Gave dog back to breeder, refusing to give money back

3_cheeky_princesses

I have to agree with KellyWelly on this one. Breeding dogs if done properly doesnt earn your a profit in fact sometimes can be a loss.

The fact that your mum reserved this puppy only a couple of weeks after it was born so had a long time to re think her decision and made sure she had made the right one has probably pee'd the breeder off big time as it would me. It wasnt a impulse buy and she still returned the pup after 2 days.

Saying that .... if the breeder does sell the pup shortly then i do think the breeder should refund your mum some money but as you said and are asccepting your mum will have to accept the fact that it wont be anywhere as near as to what she paid.

I can also understand the breeder is on holiday hasnt got the time to sell the pup in the next couple of weeks and can understand maybe wanting to keep the puppy as it has already been moved back and forth which is very stressful for a puppy.

mattuk80

provista wrote: »

When we bought our pup from a breeder we had to sign a contract saying if we ever got to a staged where we no longer wanted her she HAD to go back to the breeder and no money would be returned, if there had been any medical problems then money would be returned.

I have spoken to my mother, there was no contract signed when she purchased the dog hence no mention of "no refund" clauses.

What we have decided is to write to the breeder stating what we consider the legal facts to be. The puppy is still legally my mothers. The breeder has reneged on her agreement to make a refund (whether it be partial or full) when reselling the dog therfore this verbal contract has been broken and my mother has legal entitlement to the puppy. Obviously we want the puppy to be safe and well and we believe being with the breeder or her friend is a safe enviroment therefore the breeder has two choices. Either refund half of the original fee, £250. This leaves the breeder with the other £250 as compensation for the inconvenience caused with having to either keep or rehouse the puppy. The second choice, which we would not prefer, is to return the puppy to our family. We have a friend who is an experienced dog owner who is happy to keep the puppy. Ideally we would prefer the puppy to be kept with the breeder as we do not want distress the little dog and we want this to be sorted asap so my mum can move on with her life. I believe it is a fair compromise for the breeder to return £250 and keep the puppy especially since she has broken her agreement with my mother to pay her a refund once the dog was resold. If she had said from the start there would be no refund involved or explicitly laid this out in contract for sale then fair enough but she has done neither of these things.

If she refuses we will seek additional legal help, contact trading standards and as a last resort the police if necessary.

poet123

The responsibility to have requested a contract in writing at the outset lay with your mother, as in "Buyer Beware". You cannot now write the terms of a contract she would have like to have been given, the contract was a simple dog/money one with no additional terms, therefore no expectation of additional terms (either expressed or implied) on either side, should exist.

Your mother has handed the dog back, and relinquished ownership and responsibilty to the breeder, it would be for a court to decide whether the breeder actually offered a refund verbally, taking account the industry norm for such occurrences. In the normal course of business how common is it for her to have done that, or is it accepted practice, I suspect it is not.

That you now say you will have the puppy back is not good. A court may well conclude that any reasonable person would have expected this option to be explored prior to handing it back to the breeder.

I really dont think you have a case. Buying an animal should be a well thought out decision, iis not a handbag you can take back unused, and get a refund on. Additionally there was a time before collection when a change of heart could have been arrived at.

Poppy9

This is a dog you are talking about not a toaster. You can't keep shunting it from home to home. I do think the law would favour the breeder because even as a trader it's trading an animal which is affected by each move.

If you try to force possession of the animal I'm sure the breeder would inform the RSPCA as your mother has admitted she is not fit to look after an animal and the RSPCA wouldn't look too kindly on someone more interested in money that the dog's welfare.

I think it's a huge mistake putting in writing you want the pet returned.

Just my opinion and I'm no animal lover!

mattuk80

Poppy9 wrote: »

This is a dog you are talking about not a toaster. You can't keep shunting it from home to home. I do think the law would favour the breeder because even as a trader it's trading an animal which is affected by each move.

If you try to force possession of the animal I'm sure the breeder would inform the RSPCA as your mother has admitted she is not fit to look after an animal and the RSPCA wouldn't look too kindly on someone more interested in money that the dog's welfare.

I think it's a huge mistake putting in writing you want the pet returned.

Just my opinion and I'm no animal lover!

We are not asking for the dog to be returned, if you read my post I clearly state "obviously we want the puppy to be safe and well and we believe being with the breeder or her friend is a safe enviroment" but at the same time in my opinion asking for a £250 refund is not unreasonable. Secondly if she refuses to return £250 then we would not want the dog to returned to my mother, my friend who is an experienced dog owner would give the dog a loving home, however obviously we would prefer the puppy to stay with the breeder. We are giving the breeder two viable options.

If she had not said "I cannot give you a refund until I resell the dog" then fair enough but she did say that. Why should she be allowed to suddenly change her mind?

3_cheeky_princesses

mattuk80 wrote: »

Why should she be allowed to suddenly change her mind?

The same reason your mum did by taking the dog back after 2 days! :mad: Why didnt you explore the option of the experienced dog owner friend before taking the dog back to the breeder?

I hope you come to a satisfactory conclusion all round but more importantly for the puppy.

poet123

I can understand you not wanting to lose the money, but you are applying two different standards of reasonable expectation of behaviour for the two parties.

You mother made a contract to buy the dog, she broke it by asking for the seller to take it back, now you say the seller did exactly the same thing,(by stating verbally she would refund if she re sold) but different sanctions should apply.

The fact is the seller has not yet resold, may be unable to do so , and probably does not want the repeated contact from you to see if that has happened. If she had no legal requirement to refund, which there is not for a simple change of mind (even in shops) then on reflection she may have decided to adhere to the letter of the law.

Poppy9

mattuk80 wrote: »

If she had not said "I cannot give you a refund until I resell the dog" then fair enough but she did say that. Why should she be allowed to suddenly change her mind?

So what would your mother have done with the dog if she had said "no refund but you can return it to me"?

viktory

mattuk80 wrote: »

...and as a last resort the police if necessary.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Yeah, they'll be really interested.

You are coming across as really unreasonable.

Poppy9

viktory wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Yeah, they'll be really interested.

.

Would they think she is barking mad:o:rotfl: