Matt Baronek - A & M Gecko

After much thought I have come to realize that Matt Baronak of A&M gecko is not going to do the right thing and man up to his obligation. So we are going to just cut our losses of $600 that we donated to killcrypto organization. I would like to thank Pat Kline for doing the best he could to help with this issue.

Anyone wanting to work with Pat I can tell ya he's an upstanding guy. Unfortunately some people/companies don't know how to uphold a contractual obligation. This is a very sad thing due to our reputation is everything in this business. But the show must go on and I'm wishing everyone the best season in 2011 and let's get this rebound in the economy.

Ryan Hauser

Man that's to bad. It's sad when things like this happen.

That really sucks that he didn't pay. I'm really sorry.

Ryan, you should really post this on the BOI...

What is the BOI?

Board of Inquiry

It's the board of inquiry. I honestly don't know if posting it there will help. I don't know the ins & outs of how it will help rectify this issue. I also fear the backlash I may recieve from this and how it would effect my business.

IMO if posting on the BOI that this other fellow didn't uphold his contractual obligations I don't see how that could backlash to you and affect your business esp. after making such a large donation to the cause. IF anything Matt should be scared to death that someone will call him on his bad practices and HIS reputation would be damaged.

That's to bad Ryan, I think you should post it on BOI too, you have nothing to lose, and people that will back you up.

The entire story of the gift card...

First off let's just say that this is not an admission of guilt on my part. I spoke with Matt today and we made an agreement just to end this crap.

This all started with an auction to help the study of crypto in Leopard geckos. The auction was won by myself for the 1k gift card to A&M gecko that was posted by Matt Baronak.

In the first few weeks Matt was very responsive with me and working with me to get this resolved. At first he stated that his season was off to a very late start and that he was growing geckos up and it would be roughly about a month to get something up to size so it would be sex-able. I was perfectly fine with this in semi knowing his situation of recently moving into a new house, going back to school, and working.

This is the first PM I sent him on 6/28

Matt,

I've been kicking around as to what to get from ya from that auction. I honestly don't know what you're working with Leo wise. I think i would be interested in some W/Y project stuff but i wasn't sure what you were quoting for anything that was either het bell or a W/Y Bell. Also I was interested in picking up a "G" project w/ some decent CT for Chris Smith.

Would it be possible to know if you have anything like i'm interested in and a quote?

Thanks,

Ryan

His response

i will go and take a look at what i have. to be honist i didnt breed alot this year because i didnt wnat to drop the prices of what i have. most of the things that i have right now are like a month or less old so they arnt even sexable yet. i should have some bell stuff hatching with in the next month or two.

as far as G stuff goes kinda the same deal i think i realy only have like 4 from that line that have hatched so far

but like i said i will go look around and see what i have might even sell one of the w/y het bell males that i have

the w/y wont be real cheep though i only hatched a few of them

At that point in time I told him no worries and that when he's in the gecko area to just look around and get back in touch with me as to what my options were.

This msg was sent about a month later on 8/4

2010 stock
Hey Matt

I was just checking in and seeing what you had avail from your 2010 stock. We were hoping to pick stuff up before daytona. Thanks in advance.


Ryan

He then stated he posted geckos for sale that same day. Which in turn was 7 W/Y females, 5 subpar stripes (http://www.reptileculture.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2792), and 5 misc morphs that I had no interest in. 2 days later he posted some Typhoon stuff for sale...that plays in at a later time.

I then proceeded to ask for "We would be looking for Radars, Fascio's, cool looking bell stuff, possibly Mont's if you have that are not already spoken for."

I then got more specific and was asking for Male radar and i think a male Fascio. He stated he didn't have anything avail of the 2 that i asked for.

I then asked about 2 separate w/y females that he posted and some typhoon stuff just to try to find something he had that I could use this gift card on. At that point in time he stated everything was sold but has some typhoon stuff that wasn't sexable.

on Oct 4th i sent him a txt touching base to see when he would have stuff avail. He responded on oct 6th with "after my wedding i will be working on updating the website and i will start to post things"

He got married on Oct 16th

on Nov 4th i shot him another txt touching base again with when he would have avail geckos. I didn't get a response. at this point in time I was pretty pissed to the fact that on his facebook page for Sasobeks world of Reptiles he stated he had 200 geckos leaving his facility. This was posted on Nov 17th.

So on Dec 1st i decided to send an e-mail to Alberto owner of A&M Geckos .

Alberto,

My name is Ryan Hauser and I own the business Retribution Reptiles. I'm sending you this letter as a last resort effort into dealing with Matthew. Pretty much Matt decided to give a 1k gift card to the kill crypto research auction. I was the one to buy said card. At first Matt was pretty open about communicating but that has all but stopped.

I have been told by many in the industry that you're a true professional business man and that you would help me in this situation about your geckos. I pretty much spent this money and I feel as if I'm getting screwed over by not being allowed to spend it.

Thank you in advance,

Ryan Hauser

Ryan Hauser & Angelicka Veach
Retribution Reptiles LLC
[email protected]

This email was sent from the [email protected] e-mail address.

This was the e-mail that was sent back to me from Alberto. Mind you Alberto is a very upstanding businessman that I would highly recommend doing business with.

Hi Ryan
I am not sure what is your deal with Matt, he has his own animals and I have no control over his person and dealing.
Yes I am and have been always professional with the deals I made in over 10 years, but I am not sure how I can help you. This is not something I am involved in as I do not even know anything about this. Matt has his own animals and can make his own deals, if he doesn't respect his deals I cannot do much about it. The best I can do is ask him about this and see what he says.
Sorry about your problems with him.
Regards Alberto

On Dec 1st I got a Txt from matt stating I have no available geckos at this time. The ones i posted in the past were sold or you didn't want them . What is it that you want and i will breed for it that is the best i can tell you.

after taking a pic of the post on FB of him moving 200 geckos i sent him a txt stating i'm calling bullcrap.

He then stated it was all in trade, i sent 200 geckos to canada so you can stop acting like you know what's going on with my business. Those animals were never posted for sale anywhere. other then shows i have no sold a leopard gecko in over a year and a half.

that same day he attempted to call me. i was pretty heated and didn't take the call. at that point i sent him a txt stating "i would be more then happy to talk with you via the phone but i need all conversations regarding this matter done in black and white for protection of both parties.

he responded "so in black and white what do you want"

i responded white and yellow female or pure subs

he responded i don't have any w/y for sale and i might have a few afghans laying around.

i then responded you told me months ago you had to grow stuff up....what happened to that...

i didn't hear back from Matt....

This email i recieved from Alberto on Dec 4th (i removed his telephone number for his privacy)

Hey Ryan
I just spoke to Matt, if you want to give me a call at xxx-xxx-xxxx today anytime you want I can get to understand what the problem is.
Alberto

After talking with alberto and explaining the situation as of exactly why i was upset and going over in detail what i was interested in at the time he told me that he would talk with matt and do what he could to make this situation right.

After a month of talking with a few friends and family members i decided that i was going to take this issue to the BOI. At that point in time Matt posted on Facebook he sent me an e-mail to my personal e-mail account on dec 5. I never recieved this due to that account doesn't get checked for 2-3 months at a time. All business dealings are done through my 2 business email accounts. [email protected] and [email protected]

After speaking with Matt regarding this on the phone we have come to an understanding that this crap needs to end and he wanted a public apology on geckoforums and facebook telling exactly what happened.

I will go on to say I'm sorry to Pat and Alberto in having to deal with this mess. I'm sorry to Matt for the fact that this had to escalate to the level it has to get a minor resolution.

______

damn, im sorry. i hope things get resolved. people these days i dont understand it cuz it seems like alot of shady business is going on everywhere, my father in law keeps getting screwed on ebay and we have been screwed too on there and seen alot of false advertising on CL. I wish you luck.

I dont see where you have to give anyone an apology. He donated you won the auction he needs to honor the donation. Sorry you are going through all this Ryan.

gixxer3420 said:

I dont see where you have to give anyone an apology. He donated you one the auctions he needs to honor the donation. Sorry you are going through all this Ryan.

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I agree. You have been more than patient. I hope things work out for you.

It's a relief to see people able and willing to talk through something and get it resolved (at least it seems where that's heading). I don't think anything's wrong with some extra apologies, and no need to worry too much about who does or doesn't need to apologize for what, as long as everybody gets what they should have and the reptile community knows that things have been resolved (if they have) so we can continue to go about doing business with each other.

I have had a few issues lately to deal with regarding Gecko Time which turned out to be misunderstandings that could be resolved. Part of the reason they were resolved was the willingness of both parties to figure out together what went wrong and how to fix it, instead of hurling inults at each other and refusing to back down, so I applaud this effort as well.

Aliza

Retribution Reptiles said:

I'm sorry to Matt for the fact that this had to escalate to the level it has to get a minor resolution.

______

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You do not owe Matt a thing Ryan... There should have been no need to work anything out... You bought the gift cert and he did not make good on it in a timely manner... Its pretty cut and dry and it seems like you waited long enough to let the cat out of the bag... The last thing I would have done was apologize...

I wonder how he has no leos available for you but he has atleast 50 on his table at every show? Most he never bothers to grow up... Seen many that looked fresh out of the incubator...

Thanks Gregg.... I tend to agree but well I figured I would be the man in this situation and step up to the plate....

Wow... talk about bad business. Sounds to me like they have had plenty of chances to make this right with you. I mean you spent 600.00 in good faith and he left you hangin... That's pretty sad, I know I won't be doing any business with them due to just reading this story. Sounds to me like you covered all the bases, I agree with Gregg in that you don't owe anyone an appology.

Im very torn on this subject, because the whole thing was to support a great cause but ended up not working for one transaction. Im quite thrilled everyone else had fun and every other transaction went well, but im not happy it was not 100% without a hitch. I have made several attempts to try to rectify or aid in a solution in this issue but it hasnt worked. I would like to remain neutral for professional reasons, and wish everyone a hopefuly happy resolution to this issue.
We will also be releasing a statment soon on the kill crypto project.

I look forward to new news with this project! Was just looking at the web page last night........

After reading everything I am really just disappointed. Although I am new to this forum I have been part of the reptile community for quite some time and have corresponded with Matt on different occasions. Up until about a year ago, he seemed to me like a very respectable and cordial business man. My short history with Matt is basically he had my name for a holiday gift exchange on another forum. Awesome, right? Or so I thought. At that time I was just starting my Afghan line and was looking for a male. Matt told me that he would reserve a male from his line and send him to me for the gift exchange. Well weeks pass, then months. I contact Matt and he tells me several shows waaaay out of my vicinity that he will bring "my" male to -because ya know, we can all just up and walk out of our jobs and life responsibilities for three days to go pick up a gecko half way across the U.S. So after bouncing texts back and forth and him saying I will ship I will ship, SYR goes down...fml. He was perfectly unwilling to ship me "my" male for twice the shipping price... he could have put him in a darn box months ago!!! Anyways, I knew SYR would be back soon so recently when it came up I texted Matt yet againnnn asking about "my" male. He said he still has one and he will ship it to me when the weather is better OH and he will throw something else in for the long wait... Honestly that would be awesome, but waiting over a year for a dumb holiday gift exchange has really bothered me. Dont get me wrong, I have contemplated just friggin buying my own Afghan male from someone else, but I suppose all this time I was hoping Matt would come through on his word. So my Sfghan female did not breed last year, hopefully she will have a proper suiter this season. She is ovulating and unless Matt really comes through with this one, I cant think of many good things to say.. sad days.