EpuppyPro.com was on the news Tuesday May 1, 2007 check out the story below.
Pet Owners Complain About Local Dog DealerBuyers: Puppies Sold Sick
POSTED: 11:48 pm CDT May 1, 2007
FORT WORTH, Texas -- A North Richland Hills dog dealer is accused of selling sick puppies through a Web site and shipping them all over the country, NBC 5 reported. A spokesperson for the city of North Richland Hills told NBC 5 that city, state and federal authorities are investigating ePuppyPro.com.
On top of the health concerns, the unhappy customers said they are upset to learn that they were not buying directly from what they thought was a Texas breeder.
Teal and Tom Krecioch said they found their puppy Sambone through ePuppyPro.com, a dog broker run from a house in North Richland Hills.
They said Sambone is healthy now, but he was near death with parvo virus as soon as they got him.
"We thought the reason why he was so mellow was because of his breed, we didn't realize he was sick," Teal Krecioch said.
The couple said they tried to exchange the puppy, but the proprietor of the site, Danielle O'Neal, refused.
"She said 'do not do it, absolutely not, I have no place to store it, it will infect my other dogs,'" Tom Krecioch said.
The Web site seems to state sick dogs will be exchanged, but O'Neal said that is not the case.
"We don't pay for medical bills, I'm not God and I can't guarantee that nothing nine months down the road isn't going to happen to the puppy," O'Neal said.
The Krechioch's said they spent thousands of dollars on vet bills and won a judgment against the dealer that has not been paid.
The owners of a puppy shipped to Pennsylvania also said their animal was sick from the start, and it died within weeks.
"Not only have they lost a friend, but they've been tricked in the process," John Riggins with the Fort Worth Better Business Bureau said. "That's how they feel, they feel that the big print giveth and the small print taketh away."
Riggins said the Fort Worth Better Business Bureau has six complaints against the company, and that the dogs are not really from Texas.
"These puppies are being purchased from a mill in Russia where the health standards are not as high," Riggins said.
"I would love to see where they came from and what they had to go through to get here," Teal Krecioch said.
O'Neal said the complaints are not fair, and that she has sent reimbursement to some customers.
"I have lots of very satisfied and very happy customers," O'Neal said.
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POSTED: 11:48 pm CDT May 1, 2007
