I saw an ad in dogsnow.com for a white Pomeranian puppy listed in Millville, NJ. The ad advised to send a text to 512-566-7439 for further information. I contacted the puppy owner and he immediately replied back advising to email him at [email protected] for further information about the puppy. I sent an email requesting additional information about the puppy and the gentleman identified himself as being Frank Morgan and that he had been transferred to Portland, OR due to his work. He continued to explain in the email that he had two puppies available a male and a female and that it would be $500 for one and $1,000 for both. This price included door-to-door delivery from Portland, OR to New Jersey. Frank also explained that he had lost his wife a few months ago and that he loved the puppies but couldn’t take care of them. I thought it was odd that in the very first email he was already asking for a ship to address. I asked for pictures of the female puppy and Frank sent me several pictures and even a video. I started to notice that Frank was sending me emails, which I thought were pushy because he kept asking for the delivery address. I started to become concerned and expressed my concern via email. Frank assured me that he would take the puppy to the agency and that everything was safe and very easy. I asked him for the name of the agency and he gave me uShip. He also assured me that they were reliable and that he had used them before and never had any issues. I agreed to the price and gave Frank my home address for the registration process to begin.
I received an email within two hours from [email protected] advising that they had received a puppy that was registered to me and that needed to be delivered to NJ. In order for them to process the shipment they needed $500 in a Reloadit Recharge Pack card. This is the only method of payment that they could accept, in other words only cash transactions. The email provided me with locations where I could purchase this card and that the card fee was $3.95. Within minutes of receiving this email my phone rang and it was U-Ship Pets Express, 503-568-1344, indicating that they needed to receive the payment in order to ship the puppy. I advised the gentlemen that spoke with a very heavy accent that I needed at least one hour to purchase the card. U-Ship kept calling me every half hour until they received the funds. I was told that within one to two hours that they would call me back with the confirmation and flight information. I never heard back from them. I called them several times the same day and sent several emails and no return call. Several hours later, I received an email advising that the puppy was going to be flying out later on that evening but all of the information listed on the confirmation email was incorrect.
I contacted the buyer via email and he assured me once again that it was just a clerical error and that everything was fine. The next morning I woke-up to an email advising that in order for them to be able to ship my puppy that they needed pet insurance in the value of $2,470 because they had determined that my puppy was worth between $9,500 and $15,200. Once again the funds needed to be paid via Reloadit Recharge Pack card, which means in cash. I knew that at this point this was a scam and I tried calling them over 20 times and no response. All of my calls were going to voicemail. I also sent several emails and no response. I called the buyer and left a message and no response. I sent an email to the buyer and he responded by saying we have to do what’s best for the puppy. I agree 100% that the puppy’s wellbeing was a top priority but I also knew that these gentlemen were greedy and just wanted more money. I refused to pay the additional $2,470 and have sent emails requesting a full refund of $503.95 to both the shipping company and the dog owner and no response. The sad thing is that I saw the same picture that was first listed on the dogsnow.com website of the puppy and now the phone number attached to the ad is different. I can only assume that the scam is continuing by targeting another individual.
My demands:
Full Refund
User Recommendation:
Stay away
Resolution:
Unresolved
Monetary damages:
$503.95
Additional information
Names reported: U-Ship Pets Express
Comments:
Eulic Mike Hunt
Jul 17, 2016 5:13 AM
Oh my God, are you kidding me? You actually do not realize this was a scam from the beginning. You were swindled, plain and simple. It is a common scam with puppies. These people NEVER had a puppy for sale. They only had some photos and video of some puppy and a well-planned out scam. It saddens me greatly that people are so gullible. Sorry.
David
Aug 28, 2014 12:15 AM
Me, my girlfriend, and our 2yr old son just had the same exact thing happen to us today. I wasn't even sure until just now when I googled the phone number and this post showed up. Its sad because we showed my son the pictures and he was excited that his new puppy was on the way. Not to even mention our financial situation. These guys are going to pay some day.