BELOW IS WHAT I SENT TO MY CREDIT CARD COMPANY, IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED I OF COURSE HAVE ALL THE ATTACHMENTS THAT I COULD EMAIL OR SEND TO A PHYSICAL ADDRESS. SINCE I SIGNED AN ESTIMATE I DON'T HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT THE CREDIT CARDS, I DON'T WANT A REFUND BUT IN THE EMAIL/INVOICE FROM THIS COMPANY THEY SAY HOW MUCH THEY PAID KLM, BUT THEY DIDN'T PAY THAT MUCH SO HOW ARE THEY CHARGING ME?! WHAT I SIGNED WAS AN ESTIMATE, NOT A CONTRACT...AN ESTIMATE IS A ROUGH FIGURE NOT AN EXACT PRICE. PLEASE HELP ME!
On January 18th, 2008 I (Matthew D Payne) signed a Schedule A Agreement with Pet Express (Attachment A.) This quote was for a total of $2925.00, I sent an electronic copy back to Pet Express. I was then sent a quote for $3175.00, I am not sure what this increase was for but I signed it and sent it back (Attachment A1.)
Shortly before our animal was to fly we discovered that the crate that Pet Express was going to provide was not large enough. We (me and my wife) had a crate built on our own and provided it to Pet Express. This would mean the cost of the original crate that was to be provided by Pet Express should be taken off our bill (First Dispute.)
After the dimensions of the new crate were known Pet Express sent a new quote for an additional $1000, which was rather excessive I did not sign this quote, nor return it to them (Attachment A2.)
After the dog had landed we wrote Pet Express an email asking for a detailed invoice for the finial bill (Attachment B.) Pet Express would not send us a breakdown of charges and instead provided me with an E-mail explaining their charges (Attachment C.) The email from Pet Express trying to explain their charges left us confused and did not give a feeling that we was being treated honestly.
In their email detailing charges they told us that Pet Express paid KLM $3449.22. However, when you look at the Airway Bill provided by KLM it shows that only $1805.82 was paid to KLM (Attachment D.) We asked several times to see an invoice from KLM to Pet Express showing that they had to pay this amount to ship the dog. The only thing that we got was an email forwarded from Mark at Pet Express. This email (Attachment E) from KLM states that KLM will adjust the invoice at the wishes of Pet Express. If it truly cost Pet Express $1805.82 to ship the dog and then they are having KLM apply a surcharge imposed by Pet Express rather than KLM this not only goes against our Schedule A Agreement but also the email from Pet Express claiming how much they paid to KLM.
In this packet of information I have also included a copy of the formal complaint letter that we sent to Pet Express, along with another email that I wrote Pet Express which shows we made an effort to show due diligence in resolving this issue (Attachment F.) We have also included an email from another dog shipper (IPATA member) that ships to Doha via KLM on a weekly basis who has never heard of the surcharges that Mark describes (Attachment G.)
Pet Express is rather upset at me for questioning his billing methods and has threatened me with a lawsuit several times. I do not know what I have done to warrant a lawsuit, but I am forwarding several printed copies of emails from KLM and Pet Express that he says should not be forwarded. This is being passed to a financial institution so I am assuming that this is well within my legal right. By him threatening legal action I am also assuming they contain false information.
I am more than willing to pay Pet Express for work that they have done. I am not willing to pay for charges imposed by Pet Express and supported by KLM that go above our quoted price, or costs not incurred by Pet Express, or for a dog crate that was never taken off my bill.
We are also in the process of disputing these charges on that appear on my wife’s credit card.
I know Visa feels that if I signed something then that is it, but I signed an Estimate which means a rough figure, and I have shown that it did not cost Pet Express the amount of money they are claiming and therefore should not be charging me.
Thank you,
Matthew D Payne
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