My boyfriend and I decided to purchase a pet. Due to living at home and in an apartment, we decided on a ferret. We read up on them, and my boyfriend's family has a sweet bald old ferret. We checked out a few pet stores and someone said Petland in Monroeville is a good place to go, and that all their ferrets were from that store.
That was about 2-3 weeks before the original purchase. We picked 2 that we liked and asked when the ferrets had come in. The co-manager said that the six had come in the day before, and that they were 3-4 months old.
On the tank for the ferrets it said the were «Up To Date" on vaccinations, guaranteed for 1 year, and healthy. Another sign said "Ferrets $149.99 save $50 Everyday price $199.99".
On 4/9 we went in to purchase our ferret. We ended up with a light sable female, who was our 2nd pick from the two we liked 3 weeks ago. Our sales girl said they were 3-4 months old, and that we had to buy a $25 bag of food to get a 3 year guarantee through the breeder.
She also said that we should buy a "Pet Club Membership" so we could get another $50 off on the ferret. We agreed, purchased our ferret and took her home.
Everything was good for about 3 hours. Then Kikyo became aggressive and bit my boyfriend drawing blood. She also began shaking the cage with her teeth.
On 4/10 we called Petland. The Sales Associate we talked to refused to allow us to talk to a manager, and said we would have to pay 25% to restock her if we returned her, and that we could not have our money back.
We took her up to Petland immediately trying to return her. Her behaviour changed, and the co-manager we had talked to 3 weeks ago passively talked us out of putting her back. They said they would just put her in a tank by herself and "re-sell" her to someone else for $50. Also he then said she was not 4 months old but 5, and teething.
He convinced us to buy "Grennicks Bitter Apple" and to spray it up her nose and in her mouth. That it would keep her from biting due to the bitter taste. Another $12.83 and we were on our way home with Kikyo.
The Grennicks worked for about 2 hours then she started biting through the taste. She bit my mother, and drew blood.
On 4/11 I woke up to Kikyo coughing violently for about 15 seconds. I figured she maybe ate too fast or just needed to cough. My boyfriend then heard it later again that day, and it continued all day. At 10:00 P.M. We were instructed by an Emergency Vet to bring her in.
We brought her to the vet, and they both said she had her adult teeth and that she was not teething. They also said we should have received vaccination records and to quarantine her for 10 days, because we were not given them.
They diagnosed her with an upper respiratory infection, and prescribed Amoxicillin (which we are both allergic to). They said ferrets don’t show signs of illness until its in an advanced stage (so it was in her system for about 2-3 weeks), and that she could have died if left in the pet store or untreated for a few more days. We acquired a $105 vet bill, on top of the original $245 purchase and Grennicks for $12.83.
4.12 We registered our ferret online at the breeder's website at about 2 AM. Ten minutes later we received the Guarantee in an e-mail and it stated the "seller" was responsible for everything. We did research late into the night, and found out numerous problems with Petlands all over the country. We returned to the Monroeville store and showed them all our bills and receipts.
The manager, wouldn’t even let me say what was wrong with her. As soon as I stated that Kikyo was sick, she blurted out "OH she has a URI, most of our ferrets develop them" She also stated that they know their animals are sick and sell them with medication.
She gave us a $20 check for the Amoxicillin, and said they won’t cover vet bills because we should have called the store, that even though the store was closed the automated message had her cell phone number on it (I called later that day and it was not on there). Also we were supposed to take her to their vet. We were never told they had a vet. When we asked for the vaccination records they said we can’t find them come in Monday. They were rude took the box the Amoxicillin came in from us and pretty much hurried us out of the store.
4/13 everything seemed to be going fine, we were researching a small claims case against the store, and Kikyo seemed to be coughing less. Well late that night while we had her out to socialize, she bit my boyfriend on the thumb, sinking her teeth in shaking her head aggressively.
Because she was still under quarantine, we called the Emergency Vets and were instructed to go to the hospital. We did and my boyfriend ended up with a band aid, Neosporin, and a quick dose of anti-biotic. We received our bills and it was $304.32 for the ER, and $263.75 for the physician.
3/14
We once again returned to Monroeville, to demand the vaccination records. The co-manager said pet stores don’t keep those, and began getting very short with us. We walked out and said see you in court. Not even five minutes later down the road they called saying they had a paper. It said Kikyo was one of 8 ferrets she was born 1/14, and was vaccinated at 5 weeks old on 2/22... Which is way too young for a ferret to be vaccinated.
Also Triple F Farm's called me. We had been calling them since 4/10. He said it wasn’t their problem but that the guarantee card should have had her age, and shot record on the back.
During the next week we called everywhere, and ended up finally being able to contact corporate, after days of trying the week before. A sales associate in Athens Ohio Petland put a call through for us. While waiting for a contact from corporate, we found out she should have been vaccinated at 8,11, and 14 weeks old, and that the vaccination used on her was for MINKS ONLY (DISTEM R TC).
We talked to everyone from the American Ferret Association, The USDA, the Vet that supposedly vaccinated Kikyo, and anyone else we could get a hold of. Another vet said that she would need 2 shots at her age of 5 1/2 months to 1 year old (because her adult teeth are in) which will run us about $100 if not more.
We are currently in the process of getting our case together, and filing a law suit for over $900 against the PetLand in Monroeville. Corporate called us back and said that the owners of the store refuse to refund us any money other than the $20 check for the amoxicillin (which we haven’t cashed yet). We got the names of the owners (which the last name was wrong) and that corporate cant do anything more because this Petland is a franchise.
We are just now one of the 1000's of people who have been ripped off from another Petland Store. We have a good feeling we may win our case and get most if not all of the money back considering we have the backed into the wall so to speak.
Anyway I just want to warn anyone looking into Petland for an animal. You will just end up amongst us all who are out hundreds if not thousands for buying a sick animal from their horrible store.
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