Breeder Won't Give Deposit Back - Page 2

Small claims court is a good idea. You will need to pay a filing fee, but if you win, the breeder will be ordered to reimburse you. If you have a bureau of consumer protection in your state, contact them. A few years ago we gave a $100 deposit to a roofer as a downpayment to replace the roof on our storage shed. He failed to do the work and the bureau here in PA got my money back. I'd have done it for $25.00. It's really not about the money.

You're right.  It's not about the money.

OP wanted a dog.  OP sent $200 deposit.  Pup dies at 2 weeks.  OP is offered another longcoat, but the color is not desired.  OP doesn't want to wait for another litter down the road.  OP wants what is probably a non-refundable deposit.

"It stats on her website that if she can't supply you with the coat/colouring of a puppy from the litter you put money down for she will give you back your money...though if she can supply you with a pup and say the timing doesn't work for you then she will keep the money as a deposit for another litter."

According to what is said to be on the breeders website the breeder needs to return the deposit. 1) the breeder was unable to supply the desired color. (breeder states that, that is enough for a refund) The breeder offered a different pup of different color. Nice thought but it isn't what the customer wants. Now a false pregnancy so more waiting. The customer isn't willing to wait again. The deposit should be returned. Obviously the breeder doesn't have a "non-refundable deposit policy"

It's a shame to hear so many people on here say to just suck up the lose. Bad business is bad business, wether it's 200 or 2 million.

Try to work it out with the breeder to get the money back. If you can't take the legal action. Even if taking off work cost you a little, I think a few dollars in your pocket & the principle of it is better than $200 of your hard earned money in an unethical breeders hands for supplying nothing

He won't win squat if he agreed to a non refundable deposit. The breeder can be nice and give it back, but it's really up to them.

Let me place the stylus on the broken record.   People looking for a dog, seem to be so impatient to put a non refundable deposit down to buy a dog.  Then they squeal like a pig stuck under the fence, when they one day realize they have no dog, AND their money is gone.  Whatever.  Why would anyone want you to pay for something IN ADVANCE that they have no control over?   I have heard all the reasons why people need deposits, but the bottom line is this.  If they are breeding dogs to sell whether you pay a deposit or not has no bearing on "restocking fees" or ANYTHING else.  They have bred a female and if no ones buys the puppies, they have themselves "X amount" of dogs that they now have to deal with. 

Now enter the buyer.  Listening to all the smooth snake oilmanship, abdicating their position totally, the buyer enters into  the laws of probabilities and odds.  What are the odds of something going south when you place a deposit? Maybe someone smarter than me can figure it out, but I tell you ONE thing.  There is a 100% chance of NOT taking it in the shorts on such an adventure, if you keep your deposit in your pocket and pay IN FULL for your puppy when you get it.  This is the dog chasing the tail and it is motivated by several things.  In all cases money is the impetus.  Breeders are hedging their bets that all will go well, that they can get a few bucks to help them with their operation until the "rest" of the money is paid.  After all, even if the buyer is not happy, he/she will spend the remaining money due on the pup, to keep from loosing the deposit money(go figure).  Buyers, the dirty little secret is, when you find a breeder so adament about deposits, that should tell you something.  This person has a cash flow problem.  This oes not sound pretty, but I will bet it's pretty accurate. 

This whole thing could disappear from our breed if overnight, buyers refused to pay a deposit and searched elsewhere for a puppy.  Buyers would empower themselves INSTANTLY if ALL  would not participate in this practice(but that's not going to happen).  Not only would the practice of deposits vanish, the cost of the puppies here on the North American continent would correct themselves and you might find puppies becoming a little less expensive, because breeders would accumulate a "collection" of dogs real quick and would subsuquently price them to "move". 

You got bit, my friend.  No shame in that.  Just don't let it happen to you again.  Learn from it, move on.  Principle or not, life is too short to get your panties in a wad over two hundred dollars.

Sadly we are not all the same and 200 dollars is a lot of money to some.

Still it has been my experience that most people say in thier ad's deposits non-refundable.

You must have liked something about this breeder, I hope the full price wasn't too high.

I would take the next pup that met your needs even if its not the exact pup you had in mind.

You wont get your money back if you haven't done so by now.

You dont mention any contract, do you have anything on paper?    You have left out much.

I do not return deposit's either, I would however give you a pup out of any other litter as long as the moneys involved were similar.

Good luck.

Yea sure thats all well and good until you are looking at a good litter and fighting to get a good  pup. Deposits mean you are serious about taking a pup. They hold your place so to speak when many people want a pup from the same litter.  I'm OK with losing a deposit, I have backed out on a pup and strait told the guy, keep the deposit for your troubles. I'd be pissy if I paid in full for a pup and it never came. That can happen too.

Looking from it at a breeders point of view, you weed through the tire kickers and looky loos. Everybody "says" they are interested in a pup but how many really buy? A deposit is a security that the buyer will not back out at 8 weeks and then the seller has to look for another home for a 8 week old pup when you could have been looking for a home 5 weeks ago had Joe Blow not pulled a fakie on you.

I run my own business and I get more people that come look around and say yea we will be here next week, even take paperwork to fill out and I never see them again. Do I hold a spot open for them just because they said they will be here? What if I get another interested party? You can't count your chickens with business people.  I'm going to start charging a paperwork fee. Don't take my stuff until you pay for the paper it's printed on and my time I took to make those copies. I always thought the owners who did that were kinda bitchy but you know what? After getting the shaft 20-30 times it gets old. People will take, take, take, if you let them. If you charge a fee or deposit it should weed out the ones who are only half hearted about following through. If you pay the fee or deposit and don't complete the transaction, you shouldn't expect anything in return.

Should the breeder refund your $,(this has happened to me) that is out of their good graces but you shouldn't expect it. You took up their time talking puppies and promissed to buy one. Frankly promissing color is stupid as no one knows what momma will plop out now do we?

Good comment 4pack.  You nailed this one.

Doesn't the contract say the deposit will be refunded if she can't provide the dog she promised?  Otherwise the deposit will be refunded?

I don't even bother with partial payment deposits. I take the whole enchilada in front, only refundable if the litter dies, or I promised a show-quality pup of a specific gender and only have a long coat that sex when its old enough to determine coat length, and I don't have anymore of the same quality expected in the next 3 months.

I wouldn't deal with ramgsd at all, for any price. He doesn't seem to realize that a lot of us breeders, around this country and abroad, actually know & like each other, AND we DO compare notes. 

Some customers are just trouble from the start, demanding the names of nearly every person who ever bought a dog from one's program,  wanting to contact perfectly happy  former customers with suspicions and pre-sale buyer's remorse, forever calling to change their mind about the specifics of what they (now) think they want... I have no qualms about "firing" a prospective owner who gets to be too big a pain in the butt, either. I reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, no reasons offered. Hasn't happened in years, but some of the conversations I have had with other breeders lately reminds me IT WILL.

When I reserve a puppy from another breeder, even if its for somebody else and they back out, I STILL HAVE TO BUY THE PUPPY, + shipping WHETHER MONEY HAS CHANGED HANDS FOR THE RESERVATION OR NOT!  ..and we ain't talking no measly $200. either.

SS