About Pets Center — Attraction in Salem

Absolutely the WORST breeder and person living on the face of the earth. Dealing with this woman for the last 2 1/2 years has been literally a living hell. We purchased our Yorkshire Terrier from Victoria Radford in December of 2016 for $2,400. We had a contract for a purebread Yorkshire Terrier and was told that she was free from an defects. Being a new puppy mom, I was quite unaware of questions to ask and she did not provide pictures of the dog as she said she was not advanced in that area but we talked for hours upon hours, she came recommended from another breeder in NY and she made arrangements to have the puppy flown to NJ from VA. Upon seeing our new puppy, we fell in love. She did seem to have a strange underbite but Victoria said that would correct with her adult teeth. She seemed knowledged and boasted of her 25 years of being a breeder . She seemed very helpful with my questions as a new puppy mom....at first. When we went to spay her (as per our contract) at 5 months old, we found out she had liver shunt. Victoria denied that it could be true and told us to wait a few months and have her blood work retested. We actually started to question our vet and took her to another vet for a second opinon a couple months later. After thousands of dollars of bloodwork and an ultrasound, she was indeed diagnosed with a Portocaval Portosystemic Liver Shunt. She also has patellar luxation and a severe underbite . We notified Victoria immediaty and from there the relationship changed as we enacted our right under the health guarantee of the contract. We wound up settling with her in which she did wind up doing the right thing and cancelled the contract and withdrew all liability from the contract and our dog after a month of emails and threats of legal action. That was fine with us as we will be happy to care for our puppy for whatever time she may have left. She is a part of our family and we would never purchase or take another dog from Victoria's line again. That was October 2017. Now fast forward to May 2019. We contacted Home Again where our dogs microchip is registered (Victoria had that put in before she came to us). We wanted to combine her account with our other dog. We come to find out that Victoria never transferred the microchip to our names!! So we put in for the transfer. Victoria SPITEFULLY DENIES the transfer. WHY ON EARTH WOULD SHE WANT TO BE NOTIFIED OR BE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR DOG IF SHE GETS LOST?? This is just pure evil and spite and how this woman does business and lives her life. We now are in the process of re-applying for the transfer and have to get multiple businesses involved and she is wasting the resources of Home Again, our Vet and we may have to file a Civil Action against her to be able to get the chip transfered to our name. Again, this woman is just PURE EVIL!!! Anyone who does just has hatred in their heart and doesn't care about anyone . I would NOT recommend doing business with someone like this ....EVER. UPDATE: My vet contacted Home Again and this they told my vet that Victoria claimed that she was in possession on my dog!!! Are you kidding me! She literally LIED and told the microchip company that she has my dog. My vet told her that they literally scanned her 15 minutes ago and that is impossible as she couldn't be in Virginia and New Jersey and that the dog has been vacinnated, registered with our town, and treated for over 2 1/2 years in New Jersey. Now I have no choice but to file court papers tomorrow and to file complaints with the AKC, the USDA, the BBB, and the Federal Trade Commission. This woman is an absolute liar...

We drove 6 hours with our three sweet cats to Roanoke, VA from Charleston, SC for a wedding. We chose to leave them at About Pets Center for the night before we continued to Richmond, VA to be with the family for the holidays (as pets are not allowed at Hotel Roanoke). We dropped them off just before 2pm Saturday and picked them up at 10am the next day (sunday). This center only opens at 5pm for pickup on Sundays but they said we could pay an extra $50 to get them earlier. Reluctantly we agreed as we had a cookie decorating party to get to in Richmond Sunday afternoon. About Pets center appeaered to be the best option as the webiste depicts the animals sitting on sofas and comfortable and also has resort in the webaddress. However, after leaving our cats with the mute assistant who did not appear to enjoy her job, our cats were kept in a small metal cage like the ones sick cats are put in at the vet with nothing soft. They hesitated when we asked if we could see where they'd be staying. I mention mute because to feel comfotable leaving your animals with a stranger it is typically nice to have them at least show the animals some attention whether that is saying their name, talking to them or petting. Nope, this was more like a prison. I probably could have paid extra for a room but that was never even offered and wait until you hear how much I was charged for what I got. Being that it was only for the night I figured it wouldn't be so bad.

The next day we arrived at 10 am and had to wait until someone showed up as there was no one there (all animals unattended). Before I even saw the cats, the lady told me the total: $182.00. I thought I must have misheard her. Nope, 182 was it. I told the lady that it seemed a little excessive (especially considering that no one in their right mind would knowingly pay for their animals to go to prison for the night). She had included the $50 early pickup charge, but had also charged us for an extra day on each cat even though they shared the same cell and were only there for only 20 hours. I doubt they were ever let out of their cell.

So for the price of a room at the hotel roanoke you can have your animals locked away in a cage for the night.

I paid and sarcastically told the lady I'd write a "Good Review"

In conclusion, avoid this place unless you're willing to pay $10 an hour to have your animal punished. The only thing that About Pets Center is about is Money.

My proposal: change the name to About $ Detention Center and take resort out of the website name.

Would love to hear an excuse from the Owner as he/she appeared to have had excuses for other...

I feel it is a duty as a pet owner to make people aware of this place. I could have just walked away from the bad experience without making a stink. However, in my opinion this place isnt just bad it is dangerous.

I left my dog there once as it was the only place that had room on a holiday weekend. The fact they had openings and no one else did should have been a sign. When i got there, my sense was something wasnt right. But I had a plane to catch and really no other options. I instead decided to buy my dog all the "perks" they offer. For example, if you want your dog to go outside you have to pay extra. I figured if I paid for as many perks as possible at least that would be some insurance my dog would be treated ok. They also have a policy that they do not give back "extra food" which probably means they dont monitor the food they are supposed to give the dogs. What other boarding place doesnt give you back the extra food. Super Shady. . When i picked my dog up he was out of breath like I have never seen before. He had clearly been left in hot conditions for extended period of time. I put him in the car with the AC blasting and it took him a good hour to cool down.

The older lady at the front could car less about your pet. I have no idea why she runs a boarding business. She seems to not only car about animals but you feel she has a sort of disdain for them when you speak with her. In addition to ALL this, the place is just a complete rip off and they will try to charge you for anything possible. My bill was something like 60-80 dollars a day to board a dog.

If you want a good place to board your dog in the Roanoke area that isnt a rip off and will actually care for your pet check out Valley Animal Hospital. They are the best.

I repeat stay clear of this place.

Edit: Why would I tell you who I am? Look what you did to the guy below me. You purposely used his name and home city in your post for SEO purposes "Clay Fulk of Charleston, SC." So now if someone Googles his name this will pop up. That alone should be telling to anyone considering to board their...