Warren Retrievers

Review: My father was supposed to recieve a diabetic alert dog from [redacted] Retrievers. The dogs cost a total of $22,000.00. Before my father could receive his dog, he passed away. He passed away on April 30th. I notified [redacted] Retrievers of his passing on May 2nd. My fathers balance for the dog was not deposited into the bank until May 6th. I have made phone calls and a written request for [redacted] to contact me in regards to this unethical practice. I have never received a response from him. There was an initial phone call from a [redacted], on May 3rd who expressed her condolences and said she would pass the message on for [redacted] to call about any type of refund as she did not know the policy on that. We never received a dog or even a receipt for the $22,000.00. Being that the money was deposited AFTER the notification of my fathers death, his estate requests a full refund of the amount. This organization took $22,000.00 from an elderly sick man and he never received the product he wa paying for. There was a mention at one point that this was a "charitable donation". I don't see how this is so, when you are purchasing an animal. And if it is a charitable donation, you could at the very least supply a receipt so it can be a tax deduction. Again, due to the unethical practice of the money being deposited after notification of my fathers death, we don't think this is a "charitable donation" in any sense. My father was purchasing a product, which he never received.Desired Settlement: The estate of [redacted] expects a refund in the full amount of the purchase price of the dog he never received due to his untimely death.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers stated that they have made multiple attempts to resolve this issue with my family, including a letter sent to me personally. This simply is not true. If that were the case, we would not be having this conversation. And for the record, I have never received a letter from SDWR. They do not even have my address, only my phone number, which I've asked them to call on multiple occasions. We also did not receive the receipt that they claim to have sent. And it is too light to read on the copy they sent in response to this complaint.

Also, they are not addressing the fact that my fathers check was not depositied into their bank account until AFTER I notified them of my fathers untimely death. My father was not making a $22,000.00 "charitable donation" four days before his death. He thought he would be receiving a dog, Shiloh, that would be his companion and would alert him to his changes in blood sugar and possibly save his life. No one knew he was going to pass before this happened. However, again, the issue is of depositing the money AFTER they were notified of his death. This is extremely unethical. It's just wrong. When they were notified of his death, they knew he wasn't going to get the dog. They should have voided the check at that time.

Regards,

Business

Response:

July 22, 2013

We are in receipt of a complaint filed about our organization on July 15, 2013. I would request that you please update our mailing address and the name of our organization . The mailing address is P.O. Box 647, Madison, VA 27227 and the name of our organization is Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers, Inc., formerly known as Guardian Angel Service Dogs, Inc. ("SDWR"). In reference to case #[redacted] filed by [redacted] of [redacted], SDWR has made several attempts to resolve the situation with Mr. [redacted]'s family. I do initially note that Ms. [redacted] is not a client of SDWR nor is she the personal representative of Mr. [redacted]'s estate. Attorneys representing both SDWR and Mr. [redacted]'s estate have been in active discussions about resolving the situation (correspondence between counsel is attached). SDWR has offered to provide a service dog and related training to a member of Mr. [redacted]'s family or any other designee that the estate should choose. SDWR would also be willing to provide the service dog and relating training to an unrelated third party in honor of Mr. [redacted], or to use the donated funds to assist other families. To date, SDWR has not received a response to its offers, though I assume that some resolution will be found. While the situation is unusual, Mr. [redacted] made a charitable donation to SDWR prior to his untimely death, for which SDWR provided a receipt for the charitable contribution for his estate's use.

This was such an unfortunate situation not only for the [redacted] Family but also for his service dog that was awaiting a new home. We have included our records of correspondence, and we continue to be willing to provide a service dog and the related training to such party as the [redacted] Family may direct.

Sincerely,

Founder & President

Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers

www.sdwr.org

Po Box 647

Madison, VA 22727

Ph . (540) 543.2307

Fax (540) 543.2305