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Date Posted: 07:55:45 01/19/07 Fri
Posted on Fri, Jan. 19, 2007
Seeking refund after death of 'teacup' pup•
• Q: On Nov. 5, we bought a 'teacup' Yorkie for my granddaughter for Christmas. The seller, Toni, who works at Poochie Koochie, 19096 W. Dixie Hwy., Aventura, said it had American Kennel Club papers, all its shots and came with a warranty. We paid $900 plus tax. Four days later, the puppy was dead. The vet said it was parvovirus, which it was vaccinated for. We want our money back, and we want to be reimbursed for the vet fees, which came to $374, too, but Toni is giving us the runaround.
Can Action Line help us?
Dorothy Smith,
Miami
• A: Not so far. (Before we go further, we want you to understand that you're asking for trouble when you fall for an ostensibly ''registered'' puppy ''with papers'' at a pet store.)
When we called you, you had already gotten another puppy from Toni, whose real name is Julie Soutullo. She said you were delighted with it. You said you had no choice but to take the one puppy you were offered as a replacement; your daughter believes it's a mixed breed. And Soutullo hasn't yet reimbursed you for your vet bills, which is required under Florida's pet lemon law. When we called Julie about that, she abruptly said she couldn't talk, that her husband was having heart surgery.
She also hasn't sent you papers for the replacement pup, which include the essential Official Certificate of Veterinary Inspection, which, under the lemon law, should have been given to you at the time you received the dog.
In Tallahassee, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DOACS) has some 40 complaints relating to pups sold by Soutullo and her businesses, Dixie Pups (now closed), and Poochie Koochie, which was originally located in Hallandale Beach. Soutullo said that since she has sold thousands of pups, 40 complaints isn't a big deal. Perhaps she's unaware of the Wizard of Claws case. Early last year, the Humane Society of the United States filed suit against the Pembroke Pines puppy store, alleging violations of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Its puppies weren't pedigreed, had no papers, were sick and would grow far beyond ''teacup'' size, it said. In June, Gov. Charlie Crist, then Florida's attorney general, joined the legal fray, alleging in Broward Circuit Court that some of the dogs were initially purchased from online auctions! His office had 20 sworn statements from customers who felt deceived by the store.
In the Poochie Koochie-Dixie Pups case, Agriculture and Consumer Services has conducted a criminal investigation, but its cases must be prosecuted by the appropriate county's state attorney's office. That would put Soutullo's practices before Katherine Fernández Rundle, the Miami-Dade state attorney, but Ed Griffith, the office spokesman, said he could find no employee who was aware of the cases.
Given that, we suggest you, too, file a complaint with DOACS. Call 800-HELP-FLA, (800-435-7352) or 800-FL-AYUDA (800-352-9832), toll-free. You can also file online at www.800helpfla.com. Other than that, your best option is to take Soutullo to Small Claims Court, which handles matters of $5,000 or less. She already has numerous judgments against her, public records show. (As homework, learn how to collect a judgment, which isn't automatic. The Miami-Dade Consumer Services Department hosts free seminars on the subject across the county several times a year. Learn more at www.miamidade.gov/csd or by calling 305-375-3677.)
As you wade through the labyrinthine bureaucracy, be aware that a Clearwater woman has been charged with two counts of grand theft and four misdemeanors for selling dogs she falsely claimed to be purebreds registered with the American Kennel Club.
According to the St. Petersburg Times Jan. 8, Vilisity Dawn Stow, 28, faces 10 years in prison if convicted of the two felony charges. She was released on $10,000 bond.
Gary White, an assistant state attorney with the State Attorney's Office in Pinellas County, told reporter Demorris Lee that ``This is just the first group of charges; I would contemplate that there will likely be more criminal charges.''
Stow's attorney, Roger Futerman, claimed his client would be vindicated.
''We're looking forward to trial,'' he told the newspaper.
According to the article, complaints began to mount up at the Pinellas County Department of Justice and Consumer Services. White subpoenaed classified ad records from the Times and found that 11 separate debit account numbers had been used -- with no fewer than 72 different names -- to pay for ads that ran between December 2002 and June last year. Beyond that, records subpoenaed from the Bank of America determined that all the debit accounts were linked to Richard Stow and Vilisity Landerer, Vilisity Stow's maiden name, the newspaper said, citing court documents.
When it comes to determining whether a dog is a purebred and has been registered with AKC, Lisa Peterson, an AKC spokeswoman, advises buyers to not leave a breeder's house without the AKC papers.
''No papers, no puppies,'' Peterson told reporter Lee. ``There's no excuse for breeders to say they don't have the paperwork.''
When a breeder seeks AKC documents, they register a litter by providing documents that the parents of the pups are purebreds. Once that has been verified, the AKC will then send an application back to the breeder for each individual member of the litter. The puppies' new owners then fill out the application and return it to the AKC.
Once all is said and done, the documents will have AKC's embossed AKC seal on them, Peterson said.
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