I am not one to tell the tales that Ms. King does so I will tell the truth. I was a bit late (1 hour), but I never asked her to meet me anywhere. She asked me to meet her in a remote location, far from any major city, almost an hour off of the interstate in a dollar general store parking lot. I drove 5 hours and a bit extra would not have hurt me. I was never told nor was there any advertisement that this dog was discounted in anyway. I was told after I made the drive about the scar, but she was right it did not bother me. I called Mrs. King the very next day and again for 5 several more days before she returned my calls. I had to call her every 10 mins for 4 hours straight to get her to call me back. After which she was very rude to me. I was in no way verbally abusive. When I asked for proof that the vet had vaccinated the puppy she could not provide me with the proof. This is because a vet never vaccinated the dog. I did read the health guarantee and tried my best to comply with the time limits, but she would not return my call. She would not know if we had the dog tested or not, I have only talked to her once since I bought the dog and she wouldn’t speak to me about the deafness then. I do not blame her for the dog's deafness, but when a dogs has symptoms of the final stages of kennel cough, a breeder should not sell a dog in that condition. When I asked Mrs. King to honor her health guarantee she said to me, "That guarantee means that I do not have to do anything." She followed that with, “Kennel cough will go away in a few days anyway.” I told Mrs. King that that kind of activity is unethical. She said, “What do you want me to do?” to which I replied, “The right thing.” She had no answer for that. I never cursed or raised my voice to her. I cannot say the same for her. She yelled at me several times and then told me that it was because she had a sick child. I am sure that she has had several customers that are pleased with her, but I am also sure that she has had several customers that did not receive dogs in the same condition as I did. I did my best to meet all of the criteria in the health guarantee, but could not because she would not return my calls. Mrs. King did not want the dog back and would make no accommodations for me at all. She simply quit calling back and answering my calls.
I do not know a lot about dog breeding, but I do know a lot about business. This is not the way you treat customers. When you have a guarantee that the dog is in good health or the dog will be replaced, you should honor that. You should not stop answering the phone until the guarantee expires then accuse the customer of dodging you. Gone are the days when business involves honesty and goodness. I know that in all of my business endeavors I will employ the golden rule, perhaps if Ms. King would have done that we would have had a better business relationship. Your business with Ms. King will go well as long as you do not ask her to honor her guarantee. You can always go around with the “he said she said”, but both her and I know that I had to call her for several days, before she would answer and when I asked her to comply with her guarantee she said she wouldn’t. I have evidence form a vet verifying that I complied with her guarantee and she can’t argue with that. In addition, she really makes it seem like she carried so much of a burden to get the dog to me. Do you really want to buy a dog from someone that makes it seem like you are bothering them by purchasing the dog. I would rather buy from a person that would love to sell me a dog.
Ms. King is a bitter woman that seems to have no clue how to treat her fellow man. She obviously cares more about the all mighty dollar than about her customers or the puppies she sells. There are thousands of breeders out there who care for animals and their customers. To avoid any trouble I would simply choose someone else. Why would you want to choose someone that believes that their health guarantee is in place to protect them when they have done something wrong or that believes she is doing YOU a favor by selling a dog to you?
The easy fix would have been to do what she promised what she will do. Instead she ignores my phone calls to avoid meeting the time requirement on her guarantee. Then she lies about the whole situation. I am certain that you can check her references; even murderers get people to speak on their behalf. I am sure that she will not give you any of her negative references to verify that only 3 people have complained. These are the kind of business practices that have caused the downward spiral of our current economy. I normally wouldn’t but this much energy into a person that is like that, but I do so only to prevent you from falling in the same trap as I did. An animal is not a commodity poor breeding ethics has ruined the industry and we all could benefit from one less unethical breeder.
Ms. King can say what she will about me and what I have said here, but I know the truth and in the end that is all I have. I am an Army Combat Veteran how has lived his life by a code of ethics and honesty. If you want references for that Google my name. In my eyes there is only one version of the truth and that is the truth. I believe that we all must answer for the things that we have done wrong in our life. My satisfaction comes from knowing that someday, she will have to answer for this.
Joplin (formerly Comet) is doing very well, but it is because she was lucky enough to have been sold to a loving and caring couple. She is getting the special attention she needs for her unique condition and will for the rest of her life.