On Monday, July 23rd, 2007 we purchased what we thought was a purebred 3lb, Yorkshire Terrier from AnyPets.com. My husband spoke with Lowell regarding the many details of the dog. We received confirmation on the following, among other things: the dog is a pedigreed, purebred Yorkshire Terrier, he is currently 3lbs, his mother is 6lbs and his father is 4lbs, he is 8 weeks old, and he is wee wee pad trained.
On the day of purchase, my husband was also guaranteed that the dog would arrive by Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at the latest, fitting in time with our travel plans. After a number of unsatisfactory back and forth calls, the arrival of the dog was repeatedly pushed back each day until it was Saturday, July 28th, 2007 that the dog would arrive. This caused a tremendous problem with our previously scheduled travel, resulting in my husband's flight being pushed back several times and incurring fees for doing so.
July 28th, 2007 the dog arrived with unlabeled dog food in a plastic bag, the Health Certificate from Arkansas Nixon Animal Hospital and a Flight Checklist sticker and none of the registration papers that were promised. We were surprised by the dog's size and look - not resembling the Yorkie in the picture.
On Sunday, July 29th, I called the Breeder/Shipper, John Neal Harness at XXX-XXX-XXXX, the number listed on the Flight Checklist sticker. I called 3 times to get information on the dogs socialization, familiarity with wee wee pads (Anypets told us he was crate trained and pad trained - the dog was neither), food schedule, play time schedule, sleep schedule and other necessary information that should be readily accessible from any standard good breeder. John Neal Harness was not able to be reached. I left a detailed voicemail message and never received a call back. (On July 26th, 2007, I requested via email, the breeders contact information and more pictures of the dog from Anypets.com customer service representative Sharie Logan, which she said she would send but was never received.)
In compliance with AnyPets.com, we took the dog to the vet on July 30th, 2007, Monday morningHarness that morning to see if there was any other information useful for the vet visit. He was not available, once again. Our vet immediately asked for the dogs shot history and the other health history paper work that is standard for pet purchasing transactions. I handed him the Health Certificate and he asked for the shot history, which I did not possessed because it didn't come with the dog as promised. The vet asked for all the paperwork the dog came with regarding health and all I could give him was the Health Certificate. He asked for Registration papers which I informed him that they had been sent to us but we hadnt received yet, as I was told by AnyPets.com. Our vet informed me that he needed the shot history and if I had the previous vets contact information, I could call and have them fax it to us right then. I called the Nixon Animal Hospital (assuming that was the previous vet) and a voicemail indicated that Dr. Nixon and the hospital was closed for the entire week, not re-opening until Saturday, August 4th, 2007. I told our vet and he said that at this point he would only be able to do a stool check and to bring the dog back tomorrow with the shot history. During this visit our vet also suggested that he, from his 49 years of experience with small animals, did not believe the dog to be purebred Yorkshire Terrier, which my husband and I had also questioned immediately when we received the dog. At two months the dog weighed in at the vet certified 6.5 lbs when we were told by AnyPets.com the day before his arrival that he weighed 3lbs. In addition, his legs (quite long) and face did not look to us, or the vet like a purebred Yorkshire Terrier.
After going to the Vet, both my husband and I called Sharie Logan and informed her of the above. At this point, she explained, for the first time that the breeders prefer buyers to go through AnyPets.com, and that she had the shot history list and due to our concerns we would need to get a letter from the vet and fax it to her stipulating why the vet did not believe the Yorkshire Terrier to be a purebred Yorkshire Terrier as well as send pictures (Note: when we asked for more dog pictures prior to his arrival we never received them from Sharie).
When we received the email from Sharie with the shot history cut and pasted into the body of the email, we sent two emails back, asking the name of the previous vet. Neither emails were answered and to this day, we still dont have that information.
On Tuesday, July 31st, I took the dog back to our vet at 9:00am with the shot history email from Sharie. Our vet delivered the letter Sharie asked for the day prior and did an exam. He informed me that the dog also has Bilateral Patellar Luxation, which he noted on the letter. This is a congenital disease that would require surgery (more than the price of the dog) in the future. It is illegal to sell dogs as health guaranteed with diseases. We faxed the vet letter and emailed the requested pictures.
Sharie emailed back with the health claim information to which both my husband and I called Marlene Martinez, who was ccd on the email as the head of customer service, explaining that the potential 30-45 day claim wait was ridiculous and absolutely unacceptable. Marlene said she needed to make a call to the breeder and she would call us back that day, Wednesday, August 1st, 2007. We did not hear back from her.
On Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 I called and Marlene Martinez was out of the office. I left a detailed message expecting a call back on Friday, August 3, 2007. I called at 11:09am and was put on hold for four (4) minutes waiting for Sharie, only to be transferred back to Marlene. I was then transferred to Sharie again and was asked for a bunch of vet receipts, letters, pictures and documenation which I sent in- even though they could NOT do the same prior to our purchase and right after.
On 8/3/07 Marlene Martinez told us she would get us the Registration Papers from the breeder by 8/6/07 close of business and fax them to us. Not only has she not faxed those registration papers which she claimed the breeder has, she has not gotten back to us at ALL despite numerous faxes, emails and phone calls in the last 3 weeks.
Needless to say, we are beyond unsatisfied with the customer service, the run-arounds, the dishonesty, the fraudulence practices and the fact that we did not get the animal we paid for.
Danielle
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.