Private purchase - puppy with health issues

ken_1969

I bought a puppy from a breeder last month, private sale from a self-proclaimed "hobby breeder".

The puppy was obviously advertised as healthy and had been checked by the breeder's vet two weeks prior to collection. I had visited the breeder at her home twice - first to select the pup and then again just to see it before I picked it up.

I was recommended to her by the owner of my current dog who knew someone who had two good dogs from her so possibly didn't do quite as much checking as I might have otherwise, but she made all the right noises about being legitimate.

I picked up the pup on a Sunday, signed a puppy contract that stated clearly the puppy was healthy, and took it straight to my vets on Monday to have his vaccinations done. My vet instantly identified a grade V/VI heart murmur (the scale goes up to VI so quite serious).

I had already became quite attached and wanted a second opinion so took him to a specialist who confirmed he had two distinct heart conditions - both serious, one treatable, but combined almost certainly fatal without treatment.

The breeder offered a refund but only if I return the pup - she made it clear that she had no money for any treatment (despite having just sold 10 puppies at £950 each). So essentially sending him back would mean certain death.

She had put in place a four week breeder pet insurance policy with PetPlan who confirmed they would cover treatment costs as the condition was not pre-existing prior to the policy being enacted so

I went ahead with treatment to give him the best possible chance -
which sadly was unsuccessful. His heart condition was too far progressed and he died just this week.

The breeder is refusing to give a refund on the basis that I chose to reject her initial offer and keep the pup regardless.

She is also arguing that having vet checked the pup two weeks earlier she had done all she could to ensure it's health.

My specialist is dubious - the pup's condition was congenital and pronounced, and he had a seriously enlarged heart that presented heart murmurs on both sides of the heart that could not have just appeared within two weeks, suggesting the vet check was at best rushed and simply missed it, at worst incompetent.

Clearly it's an emotive topic for us as we got very attached to the pup and wanted to give him the best possible chance at life and her completely callous attitude to the whole thing just made a bad experience that much worse.

From a legal perspective I just want to check if I have a leg to stand on in taking her to the small claims court. As I understand it the Consumer Rights Act is the only applicable legislation for puppy sales. This seems to provide only limited legal cover in private sales but from reading CAB, here and other information it does appear that in a private sale goods must still be "as described" and "fit for purpose".

When I advised her I was going to take her to the small claims court and within days got a letter from her solicitor warning me against taking their client to court. So she doesn't have money to pay for medical treatment but she certainly has the money to pay a solicitor.

It's not about the money at this stage it's a matter of principle - she sold me a "healthy dog" who was not and who died after just four weeks from a condition that he had from birth.
I feel like I should pursue this - but do I have a case, and what is the worst case if I lose?

hollydays

So have you spoken to her vet?
Surely if petplan agreed to the treatment they must have checked this out with her vet.

Diamandis

If she took it to a vet who pronounced the pup was healthy what more did you expect her to do?

CardinalWolsey

The photo of the puppy just demonstrates how emotional this is for you. Take the emotions away and consider just the facts.

You bought a product that was faulty.
You went back to where you bought it from, who offered to fully refund your purchase price if you returned the product.
You rejected this offer, and instead decided to make a claim on insurance to get the product independently repaired.
That repair failed, and the fault was unfortunately terminal.

My feeling is that you rolled the dice for £950, and lost the bet.

Should the dealer have picked up on the fault via their own pre-delivery inspection? Yes, absolutely. Bearing in mind the choice of remedy (refund, repair, replace) is the supplier's choice, did they offer to make good? Yes, they did - and you chose to reject that offer.

If I was a judge in a small claims court (which I'm not), based upon the evidence of what you have described, I would be rejecting your claim.

Is there another route you could go down - at £950 I would be hoping that the puppy would have been fully registered with the Kennel Club - is that an avenue you could explore?

elsien

Did you ask to see the results of any tests carried out for hereditary conditions prior to collecting the dog?
I would sadly agree with the poster above, but if you do decide to take things further you at least need some evidence such as any checks carried out, and confirmation by her vet that the puppy was seen and whether it was given a clean bill of health as she claims. They are unlikely to share that information with you directly but would petplan or either of your vets have contacted the vet she says she saw?

hollydays

I would only buy a dog from a registered breeder who offered to take the dog back for any reason within 30days.

ken_1969

Taking emotion out of it - from my reading of the consumer rights act, Section 19 paragraph 4 states that I have the right to request a repair or replacement.
As the breeder had no alternative puppies, the only option available to me was “repair” as covered by section 23 of the act. Hence my taking the route of treatment via the insurance policy put in place by the breeder herself for precisely this purpose. Indeed PetPlan's own website markets the breeder insurance precisely as a means to reduce the incidence of owners returning their pets:
"Selling your puppies or kittens with free Petplan insurance adds value for your new owners and means that should the puppy or kitten become ill or injured during the settling in period they are less likely to return the animal to you."
https://www.petplanbreeder.co.uk/2/petplan-breeders-scheme.htm

The insurance failed to cover the repairs so again according to the Consumer Rights Act this should not alter my right to a refund in the event repairs failed.

elsien

hollydays wrote: »

I would only buy a dog from a registered breeder who offered to take the dog back for any reason within 30days.

The breeder did offer to take the dog back. The OP chose not to because the puppy would not have been offered treatment if returned.

ssparks2003

The consumer can require a repair or replacement and the retailer must offer whichever the consumer chooses, unless it is ‘disproportionate’ to the alternative.

The retailer felt (And was clearly proved right) that the repair of the goods would fail and attempting repair was either overly costly or not realistic.

I would suggest that you strongly consider your position before going too far.

lincroft1710

ken_1969 wrote: »

Taking emotion out of it - from my reading of the consumer rights act, Section 19 paragraph 4 states that I have the right to request a repair or replacement.

There is another "re" - refund. You can ask for whichever one you want, but the supplier has the right to choose the remedy

neilmcl

hollydays wrote: »

I would only buy a dog from a registered breeder who offered to take the dog back for any reason within 30days.

And this is exactly what the breeder offered.