FireDrake
Scaled For Your Pleasure
First I want to say I dont like doing this, but I really feel like I need to get this out here.
I contacted The Shell Shop about a deal I found on Kingsnake Classifieds. The deal was buy two apricot pueblans at $25 each and get a third herp for free. The choices were normal het charcoal corns, and some sort of turtle. I wanted a male and female pueblan, and I chose the corn. Everything was working out great, every time I emailed them they got back to me very fast. Then I went to paypal them, and paypal wasn’t working. I emailed them to let them know, and everything was still good. I finally got paypal to work, but then received no confirmation of payment from neither paypal OR The Shell Shop. I emailed them to ask if they got it and got no quick reply like I had been used to. It turns out they were confused because my paypal account is under a different email address, ok that was my fault. But after that the replies became more sporadic. The guy, I think it was Lonnie Bohannon but I am not sure, says he works all day and doesnt have email access. Ok, I understand that.
So they say they are going to ship out the snakes on a certain day, then the guys wife needs emergency kidney stone surgery so they said they’d send a second corn to make up for it. I asked that if they were doing that, why not make it a male and female corn as well.
So the time comes for the shipment and I realize when I get the tracking number they are sending it USPS overnight. Now I have bad experience with USPS, they never get there on time. And it didn’t get to me the day it was supposed to. When I got the snakes the next day the box said Accepted Date 10-18-04 Scheduled Delivery Date 10-20-04. That sounds like 2nd day to me, not overnight. I actually talked to someone at USPS about it, they said the express mail is not guaranteed overnight and it usually gets there in two days. The price of shipping is also on there, it was $17, and they charged me $30. OK, I know, boxing charge, etc. But it still galled.
When I emailed them to let them know the snakes did not arrive and to express my concerns with USPS I got a one line answer, “We have never had a problem with USPS, the snakes will be fine” no sorry, no nothing. So I was pissed about that and I let them know.
So I finally get the snakes, and nothing is marked. When I send snakes I always mark male, female, if they are het, etc. And both corns are in one container. One of them is skin and bones, he weighs 3 grams! The other one has a huge lump in its abdomen. They had fed it before they shipped it! That is certainly something I never do.
So I sex them and all four snakes are males! I was very mad, after all that I get four male snakes when I wanted two males and two females. So I emailed them and they wrote back saying I have been negative the whole time. I’m sorry but when I buy snakes I expect something more than what I got. They said they only had two male corns left, and that is ok, I didn’t care about the corns that much anyways but they could have emailed me to tell me that when I asked for a pair! Then they wanted to know how I sexed them and said we’d work out a solution. I even went and got a second opinion complete with photos.
When I sent them that they wrote back and said they only have male pueblans left, and they’d refund me $10, unless I wanted to send the snake back at my cost, then I’d get the whole $25 I spent on the snake. I only ship UPS overnight and that costs me $30. I’m very frustrated. I am now doubting them a lot. I found a link about them, another person had a problem getting a snake from them, and their excuse was someone broke their sternum. Here’s the link:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/for...3957&perpage=10&highlight=Jordan&pagenumber=1
I really have no use for two sickly male normal corn snakes, I was thinking I'd sell them or find homes, but they are both in bad shape, even the one with the meal in it is looking bad, neither of them will eat now. I am not going to just let them die, I need to get them eating and fattened up now before I can sell them. And I didnt really need two male pueblans. Now I have to spend more money to find a female.
And why didn’t they admit they had no female pueblans left when I first emailed them? Their customer service is seriously lacking!
Now, I have to say, they snakes are all beautiful, even the sickly looking corns have very nice color. The milksnakes are in good condition and have very nice colors.
So what I am asking is buy from them with caution!!
And I am sorry but I felt it was my duty to do this. It's very likely I just had bad luck, but their lack of communication really bothered me.
Sorry!!!
Sarah A Kramer
I contacted The Shell Shop about a deal I found on Kingsnake Classifieds. The deal was buy two apricot pueblans at $25 each and get a third herp for free. The choices were normal het charcoal corns, and some sort of turtle. I wanted a male and female pueblan, and I chose the corn. Everything was working out great, every time I emailed them they got back to me very fast. Then I went to paypal them, and paypal wasn’t working. I emailed them to let them know, and everything was still good. I finally got paypal to work, but then received no confirmation of payment from neither paypal OR The Shell Shop. I emailed them to ask if they got it and got no quick reply like I had been used to. It turns out they were confused because my paypal account is under a different email address, ok that was my fault. But after that the replies became more sporadic. The guy, I think it was Lonnie Bohannon but I am not sure, says he works all day and doesnt have email access. Ok, I understand that.
So they say they are going to ship out the snakes on a certain day, then the guys wife needs emergency kidney stone surgery so they said they’d send a second corn to make up for it. I asked that if they were doing that, why not make it a male and female corn as well.
So the time comes for the shipment and I realize when I get the tracking number they are sending it USPS overnight. Now I have bad experience with USPS, they never get there on time. And it didn’t get to me the day it was supposed to. When I got the snakes the next day the box said Accepted Date 10-18-04 Scheduled Delivery Date 10-20-04. That sounds like 2nd day to me, not overnight. I actually talked to someone at USPS about it, they said the express mail is not guaranteed overnight and it usually gets there in two days. The price of shipping is also on there, it was $17, and they charged me $30. OK, I know, boxing charge, etc. But it still galled.
When I emailed them to let them know the snakes did not arrive and to express my concerns with USPS I got a one line answer, “We have never had a problem with USPS, the snakes will be fine” no sorry, no nothing. So I was pissed about that and I let them know.
So I finally get the snakes, and nothing is marked. When I send snakes I always mark male, female, if they are het, etc. And both corns are in one container. One of them is skin and bones, he weighs 3 grams! The other one has a huge lump in its abdomen. They had fed it before they shipped it! That is certainly something I never do.
So I sex them and all four snakes are males! I was very mad, after all that I get four male snakes when I wanted two males and two females. So I emailed them and they wrote back saying I have been negative the whole time. I’m sorry but when I buy snakes I expect something more than what I got. They said they only had two male corns left, and that is ok, I didn’t care about the corns that much anyways but they could have emailed me to tell me that when I asked for a pair! Then they wanted to know how I sexed them and said we’d work out a solution. I even went and got a second opinion complete with photos.
When I sent them that they wrote back and said they only have male pueblans left, and they’d refund me $10, unless I wanted to send the snake back at my cost, then I’d get the whole $25 I spent on the snake. I only ship UPS overnight and that costs me $30. I’m very frustrated. I am now doubting them a lot. I found a link about them, another person had a problem getting a snake from them, and their excuse was someone broke their sternum. Here’s the link:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/for...3957&perpage=10&highlight=Jordan&pagenumber=1
I really have no use for two sickly male normal corn snakes, I was thinking I'd sell them or find homes, but they are both in bad shape, even the one with the meal in it is looking bad, neither of them will eat now. I am not going to just let them die, I need to get them eating and fattened up now before I can sell them. And I didnt really need two male pueblans. Now I have to spend more money to find a female.
And why didn’t they admit they had no female pueblans left when I first emailed them? Their customer service is seriously lacking!
Now, I have to say, they snakes are all beautiful, even the sickly looking corns have very nice color. The milksnakes are in good condition and have very nice colors.
So what I am asking is buy from them with caution!!
And I am sorry but I felt it was my duty to do this. It's very likely I just had bad luck, but their lack of communication really bothered me.
Sorry!!!
Sarah A Kramer
