Beware of Steve Weissman aka Santa Cruz Reptiles

[Fedawg]

i am not here to take sides , but i am explaining how i see it. None of us knows , but Dave and Steve.

 

[Cat_72]

Um......

Now , then a few posts later , Dr. Owens comes in and says he was there at the time when David recieved and opened the package......

So in davids first post , he is very specific on all he did , and all the proof he has that there was nothing in the box , YET FAILS to say that he also had an EYEWITNESS?????

I would think a reputable eyewitness would be something i would have let ppl know right off the bat.....

What exactly are you saying here? Are you saying that both David AND Dr Owens are lying about the whole thing???

Perhaps you should go back and re-read this whole thread.....I don't see how anyone could possibly have read and comprehend it and come to any conclusion besides the obvious.....there WAS NO SNAKE in the box when it was received. Regardless of how or why..it wasn't there, nor was anything else that SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

 

[Chameleon Company]

Fedawg,
Thanks for the reply, but all of your answers reflect actions that Steve should have taken, and conveniently skip where I asked you about what Dave stood to gain in a situation where he was shipped an empty box. You do have to impugn the integrity of Dave and Dr. Owens, and I believe show considerable inexperience with regard to what can and cannot be expected of carriers should any claim be made in a situation like this. Its not about the cards that you should have been dealt, or wish you were dealt. Its about what you got! All of the choices were Steve's to make.

 

[Fedawg]

Fedawg,
Thanks for the reply, but all of your answers reflect actions that Steve should have taken, and conveniently skip where I asked you about what Dave stood to gain in a situation where he was shipped an empty box. You do have to impugn the integrity of Dave and Dr. Owens, and I believe show considerable inexperience with regard to what can and cannot be expected of carriers should any claim be made in a situation like this. Its not about the cards that you should have been dealt, or wish you were dealt. Its about what you got! All of the choices were Steve's to make.

OK , i can see that part of the question you really want an answer too. Maybe me asking you this question will give you an idea where i am coming from.

If you were going to recieve a $7500 snake through UPS , and the package was lost , therefore delayed a day or 2 , with the heat pack running out , and you recieved a package with and the snake was dead. Obviously the only real blame is to UPS. What would you have said to them when calling them up and filing a claim?

Once again i am not taking sides , Steve could have very well sent an empty box. NONE of us know , except for Dave and Steve. So i am only calling it how i see it.

 

[Chameleon Company]

Fedawg,
I was in a bit of a hurry when I typed that, and want to clarify that part about the integrity of Dave and Dr. Owens. In explanation, in order for you to cast a shadow on Dave's actions, you not only have to label him as sinister, but Dr. Owens as well. I do not want to go back and cut-and-paste and this-and-that to explain things all over again. Dave says he received an un-tampered with empty box, with credible witness. My belief is that Steve says he shipped the animal he was supposed to in a proper fashion, although he has provided scant details there. Both scenarios could be true. But if both parties (shipper-receiver) were telling the truth, in the opinions of many, the shipper would not have approached a solution by attacking the integrity of the receiver, which was his first and only stance in this. Secondly, he would have honored his TOS, which he also did not do. Its all about integrity, not who should have called UPS, etc. IMO, none of those points about UPS are relevent, for they are well outside of the criminality here (someone stole something ... shipper ... carrier ... receiver) and hugely insignificant. The TOS governed the transaction, but have so far been ignored by the shipper as well.

 

[Chameleon Company]

Fedawg, while I was typing my last reply, you got up a question:

Fedawg asks:
If you were going to recieve a $7500 snake through UPS , and the package was lost , therefore delayed a day or 2 , with the heat pack running out , and you recieved a package with and the snake was dead. Obviously the only real blame is to UPS. What would you have said to them when calling them up and filing a claim?

Sorry, but I must point out that you do not have experience here. The TOS of UPS clearly state that they would have ZERO financial obligation in the scenario that you outline, and for more than one well-stated policy. I am not going to educate you, but will scold you mildly for not knowing what you are talking about before you come here and impugn the integrity of others.

But as UPS policy is what it is, it is a huge risk to ship a $7500 snake with them, for the possible scenario that you outline, as well as many others. The responsibility was borne by the shipper and his TOS. If an empty box was shipped, it does not mater who the shipper was, BTW.

 

[Gecko_Den]

If you were going to recieve a $7500 snake through UPS , and the package was lost , therefore delayed a day or 2 , with the heat pack running out , and you recieved a package with and the snake was dead. Obviously the only real blame is to UPS. What would you have said to them when calling them up and filing a claim?

Using your scenario, I wouldn't be saying anything to UPS, as the recipient it is not my responsibility, and UPS won't accept a claim from the person receiving the package. The responsibility lies upon the sender, as they are the party that contracted UPS to deliver the package.

 

[Donnie Smith]

Fedawg, as a disinterested third party in this one, here is why I feel the seller is responsible for live arrival. The following is a quote from RaysReptilia.com under the Terms section:

We offer a live arrival guarantee under the following terms:

* Someone must be available to sign for the package at time of delivery. The driver must secure a signature.
* We are not responsible for carrier delays or mishandling.
* No guarantee is made on animals shipped during extreme hot or cold temperatures (below 40 or above 90 degrees F). Shipments can be shipped to the nearest distribution center and held there for pickup in a climate conrtolled area for the safey of the animals during the very cold or hot months.When placing an order please leave a contact number so we can call and make final delivery plans.

The above means that the shipper guarantees live arrival. Not that UPS guarantees live arrival, or that it is the recipients’ responsibility to guarantee live arrival. All the recipient is responsible for is to make sure they are home to take delivery of the package.

 

[Zoo Supply]

Your freakin quoting rays website??? the guy that never abides by his own terms of service???? maybe you oughta use someone else if you wanna make a point donnie.
TOM

 

[Donnie Smith]

I appologize... I got my threads confused today. Santa Cruz reptiles is even more straight-forward. From: http://www.kingsnake.com/scr/

Live arrival is guaranteed.

I think I need more coffee.

 

[Zoo Supply]

Lol, I thought hell had frozen over for a few minutes...haha
TOM

 

[Greg Riso]

My Perspective

Well, it's been a full two weeks since Steve Weissman posted his one and only response here. That in itself says quite a lot IMHO. Steve said, "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?"
My wife is a psychologist and I have taken many related courses in college as well. One term called transference comes to mind. When someone is guilty and caught off guard a common ploy is an attempt to transfer blame onto someone else. When Steve said he was told the receiving party needed money and to beware of shipping first, I believe the exact opposite scenario to be the case here. The least thing Steve could have done was put a hole in the side of the box (oh, sorry, that's been tried already).
I have to ask why would anyone in their right mind ship such an expensive animal by UPS on a Friday for Saturday delivery? I won't even ship on Thursday because if a package is lost or misdelivered on Friday another attempt won't be made until Monday. In this case I don't believe there was any concern on Steve's part because he knew there was absolutely no risk involved since he knew there was nothing in the box anyway.
Up until a few weeks ago Steve may have had a good reputation but I think it's safe to say he doesn't have one anymore. His one and only post on this thread is pretty lame and pathetic. Perhaps his only exposure to Kansas has him believeing everyone walks around wearing ruby red slippers clicking their heels together. After all it is a "red state" lol. With this said, have you asked Glinda where the snake is?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Glinda&btnG=Google+Search
In all seriousness, I hope you get restitution. It appears obvious the legal route will be your only recourse since Steve is in denial.

 

[Fedawg]

Well, it's been a full two weeks since Steve Weissman posted his one and only response here. That in itself says quite a lot IMHO. Steve said, "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?"
My wife is a psychologist and I have taken many related courses in college as well. One term called transference comes to mind. When someone is guilty and caught off guard a common ploy is an attempt to transfer blame onto someone else. When Steve said he was told the receiving party needed money and to beware of shipping first, I believe the exact opposite scenario to be the case here. The least thing Steve could have done was put a hole in the side of the box (oh, sorry, that's been tried already).
I have to ask why would anyone in their right mind ship such an expensive animal by UPS on a Friday for Saturday delivery? I won't even ship on Thursday because if a package is lost or misdelivered on Friday another attempt won't be made until Monday. In this case I don't believe there was any concern on Steve's part because he knew there was absolutely no risk involved since he knew there was nothing in the box anyway.
Up until a few weeks ago Steve may have had a good reputation but I think it's safe to say he doesn't have one anymore. His one and only post on this thread is pretty lame and pathetic. Perhaps his only exposure to Kansas has him believeing everyone walks around wearing ruby red slippers clicking their heels together. After all it is a "red state" lol. With this said, have you asked Glinda where the snake is?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Glinda&btnG=Google+Search
In all seriousness, I hope you get restitution. It appears obvious the legal route will be your only recourse since Steve is in denial.

I agree with some fo what you said , like why a snake would be shipped UPS , especially on a Friday. But if you have noticed , Dave has only made one post also.

Derek Federico

 

[Fedawg]

Dave is veiwing the thread right now as i type this.

 

[Dr Owens]

Dave is veiwing the thread right now as i type this.

And your point is what?

Dave started this topic with this statement:

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.

Anyone who knows Dave know that he's not the kind of person who's going to participate in a tit-for-tat argument with strangers on a forum. He started this topic in order to inform people so that what happened to him won't happen to others.

Dave has only made one post also.

At this point there hasn't been any reason or need for him to post further. He's not the one who has a lot of questions to answer about his actions...Steve is.

So again, what is your point?

 

[Chameleon Company]

Well, I wasn't sure either.

Originally Posted by Fedawg
Dave is veiwing the thread right now as i type this.

I think it meant that at least for the time being, we were supposed to talk in whispers and not move. I could be wrong though.

 

[Fedawg]

I think it meant that at least for the time being, we were supposed to talk in whispers and not move. I could be wrong though.

No , what i meant was , people come down on someone for only postin once , but the starter of the thread did the same exact thing.

 

[Dr Owens]

No , what i meant was , people come down on someone for only postin once , but the starter of the thread did the same exact thing.

And again I ask you, why does David need to post? He's not the one who is leaving questions unanswered. Steve is the one who refuses to answer for his actions. Steve is the one who isn't fulfilling his TOS. Steve is the one who shipped David an empty box.

 

[Junkyard]

Is Dave taking any legal actions, $7,500 is a lot to lose. Does Dave have any pictures of the missing snake? There may be a possibility of having Steve's place checked by authorities for the snake, if it is not sold or moved out. This is such a bummer situation and the thread has no direction at the moment of any actions being taken by either party. Unless I missed that in the thread.

 

[Junkyard]

No , what i meant was , people come down on someone for only postin once , but the starter of the thread did the same exact thing.

At the moment, Steve is the guilty party with no witnesses here.