Backwater Reptiles

1.) We're attaching a screenshot of [redacted] order invoice. As you will see, he ordered an Eastern "hybrid" box turtle, which is exactly what he received. We sell many of these, and do not receive complaints about them, as we ship what is listed. We have already told this customer he can...

ship the turtle back for a refund. He is attempting to make things difficult, which is fine.2.) As you can also see on the invoice, this customer ordered two Bullfrogs "2-3 inches snout to vent." In his Revdex.com complaint, he says he received two Bullfrogs, "2-inches snout to vent." Again, he is attempting to make things difficult. We shipped what he ordered.
3.) We have a very clearly defined, simple shipping schedule literally on every single animal page on our website, including the ones this customer used to place his order. Here is a link as an example: [redacted]
Again, this customer is attempting to make things difficult.
4.) This customer missed his delivery, which voids the live arrival guarantee since it means the animals ride around on a hot truck for additional time, which is dangerous. This is the policy of every single live reptile business in America, and is clearly displayed on our Live Arrival Guarantee page (ie. missing delivery voids the guarantee). Here is a link: [redacted]
This customer clicked, "Yes, I agree to the live arrival guarantee" when he placed his order, thus providing us with his digital signature. We even went above-and-beyond and offered him deeply discounted replacement frogs, which he threw back in our face with attitude.

Perfect, we'll ship today and will e-mail you tracking.

I am rejecting this response because[redacted] personally told you are getting a refund

I ordered and received a Grammastola pulchra from Backwater Reptiles and could not be happier. Not only tiny, adorable, and sweet but healthy and active. Tracking or any order details were updated consistently throughout the process to keep me informed. Very pleased with the service.

The Jackson's chameleon that was sent to us was just what we wanted. Excellent quality.

My Iguana arrived very healthy, and once adjusted to it's new home, has been eating well! I will definitely recommend Backwater Reptiles to friends & family.

The little Russian tortoise I ordered arrived this morning as promised . She is beautiful!! Bright eyed and alert and after a short soak settled into her new home readily. This evening she will receive her first meal in her new home. Thank you Backwater Reptiles we love her already the sad part is that we won't be keeping her as she is a gift for a friend who lost her Russian of many years this summer

The following is the email I sent Backwater Reptiles after I received my beautiful Emerald Tree Boa from them. I think it sufficiently sums up my feelings about the whole experience, which was overwhelmingly positive:
-Just letting you know I received the Emerald Tree Boa this morning safe, sound, alert and feisty. She is truly stunning, and, amazingly, all my admittedly fastidious preferences/requests seem to have been met.
This has truly been a remarkable experience. In my nearly 20 years of keeping snakes, never have I received such prompt, thorough and downright warm/kind service from a reptile dealer (many of whom, I've found, fare poorly when it comes to customer service or interacting with people in general, no matter the quality of the animals they keep). This is all-the-more extraordinary and pleasantly surprising, given how large and brisk your business is. To Amanda, Meg and Abbey (the agents with whom I exchanged emails and who provided such great service every step of the way); the shipping department (who picked an animal that met all my specific tastes); and all the Backwater Reptiles staff who made this whole experience possible, thank you.
Kind Regards,
-Brian A. D[redacted]
Thomasville, Georgia
Sent from my iPhone

I am rejecting this response because:The business, by their own admission, states they have been engaged in this bait and switch for years: marketing both picture and label that clearly state/show "eastern box turtle".  They don't show a "hybrid" photo. they don't list "hybrid" in their advertisement/photos, etc..  If they have truly been selling "hybrids" for years - why don't they show a picture of a hybrid, or market hybrid? If they are selling a partial eastern box turtle why do they market it as a full one?  Shouldn't they say 1/2 Eastern or "NOT eastern box turtle" or possibly just "hybrid box turtle" Instead they show multiple pictures of pure "eastern box turtles"... Even read the customer testimonial attached which does not say "hybrid" - did M Morton not realize that the 4 turtles they bought look nothing like the photo or that they are not eastern box turtles (or is the testimonial a fraud too?)...The business then continues to ignore their own shipping schedule and the email/invoice they sent on Wednesday which would mean Friday delivery. They also continue to ignore that they packed the turtle on top of the frogs, ignore the photos showing the frogs were pushed into the side, as well as, ignore that one of the frogs was not 2 inches. They then hide behind a policy that they are obviously well accustomed to hiding behind claiming it was the heat that killed the frogs (but not the turtle?)..They then say they would have refunded the money but I was impolite - ask them to show any impoliteness on my part... there wasn't any. They literally called me unethical and dishonest and threatened me with some ridiculous collections (IC collections) when I in good faith paid them in full.. Buyer beware of this place!

On Febuary of 2016 I placed an order with this company. I could not be more satisfied. Shipping was extremely fast (I received my reptile early in the morning). Animal was alive and healthy! I definitely look forward to doing more business with this company.
- [redacted]

The customer is responding differently in this complaint than via e-mail, and it's fairly difficult to determine where we stand. We attached a screenshot showing an e-mail from this customer saying they accepted our replacement offer, but in this complaint they are saying they reject it.
The tortoise was captive bred and was definitely not sick--our animals are checked by a veterinarian before being shipped. However, we are attempting to work with the customer to compromise and make an exception. We can go down to a replacement for $59.99 shipped. Is this acceptable?

This customer filed a Revdex.com complaint before they even contacted us. We said that any DOA frog was covered under our guarantee program. Shortly thereafter she said she cancelled the Revdex.com complaint, which I don't see reflected here.

Our website contains specific wording urging all customer to check their local regulations with respect to any potential species restrictions. The reason for this is that it's literally impossible to know every city, municipality, county or state rule for some species. We offered the customer to...

ship it back for a refund which they refused.

since this all occurred, backwater fully refunded my money. I offered to return their baby roaches if they provided shipping label and container to which they didn't. they offered for me to keep them, so I did. this matter has been settled. I would not ever use them again for poor conduct, but they did refund my money which they would have had to do anyway because I was going to dispute it through my credit card company. more than I can say for some of the other reviews I read where the people just were out of luck. Lesson: use a credit card when you purchase online; you have security when you do that because the cc company can advocate for you if you should have a dispute. thank you for refunding my money.

Hi [redacted],We don't ship out sick animals--that benefits no one. We breed box turtles successfully and you purchased one of our adult breeders--one that we have had for several years. The last contact we had with you was a month ago on April 11th, when we refunded your turtle several weeks past...

delivery, which was an exception we made for you as we only guarantee animals for seven days (the longest guarantee in the reptile industry). Best regards

I had a very positive experience with Backwater. The tortoises came in with good shells and in great health.

I ordered two leopard geckos and they arrived completely healthy and they look awesome! These guys know what they are doing. Shipment came exactly when it said they would. Prices were very reasonable and I'm very happy with the business.

This is a highly automated business with everything done by email. Do not expect to be able to call. I personally am fine with an automated experience and they did answer my one email promptly. Everything with the transaction occurs exactly as they described in the FAQ.

Our lizard arrived and was very healthy and alert. Definitely better than what I get at pet stores. I plan on getting my next pets from them.

This customer did purchase two Reticulated pythons (Python reticulatus) from us, one of our best selling reptiles. The customer contacted us after arrival and said the snakes were not doing well--we attempted to give them advice on how to set up snakes that are perhaps stressed from shipment to such...

a freezing climate. The customer contacted us again later on and said the snakes had passed. We mentioned that it was very likely due to their sub-freezing temperatures at the time of delivery.Our Live Arrival Guarantee program is explained in simple terms on our website, at this link: [redacted]Each customer must click, "Yes, I accept the Live Arrival Guarantee terms" before an order can be submitted. Per the link above, our guarantee is voided when temperatures at the delivery zip code dip below 40F, which this customer's did by a wide margin. The reason for this is that it can be stressful and potentially damaging to the snake's immune system to experience such temperatures--although we do use insulated boxes and heat packs to help mitigate the risk. Upon shipping, we recommended that the customer have the package held for pick-up at their local [redacted] (to avoid a freezing delivery truck), something the customer did not do for some reason.All that said, we made an exception and allowed their snakes to be covered under our guarantee, meaning we refunded them $260 of their $300 order (no reptile company in the country refunds shipping--this is a shared risk and is made very clear on our website). Rather than being appreciative of the exception we made for them, they demanded the remaining $39.99 be refunded as well, often using curse words and all caps in their abusive e-mails. The customer also spammed our [redacted] page with F-bomb laden posts, which we believe was unnecessary and inappropriate. We feel that we have gone above and beyond for this customer, to no avail.the Backwater Reptiles team

I am rejecting this response because:  Youa re a liar and a thief and that is why there is so much bad feedback about you all over the internet.  Please produce these email that asked me to send pics of the dead worms???? Show us one!  You are unprofessional and as [redacted]. I hope your business
fails.  You dont send tracking numbers because you are cheap and unprofessional.  And how dare you ever accuse me of trying to buy product without paying.  Who go you think you are???? This complaint will go on your record which is all I need.