New Pewter

[adamjeffery]

they should send you a replacement and either let you keep the kinked one for free or steeply discounted. or refund you the majority of what you paid and allow you to keep her.
adam jeffery

[Steve-J]

That sux that you have to go through this, as was stated previously, it's only apparent in the pics if you are looking for it, not something that would be obvious unless there was a disclaimer of some sort, which would be the right way to have advertised this one. I hope you get it sorted out and you should not be put out any costs whatsoever to get it resolved, shame on them for not informing the customer of a serious issue!

[EverEvolvingExotics]

Sorry this happened to you Kinra, I'm interested to see how everything works out.

[Homegrownscales]

Oh man that's not cool. That's a BAD kink. Personally if they don't make this right they'll go to my Do not buy from list. I would never sell a baby to anyone without disclosing everything about that animal. That's not something they can say they just didn't notice. That's a big big kink. So sorry you have to deal with this. I know what it's like to wait in something excitedly and then be dissapointed upon arrival. I hope they make this right for you. Unfortunately that female with the kink isnt even worth half of what you paid for her. I hope they fix this.
Good Luck!


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

[jason_ladouceur]

I guess I'm just used to seeing refund policies that don't include the cost of shipping so I assumed that was something they wouldn't refund. I know BHB has a lot of happy customers, but it's the unhappy ones that are the most vocal. I would take what you hear about them with a grain of salt. So far it seems like BHB is going to make this right and honestly that's all that matters to me.

You may be right. In fact the simple fact that BHB is still in business probably means that they have more happy than unhappy customers. But when you hear over and over again people saying I got an animal from them that was crawling with mites, had a severe respiratory infection, had a bad spinal kink etc etc you can’t help but think there is something to it. You yourself said this is the second time you have bought from them and the second time there has been a problem. And yes the larger the breeder the more difficult of a job quality control. So what. Would you buy an animal at an expo without at least looking it over to make sure it didn’t have any obvious injury’s, R.I, mites etc; I wouldn’t. And if a breeder is so busy that they can’t even give the animal a quick visual health check before shipping it off to a paying customer, than I don’t have time for them either. I can’t remember the last time (if ever) someone said “NERD sent me a sick snake” and they sell lots of animals. It’s not to say it hasn’t happened but I don’t see people complaining about the other large breeders the way that they do about BHB. I’ve also never seen a video from any of the other big guys showing how they force giant constrictors to live in crappy little bins barely big enough to stuff them into. I really hope that everything works out for you with this deal, and in the future I hope you will take your business elsewhere.

[Kinra]

You may be right. In fact the simple fact that BHB is still in business probably means that they have more happy than unhappy customers. But when you hear over and over again people saying I got an animal from them that was crawling with mites, had a severe respiratory infection, had a bad spinal kink etc etc you can’t help but think there is something to it. You yourself said this is the second time you have bought from them and the second time there has been a problem. And yes the larger the breeder the more difficult of a job quality control. So what. Would you buy an animal at an expo without at least looking it over to make sure it didn’t have any obvious injury’s, R.I, mites etc; I wouldn’t. And if a breeder is so busy that they can’t even give the animal a quick visual health check before shipping it off to a paying customer, than I don’t have time for them either. I can’t remember the last time (if ever) someone said “NERD sent me a sick snake” and they sell lots of animals. It’s not to say it hasn’t happened but I don’t see people complaining about the other large breeders the way that they do about BHB. I’ve also never seen a video from any of the other big guys showing how they force giant constrictors to live in crappy little bins barely big enough to stuff them into. I really hope that everything works out for you with this deal, and in the future I hope you will take your business elsewhere.

I said last time that I wasn't going to buy from them again, but I decided to give them a chance. You make a great point though, I don't think I've ever heard anything bad about NERD or any of the other big guys but I've also never looked for it.

I don't believe that they missed this, it's extremely hard to miss. As long as they fix it I will count it like I do my first purchase from them. Okay, but not great. The kink is the first real issue I've experience first hand. Last time I bought from them I got 2 rat snakes and one of them was making noises. I was afraid he might have an RI and I asked Lori about it. I described the sound as popping/clicking noise and was told she had no idea what I was talking about and to keep her posted. He turned out to be find and I think the noise was stressed induced, but I think she could have been a little more helpful. So it wasn't a bad experience, it just wasn't great.

Honestly I prefer to buy from Garrick DeMeyer because he's more local to me and he's a great breeder, but it seems like he's only producing black pewters right now and I wanted a cinny pewter. Depending on how BHB decided to handle this I may not ever consider buying from them again. If they fix it I won't put them on my do not buy from list, but they don't be my first or even 5th choice.

[Kinra]

So I just heard back from Lori. Instead of paraphrasing here is what she said:

From: Lori Barczyk <bhbent@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 12:33 PM
Subject: Re: BHB Enterprises Inc. Purchase Order - 884
To: Rebecca Wyman <wyman.rebecca@gmail.com>


I can not believe that we did not catch that! I am so sorry. We have a few options that we can offer to remedy the situation. Brian looked at the pictures and does not believe that the kink will pose a problem when breeding. They are formed during incubation and are not genetic.
That being said if you want to keep her we are willing to give her to you at a %50 discount. We can either refund your money or you can use it as credit towards something else.
Or if you want to return her for a full refund we will be more than happy to do that as well.
Please let me know what you decide and again I apologize for that. We would never sell an animal like that to someone on purpose!


Thanks
Lori
BHB Enterprises

586-263-4686

What would you do? I don't think she would be able to breed (and I'm not sure I would want to breed a snake with a kink), but do you think she would be able to produce viable clutches? Do you think the kink is genetic? I know super cinnies are known for having kinks so I find it believable that the kink could be genetic.

[Jonas@Balls2TheWall]

Thats sucks Kinra, personaly I would send her back for a full refund. I just wouldnt take the chance. I would also request that they pay for the shipping label if they havent offered it already.

[Xotik]

Personally I think kinks are genetic AND egg-formed. I've never experienced it personally, but seen snakes that have produced multiple kinked babies (either in one clutch, or over multiple clutches) and ones that were just how the baby was positioned in the egg.

I agree with you - I don't think she could be bred, it doesn't look like she would be able to even pass a large poo without some discomfort - she may not be able to pass eggs period. I wouldn't breed her, just for the fact that it may kill her/be too painful to deal with.

I would return her, unless they would be willing to drop her price to the price of a normal - she may be a morph - but she should just be a pet. She is drop dead gorgeous, but the fact of the matter is that she has a defect (genetic or not) and cannot fulfill her intended purpose.

[CLSpider]

That is really not cool. I just can't understand how they could take the pictures, send her out to you and never once tell you about the kink?! Ugh, this makes me really mad.
Personally, after hearing their "resolution", I would send the snake back. I would make sure to write a nice email also stating that while the pewter is very nice, you're incredibly unhappy that they would never tell you about a kink...and not just a tiny kink, a good sized one! Ask for a full refund, including the original shipping cost. Then I would just tell them thank you, but I'll be taking my business elsewhere.

I've been hearing quite a bit of negative things about BHB lately. Maybe they should cut back on their "reality shows" twice a week (or however often they do it now), and focus more on the condition of their snakes....

Just my 2cents