Business ProfileforThe Pet Zone

The following describes a pending government action that has been formally brought by a government agency but has not yet been resolved. We are providing a summary of the governments allegations, which have not yet been proven.

On May 16, 2018, acting Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced a lawsuit against Bell Pet Company, LLC and its owners, Theodore and Sheila Bell, who operate a chain of pet stores with locations in Watertown, Albany, Poughkeepsie, and Queensbury, known as The Pet Zone. The lawsuit alleges that The Pet Zone has sold many puppies to consumers without first having the dogs examined by a veterinarian as required by law, engaged in persistent fraud by failing to notify consumers when the puppy they purchase received necessary pre-sale medical treatment, and violated the Pet Lemon Law by failing to provide timely reimbursement for veterinarian expenses consumers incurred after purchasing a sick dog from the stores.

Following an investigation by the Attorney General’s office, Supreme Court Justice James P. McClusky issued a temporary restraining order today prohibiting The Pet Zone from obtaining any new dogs for sale and placing additional oversight on the sale of puppies currently in their stores while the lawsuit is pending. Additionally, Acting Attorney General Underwood seeks to permanently bar The Pet Zone and its owners from ever operating a business that sells live animals in New York, as well as to obtain restitution for aggrieved consumers and significant penalties.

Based upon the evidence submitted to the court, Justice McClusky issued a temporary restraining order against The Pet Zone today. This evidence included sworn statements from a former store manager and four former store employees, sworn statements from ten consumers, and several inspection reports citing violations. Pursuant to the order, The Pet Zone is prohibited from obtaining any puppies that are not already in their possession for sale while the lawsuit is pending. The stores will be permitted to sell the puppies already in their stores. However, Justice McClusky’s order requires The Pet Zone to provide the court and the Attorney General’s office with sworn statements and documentation attesting under penalty of contempt that the puppies sold were properly examined and medications were properly disclosed to the consumers.

The lawsuit alleges that The Pet Zone engaged in numerous deceptive business practices and violated multiple laws designed to ensure that animals sold by pet dealers are healthy, including that:

The Pet Zone sold dozens, if not hundreds of puppies to consumers without first having them examined by a veterinarian and certified as fit for sale, as required by law.
After selling a puppy that was thereafter certified as “unfit” for sale by the consumers’ veterinarian, The Pet Zone effectively denied customers their rights under the Pet Lemon Law to reimbursement of veterinarian bills by allegedly deceiving them about their options and forcing them to file warranty claims with a third party vendor. Although the Pet Lemon Law requires the pet dealer to reimburse those costs within ten days, consumers often never received reimbursement or received it from the warranty company many months later.
In an effort to increase sales, The Pet Zone at times financed puppy sales through two companies known as WAGS Lending and Nextep Funding. Consumers who used these financing companies were given multiple types of documentation showing their ownership or “parentage” of the puppy they purchased. However, The Pet Zone employees allegedly failed to adequately inform consumers that these financing agreements were actually styled as “leases,” and therefore the customer would not actually own their family pet until payment of the full contract plus additional undisclosed fees, which usually totaled more than twice the original cash purchase-price of the puppy. Many consumers who financed their purchase also paid an additional fee that cash and credit customers did not pay for the warranty used by The Pet Zone to circumvent the Pet Lemon Law.

The Pet Zone also allegedly engaged in several deceptive business practices to raise the cost of the sale to consumers. The stores forced consumers to pay $99.95 supposedly for enrollment in a “PetKey” system which purportedly includes the puppy’s health and microchip information. However, employees were specifically told not to include medication other than routine vaccinations and de-wormers to this pet health history, depriving the consumer of the value of the product, which they could not decline. Additionally, at times consumers were charged the wrong amount for the product and it was misidentified on documentation as an “AKC Protection Bundle,” falsely leading consumers to believe that their puppies were registered with the American Kennel Club.

After receiving numerous complaints from the public, the Attorney General’s office issued a cease and desist letter to The Pet Zone in July 2017 demanding that they stop violating the Pet Lemon Law. This law is designed to safeguard the public and ensure the humane treatment of dogs and cats by requiring pet dealers to guarantee the good health of the animals they sell. When pet dealers sell a pet that a veterinarian certifies was “unfit for sale” within 14 days of the purchase, the consumer is entitled to a refund, reimbursement for reasonable veterinarian expenses up to the cost of the pet, or a replacement animal. The law requires dealers to provide the refund or reimbursement within ten business days of receiving the certification.

Following the cease and desist letter, further investigation revealed the additional and more egregious illegal and deceptive conduct alleged by the Attorney General’s office. Due to the severity of the violations, Acting Attorney General Underwood is asking the court to permanently bar The Pet Zone, and its owners, from ever operating a business in New York that sells live animals, as well as order the company to pay restitution to aggrieved consumers and significant penalties.