[Warning] 03arachnids - Austin S, Austin Spears, Scott Spears

sntcruzan

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 28, 2005
Messages
207
Has anyone heard back from Austin? I have been trying to get ahold of him, with no response . I need to resolve a situation with him.
 

wesker12

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 13, 2011
Messages
404
Hi y'all, I paid for a fairly large order from 03arachnids, Austin Spears as it seemed legitimate enough with reviews dating back for a couple years and a facebook presence. I ordered over 2 months ago and there has been zero response from the store about the order or when it could be shipped out. Zero response to any emails, and no way to contact the seller or store. All I have been able to see are half assed excuses on how busy he has been with his travel consultant business (which makes zero sense in this corona time but I digress) and how they are shipping orders now and they are very swamped (but still accepting orders?!). Are some people actually having their orders fulfilled? There have been zero updates on the facebook store as well except for an update on July.


Has anyone heard back from the business?

This type of zero response and responsibility is a bit alarming considering it's been well over 2 months.


Store website URL: https://www.03arachnids.com/

I know some users from the phormictopus thread also commented on similar concerns so hopefully we can figure something out together.

@gabrielgartner @Marlana @Ztesch

If you guys don't mind sharing!
 

gabrielgartner

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 24, 2016
Messages
54
I received part of my order today. The rest is coming in two weeks. It took 5 months from after the pre-import order arrived. It was an overwhelmingly large order for Austin to deal with. He's plugging away as best he can. I know it's frustrating, but all you can do is wait. He'll get you your spiders, of that I'm sure.
 

Sarkhan42

Arachnoangel
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
901
I haven’t gotten a direct reply since March.

Last December I did a trade with him. Half of what he sent me was DOA(happens, no big deal at the time as he said he’d replace). Then the replacements were also partially DOA. Frustrating but after that he was out of the stuff I wanted, so we agreed that I could reserve something off the import to cover the value that was lost. It’s been absolute radio silence since an apology for delays in March. I have tried messaging on here, on Facebook, and email, and absolutely nothing.

I honestly just want my replacement and to be done with this. It’s just been draining and frustrating.

I suppose given he is actually a part of this site, it's reasonable to @ him for this(assuming I'm not accidentally breaking rules). @Austin S.
 

Marlana

Arachnoknight
Joined
Mar 27, 2020
Messages
211
I still haven’t heard a word. I ordered in stock spiders on July 2nd. 14 weeks is a crazy amount of time to wait 🙄
 

jrh3

Araneae
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Jun 4, 2011
Messages
1,333
There is a list of people on Facebook a mile long that are pissed with his horrible service. I can’t get any communication from him either.

I think if you are too busy to offer any kind of customer service or communication then you shouldn’t take their money.

I received part of my order today. The rest is coming in two weeks. It took 5 months from after the pre-import order arrived. It was an overwhelmingly large order for Austin to deal with. He's plugging away as best he can. I know it's frustrating, but all you can do is wait. He'll get you your spiders, of that I'm sure.
maybe he should list his spiders as backordered and not available to purchase, 4 weeks is bull crap for anyone to wait with no response.
 

ThatGuy83

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 1, 2020
Messages
20
Yeah sounds like the owner bit off more than he can chew. He obviously needs some help. I've had an order pending fulfillment since Aug 1st. I'm not really in a hurry but I can understand others frustration. Times are crazy right now with covid. Hopefully, he didnt catch it.
 

NYAN

Arachnoking
Joined
Dec 23, 2017
Messages
2,511
I have done 2 orders with him. The first one I experienced similar issues as everyone’s else and about $2000 in stuff was dead, however it was worked out in the end. More recently, the second one went fine.

Austin’s preimport orders are notorious for being delayed, and his communication, unfortunately is very bad.
 

Arachnopets

Arachnoboards Team
Staff member
Joined
Jan 11, 2004
Messages
628
ADMIN NOTE:

Thank you to all that have shared their first hand experience thus far. It would be very helpful to other potential customers if everyone who has had (what they consider) a recently completed transaction to please post a review in his review thread.

It can be found here: https://arachnoboards.com/reviews-reports/austin-s.38/

Please note that anything that resembles a review in this thread will be deleted. I would hate for valuable information to get removed or lost.

Thanks,

Debby
 

neobuddah

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Messages
3
I placed an order beginning of August. Messaged him on FB after a couple weeks and was told it would be another 3-4 weeks. 2 months later messaged him Again I was told that FB message get lost or does not up load all messages told to email the message. $500+ I hope he makes this right. I’m a patient person but never have I waited this long for an order.
 

gabrielgartner

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 24, 2016
Messages
54
For those of you still waiting, Austin messaged me this morning to tell me he had a power failure while at an expo and lost most of his collection (spiders and herps). I'm sure he'll reach out to you individually to explain the situation but thought those of you still waiting should know.

Cheers,
Gabriel
 

Arachnopets

Arachnoboards Team
Staff member
Joined
Jan 11, 2004
Messages
628
ADMIN NOTE:

Thank you to all that have shared their first hand experience thus far. It would be very helpful to other potential customers if everyone who has had (what they consider) a recently completed transaction to please post a review in his review thread.

It can be found here: https://arachnoboards.com/reviews-reports/austin-s.38/

Please note that anything that resembles a review in this thread will be deleted. I would hate for valuable information to get removed or lost.

Thanks,

Debby
Guess I need to add:

- First hand experiences ONLY
- No random comments or discussions
 
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Sarkhan42

Arachnoangel
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
901
Austin’s website now says he’s caught up. I have sent even more emails and messages, and still no reply. Absolutely at my wits end- and wondering how many other people also have not been dealt with.
 

neobuddah

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Messages
3
Yep. Nothing there. I check it every time I check my email now.
I just filed a claim with PayPal to get my money back. That’s probably the best thing you can do at this point is to talk to your bank/credit company. I have read so many negative posts on other Facebook pages about 03arachnids Austin seems to have very “bad luck” with his imports and his communication is terrible. Always gives the same excuses “20+years in the hobby, my wife my kid, import items not fulfilled or died...blah blah blah”. He’s in way over his head. So your money or your order you're not going to get for a looooongtime.
 
Joined
Jun 22, 2016
Messages
393
Now it seems, 03arachnids has turned into 03reptiles. Very limited selection of inverts now; <edit>
 
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