Issue with RBTA seller

[Meisen]

I am having a bit of an issue with this guy who is selling me a RBTA. He orginally said the thing was in perfect health, great colors etc when I paid for it a week ago. Now he says he cant guarantee it when it ships and that it has withdrawn from view for a while b/c the light has been off of it (from what I can gather, he sold the light two weeks ago). He said its body was pale now but the tentacle tips were still bright. Great! He also told me that he will have to pry the foot off the live rock! I tried to convince him not to pry it, that its better off staying in his tank and selling locally on the live rock than getting ripped and shipped. I told him I was getting a bad vibe from all this and that I just wanted a refund.

On top of that, he has dragged his heels for nearly a week on the shipping and now might ship it next week!? If he had just shipped when he said he would, I guess we probably wouldnt have had this conversation.

Am I being over cautious here or what? Am I within my rights to ask to null the deal and just get my money back? He said if I didnt want it, he would only refund my shipping $$, not my whole payment. What the heck? Is the animal already dead or am I missing something?

Any thoughts on what to do? Should I initiate a paypal claim now or just wait a little longer to see if he cant be talked into doing whats right here?

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

Tell him not to bother shipping it and refund your payment. If he will not, I'd file a paypal claim/.

 

[Meisen]

Yep, thats what I did and he said he would only refund the shipping I paid him, not the cost of the coral. Thats what makes me think something fishy is going on. I am now half expecting that I am going to get a bag of slime shipped to me friday and arriving monday (thats the latest day he said he would ship!) with a "too bad it must have been UPS fault" email. I thought that these kinds of folks had been run off of RC?

 

[Amazon4]

Contact Paypal. They may be able to help.

Also, if you used a credit card via PayPal you can dispute the charge.

NO ONE should ship on a Friday for heaven's sake. That in it self is fishy!

 

[Meisen]

OK thanks for the replies, sometimes you just feel like a paranoid jerk without a second opinion. Glad you agree that its fishy, this guy doesnt seem to want to do anything by the book.

Reminds me of a snake someone shipped to me once. The guy was really dicey after he got my check (this was pre-paypal days by a bit). He finally agreed to ship and sure enough, the snake arrived not only dead but frozen solid! He didnt use heat packs and when it defrosted, it stank. That suggested to me that he shipped me a dead snake that he pulled out of his freezer

Of course back then there was little or no recourse and since he had given me a friends apartment as his home address, I couldnt even pay him a friendly visit.

Well hopefully this guy will make good, I just contacted paypal and started the resolution process. I will give him a few days to give me my refund before I escalate any further.

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

I wouldn't even bother with him, I would definiatly be asking for the whole amount sent, and know way should he ship on a friday.I am like you somthing isn't right.

 

[Meisen]

Apparently he says I misunderstood his email which is possible (it was a little hard to understand). He just refunded the whole amount so I am satisfied. A happy ending with no drama! Gosh, its rare that someone gets to say that when there is a dispute.

So anyone got a nice-size RBTA clone they wanna sell me LOL?

 

[55semireef]

Locally you can probably buy a RBTA.

 

[Meisen]

Yeah tried a few times, they are either tiny and overpriced or large and really overpriced. 100+ for a 2-3", 200+ for a 5"er and all wild caught. I prefer to get something thats either a LTC or clone since the survival rates are so much higher on them.

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

Glad to hear he refunded your money,maybe you can find one locally. I bought three gbtas last week, waiting on the temps around here to drop so he can ship.Good luck in finding rbta.

 

[sarahkucera]

Watch the CMAS forum for some Chicago peeps getting rid of RBTA's. I picked one up a while ago from someone in the far north suburbs, which wouldn't be too far from you.

 

[55semireef]

I know Divers Den gets an awesome selection of RBTAs in frequently but the only thing is they sell fast and they can be pricey. Good luck finding one!

 

[GSMguy]

there are some nice rbta on divers den now.

 

[criccio]

There's a guy that goes by the name 'Dag' in the CMAS forum, he pretty much always has RBTA clones available and they're typically about $50.

 

[Meisen]

cool guys, thanks, I will keep my eyes peeled on there. I got a really nice neon one from pufferpunk but it is small. I dont have the patience to wait for it to grow and I am sure my clowns would maul it at this size. When it gets big its gonna be a nice vacation home for them!

I know Live Aquaria is really good when it comes to guarantees/live arrival etc but I still want to go captive, raised at least if not propped.