Petfinder review: Fraud and scam 10

Petfinder is simply a clearing house -an enabler for so called vendors who supposedly have advertised pets available for adoption, petfinder does not screen these vendors for ethical and moral policies when dealing with the public seeking pets. These vendors (supposed foster care homes) are scam operations -fake operations seeking money to support their "fostered" pets, pets they have no intention of placing these animals with anyone. They will not return communications and in reality they are the antithesis of pet rescue organizations, these businesses actually act as act as gatekeepers, blocking potential, adopters from providing good homes to pets. Your best bet is to seek a pet at your local Humane Society, their mission is to help match and assist with real home placements thru adoptions.

I volunteer at a very small local rescue. We have had good results in getting some of our animals adopted out via Petfinder.com. What you have to remember is Petfinder.com isn't adopting out the animals various rescues and shelters are adopting out the animals. Petfinder.com is simply a "classified" ad posting site. From the other side of the fence I get a lot of inquiries from potential adopters, I exchange many many emails only to have the potential adopter suddenly disappear. Why you might ask is this a problem...well I'm a volunteer, when I'm answering emails I'm doing this on my own time-I've come to suspect there are some people who get a kick out pretending to be interested when they actually have no intention of adopting a pet. On the other hand, I have spent hours exchanging emails and have had the pet adopted out to the most incredible person.All I want to do is find the best home for our adoptable animals. And we do take back animals that don't work out for whatever reason, no questions asked. If your gut is telling you the rescue is questionable, move on. There are a lot of really good rescues...and a lot of animals that could use a fresh start in life with a loving and caring owner. When I get an animal into a new home I feel such joy, that's why I keep going even when I have bad experiences.

My dog ran away. The very next day, she was up for adoption at a local shelter, but they claimed that she was already adopted, and they posted her as adopted on petfinder. But I found out after that, that they actually sent her to a high kill shelter, who promptly killed her. I told petfinder about this, and they don't give a s**. If that happened to my dog, it can happen to anyone. And the original shelter who had her killed? They DEMANDED that I pay them $50, which I refused of course! Adopt from your local private citizens or from a reputable shelter, but seriously steer clear of petfinder!

Be very careful when you adopt a dog! The dog we adopted did not work out and the rescue group refused to take him back as was stipulated in their contract. There was never any follow through after we adopted him. They are quick to place dogs and that's where the buck stops.

I used petfinder.com on 4 separate occasions looking to give a loving home to a homeless cat. The result was a lot of frustration and not one cat that was adopted. Unanswered emails, unanswered phone messages and broken engagements were my rewards. It is interesting to note that there is a large "Sponsor Me" button on the website so that you can send in $$$ for the pet that interests you. I honestly believe that many of these animals are not really available for adoption. Save your money. I don't trust petfinder.com and I will never use them again.

My husband and I responded to an ad for a baby pug listed in Sylmar, CA. The ad on petfinder.com said the the animal was house trained, vaccinated, and spayed. When we made contact with the owner, she said that the dog was "almost spayed" and that she also needed to find a home for her IMMEDIATELY because of some excuse about her cats. She said she would drive the pug to our house and then pick it up in a couple of days for her spaying appointment...also she needed a deposit up front. The whole thing was really shady- when we asked if we could come visit the pug in her environment first, she gave us some excuse about a severely sick cat that needed to be quarantined from humans. WHATEVER. Too many red flags to ignore.

I am in total agreement. It is shameful what some people will pull...!
I myself have had nothing but frustration and disappoinment in trying to get a little puppy into our home to love!

I posted an ad to find a a home for a dog at Animal Control that I had an attachment to, and have received almost the exact same email from different email addresses with terrible english. The person/people offering to pay for her want a shipping company to pick her up (what? no. come get the dog.) and lots of my personal info (what? no. come get the dog.) and say they live at addresses that, once googled, do not exist or are homes for sale. DO NOT COMPLY. They start with 'How are you doing over there today with your adorable pet?' and go on to describe some sort of family situation. 'we have a Female Daughter Kerry Theodore, she cherish pet a lot ' (female daughter? how bout just a daughter. she cherish a lot? ...) 'I am capable for the adoption fee for the pet i really love to have your pet to be part of my lovely family' ...'i will be sending you the pictures of the lovely pet to you after he gets down to our lovely family' (the pet was a she) 'so that you will know how caring we are for pet because we are not a pet abuser' (a pet abuser?) 'i have a reliable and competent pet shipping company they shipped pet for my family in some years back... that will be coming to your door step at your location for the pick up of the pet at your location after you might have receive my payment' (shipping? no. come get the dog.) 'i will need you to provide me with your full payment information such as: Your full name to be written on the cashier check your Physical contact address Your area zip code Your Phone numbers for smooth communication' (who in their right mind...? no.) 'be rest assured that we are a loving and Caring family in Mathew family...read from you soon'. (the 'matthew family' this time, huh? bc you sign the email as 'Mr Mike Colin.' and the last time, you were 'David Ryan'.)

I attempted to adopt a horse from Petfinder.com. The horse was listed as located in Huntington WV. It was free and I made application only to find that the rescue place was in Huntington WV but the horse was located in Grafton, several hours away! After the horses were delivered to the rescue organization, the owner of the organization, Tinia Cremeans, stated that I could not have the horses at my current farm. She took an instant dislike to the barn owner for an unknown reason and stated that I could not take the horses to that barn. We have 280 acres. I made arrangements to have them delivered and even signed a contract for them; however, I was eventually denied. My references checked out and then I get a hateful email from Tinia Creameans, d.b.a. Lucas Farm And Rescue, stating that we were not suitable for the horses. Isn't that crazy? I've owned horses longer than she has been alive and rescue them frequently. Never do business with Petfinder OR LUCAS FARM AND RESCUE IN HUNTINGTON WV

My complaint with petfinder.com is I advertised a lost cat, paid the fees for the upgrades - only $12.00 but still - I started getting emails from various people that obviously didn't know English too well - one started out with telling me she has a friend she visited and the cat she rescued looked just like mine, and I should contact her. She gave me an email address. I wrote to this other woman, and she waited two days to respond. Meanwhile, I'm pulling my hair out. She then tells me that she is a tourist operator and had to take the "little one" with her to Cameroon (can you believe that crap) but that she had a plane ticket for her and would be home soon. In her email she mentions the dog, however, I advertised a lost cat. I've emailed petfinder several times, gave all the scammed email addresses to them, and they never responded. They are responsible for these scam artists - we shouldn't be the ones going after them.