Chaffins (Oklahoma) - Unethical Breeders
 

Breeder fraudulent, avoided me after sale & threatened to kill me!

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Breeder: Cissye(Merri) Chaffin
Chaffin Raised Kennel (Atoka, Oklahoma)

I’ve noticed other YT members sharing stories about unethical breeders, so I thought I might as well share my bad experience.

Last fall I was looking for a small male terrier (2-3 lb.) to breed with my female terrier and use as a stud dog. I could only find 4-5 lb. males in my area of Canada, so I went looking on the internet. (I had purchased 2 yorkies in the past and things went smoothly during and after the sale – so I was pretty trusting). I fell in love with a male yorkie advertised on www.yorkiebabypup.com (Chaffin Raised Kennel). Advertised as 13 oz. at 7 weeks, it was the smallest and was the most expensive male they had (out of about 10 male puppies). ($1500 US) The breeder, Cissye Chaffin told me the puppy was the smallest in the litter, one of the smallest males they ever had and mentioned several times how the dad was 2 ½ pounds. (I was told mom was 5 lbs.). She discussed how she thought the puppy would be small like the dad (I did the 3x 8week weight and sure enough it worked out to a 2-3 pound adult). He was adorable, the right size and I bought him. There were some red flags at this point already that should have made me suspicious:

1.Cissye sent me the 8week old pup on a 12 hour journey to Canada (now I know that the tiny yorkies need to stay with their mom much longer before attempting such a flight)
2.Cissye didn’t show me a picture of the mom (just the adorable 2 ½ pound dad) even though I asked for a picture.
3.She had about 20 yorkie pups at that time for sale, and also maltese and brussels griffin pups (does this mean it was a puppy mill?)
4.She didn’t ask me any questions to qualify if the puppy was going to a good home or what I planned on doing with him.

Well I got the puppy – he was adorable like all yorkie pups – but seemed just as big as my five pound yorkies had at 8 weeks. Plus he had these huge paws. My husband immediately told me that the puppy was not going to be a tiny adult. We weighed him and it appeared he had almost doubled his weight in about a week (now was 1 ½ lbs.). I emailed Cissye letting her know that the puppy was cute but why was he so big? Cissye always emailed back quickly b/f the sale, now I waited 3 days with no reply.

Finally I got a hold of her by phone but she couldn’t talk b/c she had a migraine. She told me to phone the next day. I did, but she told she hadn’t had time to look at his weight chart, and that her husband would phone me (he never did). She also told me to buy some stuff from Walmart to deworm him b/c maybe he was full of worms and that was why he was so heavy. My vet rolled her eyes about that one and questioned the puppy’s rapid growth as well?

By now I was becoming suspicious -- they were avoiding me, and the puppy was not the small puppy they had promised and that I had payed extra for. I again looked at the date that their ad first ran on the internet and the date of the puppy’s birth and realized that the puppy was actually 5 weeks old (and not 7 weeks as they claimed) when he was 13 oz. I recalculated his adult weight and discovered his adult weight could reach the 5 lb. range (5 lb. male dogs are $800 in Canada – I paid $1500 U.S. and with shipping, exchange etc. the puppy cost me $2300!!!).

I emailed the Chaffins again stating that I now realized they had given me false information and that I wanted to pay for what I had actually gotten (i.e. I wanted a partial refund). I did not want to exchange the puppy b/c at this point I didn’t trust them: they already had my money, and now I was going to send back the dog??? Plus Cissye had originally told me that it was the smallest male they ever had. So how could they send me a smaller one? Also I didn’t want to put this puppy back on a 12 hour plane ride ( he had arrived with runny eyes, a cough, a horrible smell that lasted weeks, and was diagnosed with an ear infection). I told the Chaffins that if they refused to reply I would report their fraudulent actions to the AKC. Again they did not reply.

I waited a couple days – got up my courage and phoned them again – Cissye was abrupt and told me she didn’t take kindly to threats. Her husband grabbed the phone from her and started yelling at me and verbally abusing me. He kept yelling “WHAT DO YOU WANT” but wouldn’t let me talk. He told me I was nothing but a complainer, a scam artist like all the other scam artists they have to deal with and that I was lucky I didn’t live close by, that I was force feeding the dog, that I knew nothing about yorkies, and that $1500 was the going price for yorkies in the U.S. and that he could have charged me more. When I realized I was getting no where with him, I said I would exchange the pup (didn’t want to do this but didn’t know what else to say) but I asked that they pay for the shipping, since it was their false information that caused the reason for the return. Mr. Chaffin refused. I then asked him to at least split the cost b/c in Can. $ it was going to cost me another $600 to send the puppy back and receive another one. Again he refused to help out and said it wasn’t his fault the Canadian currency was so rotten. At this point I was so frustrated, overwhelmed, and feeling victimized that I started to cry. Mr. Chaffin told me he had better things to do with his time then listen to me cry. I finally lost it, swore at him (I never swear), and told him I was reporting their service to appropriate organizations. It was then that Mr. Chaffin told me that when he comes to Canada to go hunting he’s going to coming looking for me with his gun. He then hung up on me.

On the phone, Mr. Chaffin was totally out of control and sounded like a lunatic. Since I don’t know him from Adam, I decided I should bring his threats to the attention of law enforcement agents. This incident has been reported to the Canadian police and Atoka sherrif’s department. They have dealt with this matter with Mr. Chaffin and commented that Mr. Chaffin to has a “I’m right and every one else is wrong” attitude. He was rude until he was told that a further threat would have him turned away at the Canadian border – according to the police office, Mr. Chaffin suddenly became civil.

When my male puppy finally reached 5 lbs, I got a letter from my vet verifying the weight and e-mailed a copy to the Chaffins letting them know my instincts had been correct, and that I was not the “complainer” and “scam artist” I was accused of being. I asked them one more time if we could work something out. They did not reply - I wasn’t surprised – they already had my money.

My male puppy is now six pounds – a breeder in my area told me to neuter him b/c he will be too big to breed with my 5 lb. female. I have debated selling him and starting over with a new male, however, I will only get $800 for him if I’m lucky. Also my kids have become attached to him, and he to us … Unfortunately I want to stay as a small breeder and I am not in the position to own terriers I cannot breed. I am now in a real dilemma.

One thing I’ve learned from this experience is that it’s not what happens during the purchase that makes a breeder a good, ethical breeder but how the breeder acts after the sale. In my opinion, the Chaffins just want to sell a puppy, and don’t care about the purchaser’s needs or the puppy’s well being. I’m hoping by bringing our experiences into the open, that breeders like the Chaffins will think twice before misrepresenting facts/scamming and abusing their purchasers.

I read that story in another thread. This is terrible! :thumbdown

puppy
 

I'm so sorry you had such a horrible experience

thanks for the warning!!

That's just wrong. I mean this is just wrong! Sorry you were treated poorly

I received this from a yorkie talk member as a p.m. so I won't identify the name:

Cissye Chaffin

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I'm really sorry to hear about your experience with the Chaffins. I know first hand that they are TERRIBLE people. Before I knew much about Yorkies, I got my first one from them. That experience taught me what NOT to do, and the type of people that I shouldn't deal with. Many of the things that happened to you, happened to me as well. Unfortunately, they will continue to do the awful things that they do, and there is not a whole lot that hurt customers like ourselves can do about it. I think that your post here was a great idea, and certainly no one who reads it will ever buy from the Chaffins. I just thought I should let you know that you are not the first person to have horrible problems with Cissye. I feel awful for all of the dogs that she has. They are housed outside and undoubtedly not well taken care of. I'm sorry this is brief, because I could certainly say a million more horrible things about this "breeder." Please keep in contact. I'd LOVE to know what happens in the future.
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I went through a similar thing with a Georgia yorkie breeder. We spoke on the phone and she said she had 3 male Yorkies and 1 female who were 17 weeks old. I explained to her I wanted a boy who would stay under 3lbs. She said she had the perfect puppy for me. She explained that she never sold her puppies under 17 weeks old. I went through an interview process on the phone then drove out to see and purchase the puppy. When I got there I saw 3 puppies. 2 bigger and one sooo small he could curl up in my hand and sleep. She said here are the 17 week old babies. I fell in love with the smallest boy and after an interview with her about my house, yard, where he would stay and everything he would need I took him home. (My first mistake was agreeing to wait for the paperwork to be mailed to me...I know to never do this again. It took 2 months to arrive here). The really surprizing part came a few days later. Romeo...my boy was unable to eat so I took him to my vet for the initial checkup. They told me he weighed about 7oz. (He was tiny) and that there was no way he was 17 weeks old. I had been afraid of that! I didn't realize he was that light weight though. He was all fuzz but looked like the other yorkies she had. Anyway they said he was about 5-8 weeks if even. The reason he wasn't eating is because he was obviously never weaned from his mother. He had to be bottle fed for weeks. then given canned food until his teeth had gotten strong enough to eat solid foods. I called The breeder Jennifer and she told me he was 17 weeks and that my vet was lying. This made me mad. My vet is sooo good and didn't even charge me to help him...their concern was keeping him alive. We argued on the phone then she said she would check something then call me right back. Every call I placed after that has been excuses. Romeo has slow growing hair, he is getting bigger every day...he is 8 months old and weighs almost 6lbs from the last weighing. She never calls me back and if she answers when i call she always avoids responding except to say she will look into it and call me back (she has never called me back)!!! When the paperwork came in it said when I got him he had just turned 8 weeks old. I was sooo mad. I knew she had lied. My vet still thinks that was not his paperwork because if it was he was underdeveloped badly. He is better now but Jennifer was the worst breeder I ever dealt with and it made it hard to trust breeders for a long time. Romeo is my baby and will be with me for his entire life. I didn't want to contact her to return him...I just wanted to know why I was told he was going to be small and was supposed to be 17 weeks old. Always research breeders before buying...that is what I learned! Many good breeders will give a reference list of previous buyers you can ask about their babies. My pom breeder did when we got a pom puppy for a friend.
Anyway I can relate to your story!!!
~Tru

Here are pictures of Romeo a few weeks after he came home. He may not look too tiny but that is a keychain Scoobydoo and a preemy pacifier with him:

I truley believe it is more important to find the right breeder, then the right puppy. too many people get hung up on all the hyope, they don't even care about the breeder.

Any breeder can falsify the registration information, but a reputable breeder won't.

I feel so bad reading these kinds of stories. Many so called 'Breeders' LIE. The good ethical breeders will be honest with you...but there are many many breeders out there just out to make a buck and will tell you what you want to hear. They DO sound like a small mill with the multiple breeds. BIG RED FLAG there.

What really bothered me with your puppy was how unhealthy he seemed to be ...not his weight....that's so sad ....and for a breeder to claim he was probably 'full of worms' is DISGUSTING. What an awful thing for them to say.

Being threatened with guns is pretty scary. I would be tape recording each conversation if I were you.

I hope you don't hold his weight against him ...he deserves a loving home as all dogs do...and if your kids are already attached - why not keep him ? It's so sad to see these little guys bumped from home to home when all they did wrong is just weigh a little more than someone expected.

RED98VETT: I truly don't hold his weight against him - he is now 7 lbs. - and is cuddly and affectionate. It's still disappointing how much I overpaid for him. I could have gotten a standard male yorkie here in Canada for $700. I ended up paying with shipping, exchange, etc. $2200 for him - and now I can't use him for a stud(way too big), must neuter him (another $200) and use another stud (found one in another town -- this will cost me $500). Believe me, I can't afford to spend $2400 on a pet - but was willing to spend the money b/c I saw it as a business (breeding) expense. For whatever reason the Chaffins have now dropped their prices, but still claim that many of their puppies will be 3 pound adults????

TRUE REVIEWS: Sorry you went through a similar experience -- it is very frustrating to be treated like that and have little recourse. I can't believe a breeder would send such a tiny puppy away from his mom so early. I am glad he is now healthy. Did he at least end up under 3 pounds like the breeder promised? Do you want to share the breeder's name so that we can add it to the list of breeders not to use?

don't use these breeders:
 

No Romeo is now 5.5lbs (still small but he is also still growing)
I got Romeo from Jennifer Cole www.colepups.com
Lexie came from Justin www.familyyorkies.com
I wouldn't recommend either breeder! I just learned Romeo actually was sold by Jennifer Cole but cam from Janet Miles in Alabama. I guess she is the actual breeder. I suppose that goes to show you can't always trust what people say...Jennifer said she was the breeder. My tips are always check the AKC banned breeder list (there is a Janet Miles on there...weird huh...think it might be the same woman in a different location???) research the breeder you buy from, always ask to see the parents, and well just be careful. I do believe there are good breeders out there! Many find them! I am still looking but I don't recommend using these! Unless you want lies and the risk of losing a baby! If I hadn't stayed with Romeo 24-7 bottle feeding, washing, cleaning, and medicating him he never would have made it. I was like his surrogate mommy. He was sooo young he had to be helped to go to the bathroom at times. So know who you deal with and watch who people on here reccommend! I think that is a better bet bacause people on here are helpful!
~Tru

I hate to hear you were so taken, but she was one of the first people I contacted about getting a yorkie, since I am in Oklahoma, and I found her sentence...."Let me know if you are looking for a specific type of puppy, if I don't have it, I can get it" I found this one sentence to be all I needed to move right along...

scrapbetter: You were wise! I guess I was so in love with the picture of tiny Tiko on the Chaffin's website that I didn't use any common sense. After getting Tiko, the Chaffin's were so verbally abusive when I expressed concerns and make me feel like I was the problem -- not them. As I hear from others (like yourself) and speak to various Oklahoma pet kennels I have discovered that the Chaffins have had a poor reputation for a long time! Boy, will I handle my next purchase differently. (Poor Tiko is booked for being neutered next week.)

close call! I had emailed her ( Chaffin) about a pup. We almost were close to getting a little boy from her but my Fiance decided that we should wait till after the wedding. So I'll be looking sometime after June this year!!