I would spend that money on an attorney instead, if it were me. They waited until you were good and attached to your baby, now they're hitting you up for more money. Believe me, they got their money already or you woulda heard from them LONG ago. Please don't do anything until you speak with someone who KNOWS something, k?

If that bank isn't yours to begin with, how can they say NSF? They would have said account does not exist. I would go in person to the sheriff department and request to see the alleged paperwork they have.
Also see if you got charged for the puppy, if you did not get charged, you will have to pay for her.

They may just have a carbon copy when it was put thru the machine.
I hope this will all work out soon. Hang in there.

Willow I am glad that you are getting help with this, but BE CAREFUL! When they ran that check that money came from somewhere for you to get a reciept. DON"T pay twice!!!

OK I am trying to keep my head clear on all this, yes we think something is up too...but the money I thought I had paid on Maddie did not come off the credit card, so for all intent and purposes, I do still owe them the money for Maddie.

The check has been froze. The card has been froze. I know they didn't make a copy of the check because the check didn't leave my hands until we met at the petstore and I handed the check to the store owner. The breeder met me there with Maddie.

They ran it through a machine, said it was good, handed me the check back with the receipt stapled to it and void written across the check in permanent black marker.

Yes, the breeder got her money because they took it out of the drawer at the pet store and gave it to her. Right now it is the pet store that is saying they are out the money. I told the "sherriff" that I didn't buy her from the petstore....he said he already knew that, he knew that I had paid a cash deposit, and that the store owner wasn't upset or anything they were just "concerned" because they had called several times and left messages and I hadn't returned the calls. That is not true. She has never called me. I told him think about it, you call me and leave a message and I call right back.

My local sheriffs department thought it sounded fishy too. He told me to make copies of everything, and that is what I am doing. We also are going to tell the cc company that we want to cancel the card completely because we don't want these people to try to run the check again after we pay this.

First, let me say I'm glad your getting to keep your Maddie. TG for your Angel!

Second, it sounds like the store clerk AUTHORIZED your check (card) for the amount of the sale but neglected to charge it to your card. An authorization only places a hold on the money for about 24 hours. Hotels and gas stations usually authorize your card first (before you use their room or pump their gas) and then, upon check out, or filling your tank they BILL the actual amount. That sounds like employee error to me and I'm surprised you'd be liable.

I agree. I'm sorry that the store messed up but it's not Willows problem. For all intense purposes the store ran the check, authorized it and gave the money to the breeder. I find it odd for the breeder to run her business through the petstore too. That should raise some red flags for the authorities. I'd question that she's an actual breeder.

I also see Willow's point though. Her card was never charged the money so technically she would till owe for Maddie. But you know what, again, it's the stores error. I have a friend who has used his debit card for purchases to not ever be charged for them. If the store fails to process the transaction then it's the stores issue. No one ever tracks him down because they don't know how to reach him, the don't know where the error happened. So why is the store now contacting Willow?

I still say find out your consumer rights. Call attorney generals office.

can you not check your statements and cc activity online? thats waht i do with everything it says when i bought something and where i bought it from. its shows everything. I have mine with chase and go the chase.com website

I just now saw this. I definitly think somethings not right...Why would they wait so long? If a check doesn't clear or funds don't go through, they would find out a lot sooner than 2 months later! Hopefully everything is straightened out.


I'm glad you are able to keep Maddie! Whomever helped you out, they are a blessing and that was very sweet of them!

I work for a bank, and everytime someone tries to deposit or cash a cc check we have to sent it to collections the reason why is because it is very hard to collect the funds from the cc company and the whole process can take up to 90 days so I was thinking if the pet store took the check to their bank and the bank sent the check to collections that is why it could had taken that long for them to notify you, but at the same time if they didn't even have the real check but only a copy of it ther is no way that the bank could had taken a copy of a check and deposit it.
I agree with everybody else here that there is something fishy about the whole ordeal.
In the meantime, I'm so glad that you are keeping Maddie and that there is always an angel watching over us.:)

After reading all of these posts, this (above) sounds exactly what has happend. We have a business and use credit..The authorization she had to start with, was accurate in the begining, and then she more than likely didn't follow through with A.) not doing a "close out" on her machine or B.)for some reason held on to the check until later, a month or so, and you used the card elsewhere and by the time she did run the check, the card didn't have that much room left for that amt. of $$ You can obtain authorization for the checks or card accts. themselves, but it does only hold that authorization for a certain amount of time and unless the bus. owner "closes out" the day or weeks charges/credits, the lending bank of the credit card holder never follows through with the transaction, because it was never completed...its kind of complicated, but bus. owners know how its supposed to go...well....most of them:rolleyes: So the pet store owner could have held on to that check and never closed out the machine, maybe remembered or found the check misplaced for a month or more, runs it again, at that time the card is maxed out and she's got a cc check thats on an acct. thats NSF...That is so sad for you Alycia....THATS not your fault....Its the store owners fault! They do know within 3-5 days if the bank that they use for their CC transactions has deposited all the CC charges they have made throughout the day or week though..so it only makes sense that they sat on this check/transaction:( When I do a days business, and I close out my machine, I know within 3 business days if my money is in the bank or not. I may have authorization on each transaction I did, and the customer has a receipt for it, but if I don't close out my machine to finalize my days or weeks charges, all I got is a batch of approved money, to be mine and never get it..does that make sense?????? Look on the "sherrifs" copy of the check or anywhere but your check, and see if you can see when the pet store attempted to run the transaction...I bet you'll find it was ALOT later than the day that you actually got Maddie.

keep us posted.

I might also add that its against every single Banks policy to allow a customer( Pet Store owner) to run funds through their account to be paid out to a third party. I can't have another business run their customers cc through my account and me pay the business, just because they aren't set up to do transactions of this type. Thats a big no no. That can get real sticky, as you can see in this situation...in a hypothetical situation...she takes you to court and she is asked... (Judge) ok, you sold her a dog and she wrote a check that is NSF...and she replys...well no, it wasn't my dog, its was someone elses dog, but she didn't have a CC machine to take a check on the CC company the check was on.... (Judge).so you didn't provide any service to this lady who wrote you this check...well no, but this other lady did and she is already paid, by me and now....you see how this can get