Petland Racine

This place is ridiculous I saved a beautiful puppy from these people I usually don't buy from a store as they all support puppy mills regardless what they try an tell you this place caused nothing but heartache for 8 mths of my huskies life as a puppy an the financial toll that it took for my family an countless vet visits for every couple weeks you want to lose money this place is for you
And still many questions if the pup I purchased is really a full purebred as they claim
An I am determined to find out if my dog is
Due to the irresponsible vet they force you to go to my husky has permanent scar tissue damage in his lungs due to misdiagnose by that vet as my husky had severe pneumonia
So sadly my dog will never lead a life as a husky should as he tires out from permanent damage
But in short , had I not rescued this husky I can for certain say he wouldn't have lived I was sold sick dog from day one an I will never be able to have pet insurance for that it was sold sick an they lied an stated he was a healthy dog an the vet they use he's in on the game too
That vet is the reason my puppy for 9 mths of his life was sick all for a stupid warranty
A person should never be forced to take to someone they partner with only to have to stay under a contract especially with the money you spend there
Anyways I will also be having a test done to be certain my purebred is really a purebred as many have questioned in med profession an as my dog gets older he looks husky but really doesn't just caution people do your homework
Do animals a favor go to a shelter or find a reputable breeder that truly cares
I knew I should have stayed away from ,this place an the deceit they fed people
But I will never go back after the headache this place cost me emotionally an financially
But in the end of the story I have a beautiful loving puppy cause I am sure had I not took him or had a calling to get him
I guarantee he would not have survived with all the Care he needs

Review: On May 4, 2013, my daughter purchased a Border Collie pup from Petland in Racine for me for Mother's Day. She noticed that he was coughing and asked the sales person if he had Kennel Cough. She was told he did not-he just had a cold and was sent home with medication that the pup needed to take. I continued to give "Jack" his medication but after 4 days noticed that his cough was getting worse, he was not eating and his nose was severly running. I took him to my vet who changed his medication and took a chest xray only to find that Jack's lungs were severly infected. After a specalist at the Animal ER clinic in Oak Creek viewed the xrays, I was told that the prognosis was not good. My options were to uthanize him, or they could attempt to save him with no guarantees. We started IV medication on Jack immediately and I contacted [redacted]-General Manager of Petland. She originally was very sympathetic and did mention the Pet Warranty to me which states you must take the animal to their Vet within 4 days for coverage. However when I spoke with [redacted]-Kennel manager, he asked what he could do to alleviate any financial or emotional stress on me. We decided to wait until we knew the outcome of Jack's treatments. Both [redacted] & [redacted] agreed that it was best that Jack be treated by my vet who was familiar with his case. My vet emailed all Jack's medical records to Petland and told them to have their vet contact her with any questions. She never received a call from Petland's vet. After 2 weeks of taking jack to the vet clinic in the morning and picking him up at night for IV treatments, he seemed to be recovering. I contacted [redacted] and talked with her about being reimbursed the $700 it cost me to save Jack. She called back to tell me the owner would give me a portion back in the form of an instore credit which I declined. I asked that the owner call me to discuss this and he never did. I left numerous messages that were not returned. I finally sent a certified letter to Petland with request for compensation. Weeks later I received a letter from the owner rescinding the instore credit "because obviously he could not make me happy"! On July 2, I took Jack back to my vet for a follow up chest xray which showed that the lobe over his heart is consolidated and he will have chronic lung issues for the rest of his life, however long that maybe. Further testing is planned to determine the cause of this problem. I have recently filed a formal complaint with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Comsumer Protection requesting full reimbursement for all medical bills and the cost of the puppy as his medical expenses throughout his life will be very costly.Desired Settlement: As I stated, I have filed a formal complaint with DATCP, I am posting this so other possible consumers will take note and protect themselves or adopt a rescue dog from a shelter!

Business

Response:

I am writing you in response to your certified letter dated June 1, 20l3"regaraing your sick puppy who was purchased from Us by [redacted] daughter on May 4,2013.

I am sorry for the problems you encountered, however must of what you encountered would not have happened had our warranty been followed.

First of all, we require each puppy customer to visit the Animal hospital of union Grove in order for us to have any warranty with said customer. We require this because Dr. [redacted] has personally seen-our animals and has worked with us for a number of years. He not only knows each puppy but with his experience knows what works and what doesn't should a puppy get ill ; clavamox has been found to not be effective. For the customer, should anything is noticed during hat first visit, they will treat the puppy at no charge. Should any additional visits be required providing they are asked not to do any additional procedures (anything not related to the illness) those visits are also at no charge. The decision was made not to use the Animal Hospital of Union Grove which is certainly within your prerogative but is not something that we cover. This statement was in fact initialed and signed by [redacted] at the time of purchase.

Secondly, our warranty is non-transferable which means you are not covered regardless. This was also agreed to by signature.

It is obvious that we can not make you happy since it was decided not to follow our warranty. We offered you a store credit which could have been used to purchased food and supplies for your puppy or any other pet you may have as a good faith gesture and a way to keep a customer. You state that you have never visited our store and have no reason to do so in the future so our offer of the store credit is rescinded.

To close I would just like to state that we work very hard to make sure our animals and customers are well taken care. We work with a veterinarian who is very conscientious as to how to care for our many puppies as well as the individual. Our kennel manager was awarded kennel manager of the year for Petland, Inc last summer and works harder and cares more about our animals than any other previous employee. We have personally visited facilities from which we purchased. We go to extremes when someone purchases an animal to make sure the animal will be taken care of and we provide a warranty should something not be as expected. The customer does initial and sign multiple times during the paperwork process stating what are both parties obligations and remedies. We even give each puppy customer a toll-free number to our kennel manager should a call after hours be a necessity. We have been doing the after hours call line over 15 months and our average call frequency is 1-2 a month and only two of those required a meeting at the store for care. Altough authorized, no customer has ever been directed to visit an emergency room. My wife and I sit on petland, Inc franchise advisory board and I was asked to attend a meeting as an advisor in madison as the state was finalizing the "Dog Breaders & Sellers Law" by the state veternarian. We are confident what we are doing as is evidenced by the many happy and satisfied customers.

Respectfully yours,

President

In response to the complaint filed from [redacted] regarding a Border Collie puppy purchased from our store Petland, Racine my statement is as follows:

I have retumed all of [redacted] phone calls that I was given a message for. Even on my personal cell phone on my days off. I would never intentionally ignore a customer as I deeply care about every pet here, and customer. Our phone system records phone calls so long as the customer dialed from the website which is a'i\ 8GG number. I have a few of those recorded that I will attach along with this letter. My "attitude" towards [redacted] and in this matter in general has never changed from being completely empathetic to her situation. Which if you listen to the phone calls, I believe that you will hear that. The Border Collie, Jack, was purchased on May 4th 2013 by a [redacted] and sold by a Pet Counselor that has been employed here since 9/10/2012 who has extensive knowledge on our warranties in place. By that point this puppy had already been seen by two separate licensed veterinarians. As stated in [redacted] response letter to [redacted], we work with [redacted] of Animal Hospital of Union Grove who oversees our puppies here at the store. This puppy was sent home with medication, which is not uncommon as our store is the equivalent to a "daycare" since we have y ung puppies here without fully developed immune systems exposed daily to customers wanting to play with them and other animals whether it be a customer's dog, etc. At the time of purchase the puppy was showing no symptoms other than that of a common cold and the customer is always made well aware of this at the time of sale. We do not send home any puppy under any circumstance showing any other symptoms more severe than that, and the puppies usually tend to get better faster out of the kennel environm nt. I am concemed that if the puppy was, in [redacted]'s opinion, so deathly ill and so sick that they felt bad for it and that's why it was purchased why her daughter wouldn't have mentioned that upon taking the puppy home. Especially for the amount paid for the puppy. Though [redacted] was not present at the time of purchase, I was also told that the puppy was a mother's day gift. As far as the financing goes, that is a 3rd party called Flex Pay Plus that we use for those customers who do not have the funds to purchase a puppy outright, have the level of credit to get approved for our other financing options, or does not want their credit run as a convenience to our custom rs. The downside to any no credit check financing is the amount of interest charged. We are not the only store that offers this type of financing. Total Furniture among other stores in our area use this exact financing company as well. If [redacted] has an issue with the interest being charged unfortunately I don't feel that is our fault or responsibility since [redacted] opted for that financing option and signed the contract with Flex Pay Plus. There are many places in the paperwork that state the amount of interest to be paid that was signed by [redacted]. [redacted] also signed and initialed stating she understood the warranty in non-transferrable, that we don't pay vet bills to any other clinic other than the Animal Hospital of Union Grove, and that in order to activate warr nty customer must take their new pet to Animal Hospital of Union Grove within 4 business days. We also provide an emergency number for our kennel manager should the customer have any questions or concerns regarding their puppy's health. [redacted] opted not to take the puppy to Animal Hospital of Union Grove even though she understood the warranty. The first time [redacted] notified us of the situation was on 5/15/2013 and per that conversation, when I was gathering information from her regarding the puppy's health asking her if she took the puppy to see [redacted], she responded no, and that she knew what I was going to say regarding the warranty. I explained to er no, I wouldn't deny her anything right away that I was just at the point of gathering all the information possible to make the correct decision. Also, I did tell her I understood why she had and was continuing to take the puppy to her veterinarian, but I also stated if she took the puppy to [redacted] she at least from that point wouldn't incur any further vet bi lls in which she declined. I also stated that to the veterinarian that I spoke with that was treating Jack. In response to [redacted]'s statement that the puppy was deathly ill upon purchase, the letter supplied by the veterinarian treatin g the puppy did not state that until 5 days after being taken off of the Guaifenesin and prescribed Clavamox was the puppy worse. In the letter supplied by [redacted], DVM she states that Guaifenesin is a cough suppressant. The Guaifenesin given to this puppy is an expectorant, which would make the puppy cough to get any fluid out, which is why the puppy would have seemed worse. This is the reason we make the customer aware what meds are used for at the time of purchase and warranties are non-transferrable. Had [redacted] been here, that would have been explained to her. This is also why we inform the customer they must take the puppy to [redacted] to activate the warranty and we only pay vet bills from Animal Hospital of Union Grove since he knows the puppy and what meds it has been prescribed and what for. Had that been done, [redacted] wouldn't have incu rred any bills, and the puppy may not have gotten worse. As stated in [redacted] letter we do not use Clavamox anymore since it has been an ineffective treatment for us in the past. [redacted] was also instructed by [redacted], DVM per our phone conversation that the puppy should be taken to an emergency clinic to be hospitalized since they weren't able to diagnose the puppy and were only able to give intravenous fluids and antibiotics and were not equipped to treat the puppy and they had medications she had never even heard of to be able to treat Jack. I then told the vet and [redacted] that the puppy could be hospitalized at [redacted]'s clinic free of charge since he would be properly equipped to do so even though she never activated the warranty and even though it was non transferrable since I didn't want to see this puppy get any sicker. [redacted] never took the puppy to be hospitalized anywhere and instead opted to take the puppy daily to see [redacted], DVM for fluids. In [redacted]'s statement she wants to be compensated for those trips, vet costs and that the puppy may have permanent lung damage. We still do not have a diagnosis nor an exact cause of the lung damage. We do not know if that may have been caused by the switch to Clavamox, or [redacted] not following the recommended treatment of th e puppy. All of which may have been avoided had [redacted] let us help her. In her statement she also states that she took the puppy to Animal Campus Vet Clinic to her vet of 15 years. Per one of our many phone conversations [redacted] stated that her vet was actually out of town and [redacted] DVM was filling in for his patients. Our warranty is clear and I believe giving [redacted] store credit to help pay for the puppy's upcoming needs was not unfair to her. I never even got to tell er an amount before she declined it. I believe we were more than fair in offering her that much considering not one aspect of the warranty or any instructions to stop her from incurring any future charges , and more damage to the puppy was followed for the following reasons:

1. The puppy was no longer in the possession of the purchaser per our warranty. (We would not have denied [redacted] simply for this reason had rest of warranty been followed.)

2. The puppy wasn't taken to Animal Hospital of Union Grove for activation of the warranty even though customer knew about our policy per our first phone conversation when I sked her if she had taken the puppy to see [redacted].

3. The puppy was taken off of a medication and put on a different one that in our kennel has not been effective, due to what I believe is a misunderstanding of the use of the medication being an expectorant not a suppressant and that the medication was working if the puppy's symptoms seemed worse.

4. No diagnosis of illness of puppy and cause since we do not know if in fact the puppy wasn't made worse by medication switch.

5. The puppy was never at any point taken to [redacted] even after customer being made aware that she wouldn't incur any future costs.

6. [redacted] chose to deny the puppy hospitalization care even at the recommendation of her own veterinarian who also stated she didn 't even know how much her daily visits were helping the puppy. Even for a second opinion. We do not know if the other treatments that Animal Campus couldn't provide could have prevented the damage or at least the extent of damage.

7. There is no mention in vet's statement of a fever on first visit or that we sold the customer a "deathly ill" puppy as she states. (which typically is the first indicator of illness) Not until second visit 5 days after med switch that there is a fever noted and the trouble breathing.The day Jack was purchased and taken home with meds puppy's temperature was within normal range.

8. Customer chose to incur the costs for the daily trips to vet for intravenous fluids though she was offered hospitalization at no cost, a recommendation of her own veterinarian.

9. The customer never contacted the 24 hour emergency # that is provided should a customer have any concems.

10. The customer waited 11 days to even contact the store regarding this issue.

We strive to provide excellent care for our puppies and it is impossible to prevent every type of illness. Our kennel manager has been with us for 6 years and won kennel manager of the year last year. I feel that because no steps were taken by [redacted] to work with us even though we made many attempts to accommodate her outside of our warranty, that the store credit I was offering was a fair resolution and that it was her choice to continue to incur these costs even though she was informed from her own vet that it wasn't the recommended course of treatment. That was denied. I have attached the information for the Guaifenesin that the puppy was on, along with some additional information regarding Guaifenesin and Clavamox. Also are the audio recordings from the calls that were made using the 800 number and not our direct line. Thank you. If you have any further questions in this matter please contact [redacted]

Sincerely,

General Manager

Petland, Racine

Consumer

Response: