Save A Mutt Kennel

Had a wonderful experience getting a puppy from them and would definitely recommend them again to others. May God Bless them for what they do.

Review: I recently used [redacted] to search for a dog for my boyfriend and I to adopt. I fell in love with a dog named [redacted], posted by [redacted]. After submitting my application to [redacted], I was contacted by Save A Mutt, which I am assuming is because Save A Mutt was responsible for where [redacted] was being sheltered. After asking me if I would be able to provide a proper environment for [redacted], Save A Mutt approved my adoption application. Within the same day that I was approved (11/11/2014), I created a paypal account to pay for the $75 deposit/holding fee. I also thoroughly reviewed the adoption contract, signed it, and faxed it to Save A Mutt the next day (11/12/2014). Following Save A Mutt's procedure, I contacted the transport company that they are affiliated with on my own. I paid the $90 transport fee and submit the transport form requesting [redacted] to be transported on 12/19/2014. I chose this date because that is when my semester of grad school ends and when my boyfriend will be completely done with classes therefore having more time to dedicate to [redacted]. Essentially, [redacted] was a Christmas present for my boyfriend. All of this was explained on my application. I was contacted by the transport company ([redacted]) on 11/13/2014 asking me if I could possibly meet them in Albany that upcoming Sunday to take [redacted]. Again, I explained my school situation and respectfully requested that we stick to the original 12/19/2014 date. Next, I was contacted by Save A Mutt directly who asked me if I could now take [redacted] on 11/21/2014. I was told that they wanted to avoid having to transport [redacted] from the northern state he was be sheltered in, back to the south, and then back to me up north in [redacted] a few weeks later. I was not told why [redacted] would have to leave the northern shelter in the first place. For the third time since including this information on my application, I explained my school situation and again requested we stick to the original transport date of 12/19/2014 so that I could be sure [redacted] would have proper care as my boyfriend would be completely done with classes. I was never informed that my adoption was pending on whether or not I agreed to the 11/21/2014 transport date. The phrasing of the email was as follows: "I have a question... is there any way you could take him on the nov 21st transport date? I just hate to have him travel down and then back up..." In response to me explaining my school situation, I received an email saying: "I'm sorry, but we just can't hold him until that date. He is actually in another rescue and they will now be keeping him. We will refund your deposit." Again, I was never warned that this would occur. I assumed that the fact that Save A Mutt ASKED me to consider a different transport date meant that I had the option of saying no. After all, I had signed and submitted a contract by now so as far as I was concerned, [redacted] was mine and therefore it was my choice. Furthermore, I had paid the holding fee specifically so Save A Mutt would HOLD [redacted] for me.

I received this last email at about 1:30pm on Friday 11/14/2014. I wrote back immediately pleading with Save A Mutt to give me some answers. So many things were left unsaid. How could they breach this contract? How did we go from negotiating a transport date to just no adoption at all? I asked for a number to speak to a supervisor because the number listed on their website led me directly to this automated answering machine: "The customer you are trying to reach is not available to take any calls." This phone number did not ring either; it went right to the voicemail. I left 3 desperate messages wherein I fought my tears and asked someone to contact me with some information. I also contacted the transport company to see if they had any alternative contact information for Save A Mutt because nothing was working. In my third email of that night, I finally asked Save A Mutt to at least give me the information of the rescue that they had left [redacted] in so that I could talk to them about transportation. I was already emotionally attached to this dog. I had told everyone about him and how excited I was. It was legitimately heart-breaking to hear he was taken away from me after I had paid and signed off on him.

Finally, nearly 30 hours after the original email saying that I was being refunded, Save A Mutt sent me this:

"The rescue who has [redacted] had begged to keep him as their Vice President had fallen in love with him. I am now allowing them to keep him as they requested. Placement of our adopted pets is important. I don't process applications so I don't know what was on your application but we don't allow dogs to be given as gifts. It just ends badly in 90% of cases. I also have way too much on my plate right now. I wish we had another volunteer to assist with the emails but we don't. I don't have time or energy at this point to rearrange everything for one adopter. I have done it 1000 times over the years. The dogs come first, families second, my family third and me last. For 4 years I have responded to adopters 365 days every year from the time I get up until bedtime. Is this your problem or concern? Of course not but this week has been the straw that broke the camels back so to speak. I could explain all of my reasons to you and let you get angry then respond again to calm you down but I'm not. I'm going to sit down and eat dinner with my family before it gets cold. It always is by the time I get to eat. I am sorry that it did not work out and wish you the best in your search for a companion."

I am taking this to mean that Save A Mutt basically lied to and manipulated me; the real reason they cancelled my adoption out of no where was because the VP wanted to keep him all along. This is ABSURD to me. First of all, [redacted] should have never been put up for adoption if the VP was so attached. If the VP had "fallen in love" more recently, he had no right to keep him after I had paid and submitted my signed contract. Second of all, it is clear that no one in this agency communicates since this person openly admitted to have never seen my application. For a company who claims to place a lot of importance on the placement of their dogs, wouldn't you think they would thoroughly check all applications? If this person had looked at my application, they would have realized that my boyfriend and I live together. So, while technically a Christmas gift, [redacted] would have been cared for by the both of us. Third of all, I cannot even begin to describe how unprofessional it is for this person to take out their life frustrations on me. How dare they try to make me feel guilty for wanting answers about the dog I paid for and invested so much in. This brings me to my fourth point: I invested into this dog; I signed and submitted a contract. Most professional agencies deem these to be legally binding. Clearly, Save A Mutt is not such an agency and I feel this definitely needs to be addressed.Desired Settlement: Though I will NEVER consider doing business with this agency again, I definitely feel I am justified in asking for some sort of complementary service to compensate for the emotional turmoil they have caused me.

Business

Response:

Hi, We have a statement on our adoption application that states we reserve the right to back out of any adoption at any point in process. The application has to be signed and dated by the adopter showing they have read and understand our policies. The same statement is on our contract and on the front page of our website. If a client does not agree with this stipulation they should not apply. This particular client had applied to adopt a dog that had previously been returned by the former adopter up north. The puppy was going to have to endure many hours on the road in a transport van to come back to NC to the foster home. In order to spare the puppy the trip the volunteer decided to let a northern rescue have the puppy. After re reviewing the clients application the volunteer discovered that the client had intended on giving the puppy to her boyfriend as a "gift". We do not allow our dogs to be given as gifts. That is our policy. The volunteer who the client communicated with was not the one who processed her application originally. We have no Idea how that fact slipped by the fist volunteer that the puppy was intended to be given as a gift. At this point the puppy was being held at another rescue located in NY. They are NOT affiliated with Save A Mutt what so ever. They just took our puppy in temporarily after the first adoption failed until we could get the baby back down here. The director of the unaffiliated rescue requested to let her keep the puppy since she had gotten attached and plus save the stress of the long transport back down here. Since our volunteer withdrew the client's application to adopt she agreed to do best thing and let the northern rescue keep the puppy. The client was refunded the full amount that she paid for the adoption fee. As far as the client insisting about "deserving" some compensation. I really am not sure what to think about that. How exactly can someone get "attached" to an animal they have never met? It is not like she had procession of the pup for months and then we ripped it away. I also wanted to touch base on the fact that she commented that it took us 30 something hours to respond. It is listed on our website upfront for the world to read that we respond to all inquires within 48 hours. She got a response within that time frame. We are a private group that is ran by volunteers who devote many hours to helping the animals. We are not always tied to our computers or our phones. The needs of the animals must be met Our volunteers do have families, jobs and a life other than the rescue. Although the rescue consumes a bigger percentage of our lives than the other important aspects. The volunteer who handled this had been with us a very long time. She had helped us save countless lives of animals in our area. We had worked together for almost 8 years.She finally had enough and quit. The realization of what we do is the animals are much easier to deal with than the humans that don't understand what we sacrifice to do what we do.Sincerely,[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response 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.

I do not see how this could possibly qualify as a resolution. It seems to me that this business is just pointing fingers at me for not reading their "stipulations" on their website; stipulations that to me seem irrelevant. I do not foresee this business admitting to their fault and honestly I have reached my limit. I have already gone through another agency and recieved a companion within this time that it has taken Save A Mutt to respond, which seems to be very telling of how Save A Mutt operates compared to other, more reliable agencies. I would like to hereby cut off communication with Save A Mutt and move on with my life. For Save A Mutt to continue to toy with my emotions by accusing me of not being able to become emotionally attached to a dog I never met is just insuiting and I can take it no longer. I am uncertain of the next step in this process but I do not want to hear from Save A Mutt again.

Regards,

Review: My girlfriend and I have been trying to adopt a puppy from this Kennel. We had to fill out a pre-application, which caused us to miss out on one puppy. We understood this, but there were two other dogs ([redacted] and [redacted]) that also would have been perfect for our family. We were directed from a [redacted] to a [redacted] who handled those dogs. We were informed that [redacted] was already adopted, but [redacted] was available and wondering if we were approved. Apparently communication problems are a major issue in this company. We responded at about 6:17AM on 8/13 stating that we had been previously approved, so do we need to reapply or not since we don't want to miss out on [redacted] as we did with the previous pup. We received no response and after another email we finally heard back at 12:31 stating that [redacted] was still available and we would simply need to make a deposit, but to do so fast since there was another approved family also interested. We emailed back asking how to deposit (instructions, accounts, etc) and a second email stating our absolute interest in adopting [redacted]. We heard nothing, so at 12:51 (20 minutes after stating [redacted] was available) we sent a deposit via Paypal to the account on our approved application. I emailed [redacted] stating we sent the deposit and to let us know if received so we can confirm [redacted] as our new member of our household. We heard nothing. An hour or so later I checked Paypal and saw the funds were returned with no explanation. Again I emailed out to [redacted] asking why the funds were returned, what is the status, etc. Again zero response. Finally later in the evening I emailed [redacted] showing our conversation trail and how we have received no response. She basically said it was [redacted]'s dog and she has no input other than can pass along my email. She also mentioned that she returned the funds since it went to her account, not [redacted]'s. Yet we didn't know there were multiple accounts, because again no information was provided. So once again zero assistance in our attempt to find out the status of [redacted] or what we can do to adopt.

After multiple more emails with [redacted] and the mention that we would be contact the Revdex.com, we finally heard back from [redacted] at around 9:22P on 8/13. She basically said she informed [redacted] to return the funds because the other family sent in their deposit 15 minutes before us. Again no communication on this and the companies stories do not tie since [redacted] and [redacted] are stating different things on how the funds were returned. [redacted] said she gave it to the other family to be "fair", yet we were never given any opportunity to deposit our funds as we requested and when we did they were simply returned. She did offer to give us a pick of other dogs, but that isn't what we were looking for. We were looking for the available puppy we had been approved to adopt and simply wanted to deposit funds on. The basic response for them was "sorry for your inconvenience".

I am sorry, but when we are discussing a life changing event for a family, a perfect animal that can have years of positive impact on our children we need better than this. [redacted]'s attitude in particular is that no dog really matters and they are all the same. Just pick another one and it doesn't matter. Yet to our family this was a gigantic blow, yet [redacted] treats it as a trivial matter and just take another one. If this is how she treats families trying to adopt, how are these animals handled? How many other families has she or this organization hurt. There is a complete disregard in the fact that the only reason [redacted] is not joining our family is because [redacted] didn't communicate any information to us as we eagerly tried to get everything that was needed. So now our children miss out on an opportunity that cannot be replicated because there is not another [redacted].

We have email documentation of all that transpired for your viewing if it is desired.Desired Settlement: This company will obviously ship [redacted] off to the other family since they clearly stated "Not gonna change my mind on the issue" rather than accept and rectify their mistake. But this mistake should never happen to any family, at any time. If they have a first come, first serve policy, then it should be based upon the information that they provide to the adopting families. If we had simply been provided clear instructions when we initially asked if we were approved and were to send the deposit, [redacted] would be coming home and this issue could be avoided. It was a blatant disregard on the situation and a simple who cares as long as we get out money and move on to the next one. If that is the company policy, then this company needs to be closed down and these animals moved to more appropriate shelters. Any federal or state funds (or waivers) granted to this company should also be waived. These are peoples lives and their mistakes can have a lifetime affect on people.

Business

Response:

To

whom It May Concern,

I find normally those

who tend to be provoking in actions are normally best ignored. However, I wish

to quickly and honestly state my side on this matter!

Let me give you

some background on what we do. We take in needy dogs and cats from area

"kill shelters". Kill Shelters are shelters or pounds that will

euthanize unwanted animals if it is not claimed or adopted. There are many kill

shelters in our area. One that we work with specifically has euthanasia rates

that are very high. For example of the 4012 dogs they took in only 180 got

adopted. You can guess what happened to the rest! Sadly there are shelters with

higher euthanasia rates than that. We also intercept needy pets in our

community before they end up at the kill shelters.

We make sure the animal has everything that

it needs while it is in our care. The animals are taken to our vet. At our vet

they receive, vaccines, de-worming and preventive care and they are micro-chipped.

They also are spayed and neutered if they are old enough. If they are not old

enough we provide access to low cost spay/neuter services when they reach 6

months of age. We do not just take the easy cases either. We have taken in dogs

that are heart worm positive that costed a lot of money to treat. Heart worm

treatment for a large dog can easily reach $1000 to cure around these

parts. We have taken in broken dogs and cats that were abused physically

and emotionally that took us months and even years to find a suitable home for.

When we commit to an animal it is for life if it is not placed in a new home.

We have one of our very first rescue dogs still with us. She was taken in as a

6 month old and she is now 15 years old. She has epilepsy and could not be

placed. We are committed to taking care of her for life as well as many others

who have been with us for many years due to one issue or another that made them

un adoptable.

We do not have a

physical facility or shelter! We do not have a place or location where our

animals are kept for public viewing. The majority of our animals are in

foster homes. Our fosters are wonderful families who open up their home to a

needy animal until we can place it in a forever home. We are still

responsible for the vet care, food and any other expenses that the animal might

incur while in the foster home. The foster home just provides housing and love!

We foot the entire financial burden.

I might also add

contrary to Mr. [redacted]'s comments we are not funded by the government. Nor have

we received any monies, grants or anything from good ole Uncle Sam. It is

stated on our web site in plain and very understandable English that we are a

PRIVATE RESCUE. In other words money from our own pockets fund our efforts. We

file business taxes and are accountable for every dime we make, although that

sure is not a lot considering the major expenses we occur to operate. It

is normal for us to spend $150 to $200 per WEEK on just pet food to feed our

rescue animals. The vet bills are astronomical as is our gas costs from all the

traveling we endure to make sure our animals are cared for and have what they

need. We do what we do because we love the animals and we want to make a

difference. We try to be fair to everyone, first and foremost our concern

and priority is with our animals that we have worked so hard to help.

Below I will state the facts and nothing but the facts on what occurred with

Mr. [redacted].

1- Mr. [redacted] applied to adopt a

puppy named [redacted] from my rescue partners. The said partners are responsible

for their dogs/adoptions, and I handle the adoptions of the animals that I take

in personally. In other words we have 2 acting parts to the business.

2- The puppy that Mr.[redacted] was interested in was adopted and claimed prior to

Mr. [redacted] acting on his adoption approval. The same day Mr. [redacted] decided he

was then interested in 2 puppies that I was responsible for processing myself. In

other words they belonged to me! Those puppies were [redacted] and [redacted]. I

informed Mr. [redacted] that [redacted] had been adopted and [redacted] was available AT

THE MOMENT! I was pretty upfront that [redacted] had ANOTHER approved applicant

prior to him. I also had stated to him that the adopter had not responded or

reserved [redacted] at that point in time. Below is the exact conversation copied

from the saved email conversation between Mr. [redacted] and [redacted] and I.

________

Me

To

Aug 13

Yes you do not have to reapply as

long as [redacted] approved you to adopt. Let me know if you would like to adopt

[redacted]. I would need your deposit to hold her. However I do have another

approved application on her.

Thanks,

__________

3- Mr. [redacted] then sent his deposit in to hold [redacted] to [redacted] my partner. The

other approved applicant had sent in her deposit in around 15 minutes prior, unknown

to me at the time. On our web site the following is stated boldly at the top of

home page for everyone to read….

NOTICE TO ALL POTENTIAL ADOPTERS:

1-We reserve the right to back out

of any adoption at our discretion at any point during the adoption process!

In the event we decide to back out of an adoption we will refund all fees

paid to us, including the deposit!

2-We want everyone to know that it

is FIRST COME FIRST serve among the APPROVED adopters. Who

ever gets their deposit to us FIRST will get the rescue pet. We have

always done it this way and we will continue to do it this way. We are honest

and fair about it! That means who REALLY gets the deposit to us FIRST

will be the one who gets the pet REGARDLESS!!!!!!!!!!! We can not and

simply will not take a chance on anyone dragging their feet and causing a pet

to miss out on their forever home. So we will NOT hold any pet WITHOUT

a deposit. Please read #1 above again. If you do not agree with this

please do not apply! The fact is these are OUR animals. We care for

them until they find their forever home. We have a lot of time and money

invested in each rescue pet, many times we have much more invested than the

meager adoption fee we charge. We have the right to decide where the animal

will go. They belong to US until they leave our care!

The text below is also stated at the

bottom of each web page and on the adoption application that Mr. [redacted]

signed, dated and sent in for consideration…..

Notice: We reserve the right to back out of an

adoption AT ANY POINT that we feel we have just cause to take such

action. In the event that WE DECIDE that we don't want to follow through with

the adoption we will refund the fees in full to the person in question.

4- [redacted] and I compared time stamps on the

paypal invoices and the other adopter beat Mr. [redacted] to the punch. We do our

best to be honest and truthful so the only fair thing to do was to let the

adopter who truly got their payment in first have the pup. I instructed

[redacted] to refund the deposit to Mr. [redacted]. Which she did without hesitation.

At this point in time I had to take several of our rescue dogs to a vet appt

in the late afternoon. [redacted] was also there with some of our rescue dogs.

Our vet always sees us after hours on the days that we have dogs that have to

be examined for health certificates etc. [redacted] and I both were gone from

our computers to well after dark that day. With that being said, Mr, [redacted] accused us

of ignoring his messages as to why his money had been refunded. Doing the

type of work we do it is not realistic to think we should be tied to our

computers 24/7. We do actually work and are hands on with our rescue animals.

I replied to Mr. [redacted] the very first

spare minute I had that evening. I was very nicely and polite I might add….below

is copied text from the actual saved email conversation between Mr. [redacted]

and I.

-----------

Me

To

[redacted]

Aug 13

I had [redacted] to refund it. We had

someone who was approved prior send her deposit in about 15 minutes prior to

you. Since she got hers to us first she gets the pup to be fair.

We do have pups that have not been

listed if you are interested, you can have first choice.

Thanks,

I kept repeatedly apologizing to

Mr. [redacted] for the misunderstanding. I offered him his choice of any other

pup or dog we had. I refunded his adoption deposit without hesitation. At

that point I did not know what else to do. Mr. [redacted]’s emails became somewhat

demanding and argumentative at that point no matter what I said.

Below is copied text from an email

he sent me……

And sorry for any inconvenience is not

an acceptable response. Further action needs to be taken

Below is my reply to the above……

What exactly would you consider an acceptable response?

Please explain to me what we can do to me you happy and satisfied?

I apologized, I refunded your money! I offered you another pup of your choice

if you wish. What else honestly can we do?

Honestly, we have not done anything wrong. We made a mistake and admitted it.

We try to be fair.

Neither one of us is going to be productive arguing over something that was a

simple mistake. It is not going to make me change my mind.

We apologized sincerely; it is a time to move on. I got more important things

to do today than argue and bicker about trivial things.

I hope you have a great day, and I wish you good luck on your search for a

rescue dog. I would be happy to give you some referrals to rescues that are

close to you that you can adopt from. Not sure If you thought of it but If

you have a local animal shelter or pound that would be an excellent place to

look.

Sincerely,

At this point I had decided to ignore the emails he sent. They

automatically were deleted without being read. I refuse to argue with anyone.

I got better things to do with my time. I apologized to him. I gave him his

money back. I offered him another puppy of his choice. He chose not to accept

my offer. I really don’t understand what he expected of me? I could understand his anger if I had been

dishonest and refused to refund him. Yet, I was honest and forth coming like

I have always been with my business dealings.

My animals are my first priority. It is MY decision where they go. I reserve

the right to refuse anyone at any point in the adoption process. That fact is

clearly stated on my web site, and application for all to read. I make no

secret about our “first come first serve” policy. If he did not accept my

terms why did he apply? Mr. [redacted]

clearly has it out for our business and the needy kill shelter animals that

would die a horrible death if it was not for our intervention. The fact is there is NO SHORTAGE of rescue

animals who need a home. Instead of arguing over a puppy that I placed in an

excellent home elsewhere he should be looking for another rescue dog that

needs help. My bets are he would not have to look very hard to achieve that.

I would be very happy to upload the complete email conversations

between Mr. [redacted] and I if that is required. That would prove the fact I was NOT rude in

any way. I will also be happy to upload copies of the deposit receipts that

PROVE the other approved adopter got her deposit in first. However I will NOT

participate any further in this discussion with Mr. [redacted]. As far as I am

concerned this is done and over with. Time to move on! I refuse to act like a

2 yro in a pre-school squabble!

Sincerely,

[redacted] At Save-A-Mutt

I am a recent adopter through Save a Mutt. I can not say enough about these hero's. The adoption procedure is thorough but fair. There has been complaints against Save a Mutt with the adoption process. They have to be tough to ensure the quality of life that these precious furbabies deserve. They kept in constant contact with me throughout the entire process. If I had any questions they responded to me within 2 hours. My new puppy was transported to me by the most caring, professional people. It is clear to me the people who run Save a Mutt and all of the volunteers do this out of love and they deserve praises. If anyone is looking to adopt a new furbaby through Save a Mutt I would HIGHLY recommend them.