dutchallison00
New member
This is my first post and is kind of a long story, so please bear with me. I purchased a female tiger retic from David Savickey in Salem Ma. and want to warn everyone to avoid him like the plague. I first contacted Mr. Savickey on Tuesday the 17th of January responding to an online classified ad for a female tiger 100% het albino reticulated python. He responded quoting a price of $1750.00 plus $80.00 shipping airport to airport, and said that he guaranteed her to be "scarless, miteless, tame, healthy, with zero problems." He went on to say that "She never had a mite and doesn't have a single mark on her body. Yes she is flawless." He also referenced the breeder who produced her (someone who's name I won't include in this post, but most of you would be familiar with) and that he had het papers from that breeder verifying her genetics. I told him that I wanted her, and we worked out a payment plan that would be spread out over about three weeks. I sent him one check for $500.00 that he recieved on Friday the 3rd of February, and a second one for the same amount recieved on Friday the 10th of February. A week later on Friday the 17th of February I contacted Mr. Savickey asking if I overnighted him a money order for the remaining $830.00 if he could get her out to me that weekend. He said yes, and I sent the money order. He responded to me two days later on Sunday the 19th asking if I could pick her up from the airport that night. Let me pause here to say that up until this point everything having to do with the transaction between Mr. Savickey and I was pleasant, and that I believe we were both happy with the deal thus far. At this point was when I began to hear less and less from him. He contacted me again on Wednesday the 22nd of February asking if I would be able to pick her up that night. I responded to him the same day telling him yes I could and at this point was beginning to get a bit anxious. Remember that my entire purpose for overnighting him a money order, was to recieve the snake that weekend. He told me that it would be fine, and like I said above even checked to make sure I'd be able to get her that Sunday. Also keep in mind that overnighting something across the country is not particularly cheap, and this one cost me around $40.00. I had no problem with that though, being that it was my idea in the first place to try to get her out that weekend. Here it is the following Wednesday, and he's asking me the same question. Anyhow, it was not until Thursday the 2nd of March that I finally recieved her. In the time between Wednesday the 22nd and Thursday the 2nd Mr. Savickey and I spoke several times on the phone, each time me setting up an day to ship the snake and each time him putting it off a little longer. He also made reference over the telephone that she was actually pushing 11 ft. long, not 9 1/2 ft. as his original ad indicated. I picked the snake up from my airport late that Thursday night, and took her to my facility. The first thing that I noticed about her was that she was very much in shed, and had some fairly noticeable scarring on her head. It looked to me like nose rubs, and two distinct puncture marks on the top of her head. Neither of these was terrible to look at, and were more of an aggravation to me than anything else. It also became apparent to me at that point that the purpose of Mr. Savickey's sudden procrastination to ship her was that she was in shed, and if he were able to hang on to her long enough for her to completely shed that the blemishes might be lessened. I also noticed that first night that there were no het papers in the box I recieved her in. I called Mr. Savickey that night to let him know that I recieved her and that she was warm and lively. I made no reference to the blemishes on her head because I just wanted to be done with the whole deal. I realize now that this was a mistake. Two days later (the third day that I had her) I went in to my facility to feed, and clean cages. This was the first time that I handled her in the daylight. Right away I noticed that she had an obvious case of belly rot over about 2/3 of her body. When I took her out to inspect further I grabbed her behind the head to look at her belly. As soon as I touched her under her head/ neck, several ounces of thick, yellow mucus fell out on to the floor. I'm not talking about water from drinking, or the normal RI mucus, but enough to make me think for a second that she was regurging. The best way that I can think of to describe it is about half a coffee cup full of dark yellow, thick mucus. I at first was willing to overlook the blemishes on her head, but when belly rot and the worst respiratory infection that I've ever seen was thrown in, I was felling pretty cheated. I also had no het papers, and just for my own knowledge I decided to measure her. She is exactly 113" or 9.4 ft... not the nearly 11 that Mr. Savickey claimed over the phone. So at that point what I had was a snake who's genetics were at best suspect, several different head injuries, belly rot, and the worst respiratory infection I'd ever encountered. What I paid for was top dollar for an almost 11 ft. tiger 100% het albino that was in Mr. Savickey's own words "flawless." I contacted Mr. Savickey that day, and rather than paraphrase what was said, I'll include all of our emails here. I will also post pictures that I took the day I realized her true condition, and then try to wrap this up.
On Monday the 6th of March I wrote:
"Hi Dave-
What's wrong with the snake you sent me??? This is supposed to be a perfectly healthy animal, and you sent me one complete with nose rubs, puncture scars on the top of her head, belly rot, and a respiratory infection that's so bad I thought that it was vomit at first. The several times you procrastinated sending her make a lot more sense now that I've seen the several injuries that you were trying to get her to shed away. This is not a 100% healthy animal, and I paid you 100% top dollar for her. Something is very wrong here, and you need to fix it. Please get back to me as soon as possible."
The next day (Tuesday March the 7th) Mr. Savickey wrote:
Hi
The snake was very active the past week because she was hungry and since i was shipping her, she was not fed the last week before i shipped her. She got that minor nose rub the last week. Which it is very minor and Im sure it will come off in her next shed. She did not have any belly rot, mabee she got it from the heat packs durring shipping. But the heat packs were wrapped up in paper. Your telling me now 5 days after you recieved it and mabee could have happened at your place, i dont know for sure. The snake did not have any respitory in its life. Again 5 days after since u recieved it u tell me it has resp. It was cold when I shipped it and that must have been how it got it. It was cold all week and too cold to ship in one day. I guarrenteed live delivery and you didnt have any problem when you told me you recieved her ok, it wasnt 5 days after. What I suggest is take her to a vet and get her a shot if she has respitory. Keep her very warm (85-90degrees) and the humidity high. Then just give her some jumbo rats and get her to shed the minor nose rub off. I been working with you the entire time with the payment plan and even got her out as soon as I could upon your request.
On Thursday March the 9th I wrote:
Hi Dave-
Allow me to break this down in to pieces...
"The snake was very active the past week because she was hungry and since i was shipping her, she was not fed the last week before i shipped her. She got that minor nose rub the last week. Which it is very minor and Im sure it will come off in her next shed."
I can at least buy the idea that hunger and roaming is the source of her nose rubs. However there are at least three different injuries on her head, none of which is minor. In addition to that, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but I didn't pay for nose rubs or scarring on the top of her head, and you didn't say a word about either until I complained. Shipping an injured snake when the injuries were never disclosed, AND the buyer paid for a healthy snake is not OK regardless of how you try to rationalize it.
"She did not have any belly rot, mabee she got it from the heat packs durring shipping. But the heat packs were wrapped up in paper."
Belly rot comes from several weeks if not months of lying in bacteria... most oftentimes urine. The idea that it happened in a couple of hours worth of shipping time, and from heat packs is absurd. Heat packs make heat, they don't make bacteria... and infections don't originate from lying near something warm.
"Your telling me now 5 days after you recieved it and mabee could have happened at your place, i dont know for sure. The snake did not have any respitory in its life. Again 5 days after since u recieved it u tell me it has resp. It was cold when I shipped it and that must have been how it got it. It was cold all week and too cold to ship in one day. I guarrenteed live delivery and you didnt have any problem when you told me you recieved her ok, it wasnt 5 days after."
Again, not to sound like a broken record, but a respiratory infection so severe that mucus is literally falling out of her mouth happens in a matter of weeks or months... not days. In addition, it was not five days that it took me to notice it, it was five days that it took you to get back to me. I e-mailed you late on the third day after I got off work. That was the first time I had her out to clean, and the first chance that I got to have several ounces of mucus fall on my lap. The rubs were apparent when I took her out of the box but I was willing to overlook them, and chalk it all up as a learning experience. When I uncovered the worst respiratory infection that I've ever seen, and belly rot over 2/3 of her body, then it was time to contact you. Again, three days after receiving her, not five. Please don't pretend that an extravagant amount of time has elapsed in this whole situation, because it hasn't.
I have also yet to receive het papers from you which realistically should have been included in the original shipment. I also am unable to get a response from the breeder you yourself suggested contacting to verify her genetics. That in and of itself makes me nervous; that a breeder with such a solid reputation is reluctant to respond to an e-mail with your name in it, though seeing what I have about the animals you sell and the way you conduct yourself, I can hardly blame him for not wanting to be associated with you in any way. Therefore the only thing in this world that suggests to me that this girl is het albino is your say so, which in our brief history together has proven several times over to be useless. I in turn don't have even the slightest bit of hope that this girl is what you claim she is genetically, and fully expect that I paid you $1830 for a beat up, sick, normal tiger. A sick, normal tiger that over the phone you claimed to be pushing 11 ft. and is actually 9.4 ft. So let's review:
What I paid for for
-A healthy female tiger het albino
What you sent me
-A sick, scarred normal tiger with at least two
different types of infections, and multiple scabs
and scarring all over her head.
Nothing about this is OK Dave, and any notions that you weren't responsible for every single ailment that she has is pure fantasy. Couple that with the facts that I paid top dollar for a snake that likely isn't even what you say she is, and the not quite two weeks that you put off sending her which your motivation for doing is now obvious (to get her to shed away at least some of her considerable health problems) and we have a pretty ugly picture. You've done me wrong Dave whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, and the time has come for you to make it right. Top dollar on an ailing, injured normal female tiger is about $250-$300. That is what I have, but I paid $1830... quite a disparity. In addition to that, there will be veterinary bills incurred if I can't get her respiratory infection under control in the next few days. More disparity. You need to e-mail me back with real-life suggestions as to how to fix this problem, and not halfhearted avoiding of your responsibility in this matter. You drastically misrepresented an animal and sold it as something that it with out a doubt is not. Again Dave, that is not OK. I look forward to hearing how you wish to correct this.
On Sunday March the 12th Mr Savickey wrote:
"I will get back to you tonight.. Today is my first day off.. The Het papers are in the mail since yesterday.."
The next day he wrote:
"James, did you take it to the vet yet. I will spit the cost of the vet bill. That was always a very healthy snake. The nose rubs will shed out with out a problem. Id say give it some shots for the respitory and then just start feeding a bunch of jumbo rats, and she will shed through. Honestly I ever seen any signs of belly rot on her ever. I even was playing around with her a couple of days before I shipped her and there was nothing. She always been in the clealest cage, well cared for. Mabee the vet can do something, or it will shed out next shed. Again I would have seen or noticed it before. She is definatly a 100% het. That I guarrente. I sent you some photo copied papers on her papers. I still have the male and am keeping the original papers for now, but I also promise you that after I sell the male het I will send you the originals."
That was the last that I've heard from him. I responded to this email and gave him one week to reply before posting here. This is what I wrote:
Hi Dave-
"James, did you take it to the vet yet. I will spit the cost of the vet bill. That was always a very healthy snake. The nose rubs will shed out with out a problem. Id say give it some shots for the respitory and then just start feeding a bunch of jumbo rats, and she will shed through."
Let me begin by saying that I am fully aware that her nose rubs and head scarring will shed away, and reiterate the fact that it doesn't matter in the slightest as I did not pay you for scarring and injuries. Also let me reiterate the fact that you said not one word about either until I complained. As for your advice on giving shots, I am also aware of the various ways of curing a respiratory infection, but that this too is a conversation that we should not even be having because a 100% healthy snake does not require any type of shots... and again, I didn't pay you for a respiratory infection. As far as splitting any veterinary costs I am confused as to what in our history together would lead you to believe that I'd trust you to send even that menial sum after the fact.
"Honestly I ever seen any signs of belly rot on her ever. I even was playing around with her a couple of days before I shipped her and there was nothing. She always been in the clealest cage, well cared for. Mabee the vet can do something, or it will shed out next shed. Again I would have seen or noticed it before."
We've already established the fact that her belly rot did not suddenly appear in the few hours she was on an airplane, therefore if you never saw it before it's because you didn't look. This too is irrelevant as the end result is still that you sent me a snake with belly rot... whether you saw it or not. Belly rot is another ailment that I did not pay you for.
"She is definatly a 100% het. That I guarrente. I sent you some photo copied papers on her papers. I still have the male and am keeping the original papers for now, but I also promise you that after I sell the male het I will send you the originals."
Dave at this point I am no longer interested in your promises or guarantees. I also have no interest in photocopied het papers that you supposedly sent last Saturday and are still not here. I assume that you haven't sent them yet, and if so don't bother. You owe me the original het papers and if you choose to keep some photocopies for yourself I couldn't care less. All the same nothing short of original, verifiable het papers on her confirms that she's a het... therefore that is all I'm interested in.
As I see it you and I are left with basically three options:
1.) Refund my money and I will send you back the snake with the shipping costs being absorbed by you.
2.) Produce original, verifiable het papers and a partial refund for the various inconsistencies in what this snake is vs. what you sold her as. We can come to a reasonable agreement on what a 9.5 ft. tiger het albino with two different infections and a beat up head is truly worth.
3.) If all you are able to come up with is a photocopy, or any other type of questionable testimony to the fact that she is 100% het albino (In other words anything short of original verifiable het papers like I said above) then the only conclusion is that she is a normal tiger... plain and simple. If this is the case, then option three will look very similar to option two, only the partial refund will reflect the value of a sick, scarred 9.5 ft. normal tiger... not a het albino.
I have no wish to start some type of drawn out e-mail argument where I say yes you did and you say no I didn't over and over again. I asked you in my last e-mail to come up with any type of functional, real-life solutions to this problem and you haven't, therefore I did it for you above. At this point I have no preference as to which route we take, you can basically pick one. As I also said in my last e-mail, if halfhearted non solutions are all you're going to respond to me with, then don't even bother. I look forward to hearing what you decide."
When I didn't hear from him for a week, I emailed yesterday to tell him that I'd be bringing our problem here today. Just so that everyone is clear, I still have yet to recieve the het papers, copies or otherwise that he told me he sent on Saturday the 11th of March. It is now March 25th. I also have still not been able to get a response from the breeder he used as a reference. I believe that I've given him every opportunity to come to a resolution to this problem that is fair to both of us, and the recurring theme that I get in response is him trying to get away with something. He may very well get away with doing this to me, but I would encourage everyone who will read this post to not let him do it to you. This is exactly the kind of person who gives our hobby and for some of us our livelyhood a bad name, and is exactly the kind of person that needs to be publicized on this forum. The BOI has prevented me from making some potentially costly mistakes in the past, and I hope to repay that with helping others to not make the mistake I did in dealing with David Savickey. I have all of our email correspondences saved, and can ad them and any responses to whatever questions you might have. I know that this is long already, and I apologize. Thank you for reading.
On Monday the 6th of March I wrote:
"Hi Dave-
What's wrong with the snake you sent me??? This is supposed to be a perfectly healthy animal, and you sent me one complete with nose rubs, puncture scars on the top of her head, belly rot, and a respiratory infection that's so bad I thought that it was vomit at first. The several times you procrastinated sending her make a lot more sense now that I've seen the several injuries that you were trying to get her to shed away. This is not a 100% healthy animal, and I paid you 100% top dollar for her. Something is very wrong here, and you need to fix it. Please get back to me as soon as possible."
The next day (Tuesday March the 7th) Mr. Savickey wrote:
Hi
The snake was very active the past week because she was hungry and since i was shipping her, she was not fed the last week before i shipped her. She got that minor nose rub the last week. Which it is very minor and Im sure it will come off in her next shed. She did not have any belly rot, mabee she got it from the heat packs durring shipping. But the heat packs were wrapped up in paper. Your telling me now 5 days after you recieved it and mabee could have happened at your place, i dont know for sure. The snake did not have any respitory in its life. Again 5 days after since u recieved it u tell me it has resp. It was cold when I shipped it and that must have been how it got it. It was cold all week and too cold to ship in one day. I guarrenteed live delivery and you didnt have any problem when you told me you recieved her ok, it wasnt 5 days after. What I suggest is take her to a vet and get her a shot if she has respitory. Keep her very warm (85-90degrees) and the humidity high. Then just give her some jumbo rats and get her to shed the minor nose rub off. I been working with you the entire time with the payment plan and even got her out as soon as I could upon your request.
On Thursday March the 9th I wrote:
Hi Dave-
Allow me to break this down in to pieces...
"The snake was very active the past week because she was hungry and since i was shipping her, she was not fed the last week before i shipped her. She got that minor nose rub the last week. Which it is very minor and Im sure it will come off in her next shed."
I can at least buy the idea that hunger and roaming is the source of her nose rubs. However there are at least three different injuries on her head, none of which is minor. In addition to that, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but I didn't pay for nose rubs or scarring on the top of her head, and you didn't say a word about either until I complained. Shipping an injured snake when the injuries were never disclosed, AND the buyer paid for a healthy snake is not OK regardless of how you try to rationalize it.
"She did not have any belly rot, mabee she got it from the heat packs durring shipping. But the heat packs were wrapped up in paper."
Belly rot comes from several weeks if not months of lying in bacteria... most oftentimes urine. The idea that it happened in a couple of hours worth of shipping time, and from heat packs is absurd. Heat packs make heat, they don't make bacteria... and infections don't originate from lying near something warm.
"Your telling me now 5 days after you recieved it and mabee could have happened at your place, i dont know for sure. The snake did not have any respitory in its life. Again 5 days after since u recieved it u tell me it has resp. It was cold when I shipped it and that must have been how it got it. It was cold all week and too cold to ship in one day. I guarrenteed live delivery and you didnt have any problem when you told me you recieved her ok, it wasnt 5 days after."
Again, not to sound like a broken record, but a respiratory infection so severe that mucus is literally falling out of her mouth happens in a matter of weeks or months... not days. In addition, it was not five days that it took me to notice it, it was five days that it took you to get back to me. I e-mailed you late on the third day after I got off work. That was the first time I had her out to clean, and the first chance that I got to have several ounces of mucus fall on my lap. The rubs were apparent when I took her out of the box but I was willing to overlook them, and chalk it all up as a learning experience. When I uncovered the worst respiratory infection that I've ever seen, and belly rot over 2/3 of her body, then it was time to contact you. Again, three days after receiving her, not five. Please don't pretend that an extravagant amount of time has elapsed in this whole situation, because it hasn't.
I have also yet to receive het papers from you which realistically should have been included in the original shipment. I also am unable to get a response from the breeder you yourself suggested contacting to verify her genetics. That in and of itself makes me nervous; that a breeder with such a solid reputation is reluctant to respond to an e-mail with your name in it, though seeing what I have about the animals you sell and the way you conduct yourself, I can hardly blame him for not wanting to be associated with you in any way. Therefore the only thing in this world that suggests to me that this girl is het albino is your say so, which in our brief history together has proven several times over to be useless. I in turn don't have even the slightest bit of hope that this girl is what you claim she is genetically, and fully expect that I paid you $1830 for a beat up, sick, normal tiger. A sick, normal tiger that over the phone you claimed to be pushing 11 ft. and is actually 9.4 ft. So let's review:
What I paid for for
-A healthy female tiger het albino
What you sent me
-A sick, scarred normal tiger with at least two
different types of infections, and multiple scabs
and scarring all over her head.
Nothing about this is OK Dave, and any notions that you weren't responsible for every single ailment that she has is pure fantasy. Couple that with the facts that I paid top dollar for a snake that likely isn't even what you say she is, and the not quite two weeks that you put off sending her which your motivation for doing is now obvious (to get her to shed away at least some of her considerable health problems) and we have a pretty ugly picture. You've done me wrong Dave whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, and the time has come for you to make it right. Top dollar on an ailing, injured normal female tiger is about $250-$300. That is what I have, but I paid $1830... quite a disparity. In addition to that, there will be veterinary bills incurred if I can't get her respiratory infection under control in the next few days. More disparity. You need to e-mail me back with real-life suggestions as to how to fix this problem, and not halfhearted avoiding of your responsibility in this matter. You drastically misrepresented an animal and sold it as something that it with out a doubt is not. Again Dave, that is not OK. I look forward to hearing how you wish to correct this.
On Sunday March the 12th Mr Savickey wrote:
"I will get back to you tonight.. Today is my first day off.. The Het papers are in the mail since yesterday.."
The next day he wrote:
"James, did you take it to the vet yet. I will spit the cost of the vet bill. That was always a very healthy snake. The nose rubs will shed out with out a problem. Id say give it some shots for the respitory and then just start feeding a bunch of jumbo rats, and she will shed through. Honestly I ever seen any signs of belly rot on her ever. I even was playing around with her a couple of days before I shipped her and there was nothing. She always been in the clealest cage, well cared for. Mabee the vet can do something, or it will shed out next shed. Again I would have seen or noticed it before. She is definatly a 100% het. That I guarrente. I sent you some photo copied papers on her papers. I still have the male and am keeping the original papers for now, but I also promise you that after I sell the male het I will send you the originals."
That was the last that I've heard from him. I responded to this email and gave him one week to reply before posting here. This is what I wrote:
Hi Dave-
"James, did you take it to the vet yet. I will spit the cost of the vet bill. That was always a very healthy snake. The nose rubs will shed out with out a problem. Id say give it some shots for the respitory and then just start feeding a bunch of jumbo rats, and she will shed through."
Let me begin by saying that I am fully aware that her nose rubs and head scarring will shed away, and reiterate the fact that it doesn't matter in the slightest as I did not pay you for scarring and injuries. Also let me reiterate the fact that you said not one word about either until I complained. As for your advice on giving shots, I am also aware of the various ways of curing a respiratory infection, but that this too is a conversation that we should not even be having because a 100% healthy snake does not require any type of shots... and again, I didn't pay you for a respiratory infection. As far as splitting any veterinary costs I am confused as to what in our history together would lead you to believe that I'd trust you to send even that menial sum after the fact.
"Honestly I ever seen any signs of belly rot on her ever. I even was playing around with her a couple of days before I shipped her and there was nothing. She always been in the clealest cage, well cared for. Mabee the vet can do something, or it will shed out next shed. Again I would have seen or noticed it before."
We've already established the fact that her belly rot did not suddenly appear in the few hours she was on an airplane, therefore if you never saw it before it's because you didn't look. This too is irrelevant as the end result is still that you sent me a snake with belly rot... whether you saw it or not. Belly rot is another ailment that I did not pay you for.
"She is definatly a 100% het. That I guarrente. I sent you some photo copied papers on her papers. I still have the male and am keeping the original papers for now, but I also promise you that after I sell the male het I will send you the originals."
Dave at this point I am no longer interested in your promises or guarantees. I also have no interest in photocopied het papers that you supposedly sent last Saturday and are still not here. I assume that you haven't sent them yet, and if so don't bother. You owe me the original het papers and if you choose to keep some photocopies for yourself I couldn't care less. All the same nothing short of original, verifiable het papers on her confirms that she's a het... therefore that is all I'm interested in.
As I see it you and I are left with basically three options:
1.) Refund my money and I will send you back the snake with the shipping costs being absorbed by you.
2.) Produce original, verifiable het papers and a partial refund for the various inconsistencies in what this snake is vs. what you sold her as. We can come to a reasonable agreement on what a 9.5 ft. tiger het albino with two different infections and a beat up head is truly worth.
3.) If all you are able to come up with is a photocopy, or any other type of questionable testimony to the fact that she is 100% het albino (In other words anything short of original verifiable het papers like I said above) then the only conclusion is that she is a normal tiger... plain and simple. If this is the case, then option three will look very similar to option two, only the partial refund will reflect the value of a sick, scarred 9.5 ft. normal tiger... not a het albino.
I have no wish to start some type of drawn out e-mail argument where I say yes you did and you say no I didn't over and over again. I asked you in my last e-mail to come up with any type of functional, real-life solutions to this problem and you haven't, therefore I did it for you above. At this point I have no preference as to which route we take, you can basically pick one. As I also said in my last e-mail, if halfhearted non solutions are all you're going to respond to me with, then don't even bother. I look forward to hearing what you decide."
When I didn't hear from him for a week, I emailed yesterday to tell him that I'd be bringing our problem here today. Just so that everyone is clear, I still have yet to recieve the het papers, copies or otherwise that he told me he sent on Saturday the 11th of March. It is now March 25th. I also have still not been able to get a response from the breeder he used as a reference. I believe that I've given him every opportunity to come to a resolution to this problem that is fair to both of us, and the recurring theme that I get in response is him trying to get away with something. He may very well get away with doing this to me, but I would encourage everyone who will read this post to not let him do it to you. This is exactly the kind of person who gives our hobby and for some of us our livelyhood a bad name, and is exactly the kind of person that needs to be publicized on this forum. The BOI has prevented me from making some potentially costly mistakes in the past, and I hope to repay that with helping others to not make the mistake I did in dealing with David Savickey. I have all of our email correspondences saved, and can ad them and any responses to whatever questions you might have. I know that this is long already, and I apologize. Thank you for reading.
