Danny Cueva, budding young scam artist

Originally Posted by Robert Walker

Just curious if this is the same boa in question here in this thread?

The timing would be right based on the OP but the new "female" shouldn't have been anywhere near that male unless they were shipped together.

If it is, it would've been returned after that pic was posted.

I don't recall when he was to have palpitated the snake.

Originally Posted by boabasement

I shipped the animal after receiving his payment via PayPal on 2-16-2017 and arriving in Las Vegas New Mexico noon his time. On 2-18-2017, I received an email from him at 11:19 pm stating that he palpated the animal and was sure that it was a male. Less then 2 hours, there was an email from PayPal that he had opened a case against me, this email arrived at 1:06 am on 2-19-2017, BTW, I had all ready shut down for the day around 10:00 pm on 2-18-2017.

So the buyer puts the newly arrived snake with another snake in his collection...no QT? Whether the buyer adheres to commonly accepted standards of animal husbandry is his own business, but sticking a brand new arrival with another snake casts some doubt on his portrayal of himself as some kind of expert.

I have no dog in this fight, but like I said before, something is fishy here.

Based on the buyer's actions through this whole mess he comes off as "book smart" but with minimal practical experience in keeping, husbandry, industry best practices, etc. None of that excuses the seller's crappy customer service, especially since he's been doing this for 30+ years according to his OP.

Doug's tantrum and demands in mid-February that the snake be shipped back by March 1 were out of line, especially since he knew that the buyer had never shipped a snake before so he wouldn't have supplies on hand and he would need time to procure them. You also need safe weather for shipping, which is iffy anyway during the winter. As a seller if I had a buyer making a demand like that he would get refunded and blocked because he obviously has no consideration for the animal's welfare.

Also, if you have a customer who has never shipped a critter sending one back to you, it takes less time to send a text with "ShipYourReptiles.com and let me know if you have any questions" than it does to make profanity-laden threats via text and over the phone. Then when the box finally does show up as a UPS 2-day shipment rather than FedEx express, why would you not make an unboxing video to cover yourself as there would be a decent chance the animal died in transit?

Well said BCR229. Let's not crucify a guy that just wanted his money back for an animal that was advertised incorrectly. Doug immediately threw Danny under the bus and cast a negative light on him because he knew he was in the wrong. He was completely unprofessional and shouldn't represent our hobby. This is why people leave the herp community in droves. I also understand why Danny isn't being incredibly forthcoming with i formation since Doug has not responded and it's better to hold disputes close to the vest until they are resolved. Good luck Danny. Sorry that some of the people in this thread are accusing you

Originally Posted by bcr229

Based on the buyer's actions through this whole mess he comes off as "book smart" but with minimal practical experience in keeping, husbandry, industry best practices, etc. None of that excuses the seller's crappy customer service, especially since he's been doing this for 30+ years according to his OP.

Originally Posted by TraceH

Well said BCR229. Let's not crucify a guy that just wanted his money back for an animal that was advertised incorrectly.

I agree. For those of us who've seen such situations play out more times than we can remember, it may get a bit too easy to judge someone harshly for lacking the simple experience to know what seems so blatantly obvious to most of us. I haven't seen anything from the buyer that can't be easily explained away as a byproduct of base inexperience. It's not out of the realm of possibility that he paid for the return shipping in cash, and didn't see any need to keep the receipt. No one's mentioned having emailed tracking numbers to the other party, so he really may not have any access to the shipping information that people have asked to see.

On the other hand, the following statements from the OP seem to make it clear that he wants us to believe that he has the necessary proof to his claims:

Originally Posted by boabasement

Upon further investigation, the lable itself on the box stated that it was shipped 2 day air and the weight of the box was 1 pound, that is less then when I shipped the box with the animal actually in it.

He must have some documentation that allows him to be so sure of the weight discrepancy.

Originally Posted by boabasement

I also noticed that he informed PayPal of the shipment on 2-22-2017 that the shipment was on the way when in fact it was all ready a full day in transit, this too is filing a false document with PayPal and I have the box and label still in tact and will also be used in my case against this scam bag.

I can't even begin to wrap my head around the kind of logic it takes for one to come to the conclusion that the buyer somehow falsified documents to PayPal by notifying them that he'd mailed the snake back; but the important part of that quote is the part where he states he still has the box and label. Since it's so integral to his case, surely, it would be a small matter to provide the documentation from his initial shipment, as well as a photograph of the return label so that all of us could see this damning weight disparity.

All in all, I guess I can see how some people would be quick to see the buyer's lack of proof in the worst possible light; but if that's the case, I don't see any way that the OP's refusal to provide any proof doesn't make him look infinitely worse. He's fallen hilariously short of meeting the burden of proof for someone who's making such damning claims against another. If the buyer's inability to effectively defend himself is enough to put him on The List, let's at least hold the OP to the same standard for his utter failure in proving anything that he's claimed.

He's come and gone since posting this thread, without an added shred of evidence. If what he claims to have makes the buyer look as bad as he'd have us believe, it makes zero sense not to play his hand. No unboxing video? Puh-lease! You can't tout all the experience gained in 30 years of doing business, then expect anyone to believe that you don't know better than to keep your ass covered at all times - you can't have it both ways.

I don't think either party should be "crucified" and I don't think that either one has been.... I'm a little perplexed that neither seems willing to post information or even address the requests for information, but that's up to them. I do think the buyer was hasty in filing a paypal dispute late at night without notifying the seller and at least giving him a chance to fix it. However, it sounds like the seller could have been more professional and I can't imagine that he wouldn't have documented the unboxing after receiving a 2 day UPS package that felt light.

I see some fault on either side, the buyer in being unfair about the paypal and the seller in sending a mis-sexed snake (if indeed it was). That probably works out even in the end and if the the seller had the snake back and the buyer had a refund in hand they would both be in good shape. But, somebody is not telling the truth about where the snake is now. Either it was shipped back or it wasn't - I really don't know which. It would be nice if either the buyer or seller would post more about this, but neither one seems willing.

There really isn't enough information to decide either way.

Why bring something to the BOI if you aren't going to respond or answer questions?