Complaint Review: Tanoe Reed - Blue Monday Exclusives - Princeton West Virginia

Tanoe Reed, Maltese and Yorkie Yorkshire Terrier breeder operating under the name Blue Monday Exclusives from Bluefield and/or Princeton, WV, lied to and sold me a $1700 puppy who came with a damaged knee and major parasites (full-blown coccidia and giardia).

I received the 10 week old Maltese on 2/28/09. My friend and I purchased the two female littermates. Tanoe assured me that the puppy had a clear fecal exam and had been looked at by her vet. She hinted that I should not contact her vet.

I had the puppy rexamined by my vet in PA 48 hours later. My vet immediately diagnosed a grade 3 luxating patella in her rear left knee. That requires surgery, to the tune of over $1200 in PA, not including consultation fees and lifetime supplements. The puppy also had such a severe case of coccidia (which has a 13 day incubation period), the vet put her on 3 weeks of Albon to treat. She also had giardia, which was treated with metronidazole. (I must add that I had another healthy puppy at this time, so I was forced to pay twice and treat TWO puppies).

The puppy also had an obvious underbite, which Tanoe Reed failed to disclose.

When I called Tanoe to inform her of my vet's diagnosis, Tanoe offered to pay $500 towards surgery. I initially agreed to this amount because we really wanted to keep the puppy and couldn't think of anything else to do.

But after talking to more vets and doing more research, I realized everything involved was more than I was willing to get into, especially after we had paid the high sum of $1700. Tanoe and I began to negotiate returning the puppy.

Tanoe told me she did not have the funds to refund my money right away. (This is after she made $3400 cash from my friend and me). She asked that I sign a contract giving her 60 days to sell the puppy, whereupon she would pay me back the $1700.

She was unwilling to drive halfway to receive the puppy. She offered to split shipping costs of approx. $376. (I had no guarantee that she was actually going to pay this amount, because every time I asked in my e-mails to her when, how, and if she planned to pay $138, she ignored my question).

I felt terrible about sending a 2 1/2 lb., 15 week puppy on a flight from Philadelphia, with a connection in Atlanta before arriving in WV. I did not want to subject the poor puppy to this. Tanoe herself is/was unwilling to ship her ONE-YEAR-OLD Maltese named Journey to future buyers. It shocked me that she could be so cavalier about putting a much younger, more fragile puppy on such a long flight during such cold temperatures.

I offered, because I felt so sad and sorry for the puppy to drive her to the Roanoke, VA, airport for $138 (half the $376 shipping cost). Understand that this was a SIGNIFICANT imposition on my time and energy, as this would require a minimum of 16 hours of driving time from PA to the airport roundtrip.

She adamantly refused, and offered to pay $50 towards my gas.

Essentially, Tanoe was asking me to return the puppy to her at my expense and time, give her the puppy back, be out the $1700 I had already paid her plus vet bills, medication, emotional stress (so we're looking at a MINIMUM of $3400 I will be out), and then trust that she would abide by a contract that she drafted up, to pay me the $1700 60 days later if and when she resold her.

Like a trusting fool (the same problem that got me into this mess), I almost did it.

Luckily, my conscience got the better of me.

Since I was by this time tired of negotiating with her and feeling taken advantage of, I offered her two choices.

Option 1. She could refund my money, meet me halfway to receive the puppy, and then assure me she would, as a responsible breeder, address the puppy's knee to the puppy's future owner.

There was no way someone else should have to go through the extreme stress, time, energy, and financial strain that our family has been through.

Option 2. I would return the puppy to her at my expense, and then go public with my entire experience with her.

If she is not willing to maintain integrity as a breeder, I feel it is my duty to alert future buyers of what can happen when a transaction with her does not go smoothly, ie, if your expensive new puppy turns out to have a problem.

No one should have to go through what our family has gone through this past month. We fell in love with photos of the puppy in Jan, received her in Feb., and will now be returning her in April.

TANOE LIED ABOUT THE VET CHECK.

(I can give you the name of the vet to confirm this fact. I called the vet and verified everything with them. I am not putting his name here, because I do not want his name to come up under the Ripoff report when someone does a web search.

Alternatively, google "vet" in bluefield, wv. The clinic's initials are GVH. When you call the vet, ask how many fecal tests were done on 2/25/09 for Tanoe Reed and whether any exam was performed between then and 2/28/09, when TWO puppies were released to my friend and me.)

In closing, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Just because Tanoe tells you the fecals were clear, that does not mean she took the ACTUAL PUPPY's fecals into the vet. She only took in ONE fecal sample for TWO puppies that she was releasing two days later.

(Again, the vet will confirm this, plus tell you that there is no way to guarantee that a stool sample comes from a puppy. They will also tell you that she has had coccidia in her kennel in the past, because they have prescribed Albon, the medicine used to treat coccidia, to her.)

My puppy's coccidia infection was so extreme that my vet put her on an extra-long medication treatment.

Coccidia has a 13-day incubation period. DO NOT let Tanoe fool you into thinking your new puppy contracted coccida in the "stressful" 2-4 days adjusting to her new home.

Know also that a coccidia-infected puppy will have imprinted the taste of feces-eating at a young age. I have had the puppy for 1 month, and she still goes after her feces unless it is removed immediately. Coccidia-laden feces have a sweet smell, so if you have another pet, they, too, may be attracted to it and learn to eat feces.

2. Read over her contract with a fine-tooth comb. Especially after this transaction, be prepared for her to word her contract in a manner that absolves her of almost any responsibility. As an aside: when I called her within 48 hrs. to alert her of the puppy's knee problem, her initial response, was "Well, am I going to have to put in that the vet-check has to be 24 hours now?" In Pennsylvania, you have 10 DAYS to take the puppy back for a full refund.

Ask her to guarantee that she will pay for any/all meds if your vet's fecal exam comes back positive. Coccidia and giardia can be tough to eradicate, and the latter can be transmitted to HUMANS!

3. Ask her why she won't send photos of dam/sire--a big red flag I stupidly ignored. All other breeders I dealt with did this.

4. She'll tell you that her Maltese have a wonderful thick coat. That means they don't have the preferred silky, cold-to-touch coat. The hair is more on the woolly, cottony side. Plus, I couldn't believe this, but I think the puppy sheds! There is definitely lots of fine hair on the black blanket in her bed. The amount of her hair is more noticeable than the current Maltese puppy I have and our last one.

6. She is not above lying about vet visits, playing loose and fast with fecal exams (why was there only 1 fecal test for 2 puppies?), and ceasing to answer phone calls/e-mails from an unhappy buyer.

Our family has suffered and continues to suffer over this transaction. As I write this, nothing has been settled. We are in the process of taking her to court to address our grievances.

In the meantime, I want to alert any potential buyers of my experience (and to watch out for a small Maltese with an underbite and a very short nose), so no one else has to suffer as we have.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Good luck buying a puppy!

Yun

Coopersburg, Pennsylvania

U.S.A.