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Mid January of 2010 my husband inquired about a purchase of a female Westie. Pursuant to his phone call Carol Sutton, owner Gabelle Kennels, indicated that two litters were due on or about February 17th and February 21st of 2010 as displayed on her website. Furthermore, she indicated that although two female puppies were already promised to other homes, if a third female is born into a litter, said puppy would be available to purchase. We then forwarded a check in the amount of $220.00, which represented one-third of the total price of $650.00 for the puppy. On or about February 24, 2010 we called Carol Sutton beacause we did not hear from her after sending the check.She advised us that the first litter only had male puppies and our deposit would now be placed on the second litter, which had three females which were born on that day, February, 24th. Our deposit was cashed on March 1, 2010, approximately four days before she departed for Disney with her family.She returned on or about March 17, 2010. We left several messages to inquire about our puppy.Our calls were never returned.
Finally, on March 22, 2010 after making another call to Carol she finally answered her cell phone and told us that our puppy had died on February 25th. This news was a shock since our bank records indicated that she cashed our deposit on March 1.2010, approximately one week after our puppy died and one day before leaving for Disney. Her excuse for not returning our calls until 26 days later was that her phone got wet in Disney and didn't work, and the Wi Fi in her room in the resort didn't work. Upon receiving the news of our puppies death we requested that our deposit be returned. Especailly since it was placed on two different litters, and then placed on our puppy that supposedly died. Carol Sutton said 'she will return the deposit within the month" (March), but it never came. Then Carol Sutton said "by the end of April", but it never came, then Carol Sutton said to" send her a letter to inform her that we no longer want a puppy from her in case down the road we changed our minds", we sent the letter..the deposit never came. She only has a cell phone contact her. When we sent our deposit she told us to make it out to Carol Sutton because she doesn't have an account for Gabelle Kennels. We have not received our deposit. We will continue to proceed with this matter until our deposit is sent to us in the amount of $220.00. We hope our expirence with Carol Suttons may protect the next consumer, to purchase with a more reputable breeder, one that is honest and forthright. One that does not spend your deposit after the puppy dies and uses it for her spending money in Disney.
Anyone reading this please go on Gabelle Kennel's website under Available Puppies and Upcoming Litters, it says "if something should happen to the puppy the deposit will be refunded". Maybe Carol with today's technology did not know how to ask someone on her huge family trip to Disney if they had cell phone that she could use.? It took 26 days for her to contact us! The puppy was born on Februaary 24, 2010. The puppy died on February 25, 2010.She cashed our deposit on March 1, 2010. Left for Disney spent our deposit which should have been kept in a escow account. I bet the IRS would like to see all of our documentation regarding our unfortunate expierence with Carol Sutton. She only has a cell phone for a businesss that says "Sorry I can't come to the phone" when the voise mail comes on, you don't even have the business name on your phone? She also had us write the deposit check to Carol Sutton., because she said she doesn't have a business account for Gabelle Kennels. I bet the IRS would like to know about this as well! You are a very dishonest woman Carol Sutton and we will continue to advise every advocacy available, and contact every legal avenue to protect any potential buyer. We will never tire of doing what is right ! It's interesting that she finally has something to say after avoiding us since March 2010.
Every "dog has it's day!"!
Just found out on Friday, August 6, 2010 that Carol Sutton had a home phone that she could have used to contact us regarding the death of our puppy. All this time she kept telling us she did not have ahome phone just a cell phpne. Carol Sutton also runs a day care from her home and the state of new York confirmed that she does indeed have a home phone line for many years at that .. So...Our puppy is born on February 24, 2010. Our puppy dies on February 25, 2010. Carol Sutton owner Gabelle Kennels cashes our deposit on March 1, 2010 leaves for Disney on March 5, 2010. "Claims that she couldn't contact us in Disney" because her phone got wet".
Plus, "the Wi Fi wasn't working in her room at the resort."
Almost one month later, on March 22, 2010 she finally answered her cell phone. Could it be possible that her home phone in New York got wet as well as her cell phone she was carring in Disney? How can a woman of children, grandchildren, plus runs a day care do such a thing to someone else's children? Our two little girls. You are a dishonest woman Carol Sutton. You should be ashamed of yourself!
Update.
Monday, August 16, 2010
We recieved our deposit from Carol Sutton
in full $220.00.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Carolyn Kackowski of US
Apr 02, 2022
Writing for my friend, Carolyn W. about Gabelle Kennels owned by Carol Sutton. It is located in NY. My pup was born 2/24/19 and was beautiful. Drove from CT and met "Mike" in Albany, NY to pick up my puppy. There were 5 others picking their puppies. Now..August, 2020 she began to stop eating, became lethargic and was not her "normal" happy, playful self. After, blood tests, Xrays and exams by two different Vets, she was diagnosed with Shakers disease..a neurological disease. I called Carol Sutton to ask for parental info and she just said that she heard of Shaker disease but none of her dogs had. She has answered the phone since. This has cost thousands and my poor, sweet girl suffers. There is no cure. What I would like to know is: Does anyone else who has purchased a Westie from Carol Sutton or Gabelle Kennels in NY state? Both vets said this is genetic. She will not even reply. I still love my dog very much but I would like info.
kdmag,
Thank you for posting your complaint to this website. I recently purchased a male Westie puppy from Carol in January. My boyfriend and I paid the initial $220 deposit to reserve our puppy, and within a matter of days we were told that the vet had diagnosed our dog with a "slight heart murmur". Carol notified us of this health condition, but then told us that the dog would be perfectly fine and would most likely outgrow the murmur. Because of his heart murmur Carol told us she would not charge us more than the initial deposit for the dog. A few weeks after we picked up our dog from Carol, we took our dog to the vet. My boyfriend and I were so excited about our new puppy and couldn't wait for positive feedback from our vet. Within ten minutes of speaking to our vet, the vet told the vet technicians in the room to give him some privacy because he needed to "have a private conversation with these people". At first, I was shocked...the vet said that the dogs heart murmur was between stages 3.5 to 4. He said he would not neuter the dog for fear that he would die during surgery.. upon additional examination he also diagnosed our dog with PDA. With PDA most dogs have a 64% chance of dying before they reach one year of age. I called Carol to return the dog, and she said that was fine as long as we paid $0.40 per mile if she picked the dog up. She harassed me over the phone and made me feel like I was a bad dog owner to consider giving our dog up. In addition, she refused to give us back our deposit of $220...while the entire time we were given a dog with a congenital condition. Working with Carol has been a complete nightmare and I have reported her to the Better Business Bureau as well as the AKC. After searching for every option imaginable to keep our dog, I have decided to give "Leo" to Westie Rescue where he can have the opportunity to receive proper treatment for his condition. I've had 4 Westies during my lifetime, and I am completely heartbroken that I cannot keep my dog. I'm 23 years old, and while I am starting my career I cannot afford to give my dog open heart surgery because I was duped by a breeder in NY. I will never go back to Carol Sutton for any services.
Carolyn Kackowski of US
Apr 02, 2022
This is about Gabelle Kennels owned by Carol Sutton. It is located in NY. pup was born 2/24/19 and was beautiful. I drove from CT and met "Mike" in Albany, NY to pick up my puppy. There were 5 others picking up their puppies. By August, 2020 she began to stop eating, became lethargic and was not her "normal" happy, playful self. I brought her to two different vets..oh, and when I had brought her home from Albany, of course I brought her to a vet for all of her shots. After, blood tests, Xrays and exams by two different Vets, she was diagnosed with Shakers disease..a neurological disease. I spent thousands of dollars for these tests I called Carol Sutton to ask for parental info to discuss with her and she just said that she heard of Shaker disease but none of her dogs had. it even though both vets said it was genetic. She has never answered the phone since that call. This has cost thousands and my poor, sweet girl suffers. There is no cure. What I would like to know is: Does anyone else who has purchased a Westie from Carol Sutton or Gabelle Kennels in NY have a dog that has now been diagnosed with Shakers? Both vets said this is genetic. She will not even reply. I still love my dog very much but I would like info about her parents.I would also like to warn others that this is heart breaking to see your dog shake and become sick. I would also like others to suddenly have huge health expense for your dog.
Whoops..I would also like others to know they might have huge health expenses for a sick dog. And, they also might have to deal with the heartbreak to see your little Westie suffer.
ps - not sure how this happened but I just want to be sure it was known that my review should have a thumbs down and not sure how the "'" on line 1 got there - must have been a computer blurb!
Carol, please do not diminish the severity of my puppy's congenital problem - I have records from 4 different vets offices who examined her before her surgery. I was more than willing to supply you with her medical records but the only thing you were interested in was the receipt from her surgery - which I provided to you. My complaint has nothing to do with her fall or her change in food. All of the vets said this was a problem she was born with. I am not going to debate this with you any longer, I have said my peace - you can color it however you like to make yourself feel better, we both know what was said in our discussions. It is what it is, but I stand by what I said - you do not stand by the puppies you breed or their owners.
To kdmag you never showed proof to me or my vet that your dog had any genetic defect I asked for proof like the warranty states but you never showed any, people will do anything to get money back. The fact that your puppy fell down a flight of stairs at 4 months could have something to do with it. You did not do anything I recommended you to do, you changed her food to cheap grocery food and then complained that the dog was itching I told you up front not to change the food because Westies are known for allergies but you changed it anyway and complained to me about her be allergic to her food I told you to change her back to the premium food and not grocery store food you did and her allergies got better, people complain but most of the times they bring the problems upon themselves. I have had more than 400 puppies born in the last 20 years and to have 2 complaints is not a bad deal.
I bought a puppy from Carol & would never, ever recommend her as a responsible breeder. I am not going to get into the details of our exchange but my puppy was proven to have congenital problems. Carol did not stand by the puppy or me, she lied to me & then conveniently stopped taking my calls. I wish I had known then what I know now about her & how to get my opinion of her out to the public so this could be avoided for others considering a purchase from her. I love my Westie, she is the one who has had to truly suffer from this. I have learned a valuable, expensive lesson from this, would never consider another puppy from her & think if you cann0t be a responsible, respectable breeder you should get out of the business, because for her I truly believe this is a business - this is for money only & not for the love of the dog. Future dog owners please beware!
There are two sides to all stories -- and there's probably more to this one. I have bought wonderful puppies from Carol, found her to be a most responsible breeder. She can be a bit scatter-brained at times because she has so much on her plate trying to make a combined kennel breeding/day care life. I would not hesitate to buy another puppy from Carol -- in fact she'll be the first I call for my next Westie or Cairn.
Yeah, Sutton, you're garbage.
Deposits are only non-refundable on the merchandise (that's what dogs fall under when it comes to contract cases like this) if the merchandise is delivered. Should the merchandise be faulty (ex. sick, die, not the size promised) the person then gets a refund of their deposit as the contract was broken by the seller.
Give these people back their money. Ms Sutton you're coming off as a scammer and right about now you should be doing your damndest to save face.
Heck, take 'em to the People's Court, you'll get your money back and everyone will know to avoid this nasty twit.
Hi I am Carol Sutton most of what the Gallaghers are saying is lies. They did send a deposit and there original puppy did die that is the only truth to there side of the story. On all my websites and ads is state NON-REFUNDABLE deposit that is the custom of all breeders the reason for that is so we are not holding puppies for people who could possibly scam us I do turn alot of people away from me if I know I will not have the amount of puppies I have deposits for. The Gallagher story goes like this: they sent a deposit for a future puppy knowing I may not have a puppy for a few months for them, I cashed their puppy after it was born I did tell them that their puppy was very small and I was going to do all I could to keep her going they knew that up front but they wanted a puppy. I did have a family trip scheduled and paid someone to stay at my home to watch the adluts and take careof the puppies while I was away the female puppy in the litter died (that does happen sometimes no matter what you try to do) while I was away I did not have an internet connection we stayed in a condo that was to have wifi but I could never log on. I did not have the Gallagher phone number with me and while I was in Disneyworld there was a storm that came through and my cell phone got wet and wouldn't work, when I returned home I did send an email to the Gallaghers telling them about their puppy and did notify the I had another litter due in a couple weeks, they did send me an email stating they felt bad about the first puppy but they were willing to wait until Whitney had her puppies in the mean time I had people calling and emailing wanting a puppy but I told them I wasn't taking any deposits at that timeif the wanted to call back in a couple weeks after Whitney had her puppies I would know for sure if I had any more puppies available. I notified the Gallaghers that the puppies were born on 3/27/10 all week I kept in contact with them on Monday 3/22/10 (the due date) I took Whitney to the vet and did an x-ray there were 5 puppies in there I talked to theGallaghers again on Thursday the 25th. they wanted me to guarantee the puppies would be born on Friday the 26th (an unreasonable guarantee no one can guarantee a due date unless a c-section is scheduled) I did take Whitney back to the vet to see if a c-section was warranted my vet said everything looked good just wait it out on Saturday the 27th Whitney had 5 puppies 3 girls and 2 boys. I notified the Gallaghers but the said the changed their mind and didn't want a puppy. They knew for the beginning it was a NON-REFUNDABLE deposit