Hollywood puppies advertises that they raise their puppies in a loving home environment prespoiled and vet checked and that all of the parents are also vet checked. This is simply not the case.
The owner of this business has recently opened a store front, but during the time when I was dealing with her she was operating from her home in San Antonio. Her office, where the pups for sale were housed was small but clean and organized. I purchased a Yorkie pup from her on a Sunday evening.
On Monday following the purchase I took the pup to my vet had her checked out and she appeared to be healthy.By Monday evening it was obvious that something was wrong. Over that first week the pup had to be hospitalized and ultimately died. I had the pup in my possession for under 48 hours.
The cause of death was parvo and that was verified by necropsy by Texas A&M. During her treatment the vets were able to determine exactly when she contracted the parvo. Given this information the owner of Hollywood puppies admitted that she had only had the pup in her possession for 24 hours when she sold the pup to me. She also admitted to me that another pup from the same breeder had died in the same week.
The total on all vet bills was approximately $500 more than the $1000 PAWS policy that she offered. I have had to pay that. The owner agreed to give me a refund but stated that because she was opening a store and had protesters bothering her, she didn't have the money on hand to do so immediately. I told her that I was fine to wait up until the date when my American Express bill was due but that I would have to have it by then and she agreed that I would.
That due date came and I still had no money from her. She contacted the breeder and told the breeder that she needed a refund from her because she had to give me my money back. She didn't get that refund (or so she says) and no money made it my way. I told her that I would have to contest the charge on my AMEX and she encouraged me to do that because she could stall them and buy herself some time. I did contest the charge and she sent them the contract and AMEX found in her favor as expected since they had no background information.
I disputed the bill again with additional information and some points of law and they called me to let me know that they agreed with me but had to let her have the time to respond. During all of this time (6 months now)... I have not received a single penny from the owner of this business. She continues to stall with American Express and continues to ignore communication from me.
Her website and her contract both state that every effort is made to make sure that she is selling healthy pups from reputable breeders. However during the course of dealing with her I found out that the breeder that bred my pup is not a home breeder but the very kind of breeder that she now trashes on her website! The kind where you have to meet them somewhere to see pups because you are not allowed to go to the place where they are breeding the pups. All in the name of "keeping the breeding dogs and pups safe from disease". The owner also admitted to me that she was on the road one day headed home from a flea market where she gets a "most of my stock". That particular flea market is a known puppy mill outlet.in addition she is not keeping the pups in her possession long enough to ensure that they are healthy but rather selling them as soon as she possibly can for as much as she possibly can.in my case, she made a 250% profit on a pup that she housed for 24 hours. I on the other hand have paid out of pocket more than $1600 for and on a puppy that was in my home for less than 48 hours.
Now, this home puppy broker has opened a shiny new store front with the help of my money and continues to sell puppies that she is not breeding herself. She has been given every opportunity to make this right. She is selling pups at $1000 and $1500 a pup and is bringing in enough income to open that shiny new store front and keep it going. There is not a problem with getting the cash to refund me. The problem is with her attitude that profit comes before pups OR people.
The UCC warrants a product that is marketable and usable. She sold me a product that was already dead, I just didn't know it yet.
I do not know what my next step is, but at the very least I can let people know to avoid this woman and her puppy mill brokerage business.
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