Beware of Steve Weissman aka Santa Cruz Reptiles

First of all, let me say that I have no intention of arguing back and forth with all the BOI regulars or any of Steve's friends here. I know that I never received my snake and I know I'm an honest person, as do many others. With that in mind, I'm not asking for anyone's opinion or for anyone to back me up.

I'm only posting this experience on the BOI so that nobody else will get ripped off in this same scam by Steve Weissman of Santa Cruz Reptiles.

After seeing an ad on the Ball Python classifieds by Steve Weissman of Santa Cruz Reptiles for a male Super Pastel Ball Python, I contacted him and we worked out an even trade for one of my Cinnamon Pastel males.

I shipped the male Cinnamon to Steve on Thursday, January 6th for arrival Friday, Jan. 7th. Steve was supposed to ship on Thursday as well, but he said he was out of shipping boxes, so he postponed shipping to me until Friday, January 7th. Steve received the Cinnamon on Jan. 7th as promised, and supposedly shipped the Super Pastel to me that same day.

On Saturday, January 8th, I received the package from UPS, but it felt extremely light. I decided to carefully cut the tape only on one side and then down the middle, just in case. Sure enough, I peeked inside and found that the box was completely empty, no styrofoam lining or snake.

I called Steve and notified him immediately of the situation. I'm a pretty trusting person, so even though I can't see how anyone else would have gotten into the box, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. The first thing he asked is if the box was crushed and the snake possibly escaped. I explained to Steve that the box was in near perfect condition and that it didn't appear to have been tampered with, but Steve said that if the styrofoam liner wasn’t there then it must have been crushed during shipping. I explained that I hadn't opened the box all the way, so there's really no way someone could have removed the two-piece molded inner styrofoam box. Steve got quiet and had nothing to say about the box after that, but he said that he would talk to his UPS guy and that he would be in touch.
FYI, The box was made by Uline, so I checked with them to see if the styrofoam should have been six pieces or a two piece styrofoam liner like Pro-Pak boxes come with. According to their website, the box that Steve shipped to me should have contained a two piece molded styrofoam liner.

During the following two days, Steve ignored several phone calls and messages, but finally emailed me on Tuesday, January 10th. From that point on, I did not telephone him again, as I thought it would be wise to keep all correspondence in writing, via email.


Here are all the emails from there on...

From: "steven i weissman" <sweissman@juno.com>
To: <david@dtreptiles.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 4:28 AM
Subject: Re: Message about: SUPER Pastel Male - Great Blushing $7,500

> I spoke with ups today, and they agreed that an empty box would be
> crushed at least part way on a trip to you David. That means only two
> things; the last delivery driver opened the box and took contents,
> which seems highly dubious given the fact that you stated box was not
> played with, or box and snakes arrived to you intact. My driver
> suggested you speak with ups on your end and ask their opinion on what
> to do. Steve
>

My reply...

Steve,

The box not being crushed does not prove that there was a snake or styrofoam liner in the box during shipment. Boxes without styrofoam go through UPS all the time without being crushed. In fact, I even know wholesalers who ship animals without styrofoam in late spring and early fall. Furthermore, the box you sent has 200lb crush rating printed right on the bottom. I called ULINE and confirmed that the crush rating applies to the cardboard single wall box itself, not the styrofoam liner.

I have a good reputation in this hobby/industry and several well known breeders who will attest to that. References include Brian at BHB, Anthony Caponetto, Dr. Jay Owens, Kevin & Kara at NERD, Bob Clark, Mike Wilbanks and many others who would be glad to vouch for me.

Regardless of my solid reputation, there is no way I could have taken the snake and styrofoam liner out of the box because I did not cut all the tape. In addition to that, the shipping label is on top of all the layers of tape, so whoever put the label on that box was the last person who could have gotten into it.

I think anyone would agree that it's highly unlikely someone could have removed the shipping label, cut the box open, removed the contents and then used the exact same tape to reseal the box and then put the label back on top of that.

Your solution is unacceptable. You know as well as I do that UPS is not going to help me recover or reimburse me for a $7,500 snake. If for no other reason than the fact that they don't allow the shipment of snakes.

Your website states that you have a live arrival guarantee and to notify you within 48 hours if there is a problem. Needless to say, the snake did not arrive at all, live or otherwise and I did contact you within the 48 hour time frame.

Like I said, I didn't want this to be confrontational, but I can't let this slide considering the dollar value of the snake I sent you. If this is not resolved by Friday, January 13, I will contact my attorney and local police department in order to persue civil and criminal charges. I will also report this incident (along with photos of the box) on the Fauna Classifieds BOI and to Kingsnake, so that this doesn't happen to anyone else.

David Thomson
www.DTReptiles.com
913.424.4809


His reply...

From: "steven i weissman" <sweissman@juno.com>
To: <david@dtreptiles.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 8:34 PM
Subject: Re: Super Pastel


>I would be VERY careful about whom you try to slander. The label was on
>the tape I used, and can easily be pulled off in one piece. Cutting the
>tape is not necessary. Rest assured, it is a two way street out there,
>and It will be my word, and several others who handled the box on my
>end, against just you. If you wish to send the box back, I will
>inspect it to see if I can determine anything. You stated this has
>happened before, and I wonder if ups delivered to you that time also?
>


My reply...

Steve,

Please don't try to intimidate me because that isn't going to happen. First of all, I know that I didn't get the snake, so you're going to have a hard time convincing me that this is somehow my fault. Furthermore, I've been into reptiles a long time and as a general rule of thumb, scammers always try to accuse the other party of being dishonest, they always use the word "slander" and they always have two hundred witnesses who saw them pack the snake. Anyone can say the things you're saying (and they usually do), so if you think that's going to help you get out of this, by all means go right ahead.

By definition, slander is when someone lies about someone else in order to damage their reputation. By contrast, this is a situation where I don't need to lie about anything. Rest assured, if I have to report this on the BOI or elsewhere, I will tell exactly what happened and let the readers draw their own conclusion. You received your snake and I did not, so this is your reputation on the line, not mine.

I have plenty of well known references in this industry too. Many of them know my financial situation, so they know that I wouldn't try to cheat anyone out of a $7,500 snake. To me, this is a matter of principal and if I have to spend all $7,500 to make sure that you don't get away with this, I'm more than willing and able to do so.

I will most certainly not be sending the box back to you because I'll be handing it over to the authorities for them to inspect on Friday afternoon if that's what I have to do. The label is straddling the tape and is affixed to the box on both sides of the tape. Furthermore, the label is scored so that it can't be removed in one piece.

As for the other big loss that I took this year, it was a very different situation. I shipped a snake before the remaining cash balance was paid and I never saw the rest of my money.

Please don't waste anymore time trying to convince me to let this slide. If this is not handled by Friday, I will do exactly what I said in my last email.

David Thomson
www.DTReptiles.com
913.424.4809



His reply....

From: "steven i weissman" <sweissman@juno.com>
To: <david@dtreptiles.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 10:18 PM
Subject: Re: Super Pastel


> Now I know why I hate red states like yours so much! You need some
> black people from New Orleans to get the stick out of your asses!
> Probably religious too you gonif.
>


----------------------------------------


Obviously, Steve's last email wasn't worth replying to. Considering the facts, the condition of the box (tape still intact on one side) and the tone of Steve's emails, I think it's clear that Steve hasn't delivered on his live arrival guarantee and has no intention of doing so. As such, I am pursuing all legal avenues to recover my loss and at the very least, to make sure that Steve never gets away with this again.


Thanks for your time,

Sincerely,
David Thomson
www.DTReptiles.com
Mobile 913.424.4809

This is my first ever post here folks, as I have been in business for ten years, and never had a reason or problem with a customer until now. I was told that this guy needed money and to make sure I did not ship first, and am glad I heeded warnings!! I have no doubt, that if I had shipped first, he would have kept snake and not shipped me anything. I went out of my way, and paid $20 extra for sat. UPS delivery, only to have Thomson claim he received empty box? Now we all know, that if I had shipped empty box, with NO packing material, box would have been damaged at the very least. That is why I asked him condition of box initially. The best evidence I have however of his deceit, are his own pics. he sent me upon arrival. Pictures clearly show he cut tape on sides to open box and take container out. I could not believe he even tried to pull this crap, given the pictures. Please email me if you would like to see his picture! I would be foolish to try this gig, considering there was no money involved, and I have extra super males to sell, and would not risk this and tarnish my name, period.

Steve's response falls right in line with his emails to David. No need to spell out why this looks like a scam...Steve's overall attitude about this makes it pretty clear what's going on here.

[quote=furr]I was told that this guy needed money[quote]

Without saying too much, let's just say that David will probably never be in a position where he would need to cheat someone out of a $7,500 snake.

I couple of months ago I was in the market for a cinny or black pastel and I offered him 4500 cash for one and he refused it. So if he was going to scam someone he could hav easily taken my money. Steve your attitude shows alot you seem much more concearned with pointing the finger and trying to make someone else out the bad guy than making the situation right!

Why doesn't either one post the UPS weight in origin? If you have a UPS tracking # you can check how much the box weighed when shipped. That could determine if there was something or not inside the box. Was it a baby, juvenile or larger animal? What was the approximate weight of the animal?

Originally Posted by furr

I was told that this guy needed money

First of all, it's not my place to discuss David's finances, but I will say this: Anyone that knows him knows that this is an absolute HUGE load of crap!

I could not believe he even tried to pull this crap, given the pictures. Please email me if you would like to see his picture! I would be foolish to try this gig, considering there was no money involved, and I have extra super males to sell, and would not risk this and tarnish my name, period.

Actually Steve, I can't believe that YOU would try to "pull this crap." I know for a FACT that you are LYING! Want to know how I know that? Because I was standing there with David when he opened the box!

Now we all know, that if I had shipped empty box, with NO packing material, box would have been damaged at the very least.

Wrong. You shipped an empty box hoping that it would get damaged in route, and that you'd be able to claim that there had been a snake in the box when you shipped it. However, you apparently didn't consider the fact that the box you shipped the snake in has a 200 pound crush rating!

Are you actually trying to claim that a stout box (200 pound test) without the reinforcement of a styrofoam liner is "at the very least" going to be damaged during overnight shipping? Are you kidding me? That is laughable logic at best. I know that that is what you were hoping would happen...but guess what? It didn't.

That is why I asked him condition of box initially.

Yeah right. You asked the condition of the box because you were planning on blaming the missing snake on UPS. Never mind the fact that the front page of your website says: "Live arrival is guaranteed."

The best evidence I have however of his deceit, are his own pics. he sent me upon arrival. Pictures clearly show he cut tape on sides to open box and take container out.

No...that's not at all what he did. David cut the tape on one side of the box, and then across the top. He then popped one of the flaps up and saw that there was nothing in the box. The other flap was (and still is) taped down on one side.

Oh yeah...just to be clear (and a bit redundant) the box wasn't damaged or crushed in any way, nor where there any holes in it when it arrived.

The bottom line is this Steve...you tried to pull a scam and you got caught. You could have gotten out of this, even after the fact, by just saying that you would make good on your live guarantee and send David a male super pastel (or his cinnamon back). Instead, you chose to try to lie your way out of it. Well guess what? You're caught red handed. Now you have a choice to make...start being honest, and make good on this situation, or keep lying and completely destroy your reputation. The choice is yours.

Post a picture of the label, UPS will put the weight in the top right hand corner. You know what the weight of the snake was supposed to be, an empty box should weigh much less. That will pretty much put the whole thing to bed, with the exception of you doing what you need to to be reimbursed.

Looks like Dan beat me to it, I need to type faster...

Steve, you are 110% busted. I bet you did not count on DR. OWENS being there. Steve you still think you have a shot at pulling this off? I think not!!!
As for the weight, I had the same ideas. However I don't think that proof is needed now. I think Steve has some thinking to do, considering it is a felony at this point he is looking at. Can anyone say FRAUD?

Actually for the record I recently purchased a Super Male from Steve as well and had it shipped to me overnight with UPS as well and the snake got here just fine... I really think that it is possible that someone from UPS actually took the animal as I DO NOT think Steve would ship an empty box to anyone . Steve was very professional and made sure that the Super was shipped in the best conditions possible , I expressed my concerns with Steve shipping him into Iowa during winter conditions and he did EVERYTHING I asked him to ... The Super I received was about 75-80 grams and I would bet that the Super he sent David was around the same size so to say the box "felt empty" seems a little strange to me as ALL boxes with snakes even if they contained a 150 gram snake would feel empty to most people , I ship snakes all the time and all those boxes seem empty to me , I have the ULINE shipping box that Steve used for my snake as well and even with a styro 2 piece box inside the box is very light, the styro has practically zero weight and a 150 gram or less snake doesn't exactly make the box seem any heavier... I see David had a witness , Ok fine , get the actual Driver that delivered the box as a third party and if he also witnessed the situation and actually seen you two open the box to find it empty then you have something to go on here , otherwise it is a he said/ she said deal and you have no actual proof that the box was empty (at least not from UPS anyways)... Hopefully this gets resolved , all I know is that Steve has sold me a snake and didn't pull anything funny with me, so if anything I would blame UPS for ALL this before I would Steve as I really think Steve is smart enough to know better than to even think of doing this to someone as he would know that the other person would do something harsh like post it up on the BOI to try and ruin his reputation... Just my 2 cents , Anthony McCain-McCain's Reptiles....