[Moderator's note: NEEPS asked for a chance at a rebuttal and I think the
request is fair enough, but please, no more about the specific company
unless you have concrete evidence of good or bad, since I'm not thrilled to
grant still more exposure to this except when the advertising issue rolls
around.  BIG]
 
Hello all,
 
I am posting this message in response to the negative post that Mr.
McDermott about my company.  I do not believe that the FML should be made
into a "business" forum, but these allegations were made against me, and the
allegations were posted, so please allow me to explain myself.
 
First off, we are not a SCAM company, we sell our products in the retail
market.  By no means do we attempt to disguise ourselves as "Wholesalers",
or having "Wholesale prices".  What I can tell you is that we priced these
items in "our market area", which is Wilkes-Barre, PA.  The price that is
listed for Safeguard cages on our Web site, and in our catalog are NOT more
expensive than what these exact SAME cages sell for at Pet Supplies Plus,
and two independant pet stores.
 
Safeguard cages are of "the best quality".  I discovered this when I bought
my first Safeguard cage in 1994.  In 1995, I bought my second Safeguard cage
from "Pets and You", yes Michael, the same cage that you say we sell for $
99.95 plus shipping, I paid $ 89.99 plus tax, and this was marked down on
sale from $ 114.99.  If you do not believe this, I can send you a picture of
the cage and the original price tag which is still on the pull out tray of
the cage.  Just today, I checked the price of this cage at Pet Supplies
Plus.  The EXACT cage is $ 106.99, six dollars more.  So Michael, our prices
are competitive with our market, this does not classify us as a "SCAM"
unless you would like to label all RETAIL outlets a scam.
 
As for the other ferret items we offer, anybody who has a copy of any other
ferret items catalog, I urge you to price compare, and remember that they
charge shipping.  We are right in line, if not better than their prices for
the same items.  So Michael, I urge you to check out some prices in "retail"
stores, not "wholesale direct" companies before you come out into the open
and blatently call my outfit a "scam".
 
The moral of the story is, if you can get a cage "factory direct", by all
means do so, it will save you a lot of money - but please do not try to
compare an apple to an orange and then make a harsh judgement.  Most every
item we sell, I guarantee sells for less than pet store prices, which after
shipping, we make hardly any profit, cages on the other hand are the one
exception.
 
The entire reason Scott and I started this company was to help people who
live in remote areas like ourselves, get ferret stuff.  We are not a
corporation, simply two ferret enthusiasts, and we are the only two people
involved in this project-we are not a scam.  We have spent many, MANY hours
putting together catalogs and building our Web site-on top of our full-time
"day jobs", and I will not stand here and let you call me a fraud simply
because the same cage we sell can be bought for less, factory direct.
 
To all, I am sorry to have to subject you all to this, but I will not stand
here and have my name slandered for no crime.  If anybody has any questions
or comments, please e-mail me directly for messages of this content do not
have any place here on the FML.  I would like to thank the many people who
have written to me with positive comments, your appreciation does not go
unnoticed.
 
Again, I thank everyone for their time,
Joseph W. Palko
[Posted in FML issue 1615]