Complaint Review: Pleasant Valley Kennels - Girard Kansas

My husband and I have wanted to be owned by a French Bulldog for many years. We finally got into a position to purchase one the begining of 2011 and after researching and stumbling upon Jim Cuthbertson on Puppyfind.com and his great reviews, we contacted him and purchased Coal (a brindle and white male French Bulldog) on January 19, 2011. After discussions back and forth, no health concerns were brought up by Jim. After waiting a week, we finally received Coal via air travel. When he arrived, we immediately noticed that his behavior and walking were not normal so we took him to our vet that evening. Our vet spoke up and said that his back legs were not normal before we could even state our concerns. She gave us the what is cenarios regarding hip dysplasia and I then communicated this to Jim the next morning. I one of our conversations, Jim admitted that he noticed Coal walked differently than his other pups and then that he walked like his dad! Well, after much back and forth to the vet for the first week and back and forth with Jim, Jim and I aggreed to let his back leg muscles strengthen and if he turned out to have an issue he would then refund half of our money or send us another pup and we pay shipping as that would be cheapest to him. 3 months later in April, Coals back legs improved slightly because of muscle build up but he was still walking with abducted hips...it was time for his neuter so we had xrays done and what do you know...he has the beginning of hip dysplasia as well as elongated solft palate and stenotic nares. I again imediately contacted Jim who demanded a written statement from my vet and xrays. I obtained both and sent them right over. After Jim had his vet look over what I had sent...his vet did not agree and he would not honor his contract so of course that caused a whirl wind of back and forth and many words. Jim's way of fixing the issue was to have us send Coal back at our expense (now 6 months old) and he'd refund us half of what we paid and try and resell Coal. This was absurd, shipping would basically cost what he would refund! Also, we were attached to Coal at this point and even if we hadn't been, the thought of him reselling him was gut wrenching. We are capable of paying into this money pit of a dog and we want to guarantee he is taken care of. When we said no deal, his new fix was to sell us another puppy..normally priced at $1500 but he offered our pick at $800. He refused to honor his contract how he originally stated he would when the issue was first brought to light and instead wanted to sell us another puppy for $800. We ended up purchasing another because we wanted what we originally set out to obtain...a breed quality French Bulldog, something our first was far from as the tope of his head is very rounded and not flat, he has googly eyes that wander to the left and have a large amount of white showing, and of course his bad hips. We love Coal no matter what and fortunately we knew what exactly to look for the second time around and the new pup is very much breed quality. Thank God! 

I DO NOT recommend this breeder. Stay away at all costs! He is difficult to deal with when an issue does arise and does not want to give but only take. In his words...he is just trying t run a business! I would rather a breeder actually care about what kind of puppies they are bringing into this world and their quality. If a breeder only care about the buisness side of it...atren't they just a puppy mill?? On puppyfind.com you will find the seller has great reviews, but please know that sellers can delete any review they want!! I know for fact now as I placed a review titled "on the fence" explaining our first experience and then our second. Not bashing him in any way but stating the facts of the situation! Jim has tried to remove it...I of course am fighting this with the vet proof and will make sure to get this dishonest man the credit he really deserves and try and save others the heartache and the money! We did get one good pup of 2, but really is it worth the gamble???

God Bless!