Backwater Reptiles

This Company went overboard to help/serve me...I received my Taranula right on time and was in Perfect condition. Everything they said there do..they did. I will most definately buy again..
Thank You Backwater Reptiles [redacted]

Very good communication! Our animal arrived quickly and in good, healthy condition!

Regarding the customers rebuttal, I really don't know what to say at this juncture--our customer service team (we are two employees, and we both respond to the e-mails) would never get "mean" or "aggressive" with a customer. That would be grounds for dismissal. We always uphold our terms to the letter, and we continue to do so with this customer. The customer is not pleased with how things turned out, and that's certainly disappointing, but they clicked, "Yes, I agree to the live arrival guarantee terms" before they placed their order--all customers must do so to do business with us. We remind customers at every turn of the terms of our sales, not only on the website in many places, but also in tracking e-mails, at checkout, etc.
 
If a customer threatens us with an unethical chargeback as in this case (ie. when we are upholding our terms and the customer simply does not like our terms and says, "Do this or else"), we do say that because the customer threatened a chargeback despite our terms, in the interest of full disclosure we inform them that should we lose the chargeback, we send the full amount to a collection agency (IC Systems). We follow all laws and regulations to the letter. 
 
There are certain customers that just cannot be satisfied, and this certainly is one of them. We even offered reduced shipping of $29.99 instead of the normal $39.99 under the guarantee program, but that was unacceptable in the words of the customer.

The staff were very helpful and responded to emails in a timely manner. Information was readily available and helpful. Order placement was succinct and complete, including using PayPal as a more secure option. Delivery was on time and professional. I ordered a snake which was delivered safely and in proper condition. The specimen I was received was top quality and even better than advertised and appears to be healthy and docile. I thoroughly enjoyed using this company for my reptile needs and will continue to partner with them.

I couldn't be more pleased and impressed with how professional and and helpful they are. I ordered large Goliath bird eating tarantula and it arrived in packaging that kept her safe and protected and she is healthy and fat. I will be doing lots more business with Backwater Reptiles in fact I'll be placing another order this weekend!

We have been selling hybrid Eastern box turtles for many years, and have never once had a situation like this whereby the customer claims it was a "bait and switch" or "misleading." It's all quite clear on our website. We sell Eastern hybrids, because that's what they are, Eastern hybrids. "Hybrid" means they are mixed with another species of box turtle. So, a mix of Eastern x three-toed, or Eastern x ornate, or Eastern x existing hybrid. Ordinarily we would make an exception for a customer who was polite, but when customers are aggressive or accusatory, we tend to stick by the terms the customers all agree to when placing an order. This means when the customer missed the delivery and the frogs had to stay on a hot truck for several more hours, the live arrival guarantee is voided. We cannot refund the frogs that arrived DOA due to this customer's negligence.Additionally, this customer has unethically filed a claim with his payment processor and is attempting to get all his money back while keeping the animals. Dishonest to say the least, but we do see this type of behavior occasionally.We are still willing to take the turtle back and refund the payment, despite this customer's ethics. We will not however pay for the return shipping, as we shipped what the customer ordered, per the screenshots we provided of his invoice.Thank you!

I am rejecting this response because: This business is a joke. I received the second frog at the same time as the big one. I was not shipped a new frog because the bullfrog arrived dead. I was shipped the pac man frog because I was told the bullfrog was out of stock. The frog did not have any air wrapped in a sack. I am not abusing anything. I have emails to support my statements. They don't have the same. It is a simple request and I do not care whether this business appreciates me contacting the Revdex.com or not. Facts are facts and I want my money back. I received a dead frog that I was told I was getting anyways because they did not have any bullfrogs

A family member ordered a chameleon from Backwater Reptiles for my birthday. I spent a ton of money setting up the cage to chameleon standards: screen vertical cage, dripper, tons of vines and plants to climb on, the works. The chameleon arrived extremely lethargic. I spent three days trying to get it to eat and drink with no luck. Finally, I took it to the vet. The vet said it needed to be hospitalized or euthanized. She also said that chameleons don't get that sick after one day of shipping. She believed it had been sick long before it was sent to me. After contacting Backwater Reptiles, they told me the breed that had be purchased for me (Graceful) was imported and may have parasites or other issues that they don't know about. I honestly don't understand why you would even sell them in that case. Or they should atleast mention that when you are purchasing the animal. The chameleon has had to be given food and water through a syringe for the last few weeks until it built up the strength to hunt on its own again. BR sent my family member a refund of the money for just the chameleon, not the shipping. It's barely a chip in the grand scheme of the huge vet bills I've shelled out so far. I would absolutely not recommend purchasing from BR. Find a breeder near you so you can be well informed about the animal you are taking in and so it won't be thrown around in shipping.

Positive experience, I only wish they'd include a care sheet that told when they last fed.

Ordered a turtle and it was shipped, received live and looking good.

Awesome, no issues at all. My lizard was healthy and happy as could be...

This order was returned via a prepaid label, and the customer was refunded in full. Photographic proof is available if the customer will not confirm this.

I am rejecting this response because:Its not impossible. Many websites do not ship a product when you enter in your zipcode. Also, no response to the delivery charge that was paid and did not receive the time guaranteed.

Got my [redacted] overnight, she was very healthy and packaged warm and cozy! Very satisfied with my new pet and very, very pleased with their service!!

We did want to hold the cricket order as a courtesy due to their temperatures being slightly colder than normal, but we ended up shipping according to the shipping schedule on the website, which is what the customer had expected prior to our e-mail. We never received pictures of the DOA crickets, which is the policy very clearly spelled out on our website--this applies to all customers. We are extraordinarily clear that we do not guarantee live arrival of crickets when temperatures dip below 40F (this customer's low temperatures were below 40F every single day in Jan/Feb, so the crickets would not have been guaranteed regardless of the day shipped).
 
In an effort to compromise, we offered to add 500 free crickets to their next two cricket orders, thus getting them a free replacement of 1,000 crickets. The customer chose to word our aforementioned offer as "they wanted me to pay twice as much for two more shipments before they would replace the dead crickets" which I believe is a deceptive way to explain the exception we were making. This really boils down to:
 
1.) We shipped the crickets according to the shipping schedule that the customer was expecting upon order placement. We attempted to hold them a day as a courtesy, but our supplier shipped.
2.) The customer's low temperatures voided the live arrival guarantee every day in January and February, so the crickets would not have been guaranteed regardless of the day we shipped.
3.) We made an exception to fully replace the crickets over their next two cricket orders (they had placed six prior cricket orders, so there was no reason to think they would not continue).

We shipped a bullfrog, which was healthy and strong, to this customer via [redacted] overnight delivery. The frog arrived DOA and we promptly, and at no cost to her, shipped what she requested as a replacement, which was a Pacman frog. That frog arrived alive.
We actually made a huge exception for this customer, in that we didn't charge her the usual $39.99 for replacement shipping, as all reptile companies do. We shipped a replacement absolutely free of charge. I am shocked at this demand for a refund of the original order. We went above-and-beyond for this customer and she responds with a Revdex.com complaint. We cannot refund the original purchase, for obvious reasons. If she wants to ship the replacement frog back to us, we can process a refund of the original transaction.

I am rejecting this response because:They refunded my cost to ship the turtle back, but not the cost of the turtle itself! The turtle died while in my possession within the "7 day live guarantee" they provide. They should provide a full refund.

Hi [redacted], As we mentioned via e-mail, your live arrival guarantee was voided on two fronts:1.) Your local temperatures exceeded 90F, which voids the guarantee. This is mentioned on the "Seven Day Guarantee" page linked to on every page of our...

website: [redacted]Here is the text: If temperatures at the delivery zip code dip below 40F or above 90F, the live arrival guarantee and extended guarantee are both completely voided for all reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and feeders. However, even including Winter shipments, our DOA rate is still an incredibly low 1.8%. Shipping live animals is a shared risk between the shipper and the customer--please research your local temperatures prior to ordering.We also request that customers research their local temperatures before ordering.2.) You missed the delivery, which voids the guarantee, located on the same page as referenced above. Here is the text:If you, or an authorized representative are not present for a delivery attempt (usually in the morning), the live arrival guarantee is null and void.Both of these factors void a live arrival guarantee for every single reptile business in the nation, for obvious reasons.

Purchased a healthy Russian tortoise. For a low price good deal.

I am rejecting this response because:I contacted Backwater Reptiles about this issue immediately, and am pursuing further action now because I was not satisfied with the response I previously received. I have attached my full correspondence with the customer service representative I spoke with the day I got the dead animal. I promptly complied with all requests made by them, included all pictures asked, and responded within 24 hours of the lizard arriving at my house. I have re-attached my full email correspondence to this message as well to prove this fact. The replies sent to me by the customer service representative were unprofessionally written and the requests for my personal credit card information of an unsecured email came off as a scam, at best. Emojis when I was distraught about a senseless animal death are uncalled for and unnecessary, and are all present within the attached file.Thank you.