Chatham Collies review: Unethical behaviour

In June 2016, our old collie died and we made a decision to buy another puppy from the same breeder hoping to continue with the same bloodline. We contacted Debbie Fergusson (Chatham Collies) by the phone and she informed us of upcoming litter. When the litter was born on August 16th, she contacted us and informed about availability of three puppies. We selected one of them and asked Debbie about deposit amount. She demanded the full price of $1200 (one thousand two hundred US dollars) to be paid to her to secure the puppy. Albeit the full price upfront sounded a bit odd, we did issue her a check in that amount via our bank that she deposited to her account on August 19th A this point, thinking that we are dealing with the trusted seller based on the past history of our relationship with her, we didn’t really pay attention how much money upfront we needed to pay.
On September 24, Debbie informed us via e-mail that she changed her mind and decided to back out of our agreement. Her reasoning was that she wants to keep him for the breeding.
That was a truly devastating news for us, as we still mourn the death of our old dog and counted days to see our new puppy. We could not comprehend how someone professional who received a full payment for something, feels at liberty to break the agreement with total disregard of plans and feelings of other people. At that time, we already had a rental car and hotels booked for our upcoming trip to Chicago to pick up our puppy on Oct 16. Some of these charges were non-refundable of which we informed Debbie. Her reply was that she didn’t sign any written agreement with us and thus, she will be refunding only the amount of the deposit, that is $1200. We abandoned our attempts to receive compensation for non-refundable transportation expenses and asked her to at least return the principal amount. On Sep 27th we asked her in e-mail to send a refund ASAP because it will be needed to secure a puppy with another breeder. We also asked her to provide the date on which refund will be sent. All our e-mails remain unanswered for almost two weeks.
After the formal demand for money letter two weeks later, where possible legal actions were mentioned, she emailed us back, informing us that check was sent, along with very rude personal remarks.
We consider behavior of this breeder unethical and unprofessional and want to warn all potential clients of hers to make sure you have written, signed, and enforceable contact before conducting any business with this person.