Dodgy cheque for puppy!

[Warriors83]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

We bought a French Bulldog puppy a few weeks ago which we were told was KC registered, vaccinated and totally healthy, from a well known breeder. Unfortunately the poor little thing is none of the above and we put in writing we wanted a refund. They told us this was no problem then went out of their way to ignore us. We gave them 14 days to do this as advised by Citizens Advice,which they also ignored. As advised we issued court proceedings for the full amount plus £500 costs and compensation. They then sent us a hand written cheque for less than the amount claimed. As we had no option but to pay it into a savings account, it will not be cleared until Friday, but since we told the bank we were not expecting it to clear they advised us to wait until next Tuesday. We have had an email from the breeder demanding the puppy back tomorrow. We informed them this was not allowed as the cheque had not cleared yet. We then received another email stating they were still coming and expecting to take the puppy. Any advice would be appreciated

 

[dogmatize]

Wondering why you don't expect the cheque to clear? Surely a well known breeder would want to protect their" good name ". Did you too pay by cheque? Could you not offer to take the puppy back to her yourself?

 

[excuseme]

Your piece of paper in the form of a cheque could well bounce and be absolutely worthless, leaving you with no money and no puppy either.

I would suggest that you contact the breeder and say that if they wish to collect the puppy they must refund your money in the form of cash! and they can cancel their cheque.

There is no way I would hand back the puppy without the money actually clearing my account or receiving cash in full.

There is nothing to stop them taking the puppy and then stopping their cheque.

I am a very mistrusting person these days, especially where my hard earned cash is concerned!

 

[Warriors83]

Dogmatize,because they lied about the condition of the pups in the first place,told us they were refunding the money three times then didn't, and only sent the cheque once they knew we had make a court application. The original payment was made via bank transfer, not cheque so we weren't legally obliged to accept the cheque at all. We did several cheques on this company, who also offer stud services, pregnancy scanning and their own brand of dog food,and also breed British Bulldogs. We followed all the advice from places like Which and Consumer advice to make sure they were reputable.

Excuseme,thanks,i am pretty certain if i let them come tomorrow the cheque will be stopped before they've even got back on the motorway! !!

 

[dogmatize]

Warriors83, I think you are absolutely right not to return the puppy until you have got your money back into your account. It's a pity the breeder wouldn't also do a money transfer as a quicker way of reimbursement.

I am sorry that you have had such a rotten time. It must be very hard to face such disappointment.

I'm sure you now realise that this must be a highly unscrupulous breeder. Maybe the kennel club would be interested to hear about your situation, especially if you were told the puppy was kc registered and turned out not to be - this is fraud and the consequences would be dire for the breeder in question.

I would always recommend contacting the kennel club when looking for a pedigree puppy and also the breed clubs.

 

[dogmatize]

A quick internet search has led me to what I believe to be the breeders website, and what a fancy website it is too .If I am right, I can see that some of their stud dogs are kc registered, but I think not all of them.

They don't seem to have puppies just now, but I don't see where they claim their puppies are kc registered on the website.

If I am looking at the right website - one Charles Dickens might know- then I have to say that they would appear to be no different than your bog standard puppy farmers with some very lucrative side lines.

 

[gypsysmum2]

So sorry to hear what you are going through. Do report them to the Kennel Club but don't expect too much from them. They mostly exist to take registration fees from these breeders so do not want to upset the goose that lays the golden egg!

 

[excuseme]

Do you still have a copy of the advert which stated the puppies were KC registered ? ( Your proof if requested.)

As already mentioned this is fraud.

If the puppies are not KC registered I would suggest that you report this person to "Trading Standards" and see what they have to say.

 

[Warriors83]

Yes,we have the email from them offering the litter stating the pups were registered and vaccinated. Regards the vaccinations they gave us the certificate and stupidly i didn't check the dates at the time. Wasn't til we got home i realised their vet had done the first one at 6 and a half weeks old then not done the second one for nearly six weeks,will hold my hands up to stupidity over that! The Kennel Club have said they can't do anything as they are not part of their assured breeder scheme. Trouble is now that we have had her so long while they've messed us about that our children, in particular our ten year old who has a serious illness,have become attached to her,and i am dreading the day i have to tell them she has to go back.

Dogmatize you obviously found the right site! They even went so far as when they knew we had applied to the court in changing the address they registered with Companies House to one from a shop in Nottingham that they no longer use.

 

[JoanneF]

This is such a sad story on so many levels. I totally understand why you are doing this but if your daughter has become attached to the puppy is there any way you could keep her or is she too unhealthy? What will happen to her?

 

[Cash_Dolly]

I too, am concerned for the little pup in all this. it seems to me, that to the breeder, this little innocent life is just a moneymaker for them and I dread to think what will happen to it if they take it back. I hope you get everything sorted and are compensated. As for it being a mistake not checking the vaccinations, while yes, strictly speaking you should have checked, its these people who are still the liars and fraudsters in all this.

 

[Raven oaktree]

I know the pup isn't what you wanted or paid for ..but I don't think I would be able to send it back ..god knows what will happen to the poor little thing. I honestly would never ever trust what a breeder tells me and would check everything myself as you have found there are some very unscrupulous people who are nothing short of BYB selling unhealthy pups to make a quick buck..i hope the little pup I ok ..its not its fault