No simple way of putting this, he is really sick. Not only is the Lupus in a 'flare up" state causing his doctors to require very aggressive treatments. Unfortunately, treatment for autoimmune diseases many times cause just as much damage as the disease. When my wife went through similar treatments, she could not get out of bed let alone function. At the same time, the disease itself is very tied to stress. So least to say, going on here to update us or discuss further only adds stress to Michael and pushes the disease. This disease can kill Michael (for those that do not understand what Lupus is).

Anyways, looks like Michael has bigger things to focus on, so please respect his decision to stay away for a while and pray he gets better. But it does not take Garrett out of legal responsibilities here, and I say we stay on top of him. Possibly there are legal actions that we as a community can do to help?
Click to expand...

Interesting. First of all, the community can only help those who are willing to help themselves. Mike has clearly stated, "I have accepted my loss". You campaigned for Mike to be left alone here. The accusation about "drama" is clearly illustrated here as you are now on board with Mike participating by "making a few phone calls" with regard to the transaction that you yourself amplified as being potentially life threatening. Are you now saying that the stress that pushes the disease that could kill Michael is no longer of importance to you? You told us to "respect his decision to stay away. Has he changed his mind? Is he feeling better, stronger? If so, I imagine he would be posting here without provocation from you, me or anyone. Nuff said.
 
Does anyone know what happened to the scam meister general? Markus? Lynn? Anybody? He has been AWOL since April 6th. Is he finally where he belongs?
 
Chris Kennard said:
Does anyone know what happened to the scam meister general? Markus? Lynn? Anybody? He has been AWOL since April 6th. Is he finally where he belongs?
Click to expand...

Chris,
I don't have a clue, and at this point, don't give a rats behind. Although it would be music to my ears, to hear he was busted for his devious, unscrupulous, ways!

Can't stress it enough, AVOID Garrett Smith like the PLAGUE, he CAN'T be TRUSTED, PERIOD!

Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles
 
Here's his website and contact information. Screenshot included in case he takes it down.

http://www.rareiguanas.com/contact.html

The email address on his website is: [email protected]

The domain was first purchased in 2015 through weebly.com, so this contact information may be his current information.

It's important to note that people have been having issues with Garrett Smith since 2004. Here's an old BOI thread on him from that period. http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46091

This is before he was caught smuggling rare tortoises in 2009. News article: http://www.chicoer.com/article/ZZ/20090317/NEWS/903179764

If you read the first 200 or so posts of this thread (most are short so it's really not a time consuming read), you'll get enough of an impression to Garrett's character to make an adequate decision about whether or not to do business with him.
 

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nickolasanastasiou said:
I believe that email address should have an e in it after the l.

[email protected]

As a member, I would like to see this get resolved yesterday. Enough is enough IMO.
Click to expand...

Yes it is definitely "tilesmith" as in The Tile Smith. Here are some other details so you don't have to go over all the chitter chatter filling up the thread...

Full name and address at some point (might still be true?):
GARRETT R SMITH
11 Knotts Glen Court
Chico, CA 95926-2154

Other business:
Previous C54 Contractor license under THE TILE SMITH. Bond was canceled on 08/01/2010, so license (#849620) is invalid.

Previous legal issues not mentioned here:
Code enforcement violation at his home...
Neighbor is building a larger shed within 1 foot of the property line. the shed is not higher than 15 feet and is just under 120sf, but there is a setback issue and the r/p has attempted to advise the owner of this back but he refuses to listen. **note* the r/p has a shed structure within the 3 foot side yard setback as well and will be removing it within 2 weeks to abide by the codes. the r/p states the the property owner is awaiting sentecing on animal smuggling charges and fears that the shed will sit there.
https://www.buildzoom.com/property-info/11-knotts-glen-court-city-of-chico-ca-95926
 
chuckwalla said:
Mike any news on this? Any refund? I heard that several people were finally refunded their money. Anyone? Any truth to that?
Click to expand...

Tom,
If Garrett did pay anyone, don't you think they would of chimed in after being paid, if for no other reason, because Garrett, asked, begged, or pleaded for those he paid to do so?

From whom or where did you hear he paid anyone back??


Can't stress it enough, AVOID Garrett Smith like the PLAGUE, he CAN'T be TRUSTED, PERIOD!

Lynn Peterson
Big Time Reptiles
 
Just heard. I think he paid one person and still owes 3. He made have made partial payments to one or 2 but I was also told he told at least one of the people they are not getting anymore. So no full refund. Not really Lynn since none came on here to begin with.
 
Tom, this is your chance to identify the party/parties you have said you heard these things from.
 
chuckwalla said:
Just heard. I think he paid one person and still owes 3. He made have made partial payments to one or 2 but I was also told he told at least one of the people they are not getting anymore. So no full refund. Not really Lynn since none came on here to begin with.
Click to expand...



Just heard, I think and he made have paid are prime examples of he said she said in Senior square! If someone owed me 6500 and this person paid others, i would be sky rocketing through the roof- It does stir up the pot for another 3 or 5 pages!!!

Just saying = )
 
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