johnmartino
Member
In the fall of 06’ I was looking for a male Blood Boa to add to my collection. I already had two but wanted one more. On 12/29/06 Mark Miller of Loco-Lizards and I came to a cash/trade agreement. I shipped Mark one of my 06’ Lipstick line male sunglows, a 4 ft. Coral Albino female and $1,500.00 cash for a trade value of $6,500.00 . He then sent me an 05’ Blood male. Mark had said he was courting one of his females at the time of shipping. I waited about a week and fed him one small rat which he regurgitated. I didn’t think much of it as I had done business with Mark before and trusted his animals. I wrote it off to stress. I waited two weeks and fed him another small rat. He kept it down and I figured all was well. I introduced him into my breeding program as Mark had said he was courting and I needed him as a breeder. That was the entire purpose of acquiring him. He didn’t court, or breed a thing. I was disappointed, but figured at worst I had another male Blood breeder for next year. He was put into my non-breeding room which has a constant ambient temp in the low 80’s along with belly heat. He refused to eat. I figured even though he didn’t breed for me, Mark had said he was courting, so maybe he was still in that non-feeding mode. After 2 ½ months he still hadn’t fed. At this point mark called me for the DOB of the 06’ sunglow. I proceeded to tell him about the Blood male not feeding and starting to look worse. Mark said to keep him posted and not to worry he “would make it right”. I tried everything my 18 years of experience would allow, in addition to calling some other large breeders for advice. In the meantime Mark and I were in contact weekly about the Blood males progress. Too many times to count I was told “not to worry” as he would “make it right”, either replacing this animal or compensating with another of the same value. Unfortunately most of this correspondence was via the telephone. I requested we just reverse the trade but Mark told me that he had moved both of my animals already. A lie as the male sunglow was just received by his new owner yesterday. Mark said to keep him posted, “not to worry”, and we would take it from there. Now the animal was still doing poorly and getting worse. Mark continued to promise me that he would “make it right”, “not to worry”, “I want to keep you as a happy customer”. After continuing to do poorly Mark suggested for me to send the Blood male back to him. I did so as I trusted Mark and he had made all those promises. So on 5/1/07 I shipped the animal back to Mark. So now I am out both of my animals, cash, and the Blood male which I had thought I had added to my collection. Mark and I spoke and he agreed to send me a replacement animal of some sort. We would have to both agree on it. We then agreed on a replacement animal where I would have to send him more animals. I was hesitant to send two more animals to Mark but I figured I at least would have another breeder animal. I was out two possible breeders for this coming year and thought this particular animal could ease that pain. Mark receives the male blood and he proceeds to eat two mouse hoppers that night for him. He says he was a little thin but feisty. We both were happy that maybe for whatever reason he would turn around. Mark continues to promise me other animals as replacements. Almost two months later and no replacements I find out a few days before July that the Blood male never fed again for Mark and died. Mark continues to make promises in the form of compensatory animals, all via the phone. As I tried to press him (I was out $6,500.00 at this point) for some of these animals Mark refuses all contact. No response to calls, emails, nothing. He now has a million reasons why this is my fault. If he thought it was my fault why would he make all those promises for four months and take the animal back? So in the end after 4 months of being told “not to worry”, “I will make it right”, I am out everything and can’t even get a courtesy or professional response. Just wanted to let you know how Mark might react when things don’t go well. I am pursuing legal advice, but in the meantime any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. I would still love for Mark to just stand by his word and send me some compensatory animals as he had promised for the four months prior, and we would both be able to just put this behind us. Thanks, John Martino
