Stephanie Pollock thought she did enough research on-line when she started doing business with a dog breeder.
She had her eyes set on these two boxer puppies.
“He supplied me with all of this he even supplied me with pictures of the parents,” said Pollack.
Pollock says she mainly corresponded with the breeder by e-mail.
The breeder told her he wasn’t selling the dogs for money and all she had to do was pay for the fees to transfer the puppies from the Big Island to Oahu.
“Given all the information and customer service that they gave me I felt pretty confident in their services,” said Pollack.
She sent $500 dollars cash to another country using western union.
“I did question the company you know ask them hey, what’s going on and of course they had a beautiful explanation as to how they were a worldwide corporation and they work with multiple countries,” said Pollack.
Pollock says when the time passed on the day the puppies were supposed to arrive at her home, she knew something was terribly wrong.
“I believe it was a joint combination of the quote breeder who I don’t believe breeds dogs at all,” said Pollack.
The Hawaii Better Business Bureau received several complaints from consumers about fraudulent breeders.
“If a breeder doesn’t want to speak to you by phone that’s a big red flag,” said Timothy Caminos, of the Hawaii Better Business Bureau. “If they only want to do business cash through Western Union or Moneygram that’s a red flag.”
Pollock says she’s learned from the experience.
“There’s definitely signs that you can look for and hopefully make buying a puppy from a reputable breeder a little easier,” said Pollack. “It turned out for the better because we were able to adopt a dog from the humane society.”
The Hawaii Better Business Bureau says there are many reputable dog breeders here in Hawaii and on the mainland you just need to be careful.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
