Yet another CGA issue - what's the guts with a pet store's obligations under the CGA?

Forums › Off topic › Yet another CGA issue - what's the guts with a pet store's obligations under the CGA?

jonathan18

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#214669 23-May-2017 12:24

Note: this is posted with tongue partly in the cheek, but still interested in people's thoughts...

Back in early Feb we bought our two boys two female guinea pigs, described by the sales assistant as sisters.

Fast forward 3+ months to this morning, and my wife gets worried there's a mouse in their cage, only to find it's this:

So clearly the "sisters" are not sisters (as gestation time is well below 100 days), and if they are indeed siblings what they've been up to is illegal amongst humans...

Now it looks like we'll need to get the girl/boy neutered.

But where does that leave us with the original purchase of the "goods" in terms of the retailer's obligations under the CGA?

Consumer's site describes that under the CGA goods must "match the description given in advertisements or sales brochures, or by the sales assistant". Clearly a fail in this case, as we expressly stated we required two females.

So what are the possible remedies for this fail?

A return of the goods for a full refund isn't terribly feasible, given the boys' and our attachment to both of the animals.

But what about the ability to "claim for any reasonably foreseeable extra loss that results from the initial problem"? Had the pet store got its sexing of animals correct we'd not have been facing the problem of having the baby to look after, nor the cost of around $100 for the neutering.

Is it worth requesting the pet shop to stump up (or at least contribute towards) this cost?

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#1786625 23-May-2017 12:32

Animates?

vexxxboy

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#1786631 23-May-2017 12:40

same thing happened with us when we got a cat from the SPCA , wanted a male cat and they gave us a male ginger cat , surprised when a month later it got pregnant, we still have it 8 years later .

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Paul1977

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#1786633 23-May-2017 12:48

I'm not a lawyer, but I would argue that you specifically requested 2 females so they couldn't breed. So in essence you asked for a pair of animals that couldn't breed. The product you received is faulty, as the pair you received can breed. I believe they should be fully liable for the repair costs to rectify the problem - in this case neutering the male.

EDIT: I think you get the choice of repair or replacement, and in this case you'll want repair.

BlueShift

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#1786637 23-May-2017 12:56

CGA issues with pet shops have been around for many years, here's a famous example with a deceased psittacine:

https://youtu.be/npjOSLCR2hE

jonathan18

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#1786732 23-May-2017 13:46

BlueShift:

CGA issues with pet shops have been around for many years, here's a famous example with a deceased psittacine:

https://youtu.be/npjOSLCR2hE

Hah - you had me taking you seriously until I clicked on the link! I think one key difference here is that our pigs have been doing anything but "resting"!

mattwnz

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#1786735 23-May-2017 13:50

vexxxboy:

same thing happened with us when we got a cat from the SPCA , wanted a male cat and they gave us a male ginger cat , surprised when a month later it got pregnant, we still have it 8 years later .

It is very easy to tell with cats! Even when they have had been neutered it is easy to tell.

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jonathan18

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#1786737 23-May-2017 13:51

Paul1977:

I'm not a lawyer, but I would argue that you specifically requested 2 females so they couldn't breed. So in essence you asked for a pair of animals that couldn't breed. The product you received is faulty, as the pair you received can breed. I believe they should be fully liable for the repair costs to rectify the problem - in this case neutering the male.

EDIT: I think you get the choice of repair or replacement, and in this case you'll want repair.

I like your logic!

I'll call by the shop (not Animates, but a local PN store) after work today to talk it over with them, as I'm sure it's something they've come across before.

A compromise position may be for them to issue store credit to the same value as it'll cost us for the op, so the net cost for them will be simply the loss in mark-up on any goods we buy with the credit. I don't want to screw them over, but equally I feel they need to accept some culpability for what's happened, and do something to put it right (as it's the putting right that counts, as we learnt from Mr Martin...).

Bung

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#1786770 23-May-2017 14:19

This problem happens so often that regardless of what the store thought they were at the time you should have been told how to check for yourself especially if they were very young when you got them.

BTR

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#1787475 24-May-2017 14:31

Did the enclosure have a buy two get one free sign on it?

jonathan18

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#1787495 24-May-2017 15:17

BTR:

Did the enclosure have a buy two get one free sign on it?

Well, they probably should have had "buy two get up to three or more free!" sign, as we're just damn lucky she only had one baby - apparently the typical is three in one litter!

I called by to see the shop (Wet Pets and Country Pets in PN) yesterday and, to be honest, the man was unpleasant to deal with and accusatory - he essentially ended up shouting at me, despite me staying calm throughout.

He said they get it right '95% of the time', and it's hard to sex them when they're really young. If that's the case then I'd say the onus is on them to warn new owners of this, and suggest they have them checked again after a week or more to make sure the sexing was correct. Or have a sign saying "Female (we think...)"!

Interestingly, he claimed he's won every Disputes Tribunal case taken against him as to find against him would apparently be "unfair", in that findings of such costs would outweigh the profit made on the original sale. I'm interested to know if that's even an aspect that should come into such a decision - I'd imagine there are many situations where consequential costs exceed the costs of the original goods/service - eg if a fridge installer put a huge scratch across a parquet floor they'd easily be facing costs higher than the original product...

Anyway, we'll see what comes from the conversation - but his response has certainly ensured we won't be buying from them in the future.

MikeAqua

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#1787500 24-May-2017 15:27

Make the pet shop pay child support for the guinea piglet

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mattwnz

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#1787518 24-May-2017 15:48

What was the cost of them? Even if it was taken to the DT, the cost to do that would possibly outweigh the cost of them replacing them.

IMO one solution would be for them to take back two of yours (the baby and the male or female), and replace the male with a female, or vice versa. It is a bit of a compromise though, but the DT findings can go either way. I am not sure if they will look at personal attachment, in terms of the law, as people could also have a personal attachment to a fridge etc.

jonathan18

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#1787533 24-May-2017 16:07

mattwnz:

What was the cost of them? Even if it was taken to the DT, the cost to do that would possibly outweigh the cost of them replacing them.

IMO one solution would be for them to take back two of yours (the baby and the male or female), and replace the male with a female, or vice versa. It is a bit of a compromise though, but the DT findings can go either way. I am not sure if they will look at personal attachment, in terms of the law, as people could also have a personal attachment to a fridge etc.

Oh, it didn't cost a lot of money to buy them; it's more that, given the kids' attachment to their pets, returning them for a refund isn't feasible. So the only realistic way of sorting their mistake is to neuter one of their pigs - and that's at some cost.

I didn't at all go in their threatening the DT, and realise going down this route is a lottery and also probably OTT. It's more whether the shop is willing to assist in sorting out the situation, given they caused it. For example, perhaps their selected vet could do the op at a good price... I'll be pointing out they should be warning customers of the risks, though - that would be just good business practice...

Rikkitic

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#1787633 24-May-2017 17:50

I would have expected some good-natured apologising and some kind of compromise, not belligerence. That is unfortunate. People can make mistakes, especially with this kind of thing. If that is his attitude, I guess you can always point out that bad reviews on social media go a long way. At some point you might want to start naming the shop (after giving the owner an opportunity to be more helpful, of course). Show him this thread. Don't slander him, but just make a neutral statement pointing out that such and such did so and so and this is the result, which he is unwilling to remedy. Point out that anyone doing business with this place might want to get clarification regarding such matters before making a purchase.

Another possibility, of course, is separate enclosures or a partition. You could also consider having a guinea pig chastity belt made, or perhaps you could grind up some of your wife's birth control pills and dose them out in the food.

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dickytim

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#1787847 25-May-2017 06:29

Ok so my experience here is that females and males are very hard to sex in guinea pigs, we had babies and couldn't tell until they were fully grown.

We also had to desex the one male baby that we had as we wanted to integrate our 2 herds into one and didn't want incest amongst ours. It cost around $190 to have the guinea pig desexed and it is a dangerous operation for them as they are very sensitive to a lot of drugs and from what I gather one of a guinea pigs hobbies includes dying.

I would definitely be asking the question of the pet shop, and maybe selling the babies to them to fund the desexing if you have become attached to your furry little pets?

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