The account of that day written from my notes to CFA:

On the Sunday before Christmas 2004, that would be Dec. 19^th, at 8:11 am, Mr. Bill Carr called me about a kitten I had pictured on my website, a flame point male clearly marked in big red letters, “sold!”

I asked him if he did not see the “sold!” sign. He told me he did but still wanted the kitten. I thought this very strange so I told him not only was it sold but it was already gone and that I was sorry but I couldn’t help him. Most people would have hung up at that point or asked if there were any other kittens available but he continued on with his story, about how he wanted to purchase this kitten for his wife for Christmas since she had just lost her cat of 18 years, a flame point male. (I have continued to question this fact in my mind, since he did not sound old enough to have had a cat for 18 years, and the mother told me they were a very young couple with a baby) He also told me that he had placed a deposit on a kitten with another breeder but that she had called that morning to tell him that the kitten would not be ready for Christmas because it had become ill with an upper respiratory. I thought that I could tell he was desperate, he said he had looked everywhere. I couldn’t seem to get him off the phone so I listened and felt sorry for him. I told him about a kitten that I was thinking of keeping for myself and that I had not yet offered for sale, a blue-eyed white male about 11 weeks old, I asked him if he thought that would help. He got real excited and said that it would. He was clearly eager to have the kitten, site unseen, and asked if I could hold it for him. I explained that I do not “hold” kittens without a deposit, especially at Christmas, and explained to him the price of the kitten and the deposit amount and that it would be subtracted from the purchase amount. I also told him that if he didn’t want to place a deposit then he could take his chances on whether or not it would be here come Christmas. I told him that I would not offer it for sale unless asked specifically for a blue-eyed white male. He told me again that he wanted the kitten and wanted me to hold it. I advised him that I thought it best to let me at least send him a picture first of the kitten to see if he liked it. I was worried that since this kitten has a flat face it might not be to his liking. I obtained his email address and immediately sent him a photo. He never asked or offered to come and look at it in person.

He called me back within a few minutes and told me he liked it and wanted the kitten and asked again if I would hold it until Christmas. There was never, ever any question about him wanting to purchase this kitten as a present for his wife for Christmas. I asked him when he wanted to pick it up and he explained that he had just talked to his mother, who used to be a Himalayan breeder and that she would be able to take care of the cat for two days, so could he pick it up on Wednesday? I told him that would be fine, did he know that I was more than an hour away, he did but could I deliver the kitten? I then told him that on Wed I would be going to Temecula, a town about half way between us, to deliver two kittens to a disabled lady. I told him if he liked, I could meet him there, it would save him some drive time but that I did not have the time to go all the way to his town. He asked me what time, I told him it was open but depended on when the other lady was available. He told me he thought that was a great idea, in fact perfect and it would help him a lot. He was never at any time told that he could not see the kitten at my home, in fact he never asked, he asked to have it delivered to him in Ontario, CA. 

Mr. Carr once again asked me to hold the kitten and said he had decided that he would place a deposit on it to hold him until Christmas or until he could arrange to pick him up and asked me how to do it.  I told him about Paypal and that he could make the deposit thru them and that I could send him the link if he liked that idea. He asked me to walk him thru this process, where he made his $100.00 deposit. I was very clear with him about the deposit being non-refundable should he change his mind. Did he understand this, he told me he did. This fact is also clearly stated on my website, (see attachment) as it is on so many cattery and kennel websites. I also made sure that he was on the website when asking all these questions and he told me about how he liked the hummingbirds, so I was assured that he was. I am sure no one would pay a $100.00 just to see a kitten, sounds a little absurd to me, and I would never ask that of some one and is most definitely NOT how I conduct business, you are welcome to check with anyone else I have done business with.

Within a few minutes of this transaction, his mother called me to tell me how excited she was that he was getting this kitten for her daughter-in-law. I was at the store but she left two messages in the space of about 10 minutes, on my answering machine absolutely gushing about this kitten. She asked me to return her call, which I did. She told me she had seen the kitten and in her mind it clearly was not show quality. I told her that I never said it was and was wondering what made her an expert, but I explained that he was nice. I continued to listen to all her cat breeding advice, which consisted of one litter 17 years ago. She re-iterated several times about how excited and happy she was that they were “getting” this kitten for her daughter-in-law. She also told me that she thought it was so nice of me to meet her son half way and that maybe she would be coming with him to pick the kitten up.

There were several more calls thru out the day, which I admit, began to annoy me. I was wondering if they were just over eager, a little bit obnoxious or just wacky. I was also beginning to think that maybe I should cancel the sale.

In the meantime I did have a phone call from a lady specifically asking me if I had a blue-eyed white male kitten. I advised her that I had just sold him but maybe another breeder that I knew of in Riverside could help her and so I made the referral, possibly losing a sale.

Many hours later, I think at 9:00 pm Mr. Carr called again. This time he told me that his wife did not want the kitten that she wanted to rescue a kitten and that he wanted his deposit back. I reminded him that at the time he placed his deposit I had warned him that all deposits are taken in good faith and are non-refundable. He refused to accept that answer and continued to badger and cajole, I waited for him to stop talking and told him I had given my answer, which was of course unacceptable to him. So he started all over again insisting that I return his deposit, he continued to repeat this behavior over and over for sometime. He at no time ever told me that he had been to Zizzo’s site or of the supposed “other breeders” who Mrs. Carr now says, had warned of me. After 20 minutes I told him that I had answered his question many times and that I was going to hang up since I felt he was becoming abusive.  At no time did I become in the least rude, I was never angry with him, nor was I mad as she states, in fact I had hardly been able to get a word in. I had kept my voice very quiet and calm; he then asked me how long I hold kittens for a deposit. I told him usually not more than 30 days so he asked me to hold this kitten for 30 days while he made up his mind. That is how it was left. Since I could not get him off the phone I just hung up. However, I do not expect to see him or hear from him on Jan 19^th.

A few minutes later while I was online, his mother called again and this time left a threatening message, on my computer answering service. (A copy of this message has been forwarded to Linda Berg.) She told me that she would ruin me with CFA, have my “license pulled” and who doesn’t give back a deposit, that these kids didn’t understand this kind of thing and that they just had a baby….etc

I returned her call to ask if she was threatening me. She said she was and that she was calling her attorney and CFA. I asked her if she would like the number to CFA at which point she hung up. After the mother’s threats I considered just returning the deposit because I figured the next place they would probably go would be Zizzo’s since they reminded me of her. I really did not want that to happen again. I didn’t know that it was already to late.

The next morning in my email I had 3 demands to “answer this complaint” from Zizzo, and a complaint from Paypal about the deposit with a threat in it about the Better Business Bureau, so right then I knew that this had all come from Ms. Zizzo since she really likes to use the BBB even though they repeatedly tell her that they do not handle cases like this, but this is how she operates. In this complaint Mrs. Carr stated that I failed to deliver the kitten that they had paid for. Well, he had not been “paid” for and our appointed date for delivery had not yet arrived. To date there have been 7 complaints filed by her, each one a different story, which definitely reminds me of Zizzo.

At no time have I ever had any conversation with Mrs. Rene Carr, and still to this day have not talked to her. She is repeating only what her husband has told her which apparently is not accurate. She has not ever talked directly to me and she made no attempt to find out if what she supposedly read on Zizzo’s site was true, neither did she ask for my side.

The PayPal complaint and the Better Business Bureau complaint have both been resolved in my favor. (See attachments) I have also included a copy of the Paypal receipt where Mr. Carr wrote “white kitten for Christmas” which shows he clearly knew that he was “purchasing” the kitten not paying just be able to see it as his wife states. If not put up to this by Ms. Zizzo then it probably is a domestic problem and in reality should have nothing to do with me.

In regard to the many demands Ms. Zizzo has sent me demanding that I answer the complaint on her site, I feel there is no reason to do this since she is just a wacko and has no authority. I do not intend to try to deal with her again, she never tells the truth about anything. This is none of her business and the fact the she heard about it in less than an hour makes me extremely suspicious of the fact that she was behind the whole thing, as I stated earlier. I do believe that she put them up to this. The call came from her area code, and her city prefix and the same company she has her phone with. I really believe this was her son and daughter-in-law. Just to many coincidences.

I am 100% sure that the “other breeder” Mrs. Carr is referring to is Zizzo, since a lot of the breeders in the area know me, have been to my house and some of them have cats from me, so would not be making that kind of a statement; to not purchase from me. They all know about Zizzo and what she is saying about me and they know it is not true, and would not be a part of perpetuating her lies. And to say that all of my kittens die, is a complete false hood and something else Zizzo knows nothing about and it is a really terrible thing to say, something else only Zizzo would say and does. If this were true I could not sell any kittens and I am sure you would really have a lot more complaints, instead of just hers.  These are just the kinds of statements repeatedly made by Zizzo. She couldn’t tell the truth if her life depended on it.

All of the additional pages are printed from her site, more of her rambling diatribe about her obsession with me that she modifies every time she makes up something new; simply more proof that she is behind all of this.

Sincerely

Melanie Lowry