Refund Policy

01Grounds for a refund

A refund is available in the following circumstances:

1. A licensed veterinarian, examining the puppy within 72 hours of handoff, identifies a condition covered by the health guarantee.
2. The seller is unable to supply the reserved puppy for any reason, including illness, injury or a welfare decision not to release it.
3. The placement is not working within the 30-day settling-in period and the puppy is returned in the general condition in which it left, excluding matters arising from travel or from events after handoff.
4. Any other ground expressly stated in the signed agreement.

02How to make a claim

1. Notify immediately. Email info@minischnauzerpups.com describing the situation as soon as it arises. Delay is the most common reason a claim fails.
2. Provide documentation. For a health claim: the examining veterinarian's written findings, on practice letterhead, including the date of examination. For a settling-in claim: a description of what has been tried and what is not working.
3. Review. The seller reviews the claim, ordinarily within 2–3 business days, and may contact the examining veterinarian directly with the buyer's consent.
4. Outcome. Where the claim is accepted, the buyer chooses between the available remedies below.

03Remedies

Where a health claim is accepted, the buyer may choose:

1. a full refund of the amount paid, on return of the puppy; or
2. a replacement puppy from a current or future litter, on return of the puppy; or
3. where the buyer wishes to keep the puppy, a contribution towards treatment, on terms agreed in writing.

Where the seller cannot supply the reserved puppy, the buyer may choose a full refund of everything paid, including any transport fee, or transfer to another available puppy with any price difference settled either way.

Where a health claim is accepted, we cover the cost of return transport. Where the buyer chooses to keep the puppy and receive a contribution towards treatment instead, that contribution is agreed in writing before treatment begins.

04The settling-in period

Where, within 30 days of handoff, the placement is genuinely not working despite reasonable effort, the seller would rather take the puppy back than have it rehomed by the buyer.

Contact the seller first. This is not a trial period and it is not a returns window in the retail sense — it exists so that a puppy in the wrong home has a route back to a known one, rather than ending up on a classifieds site.

05What is not refundable

No refund is available for:

1. illness or injury arising after handoff and unrelated to a condition present at handoff;
2. conditions arising from the buyer's care, diet, supervision, training or housing;
3. normal breed characteristics — coat colour or pattern change with age, adult size within the breed range, minor bite variation, ear carriage, or temperament traits typical of a terrier;
4. a claim where no independent veterinary examination took place within the 72-hour window;
5. a change of mind unaccompanied by the return of the puppy;
6. transport fees already incurred, where travel has taken place.

06Method and timing of payment

Refunds are made by the same method as the original payment where that is possible, and otherwise by a method agreed in writing. The seller should state the maximum period between an accepted claim and payment.

Accepted refunds are paid within seven days of the puppy being returned and the claim being agreed.

07If you disagree with the outcome

Where a claim is declined and the buyer disagrees, the buyer may request a written explanation and a review by a second pair of eyes. We would always rather settle a disagreement directly than let it escalate.

Nothing in this policy limits any right the buyer has under applicable consumer protection law.