Legal rights over vets bills for new pet.

woppitx6

Hi, new to this forum..but thought I'd give it a go.
Advice needed regarding a new pet.
Bought a rabbit last Tues, had to take it to vets on Weds due to improper care of petshop. He had a blocked intestine. On road to recovery now (hopefully) But we have paid almost £100 in vets bills and for medication.
Contacted Trading Standards and have been advised to send a letter with vets bills attached.
Pet shop has rung and said they will send out their legal standing to us and what they think is fair. They wanted rabbit back to take to their own vets, but we didnt trust them,( and told them so) to take him for proper care.
Has anyone any advice on what we should do next if they wont pay for our vets fees?
BTW have contacted RSCPA and Animal Welfare regarding poor health of this bunny and any others that might be in the shop.
Thanks

adam.mt

A case similar to this has been brought up before, a few weeks ago (do a search).

The verdict was that your legal rights are the same as if it was a kettle or peddle bin that broke, ie. you need to give the seller the opportunity to deal with the problem first (use their own vets) rather than immediately taking elsewhere and incurring bills.

By all means you can try and claim and I don't blame you for not having confidence in the pet shop, but it's a gamble whether you'll get all your money back.

Whether the pet shop takes proper care of the animals they sell should be considered as a separate issue, so by all means contact the RSPCA/Animal Welfare/Council if you think appropriate.

Googlewhacker

as above you should have given the store the chance to have remedied the situation whether by replacement, refund or repair (obviously this is alot harder to do once emotion has got in the way!)

Personally I think you are throwing good money after bad.

woppitx6

We did contact the shop, we actually rang from the vets surgery. The advice was bring it back for a refund or replacement. And as we had already taken it to a vets (the rabbit was in terrible pain) it had invalidated the guarentee anyway. They said if we brought it back to them, they would take it to their own vets, but would do so alone. So in other words we couldnt go with them to make sure they carried out their promise.
I know its probably a long shot getting back our money, but if I can be a small thorn in their side for a short while, it might make them take better care of the pets in their store.
Thanks

pinkshoes

adam.mt wrote: »

The verdict was that your legal rights are the same as if it was a kettle or peddle bin that broke, ie. you need to give the seller the opportunity to deal with the problem first (use their own vets) rather than immediately taking elsewhere and incurring bills.

I've never seen a broken kettle or peddle bin in pain whilst you phone up the shop to see if you can take it back for a repair or exchange!!

If an animal is in pain, you take it immediately to a vet! The costs were already incurred, and anything other than this would have been animal cruelty!

woppit, make sure you put everything in writing to the pet shop to ask for the money back.

adam.mt

pinkshoes: note I said "legal rights are", the Sale of Goods Act which this fails under doesn't differentiate for live animals. Thus, I applaud the OP for their concern and care of the animal's welfare (as I would do). However, this doesn't mean that there's no financial cost to doing such. It's down to your own morality. Which matters more £100 or the welfare of your pet? I would hope most agree the latter.

adam.mt

pinkshoes wrote: »

woppit, make sure you put everything in writing to the vet to ask for the money back.

Judge that was a typo, and you meant pet shop.

Would agree to make a fuss and try and claim your full costs back, just be aware that in law you're not entitled to such.

As I also said, report the shop if you suspect they have a general lack of care to their animals.

Equaliser123

adam.mt wrote: »

Would agree to make a fuss and try and claim your full costs back, just be aware that in law you're not entitled to such.

.

I think OP would be entitled to the costs of the vet as the loss is something which is forseeable and flows naturally from the breach of contract.

Freddie_Snowbits

My old Grandad, honourable Frederick once bought an old nag. It was four weeks before he noticed the teeth had been painted white.

adam.mt

Equaliser123 wrote: »

I think OP would be entitled to the costs of the vet as the loss is something which is forseeable and flows naturally from the breach of contract.

So, the seller doesn't have to be given the opportunity to resolve first??? Are there explicit exceptions for sales law regarding animals?

pcombo

Dam vet bills take the !!!! And PDSA is not much help either.