I’ve NC and will repost in the dog house for further help.
At the beginning of the first lockdown a friend contacted me from a rescue centre. They had an old dog in the pound due to be PTS and asked if I could foster him.
I’m a dog lover, always had foster dogs and at the time I was able to agree for a short period so she put me in touch with the rescue people, they made a FB chat group inc a vet nurse and we made arrangements for them to drop him to our house.
He was the most loving and adorable old boy, it was obvious he was old, he was falling over off his legs and had a few other old age issues but he was very grateful for a 2nd chance and I sorted some homeopathic medicines whilst we sorted a vet check out (This was all communicated over the chat group)
They sent me a foster contract which I signed and returned but, as he wasn’t meant to be with us very long I didn’t read and we just got on with a lovely weather lockdown with the poor old sod.
After a few months he became really unwell, I kept them up to date and their vet nurse advised what to say at the appointments- we paid for all the treatment - unfortunately we used a new vet who was very close by and they were dreadful, really, really bad. I still have all the messages pleading I make a complaint about the treatment we did and didn’t receive.
At this point they asked if we wanted to adopt him and we said yes because we loved him and couldn’t see him surviving another new owner. This was all on the group chat but no foster contract signed.
I’ve always lived by measuring our pets happiness, play and pain and this poor lad was deteriorating fast with many post surgery issues, he wasn’t engaging with us and we made the horrible decision to let him go pain free after many, many vet visits and sleepless nights. Covid meant we couldn’t even be with him, it was heart breaking but the right choice.
We informed them of the decision on the group chat and left.
I’ve received a solicitor letter accusing me of breach of contract and offering me a chance to respond to their questions. What do I do?