Darwin K9

In April/May 2015 we had our dog [redacted] in the Darwin K9 In-Home board and train program. We chose this program believing this would be the best option for our puppy and because it is guaranteed for his lifetime. We are having some behavioral issues with our puppy and tried to get in contact with [redacted] who is the head trainer with Darwin K9. I tried emailing and texting her and have had no response. I also tried to contact them through the website Darwink9.com (which has since been taken down).We have now spent over $2000.00 and have no one to continue in the training of our dog.Product_Or_Service: dog training /////Desired SettlementWe would like our money back so that we can find another more dependable trainer for our dog. /////

Services were not provided as outlined in contract. When I asked to dissolve the contract and get a partial refund, the company stopped responding.I had been speaking with the company for about a year to figure out the best plan and timing to sign up for the dog training program. In early May 2015, I brought my dog over to a trainer's house and signed up. They neglected to tell me that the program I had stated that I wanted no longer existed, but since I was already there I signed up for a similar program (which was $600 more expensive). I did confirm with her at that time that for that price the sessions would be taking place in my home.I was promised:- dog would stay with a trainer full-time for up to 2 weeks to start training- weekly hour-long sessions in my home for as long as it took to accomplish goals- life-long refresher courses as neededMy dog stayed with the male trainer for just over a week and had made good progress. When we picked her up, I was told that the female trainer would call me to set up our first in-home session. I was not provided with contact info for either trainer. After 2 weeks with no word, I emailed the company. We set up a meeting for the following week and all went fine. The female trainer then suggested a day and time for the following week to come to our house for the next training session. She didn't show up. When I called to see if I'd misunderstood - she said that another family had cancelled, so she didn't want to travel all the way out there...but she never bothered to call.I had to call her to schedule the next session. She then cancelled that session because she didn't want to drive in the rain. When I asked to set up a regular weekly appointment, she said that wasn't realistic because she had so many appointments.Once again, I had to call her to schedule. She said that she was no longer willing to drive to my house and that I would need to meet her at least half way to continue the training. Because I wanted to do what was best for our dog, I agreed. The next 2 sessions happened 3 weeks apart and I had to drive 1 hour round trip each time. So in 2 months, she only met with me 3 times (should have been 8). She then told me that it was good for our dog to work with multiple trainers and that she'd have the male trainer with whom our dog initially stayed contact me to set up the next session. He didn't. It took 1 month to get ahold of him and were then told that we'd need to drive to Elon (1.75 hour round trip) to do any training. Again we agreed to try in order to make this work. He agreed that we should have been doing weekly sessions all along as training isn't as effective when it's sporadic like that.We had done 2 training sessions with him when he informed us that he was moving and that we'd need to contact the female trainer again. He also said that he wasn't sure how much they'd be able to do with our dog because he didn't know how else to motivate her.At this point, we'd had enough and decided to cut our losses and terminate the contract. I texted the female trainer (she's also the owner) on 9-2-15 to inform her of our intentions and to ask how long it would take to get a refund. She responded that she was considering closing the company and would have to get back to me. I have texted her multiple times over the past 4.5 months with no response. The website has disappeared. We went far above and beyond in our efforts to make this work, even when they were going back on what they had promised. When we asked to terminate the contract, she seems to have fallen off the face of the earth and taken our money with her. We are seeking a partial refund. It seems to me that this amount should be no less than $900-$1000. Our dog never received proper consistent training, did not achieve the training goals, and there is no possibility of refresher courses later (even if she had been trained properly to start). In the end, we paid a lot of money and did not receive even close to what we were promised.Desired SettlementWe would like a partial refund as they did not provide promised services. The contract states that we are entitled to a partial refund if we decide to terminate the contract. Plus, the fact that they were so inconsistent with us renders ineffective any work that was done initially. We would expect no less than $900-$1000 back at this point.