Problems after buying puppy

[car1sberg]

Hello

I'm after some legal advice please. I'll try and keep it as brief as possible but if anyone feels they can help I could discuss further in a DM.

We bought a puppy 2 weeks ago, in short he has been very poorly since we got him and due to the breeder failing to insure him (despite being told he would be insured) we have now paid out thousands in vet fees, plus our puppy now has an illness that we don't know if/when will resolve and requires ongoing treatment obviously at a cost. Not to mention the increase in insurance costs.

There are many other issues related to the background of our puppy that I could explain. Lots! Other puppy owners from the litter have also been in similar positions with needing to pay vet fees.

The breeder has offered to pay vet fees for the poorly puppies up to the cost we paid for the puppy. They have done this for the other owners I gather, but are refusing to do so for us until we sign some sort of contract that they are yet to produce. This is due to us threatening them with legal action. We presume the contract is to prevent us from disclosing the information they know we have, with KC, trading standards, their council etc.

If anyone would care to offer some advice it would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Your rights are the same as with any other purchase. You have the right to reject the puppy and get a full refund. Alternatively, you have the right to a repair (i.e. the breeder paying for the puppy's treatment) or a replacement. The breeder should also reimburse in full any vet fees you have incurred, not just the vet fees up to the purchase price.

Any contract that purports to take away your consumer rights or prevent you reporting the breeder is invalid. Even if you sign such a contract your consumer rights remain intact and you still have the right to report the breeder.

@prh47bridge thank you. What would you recommend we do at this point?
I presume this 'contract' will literally just be nonsense, given the previous emails from them.

If you aren't getting anywhere, it is probably time for a letter before action. This needs to set out a summary of the facts, say what you want the breeder to do, explain how you have calculated the sum you want to claim, give copies of any key documents that you will use to support your case, list any documents you want from the breeder, give them a reasonable deadline to respond (28 days is normal) and state that, if they fail to respond by the deadline, you will start legal action without further notice.

@prh47bridge thanks again. We're at that stage now I think. We sent them a long document full of facts and backed up with evidence but it's been ignored. The place we're at now is them apparently typing up some 'contract' that they expect us to sign before they pay for the vees, not that the amount they've decided upon will cover them because as I say they're continually increasing.
Would you now suggest small claims court?

Yes, but you must send a letter before action as per my previous post before starting your claim.

@prh47bridge we have. There had been an email conversation backward & forward and we've made it quite clear that we will go down the legal route if they don't pay what we asked, we then got the contract email, though obviously no sign of this yet, whatever it is!

shall we confirm we will not be signing anything?

Without seeing your correspondence, I can't comment on whether any of the emails you have sent is adequate to be regarded as a letter before action. If one of them covers all the information I've set out above and gave them 28 days to respond, you can proceed. If not, it is safest to send a formal letter before action.

I wouldn't bother saying that you won't sign anything. Just don't mention it. As I say, even if you sign something it can't take away your consumer rights or stop you reporting to the authorities.

Please report this breeder to trading standards. You said in the previous thread that the fb advertised breeder wasn't the actual breeder - take screenshots and report.

He breeder is likely in breach of trading standards legislation and also dog breeding laws. The requirements for licensed breeders are:

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936830/dog-breeding-guidance.pdf

May be worth an RSPCA report too

Hi there

Just an update. I was in contact with the CAB who have been great, we sent out the appropriate letters to the breeder, the last one being the letter before action, and the 14 day deadline for their response was yesterday - no word. So small claims court it is.

Does anybody have any advice on taking an individual to small claims court? Can I take action against two different people in one case?

It's a bit tricky as the person who advertised the litter of puppies (and said they would be breeding them) actually got all of us potential owners in a chat group and then added their family member who was actually the one doing the breeding. They were very much a partnership.

It's such a mess, ugh!

Yes, you can name two people as joint defendants.

@prh47bridge thank you.

The breeder lives a couple of hours away from us, does anybody know where the court would be held - there or here?

If the defendants are individuals the case is likely to be heard at their local court.