Demand letter wording

nic326

Short story: we got a dog from a breeder along with a contract that guaranteed the dog's health for a year. We were urged to take the dog to the breeder's vet for the required first wellness exam because the breeder was offering to pay for a minor procedure that needed to be done. Well we took the dog to our vet who found the dog to have several issues. The vet could not believe this dog was sold because of the health issues she found and went so far to say that it shuld be returned. She even wrote a letter for us documenting her findings. Bottom line - dog did not pass overall wellness check. Now I am getting an idea of why the breeder wanted to use HER vet. We contacted her about this news and wanted to talk about returning the dog. She suddenly became unavailable and wouldnt take our calls. Thru texts she said the dog she sold us was healthy but we said no, we werent comfortable with our vets conclusions and were returnng the dog and wanted our $$ back. We met, gave her the dog and she gave us a letter (signed by her only) that she would re-pay our $$ in November. Well we are going to take her to small claims now. As far as the registered letter demanding repayment, what is the best way to word this? Do we say "based n our vets findings we returned the dog and now demand repayment" or just leave out the vets info/ letter altogether? Will the letter from our vet be admissable in court? 

mom2pottamus

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

MomlovesEloise

mom2pottamus:

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

This. If she has signed documentation that you are going to be paid in November there is nothing you can do. 

AZ123

I think you want to focus on what the court is going to look at and that is that you returned the dog (gave her back the item) and she agreed, in writing, to pay you $xx by November. So really, your demand is on the payment she promised to receive. By taking the dog bag and writing you a letter saying she'd pay you, already resolves the vet issue.

How much did you pay for this dog, by the way?

jess60

mom2pottamus:

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

This is my thought as well.  She has nearly 4 months to pay you back (which I think is extremely generous of you to have agreed to).

nic326

MomlovesEloise:

mom2pottamus:

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

This. If she has signed documentation that you are going to be paid in November there is nothing you can do. 

She wrote this up herself. We didnt sign it. Why should we wait until November to get our $$ back? 

jess60

nic326:

MomlovesEloise:

mom2pottamus:

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

This. If she has signed documentation that you are going to be paid in November there is nothing you can do. 

She wrote this up herself. We didnt sign it. Why should we wait until November to get our $$ back? 

What does the original contract you signed state regarding refunds?

MomlovesEloise

nic326:

MomlovesEloise:

mom2pottamus:

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

This. If she has signed documentation that you are going to be paid in November there is nothing you can do. 

She wrote this up herself. We didnt sign it. Why should we wait until November to get our $$ back? 

If you accepted it, she could argue a verbal contract. Even if you go to small claims court, it might be November by the time you get your money back anyways. If it's important to you, I would suggest calling a lawyer or legal hotline to see what the best course of action is. 

 

nic326

jess60:

nic326:

MomlovesEloise:

mom2pottamus:

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

This. If she has signed documentation that you are going to be paid in November there is nothing you can do. 

She wrote this up herself. We didnt sign it. Why should we wait until November to get our $$ back? 

What does the original contract you signed state regarding refunds?

It states that if e dog is returned that a replacement dog will be offered or buyers money is to be refunded 

mom2pottamus

nic326:

MomlovesEloise:

mom2pottamus:

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

This. If she has signed documentation that you are going to be paid in November there is nothing you can do. 

She wrote this up herself. We didnt sign it. Why should we wait until November to get our $$ back? 

 

You shouldn't have to wait until November, but when you accepted her letter of repayment and gave her the dog back you agreed to those terms.  You can't sue her for money she hasn't repaid until after the date she promised to pay you passes and you haven't been repaid.

jess60

There are lots of tips for writing demand letters online.

I would make sure to read through the original contract that you signed & cover all your bases in regards to being eligible for a refund.  My guess is that the healthiness of the dog is the determining factor in your contract so yes, that would be extrememly important to include in the demand letter.

Stick to the facts, present it in the timeline of events, be clear & concise.

nic326

mom2pottamus:

nic326:

MomlovesEloise:

mom2pottamus:

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

This. If she has signed documentation that you are going to be paid in November there is nothing you can do. 

She wrote this up herself. We didnt sign it. Why should we wait until November to get our $$ back? 

 

You shouldn't have to wait until November, but when you accepted her letter of repayment and gave her the dog back you agreed to those terms.  You can't sue her for money she hasn't repaid until after the date she promised to pay you passes and you haven't been repaid.

Really? Well that blows.

 

jess60

nic326:

mom2pottamus:

nic326:

MomlovesEloise:

mom2pottamus:

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

This. If she has signed documentation that you are going to be paid in November there is nothing you can do. 

She wrote this up herself. We didnt sign it. Why should we wait until November to get our $$ back? 

 

You shouldn't have to wait until November, but when you accepted her letter of repayment and gave her the dog back you agreed to those terms.  You can't sue her for money she hasn't repaid until after the date she promised to pay you passes and you haven't been repaid.

Really? Well that blows.

 

That may be the case.  If you want to be sure, call a lawyer.  Many will give a free consultation.

nic326

jess60:

There are lots of tips for writing demand letters online.

I would make sure to read through the original contract that you signed & cover all your bases in regards to being eligible for a refund.  My guess is that the healthiness of the dog is the determining factor in your contract so yes, that would be extrememly important to include in the demand letter.

Stick to the facts, present it in the timeline of events, be clear & concise.

Thank you 

mom2pottamus

Totally agree with you.  I would be pissed to be waiting on a refund too.

nic326

mom2pottamus:

Totally agree with you.  I would be pissed to be waiting on a refund too.

Yeah, it sucks. The whole situation sucks. But its not like we would have kept the dog either way you know? Come to find out she was so shady now I feel like we are under her thumb until November

mom2pottamus

nic326:

mom2pottamus:

Totally agree with you.  I would be pissed to be waiting on a refund too.

Yeah, it sucks. The whole situation sucks. But its not like we would have kept the dog either way you know? Come to find out she was so shady now I feel like we are under her thumb until November

 

Nothing says you can't call her and put pressure on her to pay you back sooner, reputable breeders don't want bad info getting out about them

nic326

mom2pottamus:

nic326:

MomlovesEloise:

mom2pottamus:

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

This. If she has signed documentation that you are going to be paid in November there is nothing you can do. 

She wrote this up herself. We didnt sign it. Why should we wait until November to get our $$ back? 

 

You shouldn't have to wait until November, but when you accepted her letter of repayment and gave her the dog back you agreed to those terms.  You can't sue her for money she hasn't repaid until after the date she promised to pay you passes and you haven't been repaid.

Wouldnt we have to sign this though to make it binding? 

Wufroggy79

Call a lawyer to do a consult/write a demand letter for you.  Sometimes, all it takes is a demand letter written on a law firm's stationary in order to get what you want, which will be a million times easier than doing a small claims case.

Jessys_Girl

nic326:

mom2pottamus:

nic326:

MomlovesEloise:

mom2pottamus:

Why are you taking her to small claims now if the money is due to be repaid in November?  The letter stating she would give the $$ back said November, and you gave her the dog based upon the letter.  Might be a little premature to do small claims now..

This. If she has signed documentation that you are going to be paid in November there is nothing you can do. 

She wrote this up herself. We didnt sign it. Why should we wait until November to get our $$ back? 

 

You shouldn't have to wait until November, but when you accepted her letter of repayment and gave her the dog back you agreed to those terms.  You can't sue her for money she hasn't repaid until after the date she promised to pay you passes and you haven't been repaid.

Wouldnt we have to sign this though to make it binding? 

Nope.  By returning the dog to her, you showed that you agreed to these terms.

In hindsight, what you should have done was tell her that you would not accept those terms and would expect to be paid in full on X date, at which time you would relinquish the dog (give her a week or whatever) and kept the dog.  If during the time you kept the dog it ended up needing medical attention/procedures, you would document and record the cost of those, and include those in what you expected to be refunded for.  if at X date she did not provide you with a refund, you would then be able to take her to court and state that you attempted to return the dog as per the contract and that she did not refund your money and that in forcing you to keep the dog, you also incurred X amount of medical expenses for the dog and would like to be repaid for that.

Now, sadly, you have to wait until November and if she doesn't pay you in November, you can take her to court.

suv75

No lawyer is going to want to take this on until November has passed and you don't get your money back. Unless its a large sum of cash, just wait. Does your contract say anything about timing of returned money? Seems like you are jumping the gun and even if you file something, it won't get resolved by November.