Suck!
Merry Meet Family, Friends and Followers!
I consider myself to be a reasonably honest person, so when things like this happen, it pisses me off beyond all definition of the word.
As many of you know we got royally screwed when we recently adopted our cat, Persephone. We were exposed to a potentially serious illness when the rescue agency misrepresented her actual health status. We paid $200.oo in veterinary expenses for a very ill cat we'd only owned for 4 days, paid an additional $35.00 to cancel the check for adoption fee. The rescue/adoption agency, promised to reimburse us 30% of the vet bill, which never happened and today, we received our check back in the mail marked "void" with a note from the adoption coordinator that read, "don't call me again".
Don't call her again? Excuse me, but we still have no idea what became of Persephone, we still haven't been reimbursed, they still have the cat carrier that we used to bring Persephone to the hospital....don't contact her again?
I'm certain that the person who wrote this message is very upset right about now. That's seems to be what happens when people are caught in a web of their own deceit. You see, after my phone calls and e-mails had gone unanswered, I finally decided that I was not going to have my family exposed to a potentially serious illness and get ripped off for $435.00 in the process.
My first order of business was contacting the New Jersey Chapter of the ASPCA and filing a report of animal abuse. That was followed by an e-mail to the Department of Health in the town this agency operates informing them of the potential health hazard they are perpetuating, an email was then sent to PetSmart's corporate offices informing them of the liability involved in having an agency that adopts out animals with infectious diseases to their customers and finally today, an email was sent to the Bergen County Division of Consumer Protection. No, I venture to say that Angels for Animals Network is not at all happy.
What is the acronym that my kid's often use? "TFB" (Too Fucking Bad!) I tend to prefer "DLIBMA" (Don't like it? Bite My Ass!)
I've spent many a sleepless night in the past couple of weeks wondering if, in trying to give Persephone a loving home, I didn't expose my family to serious illness. So far, thankfully, we're all good. But, it wasn't only my family's health that I thought about. I recalled the first time I saw Persephone at PetSmart. There was another family there adopting her litter mate. A little girl and her Mom stood waiting to fill out their adoption application. I asked the girl, "are you taking that baby home?" She shook her head enthusiastically. I've thought of them often and hoped that they were all doing well or if like us, they've already spent hundreds of dollars because they believed they were adopting a healthy pet.
I really don't enjoy conflict and I try to avoid it whenever possible, but where my family is concerned..woe betide the creature that fucks up in my garden!
In Darkness, Light!
Tracy
19 comments:
You are absolutely right for all you have done as I would do the same. As for the little message; liars will always run and hide in any way possible. I recently had to deal with someone who got caught up in all their lies that they just could not get out of; thank the Goddess I am rid of this person.
Anyway, I am glad your family is well and your kitty is very lucky to have a loving family as she does. I wish for continued health and love for you all!~
Jen,
There is nothing worse, in my humble opinion, as dishonesty!
And you are absolutely correct in that those people will usually run and hide. Sometimes admitting one is wrong goes such a long way in healing a situation.
Well T I am glad that you contacted the ASPCA re: abuse. And, of course, more importantly that everyone is okay.
what a terrible thing they did to you. I know that you don't like conflict, neither do I but as I said this is a serious matter!!
Get your money back and cage. You can contact the lawyers that deal with animals. Maybe you can call one to get some advise there consulation fee is usually for free. Maybe worth a try.
I also feel bad about the cat as I know you do.
I hope things work out let me know.
C
I'm sorry to hear about what you've been through... I hope that company gets their just reward.
Dolly, Carol and Jen,
Thanks for your all your support! I'm not sure if it would be worth contacting a lawyer.
The Health Inspector did contact me, although I wasn't really satisfied with his response. That said, at the very least this might have given them just enough grief so that they will think twice about doing this to anyone else.
I notice that so many more, and more people treat others with less and less respect.
I'm sort of tired of turning the other cheek too.
( like. I want to live in peace, mostly...my bank assisted some thief in ripping off my bank account...thinking about kicking some butt. )
Hang in there pal, don't give someone too much power over your happiness; but, maybe it's time to play mama bear :o)
(looks like your cyber tribe is with you on this one)
Yaargh thar Lassie...its a pirate's life fer thee, Matey. Tie them scurvy dogs to yer yardarm!!!
Trace...their ain't nothin' on Gawds Greed Earth that'll make me walk away from those who defraud under the auspices of kindness and generosity.....FEWACC.....
Frig em with a corn cob
FWACC!!!! OMG! ROFLMAO!
No kidding, that was the funniest thing! I never heard that before!
One of the things that piss me off more than most other things is unfairness.
If I was asked to pay for this cat's medical care independent of this situation, if I was able, I would never refuse.
That said, these are the type of people that provoke good Witches to do bad things! }:)
Tracy,
Maybe there is a lesson for you here?
If you close your eyes and see yourself in a film, from the moment before you adobted Persephone, through all the events you went through untill now, what would you see that you didn't see before?
When things go wrong with me I ask myself what I can learn from this.
The Gods are always trying to teach us lessons. If we don't learn, they try it again and again untill we get it.
I'm sending you Love,Peace, Beauty and Harmony.
May you be at the center of the sphere in balance.
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
Blessings
Arie
:-)
Arie,
From you lips to the ears of the Gods!
I know exactly what the lesson is!
From the moment I considered adopting Persephone, I had an all pervasive feeling that things were not going to end well. Still, I had fallen in love with her little face and ignored my own "inner bell".
I really need to stop doing that!!!
Lesson learned!
If I always looked at the lesson from that perspective I'd roll up in a bos and stink to high heavens....
The "gods" as you state Arie....push us through gates to learn not to take crap from others by aggressiveness as well as and passiveness...
Martyrdom is a 2 way street and can be full of victimization.....or not.
Aloha Spottedwolf,
Well I myself try to transform my lessons into compost, as I do in my small garden.
I've learned over time that there are only two options for anything that happens.
Option 1:
Incoming impression => wrong reaction.
Option 2:
Incoming Impression => understanding => right action.
If I'm at the center of the sphere, then I am balanced and I can give the right response. This is the right place to be. It is the place where mind/emotions/body are working in harmony and therefore linked to the divine. A place where Mind/emotions/body/instinct do not steal energy from each other and do not steal energy from the sexual center, which is life force itself and is the finest energy in the human mechanism.
Easy said, but this is not easy to achieve. But being aware of how the human mechanism works, and with self observation, it is possible to improve and be more frequently balanced.
Anchors help me a lot in situations like option 1. Someone is agressive towards me. Before I react, I remember my anchor, apply it and come up with the rigth response. There is a lot of Power in giving the right response.
This reminds me of Starhawk's book Truth or Dare. She writes and gives helpfull examples about "Power Over" as opposed to " Power Within" and " Power with".
Sometimes the way to deal with agressiveness is to look into the others eyes without fear. Martial arts can teach us a lot.
Sometimes I use shape-shifting into one of my allies. Or I vizualize my aura in a certain colour to get the right result.
By the way, I have a very bully agressive manager at my work place. So I have a lot of opportunities to practice. It takes me out of my comfort zone, and forces me to grow. These seem to be the gates that the Gods are opening to me.
Arie
In response to Arie and Dennis, I actually agree with you both.
Often, I will try to find the lesson in things, both good and bad that happen.
That said, I find that there are times that, despite my best effort, the answers are elusive.
My sister was diagnosed and succumbed to a fatal lung disease at 49 years old. She didn't always take care of herself and abused her body.
Six months later, my mother, who had been suffering from emphysema after being a smoker for most of her life, also passed away. But, she lived a long life, and was 84 years old at her passing.
I thought surely, there must be a lesson to be learned in losing two loved ones in such a short period of time.
Two weeks later, my father was diagnosed with colon cancer and died shortly thereafter. I lost my entire immediate family in 15 months.
That was the point I realized that, at times there is indeed a lesson to be learned in the things that happen to us and at others, they just suck and there in lies the lesson!
Tracy,
I don't think that there is a lesson for us when a loved one dies.
Or maybe there is and it is elusive as you say.
It may give us insight and teach us about the mystery of life and death. It may sharpen our senses.
I find it healing to meet my father and mother at Samhain in ritual in sacred space.
Death is part of the life cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth.
We all come from the Goddess and to Her we shall return ...
I'm now reading Starhawk's book "The Pagan book of Living and Dying". I suggest it strongly.
Arie
Hi Arie,
I have reconnected with my family members on the other side in the most dramatic ways.
For me, there is no question as to whether or not there is life after death. I am a true believer in the continuing existence of the soul.
I believe that the lesson in losing a loved one is the way we react to it. Some people will internalize their grief to the point that it becomes part of who they are. Others recognize it as part of the natural cycle of life and the path of the soul.
I believe there are reasons for everything and while they may not be readily apparent, often reveal themselves in time.
I will definitely check the books you recommended. I really enjoy Starhawk.
If you haven't already, you should check out the books written by my friend and High Priestess, Deborah Lipp. "The Way of Four" and "Elements of Ritual" are my personal favorites.
....read it as it stands Arie. We live in a space which seems to exist as a section of something infinitely greater than you and I can define in any array of dialogues. There are far too many histories behind us and in front of us....... which do not distribute the idea of karma beyond simple action/reaction.If life were justifiable....the Dali lama would not have had to run for his life in 1959. I do not believe in 2 options. The only option for me is understanding..and in cases such as Trace encountered I don't bother with some romantic notion of consciousness...I act.
I think I would be more than a little bit pissed off myself.
I have had a really similar experience as well:
I was in PetSmart with my three children and there was an adult cat that my daughter fell in love with. Now, we already had three cats (2 were kittens) and we live in a rural area and so I thought it would be nice to give an adult cat a home. Most people want kittens. Who can blame them? They're adorable.
Well, to make a long story short(kinda), the lady from the cat rescue told me that the kitty came from a family who couldn't keep her and it was in perfect health.
Well, not only was the cat feral and not tamed, but she had an upper respitory infection that spread to the other cats, and kittens. Ended up costing me two thousand dollars in Emergency Vet charges as the two kittens almost died and I couldn't stand them being euthanized. I maxed out my credit card. (Do you know that they have nebulizers for kittens? I couldn't believe it myself).
I tried to reach the cat rescue woman-no call back. Finally, I called the PetSmart manager and told him what happened. Meanwhile, nobody could go near the feral cat without her going ballistic.
The manager told me that there was nothing the store could do about the vet bills, but to catch the cat and bring her back. Easier said than done.
We did end up bringing her back and the cat rescue lady told me that the respitory illness came from my house, meanwhile we could her a cat sneezing. She said she would return our money.
I got an email the next day telling me not to contact her. In fact, she ran to the bank to cash our check. No refund, just a lot of bills.
I am sorry that your family had to go through this heartbreak. It's especially hard as the kids fall in love with the animals.
I understand it's hard to place adult cats, but health and tameness are not things to lie about. If an animal needs special attention, it is better to be upfront and if a person is running a rescue, try asking local vets to either volunteer their time or offer a discount.
Blessings, Lilly
Hi Lily,
I'm sorry this happened to both our families!
While I think most animal rescue agencies do great work, I think these in store adoptions have a darker side.
What I learned was that the woman we adopted our cat from would spend all day "trapping" cats. The cats are brought to a mobile veterinary care unit in NYC. Now, I don't know enough about these mobile vets to render an accurate opinion, but I will say that if they could have spayed the cat we adopted and couldn't recognize how ill she was, then I believe their experience is questionable.
When I received the vaccination records for our cat, there were different names, descriptions and ages for the same cat! When I questioned the adoption rep, she said they just didn't like the name that the cat had been given.
My opinion is that there is a real scam going on in the name of rescuing homeless animals. If they don't have the funds to provide quality veterinary care for these animals, why are they trapping them or in the case of Angels for Animals Network, bringing them in from Puerto Rico!
At $200 per adoption, one should at least be guaranteed that they are adopting a healthy animal and that their families are not being exposed to illness.
Thank you so much for sharing your story!!!!
Post a Comment