Stephen Carnicom (scarnicom) stole my milk money! (and killed my milk snake)

I value customer service, lasting professional friendships, and problem-free shipping when I buy or sell a snake, so I always go out of my way to deal with small-time hobby breeders like myself who are almost invariably more flexible and accountable when it comes to moving their prized animals. Stephen Carnicom proved to be the painful exception to this rule.

I went out on a limb and trusted Stephen despite a previous BOI thread describing him as "shady." In that instance he demonstrated a significant lack of professional propriety when he reneged on a written sale agreement after discovering his python was worth slightly more than what he agreed to sell it for. However, given that no money had actually exchanged hands, I communicated with him over a few weeks and ultimately gave him the benefit of the doubt. This was a mistake.

Although it's hard to believe from the extensive and very friendly dialogue that follows in our PM transcript, Stephen completely and shamelessly burned me. Read on for details.

Originally Posted by bwaffa on 6-28-2010
Hi Stephen,

What's the story/bloodlines on this snake? Is it pure sinaloan? Nelson's? Did you produce her yourself?

Thanks,

Brad

Originally Posted by scarnicom on 6-28-2010
Brad, a just a nelsons, I got her in a trade from S&J reptiles but am now trying to just focus on corns. just trying to make a little money as she is not needed. I'll even go 120 shipped, The obvious beauty and very healthy excellent feeding snake. I just need her gone.

Thanks for your interest brad, please let me know asap.

Stephen


Originally Posted by bwaffa on 6-28-2010
Hi Stephen,

A pure Nelson's is actually exactly what I'm looking for! I'm kind of surprised (though delighted) since most of the VP stuff I've seen is Sinaloan. Are you confident in the breeder's designation? The morph coloration makes it kind of difficult to evaluate the pattern. I'm not familiar with S&J - do they have a website? Are they reputable? I don't deal much in morphs; they're secondary to my interest in locality and taxonomy, so I appreciate your help looking into this.

The snake is beautiful though, so assuming she is, in fact, pure nelsoni then $120 shipped is a fair price. Unfortunately, money is tight here too and there's just no way I'll be able to buy her for probably a few weeks at least. I understand that if you get a chance to sell her to someone else who comes along with cash on table, you've gotta do what you've gotta do. If she's still available in a little while though I'll be really interested in taking her.

Thanks for your help,

Brad
http://www.waffahousereptiles.com

Originally Posted by scarnicom on 6-28-2010
Hey Brad, yea i'm pretty confident in the designation. As SJ reptile does not have a website, and are not very known, they did aquire her from VMS herpoculture. I'm am quite good friends with John, who is part with SJ reptile. We have delt many times and all were positive transactions and deals. So I trust him 100%. As for the couple of weeks, I could wait, I'm not too sure if anyone will hit on her. Money is tight everywhere these days, but I just figured with the vanishing pattern and all I could get a little more cash, but have been forced to take a break in the price, I just need her gone soon. So the sooner the faster the better for me. Just keep in touch with me and let me know if your still interested whenever you can. If anyone does hit on her I'll be sure to let you know.
Thanks brad;

Stephen

Originally Posted by bwaffa on 7-28-2010
Hey Stephen,

Is this girl still available?

Thanks,

Brad


Originally Posted by scarnicom on 7-28-2010
Hey Brad, Still Available and Still a Female.lol. Let me know. Thanks; Stephen

Originally Posted by bwaffa on 7-29-2010
Haha awesome. What's your paypal?

BJW


Originally Posted by scarnicom on 7-30-2010
Glad to see your still interested but I cannot accept paypal. I don' have a credit card. I can only accept money order or check after it clears. I can give you the gaurntee that I will ship the same day I recieve the payment if it's a money order, check I would have to wait for it to clear. Please let me know what you would like to do or how to proceed, I know most folks don't like dealing with physical payments in hand payments, but it's all I can accept. Please let me know because I know we can work something out. Waiting for your response. Stephen


Originally Posted by bwaffa on 7-31-2010
Hey Stephen,

Do you really need a credit card now to create a paypal account? I made mine YEARS ago, but I'm pretty sure back then all you needed was a bank account to link it to. Besides the speed of transfer, which I love, I deliberately use it just for reptile purchases so that I'm not dipping into food and rent money when I splurge on snakes. But anyway, if you don't have it, you don't have it...

Could you do $100 shipped? I should have enough cushion in my bank account that I could go to the bank tomorrow and have them send you a guaranteed cashier's check which should clear instantly. Would that work for you?

To whom should I have them make the check out to and where should I have it sent?

Thanks,

Brad

Originally Posted by scarnicom on 7-31-2010
Yea thats fine I just really need him gone.


Make it out to

Stephen Carnicom
**************
***********
*********


Thanks so much Brad, I'll notify you as soon as I recieve the check, and ship him out the same day or next depending on what time I get home. Thank you SOOOOO much.

Stephen Carnicom


Originally Posted by bwaffa on 7-31-2010
"him"... it IS a girl right? LOL

OK, cool. I'll get the check sent out first thing tomorrow. They'll probably need a phone number. Is there a number I can reach you at?

Thanks,

Brad


Originally Posted by scarnicom on 7-31-2010
Lol, I'm sorry yes him is a she, and ***-***-**** is my cell thanks/ Stephen

I then sent Stephen a cashier's check in good faith. Now, I understand the risks one assumes in paying by check, particularly to a relative stranger over the internet. The point here is not whether I was or was not an idiot in choosing to do so (I was), the point is simply that I trusted this guy to do right by me as a buyer and to the animal to which he has some ethical responsibility. Indeed he failed us both.

On 8/6/2010, several days after our last PM correspondence, I got an unexpected text message and a creepy almost incomprehensible voicemail from Stephen. Something about how my snake was available for pick-up in Raleigh. My initial excitement at the thought of getting my snake that very day - an unexpected surprise! - turned to perturbation when I realized that this meant I had to drop everything and skirt academic obligations to go pick up my animal. Why didn't he notify me that it had shipped? And where was the thing anyway? I called around to several local UPS facilities, but none could tell me where my package was without the tracking number which, of course, Stephen failed to provide. And, of course, Stephen was at this point suddenly unreachable.

I finally arrived at my "local" UPS distribution center - almost 30 mins away - and had to work with two clueless UPS employees who could not find my package anywhere in the system. Turns out Stephen had copied my address incorrectly from the machine-printed cashier's check. Our text message correspondence really tells the rest of the story...



















Pictures of Stephen's packing job follow:







So, to summarize, my list of grievances are that Stephen:
- failed to notify me of receipt of payment or of an impending shipment
- shipped to the wrong address (which happened to not exist, so that the package ended up at a typically incompetent UPS distribution center 30 minutes away from me)
- failed to discuss shipping methods with me and shipped directly in contradiction to the established methods I use for my own customers (specifically by shipping with UPS instead of FedEx and by shipping late in the week – I insist upon priority overnight shipping and never later in the week than Wednesday)
- shipped 2-day air in the middle of a heat wave
- shipped without use of an insulated box or a cool pack
- shipped in direct violation of “ShipYourReptiles.com”’s shipping standards (specifically shipping in heat in excess of 88ºF and without use of proper shipping materials or methods) despite taking advantage of their shipping discount
- killed the snake I purchased, a damn shame
- cashed my $100 check prior to shipping and, to date, refuses to respond to all messages and phone calls whereby we could peaceably address this situation

It's precisely this type of behavior that reflects so poorly on our industry and literally ruins it for everyone else.
The only thing I'm more ashamed of than Stephen Carnicom's actions and utterly juvenile response to this situation is my own indiscretion in trusting him in the first place. I hope that no one else falls victim to Stephen by making the same mistake.