ComplaintsforTesoro Farms

• Initial Complaint

  06/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I boarded my horse at this facility for a couple months. My horse was continuously getting hurt by the stall they provided him with. I was finding screws and nails in his hay they were feeding him , from constantly doing work on their property. The owners initally agreed to cover his vet bills . My horse was injured by his stall requiring staples to his head. They never helped with vet bills. He was constantly being injured, i would walk around and see some horses without water. I pulled my horse and brought him home immediately. I left a bad Yelp review with pictures to show my claims. They came back and attacked me personally rather than addressing the claims and apologizing . I blocked their numbers to move on from them, and they insisted on messaging me through other numbers. I went through the city’s website and they aren’t a listed business within the city. They sent me a letter in the mail to cease and desists and claim defamation with my Yelp review and gave my address and info out to multiple random boarders/ people i don’t know in the letter they sent to multiple people. My significant other and I are public servants and it is very dangerous releasing that personal information out. This business needs to be corrected.

  Business response

  06/19/2023

  To whom it may concern, 

  
  

  In direct response to ******** claims, her horse was boarded at our facility for several months.  Her horse had a problem with “cribbing”, which means that he bites and grabs onto things and pulls, which is incredibly destructive.  He did this consistently with his water and his feeder.  He ruined the water bucket, which ultimately had to be replaced and he damaged the feeder, which is why there were screws in his hay, he was pulling them out.  We tried to explain this to ****** multiple times, but it seemed to go in one ear and out the next because she never took responsibility for it, nor did she ever do anything to try and correct her horse’s behavior.  Everything was simply our fault.  Upon ******** horse being injured, we weren’t certain as to whether the horse was injured in his stall or out on trail, but once we saw the behaviors he exhibited, we concluded that we were not at fault and the owner should be responsible.  Which is a very reasonable.  As barn owners we are not required to provide a stall that makes it incapable of the horse hurting themselves, it is our job to simply provide a stall, food and water, which we did more than adequately.  As far as the rest of the claims, yes, after ****** left the barn we were forced to try and contact her because she left with no notice, which was a violation of her contract, so we wanted to resolve that, and yes, ****** wrote a Yelp review that was filled with slanderous lies and accusations, so we were forced to file a defamation lawsuit against her and several others that were ganging up on us.  The Yelp review has since been deleted due to it violating their Terms of Service, so that speaks volumes for its level of accuracy.  The only person her address was supplied to, was our attorney, which isn’t a violation of any sort.  This complaint with the BBB will be sent to our attorney as well and will be shown as additional evidence of harassment, slander and trade libel.  

  Our attorney’s name is ****** ********.  His number is ###-###-####.  

  We highly value our business and the level of service we provide.  If you read through all of our reviews on Yelp you’ll see that we have a very happy barn with very appreciative clients and we work hard everyday to make the place better and better.  Unfortunately, ****** just couldn’t be made happy, regardless of what we did.  

  Customer response

  06/19/2023

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  I have pictures due to where exactly my horse was injured . I have witnesses who watched me show them the exact location to which my horse was injured. I was cameras in my stall to show where my horse was injured . This has nothing to do with cribbing . My horse starting cribbing under extreme stress from a non consistent feeding schedule. I have vet bills due to this causing my horse ulcers. They agreed to pay my vet bills. I have pictures to show my horse injured the day i pulled him. I moved out on my own due to an unsafe stall condition. I removed my Yelp review because they were extorting me for money in leaving a Yelp review which is protected under my first amendment right . This business is trying to intimidate and extort people who leave bad reviews about them. My vet, boarders, and pictures are witnesses to their breech of contract. They owe me money for vet bills and my deposit. 

  Business response

  06/22/2023

  I would encourage you to review the CA horse boarding standards.  At no point will you read anything that states that the boarding facility is required to provide the horse with a stall that is free of any danger or potential danger.  Horses are large, strong animals and they can, at times, find ways to hurt themselves.  The horse injuring themselves does not designate gross negligence on our part, and that is the only condition under which we are liable for any injuries on our property.  We identified the area that your horse injured himself and did everything possible to make that part of the stall safe.  We have owned this barn for less than 9 months and while we have made massive improvements and upgrades, it would be impossible to see every potential area of concern and fix them all in such a short period of time.  Regardless, your horse was provided with a more than adequate stall, and we have many text messages from you stating how much you love your stall....even after your horse was injured.

  In regards to your horse's cribbing,..if you read up on cribbing or know anything about it, it is not caused by stress.  So that accusation is rooted in ignorance to the situation.  Prior to your horse coming to our facility, it was only fed once a day and was malnourished.  Upon coming to us, we fed regularly ( once between 6:30am - 8am ) and a second time late in the day ( between 3:30pm and 5:30pm ).  So your assertion that your horse was on a non-consistent feeding schedule is false.  Every barn will give you a 3 hour window in which they do their feedings, because it is impossible to adhere perfectly to a strict schedule every single day, try as you might.  We know this from having been horse owners for the past 10 years and having boarded at multiple facilities throughout Norco.  However, since this is your first horse and we are the only boarding facility that you have ever boarded your horse at, I wouldn't expect you to know that basic premise.   Besides that, your horse had additional food in his stall, that you provided yourself, so he had access to food around the clock.  So your assertion of our feeding schedule causing him stress holds no water whatsoever. Taking your horse home was probably the best decision for you if you want it to adhere to a perfect feeding schedule 365 days a year.  

  In response to your claims that we are trying to extort you for money just because you left us a bad review on Yelp, that couldn't be further from the truth.  If you had brought up valid claims and complaints, we would have taken that information to heart and strived to be better.  However, every single claim you made about our barn was either completely made up or totally false.  Animal Control has investigated and proven every claim you made about our barn to be untrue.  So, while you do have every right to write whatever you want on Yelp, we also have every right to protect our business against slander, defamation and trade libel.  That is not extortion, that is us trying to recover the damage done to our business by someone that clearly had malicious intent.  Our attorney will be in contact with you over your failure to comply with the Cease and Desist delivered to you.  

  Lastly, at no point did we ever violate anything that was in our contract.  We've had it reviewed by our attorney to ensure that we are doing everything properly under CA law and we are well above the standard.  The only breach of contract was done by you when you did not give us proper notice when you left, which is why you forfeited your security deposit.  I'm sorry that you didn't see what all the other boarders here see, that this is a wonderful place with lots of wonderful people, but we certainly wish you the best moving forward.

*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. ↩