Couple shocked at ‘dog lease’ deal

View the Video Leasing a dog? Really?

After Anthony and Françoise Claessens picked out a purebred bichon frise puppy and got it home, they were more than a little surprised to look closely at the financing paperwork.

They had leased a dog.

The contract required regular service and maintenance and allowed the finance company to “inspect the pet at any reasonable time.” At the end of 27 months of $95.99 payments, they would still not own the dog, which they named Tresor.

“I have never heard of leasing a dog in my life,” Anthony Claessens said. “We were under the understanding we were purchasing a dog… I feel that we were swindled.”

The store, Oceanside Puppy, and finance company WAGS Financing of Reno, Nev., say that’s not the case.

“We call it puppy payments, and you can make payments via lease or via traditional loan program,” said David Salinas, who owns the shop on Oceanside Boulevard. “Just like any other transaction, whether you buy a car or a puppy, or jewelry, the transaction is the same when you make a payment.”

Salinas’s Oceanside store, and another in National City, offer four financing options. WAGS is just one of them.

Salinas said 90 percent of his customers choose to finance the cost of their new pet, allowing them to take home a dog they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford.

“I think that’s very unfair that they are saying we are being fraudulent,” he said.

The Claessens were in the market for a dog because their previous bichon frise, which they had for seven years, had died.

They could not afford to pay the $495 asking price for the dog at Oceanside Puppy, so they chose the financing option.

After 27 months of payments, they could pay a $93.52 fee to end the lease or $187.04 to purchase the pet — “plus official fees and taxes.”

According to the couple, no store employee mentioned that they were signing up for a lease rather than a purchase

Salinas said his employees do the best they can to explain the financing packages, but it’s the customer’s responsibility to read the terms.

“It is only a surprise to the customer if they are not reading their contract,” Salinas said. “As a courtesy, we explain it the best we can” and any questions employees can’t answer are referred to the financing company, he said.

Anthony Claessens worked as a car salesman after retiring from the Air Force and working as a captain for PSA Airlines and US Airways.

“Having sold cars and leased cars, as a salesman, I understand the disclosure that you have to do,” he said.

His pet lease contract said, “If you do not exercise your right to buy the Pet, you will return it to us at a place we identify.”

It also required “daily exercise and regular bathing and grooming” and said the lessee must “properly and immediately dispose of any waste product produced by the pet.”

Those that want to terminate the lease early incur penalties and fees. In the event of a default, the company can “take back the Pet wherever we find it and peacefully enter any property where the pet may be to do so,” it said.

Claessens found himself back at the store less than 24 hours after taking the dog home on Nov. 13. He canceled the contract.

WAGS Financing officials said their contract is clear and customers are happy to have options that usually end in dog ownership.

“It’s not our intent to repossess a pet. That is not what we envisioned when we started this company,” said Dusty Wunderlich, CEO of Bristlecone Holdings, WAGS’ parent company. “This is obviously a very sensitive situation. In no way, shape or form do we want to mislead.”

Wunderlich said in WAGS’ first year of operation, “No one has gone the full term of the contract and returned the pet,” and only a couple dogs have been “re-homed” after customers ended the lease early. About 350 pet retail stores and breeders use WAGS Financing in 40 states, he said.

As for contract enforcement, “Typically we are not going and doing regular inspections,” unless they hear about mistreatment of the animal, he said.

Wunderlich, who also offers financing for wedding dresses, cattle and furniture under other brands, said, “Over the last 10 years, lease-to-own and rent-to-own is becoming a much more common way for people and consumers to purchase goods. The structure creates a lot of flexibility that you wouldn’t see in a credit card or payment installment system.”

WAGS Financing spokeswoman Brooke Rose said, “We are giving people the opportunity to budget out the purchase of a pet… Though it’s built on a leasing model, we don’t anticipate people will return the pet.”

Claessens’ wife, Françoise, said she hopes no one else has to go through what the couple did.

“It’s a lot of trauma. When you don’t have children at home, you look at that pet as a child. This is a bad, bad disappointment, and they hurt your emotions,” she said. “What they are doing is irresponsible.”

Anthony Claessens agreed, saying, “When I was young I had the highest respect for senior citizens… The public has to know about these people.”

WAGS Financing officials said they canceled the contract after hearing from the store about the Claessens concerns, and Oceanside Puppy took the dog back.

Salinas said, “We will make it a point to educate our customers a little bit more about the financing options so there is no confusion.”

“We are actually a very legitimate moral company,” Salinas said. “We knew there was a need for purebred puppies in the stores… We do a wonderful job at being able to help customers afford puppies. We provide amazing puppies, not from puppy mills.”

As for the Claessens, they have gone to a dog shelter and obtained another bichon frise, this one for free.