PetWorks PetStore located in Grossmont Center/La Mesa in San Diego, CA sells sick, unhealthy puppies to unsuspecting customers and doesn't stand behind their warranty if you should have problems. This is not a chain store, but an individually owned and operated pet store whose owner is Richard Fuller, of Richard Fuller Inc. d.b.a. PetWorks. If I can prevent one person or family from going through what I went through, then this blog will have been worth it! 
     We all hear the horror stories about pet stores, puppy mills and how it's best to go through a reputable breeder or adopt from  the humane society right? But we all see those cute, adorable puppies in the window and think..."it could never happen to me?" But if you look up Petworks on Yahoo Reviews, Google Blogs or My Space or even the Better Business Bureau of San Diego, like I should have done first, then you will see the numerous stories of families devastated by PetWorks' ruthless and unscrupulous practice of selling sick, defective and unhealthy puppies to people.
     So here's my story to add to the list of people victimized by this heartless pet store PetWorks in the Grossmont Shopping Center of La Mesa/San Diego:

     I went in on 01/02/07 and fell in love with a 3 month old Golden Retriever and was wanting a puppy in my life to train as a service dog. I am a disabled, U.S. Navy veteran and wanted a canine companion. I had been to the store before and seen the smiling faces and joy of all the people looking at puppies. People buying them impulsively like we tend to do. I ,also, had a store credit from earlier in the year when I almost bought a Westie from them and changed my mind because when I got home I realized I truly couldn't afford the purchse price for the Westie. So they seemed to understand and gave me a year to use this credit at their store, but no refund. I was impressed and thought it was very nice of them to do that for me. 
     Well, I should have used my store credit to buy pet supplies and donate them to the animal shelter as good karma, but No! I saw this 3 month old golden retriever puppy, had saved up my money this time, and yep, I went for it. The puppy was so sweet and smart. I came back 3 days after I had paid for the pup in full earlier on Tuesday,01/02/07, to bring the puppy home on that Friday, 01/05/07, over weekend so we could have time to bond. When I got to the store, a store employee told me "I have some bad news...the puppy has contracted kennel cough (a highly contagious illness btw) and can't go home yet." That was Friday, 01/05/07, and I was finally able to bring the golden retriever puppy home on 01/30/07 after the puppy had finished all the antibiotics. I had the puppy home for less than 24 hours when I noticed the puppy had severe dry skin, couldn't stop chewing and scratching, and was obviously very uncomfortable. The veterinarian diagnosed the puppy's skin problem as Primary Seborrhea which is a hereditary defect. 
    They only gave me a 50% refund minus $80 for some trumped up kenneling fees took the puppy back and resold it. I tried to get all my money back in small claims court. But I lost! I had signed two addendum forms after the original contract so the judge had to decide in their favor. He did say that he was definitely convinced they intended to sell me a sick dog, that the kennel fees was in his opinion "chinsy" and that if it were his business he would have given me all my money back with an apology.
     Not only did they refuse to honor their 1 year warranty, but the two addendum forms they had me sign voided their warranty....pretty sneaky huh? So I am out $540, still have no service dog and they took the dog back and resold it! I hope to prevent anyone else from going thru what I did. This place needs to be shutdown and put out of business! 

      SO STAY AWAY FROM PETWORKS PETSTORE IN THE GROSSMONT SHOPPING CENTER IN LA MESA/SAN DIEGO, CA! 

     Oh and the BBB which they belong too wasn't much help either in resolving this either. Petworks uses BBB logo as just a ploy. PetWorks belongs to the BBB and is using them, in my opinion, to appear to be a reputable business. If you do your research like I did not do first, then you will see that this is a very sad, but true story similiar to other people who have bought pets from PetWorks.