Longhorn / John Minter

[Dave_B]

I ordered 8 psuedocreobotra ocellata plus an order of fruit flies. John did ship promptly when he said he would and the box was well packaged. Unfortunately, the USPS did not deliver when promised (before noon the next day) and, in fact, were not delivered until 11:38 the next day. I could only ever find 4 of the mantids and one of those had been caught between the lid and the cup when the lid was put on before shipping; the other 3 I found were also dead. Because the delivery was late and the box indicated a live shipment, the carrier stayed while we searched the contents for anything living and observed the process.

I finally heard from John by email last evening after nearly a week. He knew already that I didn't keep the dead mantids which were the size and color of small ants. So now, he makes it a condition for any refund that I return the dead ones. The carrier gave me all the information he'd need to file the claim which I passed on to him. It appears to me that he intends to file the claim and be paid double for this order. I'm left without the mantids for which I paid nor the money I paid him for them.

There is one more thing. There was no sign of life in the 20 dram vial that contained FF medium though there were 150 - 200 dead FFs in there and many brown larvae on the walls. There are now new larvae emerging and even several FFs climbing around. I don't know what happened to that box during transit and that's not John's fault. However, his unwillingness to assist in getting my money back or worse is a fault I feel is worth reporting here.

When I first made him aware that the shipment was late, he wrote back that "It's a shame about USPS, that's twice in the past month. I am going to start using UPS or FedEx." In a message a week ago after I told him about the dead arrivals, he wrote, "fair is fair, I will be happy to issue a refund for your losses." I have only heard from him the one time since then with a condition for the refund that he knows I can't meet. Due to the changes in stance, I am not confident that even if I had them and sent them, their receipt would be acknowledged as valid.

I would like to amend this thread if and when I receive the refund I am due.

 

[mantisfu]

Thats strange, I use USPS all the time and have had no problems at all, even international.

 

[Dave_B]

Thats strange, I use USPS all the time and have had no problems at all, even international.

I make my living shipping books via USPS all over the world and we very rarely have any trouble like lost or damaged parcels. Before I posted that, I told John I would post if he was unwilling to keep dialog open by email. There has been no more dialog. Though he asked me to telephone him several times, I kept the conversation to email and have retained all of those, as I shall do; I have email dating back over 10 years. It includes the tracking number to prove the Express delivery was a day late (he never disputed this) and a carrier signature (too faint on my copy to read, though it's clear on the top USPS copy) acknowledging the dead on arrival delivery of the 4 mantids we found.

Could the box have been left in a closed car in Texas for some time before even having been taken to the post office late on the afternoon it was shipped? He had a cold-pack in there, he may have thought it would protect them. Who knows...but I do know that after I told John how to collect on the postal claim and how to refer to the proof he'd need to collect on it, he demanded more proof that he already knew I didn't have before he'd refund me and then ceased conversation.

I no longer hope to get anything back on this and my aim was never to take revenge. I've discarded the packing materials and so forth I thought the USPS might ask to see. I hope others have had and will have better experiences. This is a true accounting of mine. I hadn't planned to rattle this chain again.

I'm sorry the purchase you and I started to negotiate didn't complete; we wouldn't be having this conversation. As it is, John is the only person I've purchased anything from on this board as of today. The orders of 1,000 crickets I bought from an eBay seller and the 1,000 b. lateralis I bought through an individual's website both arrived at about the same time without any problem. The roaches fascinate me; that order included tiny nymphs, all the way up to adults and also included a number of ooths. I want some mantids other than those I can collect locally but I want to wait until the weather's just a little cooler and then, I'll either purchase adults, sub adults or ooths. Those nymphs were only about 1/4" - 5/16" long, something in there...tiny. I really would like some other interesting species than those we have around here and that one is beautiful.