BAD GUY Glades Herp Farm Inc

I bought a Hermann Tortoise from Glades Herp Farm Inc on Tuesday 9/27/11. I made a payment through paypal and sent them an email right away to coordinate the shipping on Wednesday for Thursday’s delivery and asked them if they are able to send me a healthy, good looking tortoise. Robroy sent me an email that we’re good to go. They will ship it out on Wednesday night.


I emailed and called Robroy for the fed ex tracking #, but no response. I emailed a total of 3 emails asking for the tracking #, and finally he responded on Thursday. He said that he is traveling, so he’ll let his staff know to contact me. I have not heard from them so I called their office again. They finally picked up and told me they did not have my order shipped.

I decided I should just ask for a refund since their customer service was terrible. The guy I spoke to said he’ll make it work for me. He’ll pick out a healthy tortoise and also send me pictures of the animal I’ll be receiving. I agreed and said yes. So I told him please ship it Thursday for Friday’s delivery.

On Thursday, I sent emails requesting for the tracking # but no response again. I emailed them for the 3rd time and finally received an email with the tracking # on Friday morning.

I received the package at 10:10am and opened it right away. When I took the tortoise out, his right eye is infected. His right eye was swollen. I contacted Robroy and his team regarding this issue. I did not receive any response, nor phone calls from them. I sent a total of 4 emails and made several calls to their office. I don’t know what to do now. I would like them to either exchange the tortoise, or issue me a refund. Can I please get some suggestions?

Thanks!

I moved this to our Inquiry/Feedback forum. It's more likely to get found by someone searching for feedback on Glade Herps this way. ;)

Sounds like a pretty lame situation and a whole lotta excuses. Based on what you've described, I wouldn't WANT an exchange from them, because I wouldn't trust the quality of their animals or their ability/willingness to send another.

In your shoes, I'd ask for a partial refund and keep the animal. I wouldn't hold my breath for the refund, but I WOULD give them a chance to make it at least somewhat better. And if they balk and refuse to offer any sort of compensation for sending out a sick animal, then I'd do what you're doing now, and spread the word far and wide about the experience.

The problem with Glades Herp Farm Inc that Robert and Steve traveling now with promotion of "Swamp Brothers' so everything is handled by persons working fort hem...
I never personally deal with them.. . but I hope that Issue will be positively resolved...:gj:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aes_Sidhe

The problem with Glades Herp Farm Inc that Robert and Steve traveling now with promotion of "Swamp Brothers' so everything is handled by persons working fort hem...

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No excuse for sick animals, or poor customer service.

I'd return it for a full refund. No need to run up a vet bill on a sick animal. Use the returned funds to buy from a seller that won't screw you over. So sorry you're having to go through this, and I hope you get it resolved.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

I'd return it for a full refund. No need to run up a vet bill on a sick animal. Use the returned funds to buy from a seller that won't screw you over. So sorry you're having to go through this, and I hope you get it resolved.

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I am trying to get a full refund, but they are not picking up their phone, nor returning any of my emails. :tears:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by llovelace

No excuse for sick animals, or poor customer service.

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Unfortunately You absolutely right...:(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

I'd return it for a full refund. No need to run up a vet bill on a sick animal. Use the returned funds to buy from a seller that won't screw you over. So sorry you're having to go through this, and I hope you get it resolved.

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Unfortunately, that's only an option IF the seller is responsive and willing. :(

I DO hope they get on the ball and help you get this resolved to your full satisfaction. It'd be a shame if Glades Herp Farm lets their business name get trashed because they're too busy running around the country promoting a silly TV show.

Glades Herp has more bad deals than just this one(BOI), and some seem to predate the show. With their track record, I don't think I'd reccoemend anyone buy from them until they've cleaned up their act.

Unfortunately this inst the first bad thing that I have heard about Glades...I think Robby is to busy with Swamp Brothers and Robroy is being left with to much responsability. This is a fauna BOI Claim where Robroy is accused of refusing to pay for some hots he brought from Germany....http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=229193

Im truly sorry about this experience. This is exactly why I get leery about shipping.. i just dont know if they'll screw me over or not. Im very glad you shared this info though. Ive looked at their site before and thought of buying from them, i DEFINITLY wont now though.

Here are some pictures I just took. You can clearly see the difference between the left and right eye. I feel bad for this tortoise...:tears: I don't think I can ship it back and forth and stress it out even more....

Links to the pictures:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9...0/IMG_1210.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-y...0/IMG_1213.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-L...0/IMG_1228.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...0/IMG_1233.JPG

[url=https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9...0/IMG_1210.JPG] https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9...0/IMG_1210.JPG
[url=https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-y...0/IMG_1213.JPG] https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-y...0/IMG_1213.JPG
[url=https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-L...0/IMG_1228.JPG] https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-L...0/IMG_1228.JPG
[url=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...0/IMG_1233.JPG] https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...0/IMG_1233.JPG

they sound like a group of guys that got a show because theyre funny on camera, and they have alligators

BEWARE OF GLADES HERP FARM. They did nothing to resolve this issue. It took 3 e-mails, to finally hear back from the manager. I explained the issue and sent them pictures of the tortoise with the infected right eye. This is what they responded:

From: Timm Smith <gunthereye@aim.com>
To: Thanh Lam <thanhdlam1985@yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 1, 2011 1:06 PM
Subject: Re: Notification of payment received

Honestly, after having reviewed my image, I clearly can see that your animal had it's eye open. On it's right side. Even if you send me an image of the animal with it's right eye closed, I won't be able to proceed with any refund or further discussion. I politely request that you do not contact me further. I do apologize that you are not pleased with our animals, so please do not purchase from us in the future. Enjoy your tortoise.
Thank You,
Timm Smith

The first picture is the one and only photo they sent me before shipping me the animal. Clearly it was the left side that they took the picture. The infection was on the right eye.

Pictures are below.
1st picture: The picture they took
2nd, 3rd, and 4th picture: Pictures I took

You can clearly see the difference between the left and right eye.


I immediately called their office and talk to them. This is what they said "You inflicted this on the tortoise. You are upset with Robroy for delaying the shipment, so now you're finding flaws with the tortoise and blame it on us."

I contacted them immediately after receiving the package about the eye infection. They said I inflicted the injury of the tortoise, so it's my fault. That is just freaking insane.....

They are really dishonest. This is the worst company ever!! Please do not buy animals from this company, unless you want a sick animal! :rage:


http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...1&d=1317868514
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...1&d=1317869520
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...1&d=1317869520
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...1&d=1317869907

Wow....to say their response is "lame" would be a huge understatement. :mad:

Poor little tort...but at least he has a good home now....yes??

yes indeed. She is definitely a strong lil girl. She is eating well and doing great. I'm planning to keep her and treat her eyes myself. I fell in love with her. Does anybody have advice on treating an infected eye? Will it be back to normal? Does anybody know if they will regenerate their eyelids?

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Originally Posted by Orijin0XazN

yes indeed. She is definitely a strong lil girl. She is eating well and doing great. I'm planning to keep her and treat her eyes myself. I fell in love with her. Does anybody have advice on treating an infected eye? Will it be back to normal? Does anybody know if they will regenerate their eyelids?

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I'd suggest starting a new thread in the Chelonia forum for those questions. We do have some good people here who have some experience with both torts and with doing some home treatments. The most popular answer, however, will be to seek out a vet's help. ;)

Wow, thank you for sharing about this horrid treatment of animals and lousy customer service.

Try asking about treating the eye over on tortoiseforum.org, though even there the most popular response will be too see a qualified herp vet.

couldn't you find their facebook page and post this up so their "fans" know how they really treat their animals?

i am sorry, but WOW. after that email, i would be absolutely LIVID. "I politely request that you do not contact me further. I do apologize that you are not pleased with our animals, so please do not purchase from us in the future. Enjoy your tortoise."

REALLY!?!!?

obscene customer service.

also *coughswampbrotherssuckscough*

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Orijin0XazN

From: Timm Smith <gunthereye@aim.com>
To: Thanh Lam <thanhdlam1985@yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 1, 2011 1:06 PM
Subject: Re: Notification of payment received

Honestly, after having reviewed my image, I clearly can see that your animal had it's eye open. On it's right side. Even if you send me an image of the animal with it's right eye closed, I won't be able to proceed with any refund or further discussion. I politely request that you do not contact me further. I do apologize that you are not pleased with our animals, so please do not purchase from us in the future. Enjoy your tortoise.
Thank You,
Timm Smith

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That is inexcusably bad customer service.

This is the e-mail I sent them including the photos.

*Update*The right eye opened up a little after a few days of soaking the animal and treating with hydrogen peroxide as recommended by my local pet store. I will keep her and do the best I can to help her heal.

---------------------------------
From: Thanh Lam <thanhdlam1985@yahoo.com>
To: RobRoy MacInnes <Robroy@gherp.com>
Cc: "pattie@gherp.com" <pattie@gherp.com>; "gunthereye@aim.com" <gunthereye@aim.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 1, 2011 7:46 AM
Subject: Re: Notification of payment received

Hi Robroy,
The Hermann tortoise that I received yesterday had an eye infection on its right eye. I tried soaking it in luke warm water and it still hasn't been able to open up the right eye. I tried emailing you several times, as well as calling your shop. But no respond. I asked specifically for a tortoise in good health and shape. I paid money for a quality tortoise and I did not receive that. Can you please give me a call on my cell phone xxx-xxx-xxxx, I would really appreciate if you can do something about this. This is my third email and I give you till noon to respond to my email or give me a call. If not, I’m going to bring this onto BOI and seek further actions with paypal. Thanks

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From: Thanh Lam <thanhdlam1985@yahoo.com>
To: "robroy@gherp.com" <robroy@gherp.com>
Cc: "pattie@gherp.com" <pattie@gherp.com>; "gunthereye@aim.com" <gunthereye@aim.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 1, 2011 12:17 PM
Subject: Fw: Notification of payment received

This issue has been reported on the BOI, Ball-Pythons.net, Paypal, and will be reported to many other forums out there. I gave you to chance to make things right, but you leave me no choice. If you decided to contact me to make things right, please give me a call at xxx-xxx-xxxx.

Thanh
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From: Timm Smith <gunthereye@aim.com>
To: Thanh Lam <thanhdlam1985@yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 1, 2011 1:06 PM
Subject: Re: Notification of payment received

Honestly, after having reviewed my image, I clearly can see that your animal had it's eye open. On it's right side. Even if you send me an image of the animal with it's right eye closed, I won't be able to proceed with any refund or further discussion. I politely request that you do not contact me further. I do apologize that you are not pleased with our animals, so please do not purchase from us in the future. Enjoy your tortoise.
Thank You,
Timm Smith

Customer service like this really pisses me off. There are NO excuses when a customer makes a purchase that the animals are not backed by top notch customer service along with a 100% health guarantee of the animal at the time of sale

Greetings all, it is unfortunate that I have not been able to address this very clouded situation sooner,but as it seems to have resolved itself.

It is common enough knowledge within the reptile world for at least the last 4 years, if you were calling and having to do business with Glades Herp, at a show or over the phone, that I, Timm Smith, formerly now again of aforementioned long-existing reptile specialty store (20+years now) was the individual you wanted to deal with. I worked there over 6 years, but only worked the phone and email for over 4. Before that was the unique animal husbandry work that allowed me to learn an invaluable amount about a very huge variety of flora and fauna.

I have always done my very best to satisfy MY customers. I frequently had orders mishandled due to negligence on the behalf of my own coworkers, yet still have an excellent track record for having to work under such adverse conditions of internal sabotage.

There were several errors on the behalf of the individual's who "sold" the tortoise to you before I was ever aware of an order. I contacted you one day later than you expected to receive the tortoise initially because paperwork was not in it's correct file.Upon coordination of shipping, I selected what I assessed to be a completely "salleable" and sound baby tortoise based on creditable years of daily work with tortoises. Shipped said animal and started receiving phone calls referencing an eye infection that I do not believe existed. A lot more phone calls and emails went back and forth between myself, customer, and also other parties.

The issue essentially resolved itself by default in an unexpected and unethical conclusion. After days of email explaining the "conditions" of the tortoise, by which point I believe I had already sent my oft-reprinted and eloquently worded reply in which I request that customer does not purchase from Glades Herp, a long standing entity with a history of issues,nor from myself personally, acting now as an individual or then when I was operating at Glades, as our transient opinions on what constitutes a quality animal, and because I do not want to damage my reputation, even when I worked for a company with a history of problems attributed to a long list of individuls, I was and still am EXTREMELY discerning in my selection of animals so that I could slowly build a good reputation.

A reputation that can be damaged or affected by simple posts on a BOI slamming someone. I knew that by telling someone that they should not purchase from us that by virtue of this being career suicide, my quote would wind up on a board of inquiry and the issue could be discussed, as I maintain my integrity as an individual and wish only to be judged as such.

So there, I wrote you a book. And this is my very FIRST post.

Btw, customer did keep the tortoise. And charged a refund thru PayPal. Who is crooked? Look forward to speaking to the members of this site, and this sure was a warmup for the rest of the writing I have to do now.

Best Regards,

Timm Smith

By the way, I love tokay geckos, long walks pretty much anywhere, and my life.

Wow. That's a lot of conflicting declarations. For the sake of brevity, I'll chose only portions to quote in order to clarify the statement, but I will make certain that it does not change the full statement's meaning.

"I, Timm Smith, formerly now again of aforementioned long-existing reptile specialty store"
So you did work for and now work for the store.

"the individual's who "sold" the tortoise to you before I was ever aware of an order. "
Someone else sold the tortoise to the OP.

"I selected what I assessed to be a completely "salleable" and sound baby tortoise based on creditable years of daily work with tortoises. Shipped said animal "
You sold the tortoise to the OP.

"started receiving phone calls referencing an eye infection that I do not believe existed."
The OP is now a liar and there is no eye infection. Weren't there pictures? The pictures showed the difference between the eyes.

"I request that customer does not purchase from Glades Herp"
He purchased the animal, now you think you're absolved of any wrong-doing because you told him after-the-fact not to buy from the company you were working for.

"our transient opinions on what constitutes a quality animal, and because I do not want to damage my reputation, even when I worked for a company with a history of problems attributed to a long list of individuls"
This is part of a lot of convoluted phrasing saying "It's the other people at Glades Herp, not me, I'm a good guy and wouldn't screw people", BUT you admit you chose the tortoise and you were the one that denied that there was anything wrong and you were therefor the one denying a refund for a defective animal.

"Btw, customer did keep the tortoise. And charged a refund thru PayPal. Who is crooked?"
You are, for sending out a defective animal and not refunding when you received pictures showing the defect. Getting a refund through Paypal was apparently the only way for the OP to get a refund, since you refused to stand behind the animal that you personally chose to ship to fill the order. Would you expect the OP to ship a animal back when you've told him you will not take it back or give a refund? Should he just ship blind and hope someone receives the live animal?

The very very simple way to solve the issue would have been to return the tortoise and refund his money THEN say, "we would prefer not to be further business with you" if that was your decision. Instead you denied there was any defect, then you try to say it's everyone else at the company, although it was actually you yourself fullfilling the order with a defective animal and then denying any solution.

Several times you seem to try to imply you are not with Glades Herp and are with Glades Herp. Frankly, at this point, since it was you who dealt with this unhappy customer, you got the black mark on your name, in addition to the company having a black mark on their name since it happened with the company.

Thank you Wolfy-Hound, for standing up for me. I called/emailed them immediately after inspecting the tortoise. Literally 5 minutes after opening the package. I'm no expert, but I can clearly see one of her eyes was infected. I kept calling and emailing, and finally got a hold of them. First the rude email, and then when I got a hold of them over the phone, they were really unprofessional. My last resort was to call paypal for a dispute on the transaction. But paypal was not able to do anything about it since it was an live animal transaction. I did NOT receive any refund. I decided to keep the tortoise since she's been through a lot of stress already. I strongly advise all of you to think twice on purchasing animals from Glades Herps Farm.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gunthereye

Greetings all, it is unfortunate that I have not been able to address this very clouded situation sooner,but as it seems to have resolved itself.

It is common enough knowledge within the reptile world for at least the last 4 years, if you were calling and having to do business with Glades Herp, at a show or over the phone, that I, Timm Smith, formerly now again of aforementioned long-existing reptile specialty store (20+years now) was the individual you wanted to deal with. I worked there over 6 years, but only worked the phone and email for over 4. Before that was the unique animal husbandry work that allowed me to learn an invaluable amount about a very huge variety of flora and fauna.

I have always done my very best to satisfy MY customers. I frequently had orders mishandled due to negligence on the behalf of my own coworkers, yet still have an excellent track record for having to work under such adverse conditions of internal sabotage.

There were several errors on the behalf of the individual's who "sold" the tortoise to you before I was ever aware of an order. I contacted you one day later than you expected to receive the tortoise initially because paperwork was not in it's correct file.Upon coordination of shipping, I selected what I assessed to be a completely "salleable" and sound baby tortoise based on creditable years of daily work with tortoises. Shipped said animal and started receiving phone calls referencing an eye infection that I do not believe existed. A lot more phone calls and emails went back and forth between myself, customer, and also other parties.

The issue essentially resolved itself by default in an unexpected and unethical conclusion. After days of email explaining the "conditions" of the tortoise, by which point I believe I had already sent my oft-reprinted and eloquently worded reply in which I request that customer does not purchase from Glades Herp, a long standing entity with a history of issues,nor from myself personally, acting now as an individual or then when I was operating at Glades, as our transient opinions on what constitutes a quality animal, and because I do not want to damage my reputation, even when I worked for a company with a history of problems attributed to a long list of individuls, I was and still am EXTREMELY discerning in my selection of animals so that I could slowly build a good reputation.

A reputation that can be damaged or affected by simple posts on a BOI slamming someone. I knew that by telling someone that they should not purchase from us that by virtue of this being career suicide, my quote would wind up on a board of inquiry and the issue could be discussed, as I maintain my integrity as an individual and wish only to be judged as such.

So there, I wrote you a book. And this is my very FIRST post.

Btw, customer did keep the tortoise. And charged a refund thru PayPal. Who is crooked? Look forward to speaking to the members of this site, and this sure was a warmup for the rest of the writing I have to do now.

Best Regards,

Timm Smith

By the way, I love tokay geckos, long walks pretty much anywhere, and my life.

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I like how Timm thinks by using a "wide" vocabulary.. which in the end his message turns out making little to no sense at all, will "resolve" this whole transaction.

After reading the email sent initially to the OP, I know for a fact that I will not be doing business with Glades Herps in the future. To the OP, I'm sorry to hear about all this and I hope your animal heals up well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iCandiBallPythons

Customer service like this really pisses me off. There are NO excuses when a customer makes a purchase that the animals are not backed by top notch customer service along with a 100% health guarantee of the animal at the time of sale

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I totally agree with you!

Lesson Learned! Here are a few things to think about before purchasing online.

1st: do a search on the business to make sure they have a good reputation.
2nd: Ask them to send you more info and pictures of the animal. If they can't do that, take your business elsewhere.
3rd: Don't be cheap. If the price is too good to be true, there might be something wrong with it.
4th: Confirm the status of the payment, shipping date, and tracking info. If they fail to confirm, contact them to ask what's the problem. If they don't respond to your calls and emails, cancel the order unless they have a really good explanation.

Hmm....Those are a few on top of my head.....Anybody else want to add to the list?

Thanks for posting here Timm, now I know for sure I will never purchase anything from you. I almost suspect this is someone pretending to Timm, because I find it hard to comprehend that someone can be so pretentious.

i called glades herp awhile back about a red tail green rat snake i was interested in and the person who answered the phone seemed too busy to talk to me, didnt know if it was CB CH or WC. Ive heard from SOOO many people the green rats typically dont do well being shipped and are poor eaters and breeders when WC and CH. he had no info and really seemed like he just wanted off the phone.

just my experience with them and thats the most i will do with them from here on out.

The days of dealers selling junk animals because that's all that can be found are coming to an end.

This just a dinosaurs last days.

P.S. Your show stinks.