What has happened to customer service?

*Minor Rant* Alright, so granted, I've been out of the buying and selling part of this business for a few years, but seriously. What has happened to basic customer service? I have been building my collection back up fairly steadily for the last year and have honestly had about 2 good experiences out of a dozen transactions. It just seems like there is a lot less pride in selling animals that exceed expectation, rather than striving to produce the best. Not to say there aren't awesome breeders out there producing quality animals, just that 5-6 years ago it seemed that the shady dealings were less prevalent and called out pretty quickly. Maybe it's just the growth of the industry?

The latest was a 0.1 champagne bp at 1500g that arrived this morning. Bought from a well-known guy who has been around for a long time and has some beauties in his collection. Positive BOI threads. Paid top dollar. I honestly thought this girl was a sterling example based on her photo on the site. Had some halting communication from the seller (I had to reach out to him twice to confirm she was shipped and to get a tracking number, which he emailed to me about an hour before she arrived here). And she shows up with a jacked up nose (abcess?) and retained eyecaps. Awesome. I would NEVER charge someone top dollar for a girl like this and NOT call out all her deficiencies before the transaction took place. It boggles me that this is the case. Is this just the new norm? Win some/lose some?

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...3/img_0813.jpg

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https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...3/img_0805.jpg

*end rant*

~Kat

Refund time. I would be foaming at the mouth if I was in your shoes.

omg! absolutely unacceptable! yes, refund time!!! :mad::mad::mad:

maybe they should get their first negative BOI...

Unbelievable and not really representative of most reputable breeders IMO. I would immediately let the seller know that i am totally displeased with the animal and would like a immediate refund. No credit , exchange or explanation for this. Absolutely unacceptable! :colbert: :colbert:

I'm with JordanOrNoDan! That's pretty bad. Anytime there is a deformity like that or a shedding problem the seller has to tell let you know before the transaction is confirmed. And yeah a lot of people are in it just for the money nowadays. Ball pythons are really common and it's easy for anyone to get their hands on one. It's lead to a lot of people trying to get rich and realizing they can't and then just dumping animals or people just trying to rip buyers off. It's actually becoming a really big deal around where I live. But there's still some amazing breeders out there and a good reptile community on here! If the buyer has a good reputation like you said then he should provide you with a full refund! I hope everything works out! Keep us updated!


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As more people breed, more BS comes up. I recently bred and gave the offspring away. The last one ended up with scale rot because its tub (although identical to the others) was retaining humidity to a high degree. I told to person who was interested what happened, treated it, and when she was ready I let her go. That's what I would expect and what I would do. But a lot of people just lack the ethics side of the business, they lack transparency and end up releasing unhealthy animals. It's not okay, but it seems to be the current situation in the trade, because so many people are in this to make a quick buck. There are even members on this site who raise serious red flags, and whom I constantly try to steer in a better direction than the ones they seem to be heading toward.

Quality isn't nearly as sought after and it should be.

Over the years the industry has definitely changed, each year (and I have done that a while) I see people wanting to make what they think is some quick cash thinking the animals alone will get them there, they have no business sense nor do they have any clue when it comes to customer service.

Sad but true, but customers have changed too.

Hopefully you can get the breeder to make it right.

If the issue is due to long term nose rubbing even if cosmetic it should still have been disclosed.

If it is an abscess it could become costly and did not happen overnight.

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Eyecaps are fixable with husbandry though I would have been ticked at paying top $ to have the animal show up with them.

The nose is inexcusable, that's a vet visit and non-sellable animal. Incidents like this are why I video all of my unboxings.

Sorry that happened to you, it's wrong and hopefully the breeder at least offers a partial refund.

I would have let him know the minute i got her and let him also know of your displeasure with it.

It's not the norm, at least not what i have ran into and i went crazy and bought a few snakes the past couple years.

First was my SD retic from Kris at Vital Exotics. The male i originally ordered had a a scuffed nose from pushing which Kris caught the morning he was going to ship him. he emailed and told me what happened and didnt want to sell me the snake because it that. He made it good by giving me Caesar who is a white tiger her snow when i originally just ordered a white albino. Didnt charge me more even though the price was pretty much double. Caesar was boxed and shipped very well and Kris followed up to make sure he was ok.

Second was Victoria. Got her from Ashley Lopez and we talked on the phone and he was boxed and shipped well and was what i expected. Ashley followed up on the phone to make sure she was ok when she got here.

Third was Gina from Christopher Wolf and we talked a long time about all kinds of BCCs. He gave me the run down on exactly how he cares for them and sent me a video of her over FB so i could see her as well as pics of the litter when they were born and everything. She was packed very well to and we followed up and he wants to see pics of her as she is growing. If or more likely when i pick up a Peruvian or another Pokigron Suriname, I will for sure be getting one from Chris as he's got both Iquitos and Pucallpa pure blood BCCs. He focuses on keeping his stuff pure blood and doesnt like to cross breed even his BCCs.

Certain breeders do still take pride in their collections and those are who scrutinize with the microscope and make my list. There are a lot of people out there though who are in it for the buck now unfortunately since reptiles seem to have gone kind of mainstream now compared to when i was a kid.

Anyways, sorry to hear about the mess you are dealing with and again, shout outs to Kris at Vital Exotics, Ashley Lopez at Black Forest Constrictors and Christopher Wolf who does pure BCCs as well as some very obscure BCCs you dont see much.