Complaint Review: RedLegends Bordeaux

My girlfriend and I were going to purchase a Dogue De Bordeaux puppy from Redlegends Bordeaux. The price of the dog was $2500.00.

On December 18th 2011, I sent her a $500.00 deposit via email money transfer.

My girlfriend then arranged for us to meet Cathy Smith (Redlegends owner), and her dogs at her house.  At the time of
the meeting we were planning to sign the contract. They decided December 31st 2011 would be the day we would travel to Redlegends Bordeaux. Cathy Smiths home is approximately 3 hours away from our home.

In a Facebook message Cathy said anytime after 10:00am would be good for us to arrive. My girlfriend said we would try to be there by 11:00am.

We arrived at 12:15pm. Cathy Smith wasnt home. One of her daughters answered the door. She wasnt told we were coming, and didnt know where her mom was. She called her mom on her cell phone, and found out she had gone shopping. I strongly believe she had forgotten we were coming. Her daughter let us see a couple of her dogs. Although the dogs looked healthy, I could tell they were in serious need of a bath. Just from touching them, there was a heavy grimy residue left on my hands and clothes. 

The ground was frozen and there was a foot of snow so they shouldnt have been that filthy. The cleanliness of the home was equal to the dogs cleanliness. Everything looked dirty, and run down. Not what we expected, considering how much the dog was going to cost us. We ended up sitting in our car for an hour waiting for Cathy. We finally decided to head
home.  Before we left we talked to one of Cathys other daughters. We asked where the dogs slept. She told us the garage that was converted to a kennel.  She also told us that 17 dogs lived there. For someone who works full time out of town, that's a lot of dogs for Cathy to take care of.  We didn't bother to ask to see where they were kept. We had seen enough. In a later email, Cathy told me she only had 9 dogs. Im not sure what happened to the other 8 dogs.

Taking into account that Cathy wasnt present for our meeting (knowing how far we were travelling to see her), and several of her practices that we didnt agree with. We decided it wouldnt be in our best interest to purchase a puppy from Redlegends Bordeaux.

Cathy Smith has agreed to return our $500 deposit. To date she has given me 3 different timelines of when I will receive my refund:

1.  Cathy stated that when she receives another deposit and the puppies are born we would get our refund. This was on January 2, 2012 in our phone conversation and via Facebook message to my girlfriend.  Yet, in Cathys March 25th 2012 email she stated that the puppies would be 5 weeks old as of April 6th. That means I should have received my refund around March 2nd 2012.

2. On March 10th 2012, Cathy emailed me saying she would refund me in a couple of weeks. I should have received it by
March 24, 2012.

3. On March 25, 2012 Cathy said to give her until Friday. That means I should have received it by March 30 2012.

Cathy Smith keeps giving me false timelines without even contacting me before they expire to inform me that she wont be refunding me on that date. This is unacceptable for a business to operate in this matter. Ive been waiting for a refund for 3 months. After what took place on our initial visit, I should have been refunded immediately. Cathy has mentioned on several occasions that the deposit is non refundable as stated in the contract (which we never signed). The moment she
agreed to refund us, what the contract stated about the non refundable deposit is irrelevant. I have copies of all corresponding emails.