Publication/Event date: 2011-07-15
Publication name: WEWS 5 ABC
URL for more info: http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/money/angies_list/dont-get-bitten-by-online-pet-store-purchases
Summary:
Consumers should pursue due diligence to protect animal welfare - and their pocketbooks.
Mark Stettner had no idea how Thanksgiving Day 2008 would change his life. His daughter, then a college sophomore, returned to their Allentown, Pa., home with the news that she had a dog - and it wasn't permitted in her campus housing. "That's when I inherited Max - and the problems," says Stettner, an Angie's List member.
Stettner's daughter bought Max, who was advertised as a purebred toy poodle, for $1,347 from an online pet broker called Breedersdirect.com. "Thanksgiving weekend he had some stomach problems, and was initially diagnosed with colitis," Stettner says. "But Max didn't get really sick until the following July."
