Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/21/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My partner and I purchased a one-year-old chocolate lab (****) from Dustin Retrievers on 7/2/2023 and immediately experienced problems with the animal consistent with my above description. The dog urinated on himself almost immediately when we approached him to take him out, feed him, offering him treats, attempting to have him chase and retrieve anything.The problems culminated when on 7/14/2023, **** went literally berserk and slipped his collar and ran away. He would not even respond to his name. We have spent days looking for him, posting on social media, working with animal control and the local shelter to no avail. When we contacted the breeder, they feigned concern but fed us platitudes. At one point last week, they even admitted the dog had issues. That said, at no point, did they fully take responsibility for selling us a dog for nearly $3,000 that was not ready to be sold and should not have been sold. In fact, we never received proof that the animal was healthy and properly vaccinated and cared for prior to our purchase. We received a form document with handwritten information and market documents of his pedigree but nothing that was official and proper.The only concrete response we got was that they would sell us another dog at a discount purportedly. We are not interested in such, given our sincere concern with the breeders practices and quality of animals. We would only be satisfied with a full refund for a defective animal that we had for less than two weeks. His behavior, including the apoplectic fit he had before he ran away is a result of a poorly bred and/or trained and/or abused animal.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/03/2023

  This is our response to complaint #********:

  
  

  Thanks,

  ***********************

  
  

  To sum it up:  These people CHOSE this sweet dog, purchased him, said they LOST him, found him without telling us, demanded a refund, got a REFUND, KEPT the dog, KEPT the money, KEPT the bad reviews.  

  
  

  For the details, 

  
  

  We, Dustin Retrievers, have been in business for over 35 years, and try to be very reasonable, honest people. We have never received a complaint on the Better Business Bureau before, and have also not had to deal with this level of unreasonableness from a client before in all our years of being in business. We also appreciate all of those we have worked with over the years who also are respectful, kind people. 

  [June 9, 2023] We were in correspondence with ************************* a few weeks prior to him picking up ****. **** was at our **************** facility and had to make a special trip (which we seldom do) (NOTE: while on this trip **** was let out, aired, fed and taken care of and never ran away from us), to take him up to ******* because *** and his partner were so excited to take **** home. He said, We are willing to pay a transport fee of several hundred dollars, plus gas if that would help, but dont want to be pushy. 

  [June 15, 2023] We got to *******, they put off picking him up for over two weeks (without guaranteeing they would even take him at this point, even though we made a special trip up). 

  [June 26, 2023] When they reached out again to say they still wanted him, we did not charge any boarding fees. 

  [July 2,2023  3:52pm] The day they picked up ****, they were very excited and (of course) if they had any reservations they could have not taken him that day [or ever]. We received a text after they picked him up saying, Hes amazingThank you for everything. 

  [In response to the complaint of not receiving proof of a healthy animal:They were given his shot, wormings, and rabies records, as well as AKC and parents information. Both parents have their health clearances.]

  [July 2, 2023  6:21pm] They reached out later that first night with some concernsmainly that **** seemed very nervous and uncomfortable. Of course, it had only been a couple hours, so we explained it may take some time for him to get comfortable. We were in communication with them and obviously wanted them to have a good experience and **** to have a good experience. **** went directly from a country life to an apartment in the city.

  [July 12, 2023] After a week and a half, they still seemed to be having a hard time, so we offered to take **** back and give them credit towards another dog. They seemed open to the suggestion and gave the impression that they were kind and patientespecially towards ****, which is why we still felt like they could be a good fit for him. They said, they werent quite ready to give up on ****. Hes such a sweet boyOtto is here to stay I believe.

  [July 14, 2023] Two days later, *** reached out to us saying that **** got spooked and ran away. They continued asking for advice and were understandably upset and heartbroken that **** had run off. Having cared for ******************, we were also very worried for his well being. Before this point, he had never shown signs of running away, getting spooked, or getting freaked out. We have videos of him happy and retrieving, playing with my young kids, and he even went to expos with us. 

  [July 21,2023] A week after **** went missing (and not hearing that he was found or not) we received an email from the humane society saying that a complaint was filed against us and a text from *** that said he wanted his money back and that he posted complaints on basically every platform he could think of. We were completely taken off guard and felt betrayed with his change of personality. (We wouldve never trusted ****, or any of our dogs, with *** and his partner if they acted at all like they did as soon as **** went missing. They began to blame everything on us.) Up to this point, he had never asked us for a refund personally, nor did we realize to what extent he was willing to drag our name through the mud. We had talked to him just a few days before and we had agreed to speak and work something out. 

  
  

  Without knowing **** had already been found at this point (which they never told us, but we found out because a vet called us) he demanded a full refundincluding the price of the dog, his training, the travel fee, and microchip. We felt like we were getting played by con men because they sounded desperate to get their money back in the quickest and easiest way possible. We did refund the full amount they asked for. Then we found out **** had been found.

  We care too much about our dogs and those that take them home, to ever wish for them to have a bad experience. They never once asked for a refund before filing complaints and writing negative reviews about us.

  Along with returning the money, they said they would take back all their negative reviews and complaints, We will rescind our complaints and postings once we receive the funds. We felt like we were getting blackmailed.

  [July 24, 2023] Again a few days later said, Didnt want you to think that I was dragging my feet but I will withdraw complaints and ratings once we receive the funds. It makes us feel like they just wanted to keep the dog without paying for him with the amount of force they came at us to get a full refund. (No other kennel would give a completely full refund for a dog without receiving that dog back in returnespecially when the dog had run away.) Yet, we did, without the knowledge that **** was found at the time.

  [August 23, 2023] A month later, we had several past clients reach out to us saying that they read a very negative review about us. And when we went to look at our reviews, so many negative complaints came up from them. We reached out to them asking them once again to remove the negative reviews, he reluctantly said he would, but most of them either cant be taken down or they kept the review up saying we took care of their complaint. 

  
  

  This has been a completely unreasonable and ****** dramatic experience for usknowing what we know now, we wouldve never done business with ************************* and especially trusted one of our dogs to ***** still makes us worried that **** is still with them. We have had our name drug through the mud, and have felt played by selfish con men who had no decency to just contact us and be upfront about what they were feeling. We were caught off guard by his rudeness and cold shoulderand especially his going behind our back to file complaints and negative reviews on so many platforms.

  
  

  
  

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  *Dustin Retrievers*
  ***** & ***** Dustin
  PO Box 531
  Twin Bridges, ** 59754
  Phone *************
  www.DustinRetrievers.com
  or 
  *Dustin Retrievers *******
  ***** and ***********************
  ***********************************
  ******, ** 95982