Goldenridge Kennels- Unprofessional, Unorganized, Not Recommended
I recently spent almost a year on waiting lists for a dog from Goldenridge Kennels in Maine. It was the worst experience ever. My other dogs we adopted, so spending a lot of money using a breeder was new for us. I wish we would have read this forum first-we didn't know a lot about clearances/certifications, so to the average person it looked good at first glance and they talked up their bloodlines.
What we found was a complete lack of communication and professionalism. The first 2 dogs didn't take, not a big deal-that's Mother Nature, but they didn't tell us this until after the due date and I had to inquire a week after to find this out. So here we were buying a collar the week the pups were due, and the dog wasn't even pregnant. We asked for our deposit back, they said no. We got on 3 more lists, waited months... Again, no communication/updates unless I inquired. Watched FB posts of our #2 dog give birth, emailed asking what happens next and the status of dog #1, they emailed back saying they'd update us as things progress. It came to one week before puppy pick out for #2, still hadn't heard anything and I emailed to check in on dog #1 and #2- all of a sudden we were no longer on dog #2 list, and I had emails to confirm we were. They repeatedly ignored our inquiry on dog #1. They refused that we were on dog #2's list, but they had previously confirmed it in writing several times-it was indisputable. After emailing them our frustrations in a diplomatic way and forwarding the emails confirming our spot on the list, the breeder called us and was very rude, snarky, and extremely unprofessional. Found out our #1 dog had been bred by two studs, because the original stud didn't get along with the female (both reds). So they used a "euro" stud as well as original red stud, and would now have to do DNA tests at $150 a test for parents and puppies and instead of relaying this to us, they ignored us because they didn't think we'd like the answer. They told us we were difficult to deal with from the start, when all we had been was patient. They tried to argue the reason they ignored our inquiries was because I "was so set on a red golden, when most of their customers would be happy with any of their dogs..." implying I was being difficult because I only wanted a red golden. I'm sorry, if I am going to pay $1,600 for a dog-it's going to be the one I want, and we were not interested in the euros. We want a red field golden. They wound up hanging up on us. But it was no surprise, because they called looking for a fight. They sent an email 15 minutes later, confirming they were sending a refund and they were taking us off the two lists we discussed, then they proceeded to name a dog whose list we had never been on! They were still confusing the lists we were on after the fact. It is my opinion they have too many dogs and puppies going at once that they can't keep track. One of their recent FB posts said at one time they had 18 adult dogs and 54 puppies on site. That sounds like a lot.
I wish I could warn more people. I'm so exhausted from the emotional roller coster we went on, it's tainted the whole experience for us. I'm sure some people are very happy because they got a puppy without incident, and nothing makes you happy like the love of a dog, but for us it was a nightmare.
