Feed back for Grevedin and explanaition

[miktrav]

Just to clear this up. On a previous occasion I had made arrangements to purchase a torch coral from this guy. We agreed on a price beforehand and arranged a time for pickup. Once I got there to do the pickup he started hemming and hawing and saying he didn't know if he wanted to let this piece go for the price we had agreed on. After about 30 minutes of looking at his tank and listening to him try to get more money than the agreed on price I finally said I had to go. It wasn't until then that he decided to let me have the coral for the price we'd agreed on. Despite this it was a nice piece so I began to arrange to buy a few other pieces from him. Instead of giving me a price on the phone like I continually requested he kept trying to get me to come over and take a look first.

Yes we had made an appointment for Saturday but when I finally wrung a price out of him over the phone minutes before I was to leave I told him I wasn't interested at that price and I left it at that. Needless to say I was surprised on Monday when he called wondering why I hadn't shown up. Well the reason was I had told him I wasn't interested and didn't feel like going over there to haggle like I was at a used car lot.

As a seller and a person set your price and stick with it. If I feel it is fair I will pay it and if not you still have your item. I could have gotten the same type of Colt coral for much cheaper at my LFS.

[grevedin]

Mike,

I think the feedback I have received from other people says it all....enough said.

PS: Mike, if you didn't do anything wrong, then why did you finally apologize when I called you to find out what happened?

[joshsaul]

Having met Grevedin several times, I would like to add my two cents to this review.

Grevedin has sold me several wonderful corals in the past few months. His tank is very well stocked and EXTREMELY HEALTHY. All of the items he has sold me have done very well in my tank and I am already cutting frags from them.

We have also traded some fish/frags/rock/sand and he was extremely generous with everything.

As far as prices, different people always disagree on the value of livestock. That being said, it is the seller's right to ask any price and I have always felt that Grevedin's prices were substantially cheaper than any store or home grower in the area.

There were never any issues with meeting times or other inconveniences. He is a good seller/trader, excellent technical resource for your reef questions, and a very nice person to deal with.

Grevedin is an A+ member and you should jump at the opportunity to see his tank and purchase some of his corals.

-JoshSaul

[miktrav]

The both of us know what really happened that day Giovanni so my conscience is clear. Can you say the same.


Mike

[grevedin]

I certainly can, and I'm not the one who lacks common courtesy here.

[miktrav]

Then why did you call me back the next day offering to lower your price? 1) We talked, 2) I managed to get a price out of you after nearly a week, 3) I told you I didn't want it, 4) you offered to work something out, 5) I still said no, 6) you called me back the next day offering to lower your price. This is what happened end of story. No embellishments here. Yes Josh Saul is right you, you as a seller have the right to sell for whatever price you choose. But I as a buyer have the right to refuse to pay that price and make my purchase elsewhere. Which is exactly what I did when I purchased a frag from a fellow reefer.

IT'S MY MONEY AND I CAN SPEND IT WHERE I WANT TO.

Mike

[grevedin]

Mike,

The prices were always posted on the original post on reef central. That is where I believe you found out in the first place that I was selling corals.

Secondly, you pestered me for better prices/tried to bargain down (also calling me on a week night after 11.30pm) when you knew perfectly well that they were posted on reefcentral.

When I called you on Monday, I was not trying to offer you the coral at a better price, but I wanted to know what happened to you because you did not show up, besides I only had your work number. I had even sent you two e-mails on Saturday and on Sunday inquiring why you didn't show up, but you did not respond(again, lack of common courtesy, may I add).

So Mike, please do not try and bend the truth, and again, other people's feedback on me says it all...

[miktrav]

There you go lying again. Anyone who remembers your threads will know that no prices were posted initially on your livestock and that they were only modified the Monday after we talked. I'm sure that one of the moderators can verify this.


Mike

[miktrav]

That's the nice thing about computers I'm sure people keep plenty of backups.

Mike

[miktrav]

By the way I see you still have that colt. And what do you know listed at the $65 you offered to lower it to from the $85 you originally requested.

IT'S STILL MY MONEY AND I STILL SPEND IT WHERE I WANT TO.

MIKE

[miktrav]

You know what? I'm getting tired of this. I've made my point and nothing you have to say will change the facts. As far as I'm concerned this thread is closed.

MIKE

[grevedin]

Mike,

You are right, computers leave a trace, in fact if you look at the original post and ensuing threads (4th one down), you will notice I posted in bold "Reduced Prices even further", hence the lower price on the colt coral:

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...hreadid=121291

Furthermore, I have further evidence (in my sent items box) of my two e-mails sent to you on that Saturday and Sunday asking what happened to you, to which you never replied...

I guess we can now both agree that it ends here.

[miktrav]

I bet you're hoping that one of the administrators here doesn't look back at your post and see that no price was posted on that colt originally. It still feels good to know I'm right even if I can't prove it.

Mike

[miktrav]

This is what you posted when someone said your prices were a bit on the high side:

Hi,

In normal circumstances I would agree with you. However, the pieces I am selling are really nice pieces and big. For example, when I post large rock with bright green mushrooms, the rock has over 20 large mushrooms on it. I don't think that it is much to ask $45, especially if I bought the piece for over $60 at the LFS, and also the fact that the corals have thrived for over 6 months in my tank I think is a good thing. At the LFS you will get mostly imported corals whose survival rate is not guaranteed after the long trip they have made.

Thanks for the advice though.

Regards,
Giovanni


__________________
revedin@earthlink.net

90 Gallon reef SPS, LPS, Soft Corals, 40 Gallon Sump with Refugium, Euroreef CS6-2 Skimmer, Korallin Calcium Reactor, Ph Controller, (2)250W MH + (2) 96W PC Actinics



You posted this in thread http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...hreadid=121291 13th message down.

This is what you sent me in an e:mail when I asked how many mushrooms were on your rocks:


Hi Mike,

The green star polyp is still for sale. I will go down to $25 on that piece.
I also have various capnella frags for sale, and I am also thinking of selling
the huge colt coral I have.

I also will sell the leather toadstool coral and a large green fluorescent
Zoanthids.

The mushrooms rocks have have about 2-4 on them.

You should definitely come by, as I am selling most of my soft corals.

Let me know when you would like to come next week.

Regards,
Giovanni



Giovanni xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
New York, NY 10011
home: (646) xxx xxx
mobile917) xxx-xx


The only change I have made here is highlighting text in bold and removing name, address, and phone information. Anyone that wants to see the original e:mail I can forward it directly from my inbox.

Mike

[grevedin]

Mike,

If you look down on my threads you will notice that I have added other corals over time, (threads 4, 6 and 7 specifically mention that more corals have been added)

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...hreadid=121291

and the rock with bright green mushrooms was not on sale at the time I sent you that e-mail (item # 17 in the list), nor was the large rock with red/brown mushrooms (item #4 on the list).


To be precise, when I sent you the e-mail I was referring to variuos smaller pieces of rock with 2-4 mushroom polyps on them, which are also on sale (item # 10 on the list).

Mike, do you really think I would be asking 45$ for a rock with 2-4 mushrooms on it? Come on, please do not insult my intellect and get your facts right...

[miktrav]

Yes you added new corals just like you added prices that were not there in the initial posting.

Mike

[grevedin]

Mike, when you arranged to meet with me again the post had been up on the site for at least a couple of weeks, if not more, and the prices were already on there.

I am sure that the other people who came to see me during the last 3 weeks and bought/traded corals with me can confirm that prices were on the post.

Mike, you seem to forget that the issue, is not about prices, and I explained that when we talked on that Monday. You are right, you can spend your money however you wish, and nobody is asking you to buy from me.

The issue however, is that you had arranged to come by, and never showed up, didn´t call to cancel, didn´t reply to my e-mails, made me sit around waiting for you, and I finally had to find out what happened when I called you in the office. Now that is just rude and not the way I am used to dealing with people.

[miktrav]

I told you on the phone that I WAS NOT INTERESTED in your coral at the prices you had stated. I repeated that to you again when you called on Monday. I don't know why you waited for me. As far as I was concerned the issue was over and that's why I never responded to your e:mails. In our conversation that Saturday on the phone YOU were the one that insisted that I come over and take a look despite the fact that I told you I was not interested. I never responded so why you would wait around for me is beyond any explanation I can give. I too do not have time to waste and that's what I would have been doing if I had driven to NY and have to drive back to NJ empty handed because a price mutually agreeable to us both had not been set. When you called on Monday I expressed the same thing and told you I no longer wished to deal with you regardless of your price. This was because of the rude way you approached me when you called. I did not and still do not have any obligation to buy anything from you. As I stated you have a right to set your price and I have a right to choose to buy elsewhere.

Mike

[grevedin]

Mike,

You never said you were not coming by. I even told you I was not at home and I would jump into a cab to make sure I would be there for you, which is what I did. I told you I would be home in max. 20 mins, and you said no problem because it would take you 45 mins to get there.

Do you think I would have rushed home, e-mailed you twice that weekend, and called you in the office to find out what happened, if you would have told me you were not coming by and were not interested?

Furthermore, lets assume your version is correct, then why did you not reply to my e-mails, and on Monday even apologized after I explained to you that it was not an issue about prices, but about common courtesy of alerting people if you change your plans?

Anyway, I guess the surprise for the phone call in the office was that you thought you could get away with your behaviour.

Mike, you have wasted enough of my time at this point, and all I can add, as I did in my original feedback on you is:

Sellers Beware

[delafe]

I only have good things to say about my dealings with Grevedin, I purchased some xenia, the toadstool, a large frag of capnella and the v.lg anthelia from him. Not only did he give me a discount, but he threw in about 4 frags of montipora and capnella.

I walked out of his home with 8 new corals and 2 ocillating returns that he was going to ship back and I took off of his hands at COST because they were AWESOME for less than what I expected to pay for the 3 corals I intended to purchase.

-Alfred

[miktrav]

Well good for you. You had a good experience. I didn't. I simply put in writing what happened to me when I tried to make arrangements for buying from this guy. I've already moved on and am now buying my livestock at The Hidden Reef where the price I see marked on the tank is the price I pay.

Mike

[delafe]

[Sorry, duplicate message]

[delafe]

Mike:

This isn't my "discussion", but I have to interject here- leaving negative feedback is a pretty serious thing, especially when the community of this hobby is so small.

I have only met Giovanni once, and he does not appear to be in tremendous need. If anything, he was eager to get rid of these corals so that he could make certain changes to his tank. He was so eager, that he gave me 4 "frags" and a very large anthelia. He could have held out to get the $25 or so he was asking for, but instead he "threw it in".

-Alfred

[miktrav]

Delafe,

And your point is? What does this have to do with my experience with him? I simply told what happened when I tried to deal with him. I never said he was in need or any other such thing. I simply stated my experience with him.

You guys ever thought that the negative feedback here might be influencing his current actions? I bet he mentioned this thread to you so you could come here and put in some good comments for him.


Mike

[grevedin]

Delafe,

Thanks for the positive comments on me. As a suggestion, don't waste your time replying to Miktrav any more. He has wasted enough of my time, and will only end up wasting more of yours at this point.