A South Lyon couple believes they’ve been scammed out of thousands of dollars, all because they wanted to add another member to their family, a dog, an English bulldog named Bella.
They tell 7 Action News the last four days have been that have been absolute Hell.
The Bakers have had dogs for years and they always adopt.
However, recently, every time they’ve gone to the Humane Society or a shelter all of the dogs they had a connection with were already set to be adopted.
So, they decided to go a different route and try online.
Sometimes that works out well for folks but it didn’t for them.
They reached out to a breeder in Spokane, Washington and sent an email.
But Patty quickly found out that what happened next is ‘not what Jesus’ would do.
“She said it will be $500 for the home delivery and we’ll bring it right here,” Patty says. “Next day, it was like she has to have a special cage, because she’s snub nose, that’s $650 for that, $300 for insurance. They said they put her on a plane and she made it to Boise, Idaho, to another facility where she needed veterinary care. Two shots, $750 for two shots, that should have told me something right there. But I was so upset I didn’t want her to die.”
But as they are shelling out money by MoneyGram, the Bakers started getting suspicious, wondering if they were being hustled out of a hell of a lot of money on a scam.
“I got on the phone with the guy and I said I don’t believe a single word out of your mouth. You need to get that dog on the plane right now,” she says.
They were supposed to meet Bella at Metro Airport on Friday. She wasn’t there.
So, they called the Pet Safe Tranports, the company responsible for delivering this precious cargo.
“Nothing and their website closed down or response. We called and called and called. Nothing,” Patty says. “I don’t think the dog ever got on the plane, I don’t think there was a dog. I hope they have a very, miserable and panful life to repay what they have done and probably other people as well.”
“Be careful, be so careful. I will never trust anybody again, I won’t. This was a very, very difficult lesson to learn. i learned, it the hard way. I regret what i did, I should have been smarter than that. I’m sure I’ll never get my money back. Money is money, I want a dog. I want a puppy,” says Baker.
Well, $2,200 gone and no dog. They are devastated and furious.
Bottom line, they just want to add another member to their family.
