Insult To Injury: Boarding Service Bills Family After Losing Their Dog
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It's vacation time and thousands of local families will board their dogs while they travel.
As CBS2's Tony Aiello reported, a family had to cut their trip short this week, after a pet boarding service lost their beloved chihuahua.
Jezabelle, 13, said it felt like she lost a friend.
Her mother said it's even worse.
"It's like losing a family member. Like losing a child," Ileana Mercado said.
The dog, named Coco, disappeared on Friday while staying at the Pet Buddy Services boarding facility in Flatbush.
The company believes the dog slipped out the door, through the gate, and down the street while a worker was distracted.
The Mercados got the news while spending a few days out west.
"We had to change our flights and come back to find the dog, because what they were giving me on the phone wasn't enough to give me confidence to trust they were doing what they were supposed to be doing," Ileana Mercado said.
They've spent long hours searching the neighborhood and putting up posters. The family said, to add insult to injury, Pet Buddy emailed them an invoice while they were looking for Coco.
Company owner Oscar Salazar said sending the bill was a mistake, and that he fired the worker who lost Coco.
"Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for anxiety, frustration, and inconvenience we caused," Salazar said. "We have been working days on end trying to find Coco and we are maintaining an ongoing effort to retrieve coco back to his home. This is an unfortunate and completely unintentional situation where one of the employees lost focus at a moment and while I was not present. Therefore the employee has been let go. We love all of our pets that we care for. We give them all of our dedication and commitment. We have faith that God will give us the strength and help us find him."
The worried family wants their dog back.
"What we get from him is 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' and that just doesn't cut it," Jose Mercado said.
