I take a check for a deposit. Final payment is by cash or credit card. Never take checks for final payment as you will be without the money and without the pups. Never! Never do this! BTW Was this guy from Nigeria?
On my first litter over a decade ago, I was super paranoid about people giving me checks. I'd ask to see their Driver's license and make copies of the check and their driver's license. Now all I do is try and screen well, Microchip all pups so I have evidence that someone wrote me a bad check and the pup can then be traced back to the theif. I also make copies of all the deposit checks, get their address if not on their checks. Most all the familes write me a check for the balance to. Until I get screwed over, I guess I will continue to trust the people I interveiw. I know it could happen to us one of these days. Funny thing is, I had more parents writing me bad checks when I was running my inhome daycare business.
I know several breeders that this has happened to. Thats why my deposit contract states I ONLY accept money order or cash as final payment. I am sorry to hear this happened to you.
Perhaps I've been lucky, but I have only ever gotten personal checks and have not had a problem yet. By the time the pups go home, the new owners have been to my house at least 3 times and feel like "family".
Bonnie I do the same thing. The balance must be paid by the time the litter is six weeks old and all contracts must be signed and returned by that time too. If people cannot adhere to that time frame then they are not serious enough and don't get one of my puppies.
......and what do you do if after accepting and cashing a check at 6 wks, something happens to the puppy or you've decided to keep it? Do you have an arrangement and are you protected if you cannot supply a puppy for that person?
And...what do you do when people arrive at your door at 8 weeks for their puppy AND you have in your contract that final payment with be in the form of a bank check or cash? This happens to me ALL the time...so I just hold my breathe and hope for the best. I have never been burned and I think that if people seem to love my puppies the way that I want them to, they also do not have the capacity or the desire to burn the breeder that produced those puppies.
Never had problems, many conversations with buyer before deciding they were right for puppies, also never sold Two puppies at the same time to a buyer.
Hi Beth! I have sent them out to a cash machine, or to a bank, or whatever. But, I make it very clear I expect cash. If they don't have it, they don't get the pup. Works for me. This has only happened to me two or three times, and it has never caused a problem. The puppy people were more annoyed with themselves than with me. Payment is part of the conversation I have with them when I am scheduling their pickup time. ( Of course, as with anything, I would make exceptions to this rule based on my familiarity with the people)
As a general rule I don't accept checks at the time of pick up. I made an exception for this buy becase I trusted him. (Big Mistake) He did give me some cash and paid the rest via a check. I have all his contact info; address, phone number, cell number and email. Without going into all the details, let's just leave it at he scammed me.
The reason for this post, was just to warm others that this man can not be trusted. He's a jerk. He fed me lines, and I was dumb enought to believe his story. I am a very trusting person and always give people the benefit of the doubt. I know I shouldn't, but I believe in treating others as you would want to be treated and I just don't understand how some people can do the things they do.
It's bad enough this guy took me for a fool, and stole from me, but my biggest concern is the two pups. Now that I know I can't trust him, who's to say he'll live up to the rest of the contract, when he already ddn't seem to care about the price? Maybe he'll puppy mill them, maybe he's a dealer and plans to resell them? I just don't feel comfortable...
I'm sorry this happened. Sometimes people just suck. I hope with a copy of the check you can get the cops involved and retain custody of your pups. Depending on the amount of the check it could be a felony charge he's looking at. Good luck & please keep us posted.
This works 2 ways...I know people who have paid for puppies in advance and were either given a different one at pickup time or not one at all...Too many different scenarios to make a blanket statement!
I know what someone who takes full payment at 5 weeks (and you have told them that you will not tell your kids unless it is for certain that you get the puppy), then the seller says, "Think of a name for your new puppy", so you tell your kids and they get all excited - only to have the seller ( I refuse to call this crook a breeder)then say, "Oh, change of plans, I'm keeping the puppy."..Then how do you explain it to your kids?...Other than explaining that grownups can be mean stupid crooks.
Forgive my ignorance, but when someone goes to the bank to cancel/stop payment on a check, don't they have to write down the reason for the stop payment? ie., check got lost lost?
So someone can just go in and say, "I want to stop payment on check #___", without the bank asking for a reason??
Guess I'm naive, but what a world that the banks would just let people just go in and cancel/stop payment on a blanket basis.
If he has the pups..... and you have proof he cancelled the check, go to the police. He has to return the pups right then with the police there. It is called stolen pups!
No experience on cancelled checks, so I don't know how they handle it, but at work we were given payment on merchandise and a few days later the check was returned to us because the check was written on an account that had been closed months ago.
Since we don't have a local police dept, had to call the state police. In our state, what this guy did was considered "theft by deception" and the state police went right to his house. They gave him the option of being escorted to our busines and making reimbursement on the spot or being charged with theft by deception. He came up with the money quick.
"If he has the pups..... and you have proof he cancelled the check, go to the police. He has to return the pups right then with the police there. It is called stolen pups! "
No. It's a rip-off, not stolen pups. The breeder released the pups to the buyer, paid by a check they thought was good. The pups were not stolen. The money belonging to the breeder was when a stop-payment was issued.
It has to be litigated in court for non-payment and a cancelled check after goods were received. Maybe the breeder can get the pups back instead of payment along with a fine for the actions of the buyer.
Time is of the essence, get to the courts quickly with an explanation why your case needs to be heard immediately.