SARANAC, Mich-- A lot of people feel an instant connection when adopting a pet. Recently, a man in Ionia County felt that as well.
In April, Tony Baumgartner spotted a dog online named Kella, and immediately wanted to bring her home.
“She’s got that fluffy white there in her face,” said Baumgartner.
He found the animal on the site poodlesforlove.com, a page Baumgartner says had a phone number, address and email. He even asked them for additional photos and videos to make sure Kella was truly for sale.
Satisfied, he paid them $300 dollars through an app and began buying pet supplies.
"We went out, we started shopping and buying quite a bit of things. We bought the play pens," said Baumgartner.
Just days before Kella was scheduled to arrive this past week, Baumgartner said the phone number and website stopped working. FOX 17 also received an error message when trying to access the page.
"It wasn’t the 300 bucks or the other things we bought. It was just the fact that it was the dog. It was that particular dog that disappointed me because you know, such a cutie," Baumgartner told FOX 17. "I guess it’s just a lesson learned more than anything you know. So. Just be careful."
FOX 17 has made attempts to contact Poodlesforlove and have not heard back.
When purchasing a pet over the Internet, the Better Business Bureau has some tips. They recommend using a credit card so you can dispute charges if necessary. They also recommend looking for the text of ads and testimonies from a particular site in a search engine to make sure it wasn't copied from another site.
For more tips, you can visit their website.
