Complaint Review: Tropico Kennel

I've read several complaints in regards to Tropico Kennels, and have also read the rebuttals from Tropico Kennels, and just have to laugh when they say they honor their guarantee!

In May of 2003 we purchased a male golden retriever. I had lost my beloved dog several months before, and had just gotten to the point where I wanted another dog. I thought I had done my homework as far as finding a reputable breeder. All was well until at the age of 5 months, I noticed my dog struggling in his back legs to get up. I chalked it up to the fact we had just put down tile in the house and it was slippery. But, when I took him in to be neutered at the age of 6 months, I mentioned it to my vet. An hour later, my vet called to ask permission to xray my dogs hips while he was under. At that moment, I knew there was a problem. When I went to pick him up after being neutered, my vet took me in the exam room to show me his xrays. Even with my limited knowledge, I could see there was a big problem! He was diagnosed with bilateral hip dysplasia that was pretty severe. Needless to say, we were devastated and upset.

We contacted Lisa, only to be met with hateful, nasty comments about our vet, how he must be wrong, etc. When we refused to let her get away with this, she finally sent us to her vet in Orange County, Dr. Cohen. After looking at our vets films, he took films of his own, and agreed with our vet that our dog needed an immediate TPO. Even with her own vets diagnosis, Lisa still did not believe our dog could possibly have hip dysplasia. We visited two different surgeons within the next two weeks, who both agreed with the vets diagnosis, and she still refused to believe what was going on!

At the age of 8 months, our dog had a TPO on his right hip, but unfortunately the left hip was too far gone for a TPO. At some point he may have to have a total hip replacement on the left hip, but with all the advancements with stem cell replacement, we are hopeful!
In the midst of vet appts, surgeon appts, and surgery itself, we tried to talk this over with Lisa in a calm, adult, rational manner, but she made it impossible. She informed us she still did not believe our dog had hip dysplasia, so would not honor her guarantee. Finally, after consulting our attorney, he sent her a letter and she finally told us all these excuses -- she was getting a divorce, filing bankruptcy, and finally, she would take the dog back, but since he had problems that required surgery, she would have no choice but to put the dog down. By that point our dog was a part of the family, and no way were we giving him back to her. All we wanted was our money back, which was stated in our contract. That's the one thing Lisa doesn't want to hear from anyone -- that they want their money back because the dog has not lived up to the contract!
Since this had been going on for several months, we finally just had to sit down with our attorney and figure out what we were going to do about it. We were in the midst of a out of state job transfer, our dog going thru major surgery and recuperation, and dealing with Lisa. We finally decided she was never going to honor her contract, and to cut our losses and move on. We had a dog that needed us, and we had to focus our attention on that. We could have taken her to court and enforced the contract, but I doubt we would have ever gotten the money out of her.

Two years ago, we decided to add another golden retriever to our family, and found a 100% reputable breeder. What a difference! It was like night and day.
What I find so sad is reading these other reports of people that she has scammed over the years. But, you know what they say, what goes around, comes around. At some point she'll have to answer for what she did to a higher power.

Mary
Twin Falls, Idaho
U.S.A.