Sold a sick animal, is their negligence cruelty?

[HoneyBadgerApparently]

Sorry for long post, didn’t want to dripfeed. Summary: I was sold a sick animal (I suspect deliberately). I’ve paid the vets fees to save it but AIBU to expect to be refunded the cost of the animal to go towards the fees? Does anyone know what the law says?

I bought a 2 year old California Kingsnake for £79 last Sunday, on a bit of a whim (which I know is wrong!) because she was advertised as friendly which is rare for that species. It was from a large exotics shop I don’t usually go to but was driving past and needed some aspen for my other snake. I just fell in love with her. I spotted she was a bit underweight, but they told me that was because she had just laid and hadn’t fed yet.
Tried feeding her on Sun night and again Tues night. She wouldn’t eat. Also wouldn’t settle in her hide at all, just going round and round her viv all day and dragging her face on the glass. V unusual behaviour for a snake unless they’re hungry.

Phoned the shop on Wed, they told me she hadn’t eaten in the 3 weeks they had her and they had no contact details for the breeder, he was just a bloke who came in sometimes and they’d ask him if he came in again. By now I realise this is all a bit dodgy. They said to just leave her a couple of weeks then try feeding her again (if I had she’d be dead).

I went to my usual shop on Sat and told him about the situation. After a long rant about how terrible the big shop was and their reputation for animal cruelty, he said to check her mouth which I did… turns out she had mouth rot. Her mouth was full of pus and bleeding. This doesn’t happen overnight. The store should definitely of checked for this before they sold her. I phoned them and they said if I brought her back they might be able to give me a refund but she would be ‘put in the freezer’ (euthanized).

Obviously I didn’t want this for her. I got her the first exotic vet appt I could (Monday). She had a large abscess on her fang. She’s had injections of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, I have twice daily antiseptic washes and antibiotics to give her (v difficult with a snake). Cost £66 and she will need this again on Mon. Vet told the shop has a terrible reputation, they should have seen this (and probably have), and to try and get a refund on the snake to pay towards the vet fees, and never shop there again.

I’ve phoned the place and asked for the £79 refund and all they are offering is £20 store credit. I don’t want this because a) I don’t want to support them and b) if they would have refunded me if I returned her just to put her down, why wont they pay towards treatment? I suspect they would have refunded me just to leave her in pain until they could sell to another inexperienced keeper.

I am so heartbroken the poor animal was literally writhing around in pain for god knows how long. A couple of days into treatment and she is happily settled in her warm hide.

Please does anyone know if I have a right of refund here? Also if she was in pain because they failed to make standard checks, are they responsible for animal cruelty?

This sounds awful OP.
Does trading standards cover pets? It may be worth looking.
In your area do they need a license to sell exotics? If so you could contact the local council?

My ExP had exactly the same situation with a puppy. Against my advice he bought one from a pet store. It was sick on the way home and by the next day we were really worried. Pet store fobbed him off. We took the puppy to the vet and they said he had Parvo and was clearly very ill when my ExP got him. Rang the store, they also said bring him back and we'll refund but we'll have him put down.

I know what helped in our case (and we did get the money to go to the vets bill) was that the vet actually called the shop. I don't know what was said but it was enough to get them to agree to a full refund for the puppy, and we got to keep him. Cost a lot more than that in treatment in the end but he did pull through.

Vet also reported store to the council in which the pet store was located (sorry can't remember the specific council department) and they did an investigation.

Tbh I’d be writing off the money (that amount would sting badly though I appreciate) but would be reporting them to every authority I could find.

I’m not up on snakes or reptiles but there must be legislation around their sale and care?

Oh how awful for you OP.

I'm not sure about the legal side of getting refunds / paying towards vet bills but I would definitely report the shop to RSPCA (and maybe a reptile / snake specific charity).

Poor creature! I thought pet shops need a council licence to operate? Shot in the dark, wouldn't that include a vet's inspection to okay a licence especially if they sell exotics?

I know the pet shop we reported had been investigated in the past (we found all this out after). The male owner did lose his licence back then but apparently just transferred it to his wife's name instead. Apparently that was all legal. The pet store we used had faked both vets and breeders papers. It was shocking.

Snakes are protected by the same welfare laws as cats and dogs, so by law they are entitled to be free from pain, etc. I would report the shop to the council. Attach the vet's report if you have it.
If you're not already, keep the cali away fron your other snake in case the negligent shop has mites etc.

Glad your snakey is doing better. I love kings, have four myself.

Update:

Thanks everyone for their help and empathy

I checked with Citizens Advice earlier. If sold from a licensed shop snakes (and other pets) are covered by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 in the same way an item would be, so you're entitled to a refund if it gets sick or passes away straight away (Never mind sold already sick!). You can sometimes get back the whole value of the vet fees but that is more complicated as you would need to show they had an opportunity to compare quotes etc which they didn't in this case.

If they refuse to pay you can file a claim which the small claims court, which would be £25 for an online claim of less than £100.

Website info here:
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/somethings-gone-wrong-with-a-purchase/pet-becomes-ill-or-dies-after-buying/
www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/court-fees

So I phoned the place with this info and he said he had never heard this, which I said was very worrying considering how long he had been in business . Eventually he agreed to pay a 50% discount (£40) back. So I said I was going to small claims because I would still be up £14 and then there would be a legal record of their cruelty to put on the flyers I would be distributing outside their store every Saturday afternoon from now on . So he's agreed to a full discount.

And I didn't cry! (Usually cry at confrontation ). I have never been prouder of myself including the 3 times I gave birth. I am now a fully fledged grown up and also practically a solicitor probably.

And of course I will talk to the vet on Monday about reporting them.

I own an exotics shop and breed a fair few species of snakes and they're definitely in breach of their licence conditions so report to the local council as they issue and enforce PSL.
Selling a post lay female before she's been observed to be eating well and regained condition is appalling in itself and failure to inspect her properly is just pure laziness.
Our licence stipulates that we keep a full record of who we receive livestock from so either they're bullshitting about having no info or they're just sloppy and breaking the law. In our council it's the dog warden that deals with pet shops so that's a good place to start with reporting them.
Glad your wee girl is doing better!

Congrats on your refund.

I hope you are still going to look into reporting them OP and making their reputation known!

Well done, good financial outcome for you but please do report, the local council probably have authority over this kind of thing. Lucky snake that she found you!

Not providing medical care to a sick animal is neglect under the Animal Welfare Act. Report to the RSPCA for the sake of the other pets in their care and they will investigate and check the other livestock.

No reptile experience but the poor girl. So glad it was you who bought her.

Well done on the refund and for getting her treated.