Hold Me Back Please...

Once again, I am turning to CS.com to vent over a previous customer. This information came from my local pet store. I am assuming they were looking for Ashley but she had Sunday off.

They came in complaining that the Red Tail Boa they purchased from me LAST August, had mites and mouth rot! That female boa was one in my personal collection. She is very pretty pastel boa. This local young boy, 13 or so, purchased her at the local reptile expo with his parents. I told them she was eating f/t rats. She was a boa in my collection for over two years.

Now I guess she has mites and mouth rot...they feed her live rats!!! I would say that her mites probably came in from the rats and that she was bitten by a rat in or on her mouth! They are supposed to be calling me personally today...yet no calls as of 2:30pm.

I am so upset and mad right now. When does my "liability" stop with my customers??? I need some help guys/gals. I am about to say "heck with this, sell them all". I try to give them all the information I have on each animal and such and they go right off and do whatever they want and then come back to me months and years later, like it is my fault they are in the situations they are in.

I need to have an iron wall around me so I stop being so personal with my customers! Help......:angry01:

Thanks for your support...'
PJ

You've done nothing wrong as far as I can tell. As tough as it is, you just have to point out the facts and stick to them. Once they took over possession of the animal, especially for this amount of time, the problem is theirs. :shrugs: You (and Jay) have plenty of people to back you up if need be.

D80

So what 7/8 months later they come back to you? Tell them to get a life and a book about boas. This is for them: :sobstory:

It is not your fault and u sold a healthy snake, they should have no right even complaining about what happened to it months from then. I am sorry to hear about everything and they need to learn how to care for reptiles-Best Of Luck.

Just start stating they have a 24 hour, 3 day, 1 week, whatever you want health guarantee when you sell them. I wouldn't do anything. That's like buying a dog and eight months later complaining that it has fleas and injuries to being fed chicken bones. Absolutely ridiculous.

Yeah, that's complete BULL! You have no obligation to them whatsoever! If you wanna be nice,tell them how to get rid of the mites and recommend a vet for the mouth rot. Other than that I'd tell 'em to get lost. You can't be held liable nearly a year after purchase. Betcha the 13 year old switched her to live 'cause he thought it was cool,too.

Drizzt80 said:

You've done nothing wrong as far as I can tell. As tough as it is, you just have to point out the facts and stick to them. Once they took over possession of the animal, especially for this amount of time, the problem is theirs. :shrugs: You (and Jay) have plenty of people to back you up if need be.

D80

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Thank you Brent, I am just so mad and that is putting it mildly!!

mike17l said:

So what 7/8 months later they come back to you? Tell them to get a life and a book about boas. This is for them: :sobstory:

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Yup, Mike, 8+ months from date of purchase! I guess now I should be ordering some flippin' books for my customers...just kidding, that is way too much! Believe me, I will be having a hard time not sounding uncaring of their situation if they call me.

Reptilekyle64, thank you!

carol said:

Just start stating they have a 24 hour, 3 day, 1 week, whatever you want health guarantee when you sell them. I wouldn't do anything that's like buying a dog and complaining that it has fleas and injuries to being fed chicken bones. Absolutely ridiculous.

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That is exactly how I feel too Carol! All that is on the website too. I guess it has to be on receipt too now...LOL!

MinLynn said:

Yeah, that's complete BULL! You have no obligation to them whatsoever! If you wanna be nice,tell them how to get rid of the mites and recommend a vet for the mouth rot. Other than that I'd tell 'em to get lost. You can't be held liable nearly a year after purchase. Betcha the 13 year old switched her to live 'cause he thought it was cool,too.

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The guy at the store told them the mites probably came from the rats and to see a vet as well. And yes, he did, because the lil punk has an illegel burmese python as well!!! That one eats live anything from what I have heard. Again, I did, advise he that the burm was illegel and not to feed live for several reasons, including these two stated! Thank you.

When does my "liability" stop with my customers???

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Technically it ends after they pay for the animal. But being who we are, caring people, we tend to extend it a bit. BUT this animal was purchased last August so your liability is done! I could see if the animal were legitimately sick after a couple weeks and you wanted to replace it. Mites are a different story though. 9 months is a long time to not notice some thing had mites, and being that the animal came from you, I KNOW it didn't have mites to begin with. Hell, that snake could have gotten mites from the rats they feed to being carried in on their clothes from infested animals they touched else where.

I need some help guys/gals.

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You don't need help hun, you just need a big hug! (((HUGS)))

I am about to say "heck with this, sell them all".

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What you need to do is tell them how well you care for you animals and that animal was perfect when it left your home. Offer advice on how they can fix the problems and leave it at that. I know it's hard to do, but that snake is not your responsibility any more. If they never buy from you again, big deal. It's better for the animals and you if they don't.

PJ of all the people I know, you probably have the biggest heart of them all. Some people see that big heart and decide to try and take advantage of it. Keep your chin up girly and remember we all meet people like this. They will push you to no end. Keep a smile and your face, be polite and if they aggrivate you too much, tell 'em to *beep* off.

You have done nothing wrong. Eight months later and clearly this is something that they have done. People will be people though!

Becky...thank you! You made me smile and almost laugh aloud! I knew my friends and other CS.com members would shake me out of this one too!

I just dont get it!! No matter how hard we try to give these people the best advise, they still do whatever they want! Another reason why things like HR669 come up! And the need for animal shelters across America for that fact!

Luv ya girly!
PJ

See, it's kids like that and parents that tick me off! So sounds like the 13 year old just wanted the biggest baddest snakes he could get to show off to people and his parents are indulging him. They probably left the complete care of the snakes to him(big mistake) and now that baby boy didn't do something right, it's your fault! You know, since the Burm is illegal there,how much you wanna bet the mites came from the burm but they don't want to admit that so they're blaming you?! For all you know they're being housed together as well.

Maybe you could report them for the illegal python :dgrin:

unfortunately, apart from caring people, there are and always will be uncaring people (is that a word?)
And dealing with the latter, the ones who care get stuck with feeling bad.
Please don't. It is NOT your fault they won't listen to you. You do the best you can, give the best advice they can get, and that's all you can do. Tough break for the animals though they deserve better, as I know all will agree.
But please keep in mind that it's their fault, not yours.

Lynn, you might be right and I do not want to even think about it!!! People are so uneducated about reptiles and I hate it! I just saw an ad on line here in Maine with a guy selling his female burmese and brand named cage! If the warden service sees that ad, they will come and take that burm and possibly distroy it!

PJ

It is unfortunate that some people do not know how to care for their animals, but it is definately not your fault or responsibility to fix the problem for them. I know it can be hard, especially knowing the animal may not be in good shape - but sometimes we just have to stand our ground. Point out what they can do to fix their own problem instead of trying to "pass the buck" off on you. Seems no one today wants to take responsibility for their own problems that they themselves have caused. They want everyone to fix everything for them. Well, this is the real world and it doesn't work like that - be it in regards to pets, or cars, or jobs or anything else.

I think the advice you have been given here is spot on. Tell them how they can take better care of their animal, recommend a vet, etc... but you are in no way obligated to take on treatment of the animal, refund them money, replace the animal or anything else.

Stand strong girl - you know we got your back!

Man, I can absolutely see why you're angry. I would want to say something like "Look, I gave you the information you needed to care for this snake and you come back to me showing it with signs of abusive negligence? Here's the name of a herp. vet."...But I'd end up being nicer about it. I'm sorry about what you're going through.

To quote a post I read yesterday "Non-snake people should listen to snake people"

Thanks Bryan! I am screaming in my head at them thats for sure!

PJ@PJCReptiles said:

I am about to say "heck with this, sell them all".

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I'd prefer you to say "I'm keeping them all and not sharing any more!!!" You love the snakes- you don't want to get rid of them!

Yeesh. I would say why were the little snot's parents not educated enough to know that feeding live is a bad idea, but yeah, illegal burmese python says it all! If my kids wanted a pet, I would be researching right along with them to find out all the ups and downs, pros and cons, and what-have-yous, including legality and permits. But, I suppose that is me and clearly not them!

I hope they take your advise on seeing a vet and feeding f/t in the future. I wish the poor snake all the best too! Maybe you should start printing the health guarantee on the receipts in huge, hunter orange letters. Think they could see it then?

Kachine Kolgon

Thats bull...
I'm 13 and i'm not that dumb i'm sure the mites didnt live for 8+ months!
well good luck and Dont sell your snakes you'll regret