Complaint Review: Arizona Animal Rescue and Sanctuary - Mesa Arizona

This is the email that I sent to Arizona Animal Rescue and Sanctuary outlining the details of our situation:

I am writing today to express my frustration with my initial actions and also the continuing actions of Marty Miracle. We adopted Posey on 7/25. We adopted her as a gift to our 1 year old daughter. From the moment they met they were a perfect fit. Sierra and Posey played with each other and it was fun to watch Sierra laugh hysterically at the things Posey did. Every night Posey would sleep in bed with me and my husband. From the first night we brought her home she sounded like she was having a hard time breathing. It just sounded like she had fluid on her lungs. Two weeks went by and she didn't get better so I brought her in for a free consultation on 8/8 with the Banfield Vet inside of Petsmart. Basically the way they presented everything to me was that she either had Kitty Leukemia or an upper respiratory infection. Either way the bill started at $50 to find out if she had Kitty Leukemia and then increased to over $100 if she just had a respiratory infection. I was stunned. We thought we adopted a healthy cat and now we were faced with her possibly hurting our other animals. AZ Animal Rescue happened to be in the store that day so I decided that we needed to return her. I cried all the way home. I didn't want to get rid of Posey, she was Sierra's kitten. I just thought I was adopting a healthy kitten, not one that was going to get my other cat and dogs sick. After my husband got home from work he told me that we should get her back and take her to our vet instead and if she was sick then she could stay with our vet until she was healthy again. So I called Marty. She answered and I explained that we had returned Posey but we really didn't want to let her go that we did in fact want her in our family. Marty told me that they had taken Posey to her house and she was going home then. She told me that she would check out what was going on and call me back. My husband and I waited and waited but never heard back from her. We started calling her cell on 8/10 and left many messages including writing her an email. I understand that she works a really job and does this service out of the goodness of her heart, but at some point she could have called us back. I went back to the Petsmart and talked to a manager there who also called Marty with no response. She agreed that she should at least call us and let us know that we were not going to be able to get Posey back. She called another member of AZARS who told her that she would get a hold of Marty and find out what was going on. Again we heard nothing. We finally got Marty to answer her phone on 8/13 and she told us then that we would be able to get Posey back but they were treating her because she was indeed sick. She told me that she was doing well and to call her back on the 19th and we would figure things out. She kept telling me that I needed to call her on Wednesday. So my husband and I waited. On Tuesday the 18th we decided that we would call her when we got home so that we could make arrangements to pick up Posey. We live in Queen Creek and work in Mesa so we thought we would call a day early so we could decide if we needed to hang out in Mesa or head home. Again, we left a message for Marty that has never been responded to. It is now the 22nd and we have yet to hear from her. We have called many times and left messages and not left messages. Again, I understand that she works outside of what she does with AZARS but she could at least respond to an email that she is busy or call us back. If she has no intentions of letting us have Posey back then that is what we have to deal with but she could at least not string us along like we are getting her back. I would like to hear from someone regarding my issue. We do want to bring Posey home because we feel that she is part of our family but if for some reason we cannot have her back I would like someone to let us know. I know that AZARS will be at the Petsmart in Queen Creek today and I will go there to see if anyone knows what is going on. Hopefully Posey will be there waiting for me. I really think that Marty not responding to us is not good business. She represents your organization and has not left us feeling warm and fuzzy about what you represent. You dont ignore your clients, good or bad. You deal with the issue and move on.

This was the response that I received from Marty at AZ ARS:

Everything you have outlined is true. I do have concern that you were told she might have Fel Leukemia when her medical indicates she was tested 5/26 and found to be negative. Neither the less you stated she was sick and we took her back. I apologize for not representing the group correctly. I started this group 6 years ago and have been very fortunate that for the most part have been able to juggle most responsibilities timely. I believe you will agree we took the cat back timely. Once an animal is 'deemed' sick s/he comes to my home. Once here they are treated. I had a hard time understanding why you wanted her back after you said you needed a healthy cat which is understandable. What part of this I did anticipate was that I ended up in hospital and am now at home and told by my doctor to put my phones on off and concentrate on getting better. I have chosen to take her advice. I have instructed the volunteers that your money has been put in the mail. Please consider adopting from another group as I am guessing you will find them more able to timely meet your needs. Posey is fine and will be placed up for adoption once I am back on the mend.

This is my final responce to Marty:

I am not sure how much more timely you can get when I physically bring the kitten to your organization. So no you made no effort to take her back timely, I brought her to you. Otherwise you just strung us along until you were put into a corner and had to respond. Why would you tell us to contact you KNOWING you had surgery going planned for the same day. Well it has officially been 9 days and there has been no check in the mail. I figured since you have lied to us throughout this process that you lied about mailing us a check also.

I hope this helps others not have to go through was I went through with this organization.