MESA, AZ — In March, the Let Joe Know Team told you about Cox Family Doodles in Mesa.
At the time, 14 people had contacted the team saying they paid a $500 refundable deposit for a $2,500 Goldendoodle puppy.
After months of waiting and hearing little to nothing from the owner Elise Cox, they requested their money back. Instead, they got an email listing reasons for the delay, along with a list of more than 60 names all being promised a refund.
To this day, they say they are still waiting.
Meanwhile, the Cox Family Doodle website is still up, but now requires a non-refundable deposit with delivery dates for Fall and Winter 2021.
Also, more people have also reached out to the Let Joe Know team saying they are in the same boat, wondering what they can do to get their money back.
One of those people is Ashley who paid in September.
"I even messaged her a couple times to make sure that the deposit was refundable because that was really important to me. And so, when she did verify, it was refundable," said Ashley.
She says once the money was sent, Elise went silent.
"I never heard from her again, really," said Ashley.
The biggest question for all of these people is what can they do next? How can they hold her accountable?
The team found this is not the first time Elise has had issues.
Since 2019, Elise and Cox Family Doodles have faced three small-claim suits.
The first was for allegations she sold a puppy that was in poor health. It was dismissed after a court hearing because the judge gave Elise the option to pay more than $1,000 right in the courtroom.
The two other cases were for failing to give a refund.
The first was dropped after the person who filed says Elise finally gave her the deposit money back. The second one filed in February 2021 is still ongoing. The person who filed this one tells the Let Joe Know team Elise has not responded to it.
We tried to reach out to Elise Cox yet again for this story, asking if anyone has been paid back from her list of over 60 names? Have the puppies on her social media pages been sold? Is she still collecting deposit money?
She did not respond by our deadline.
Now some of the people we spoke to say they tried filing police reports, even filed complaints with the Arizona Attorney General's office but were told this is a civil matter.
We reached out to the AG's office, they said it would be "inappropriate to provide legal analysis of the situation." They say people are still encouraged to file a complaint with their office.
If you are one of the people owed money in this story or have issues with an Arizona business, let us know at Joe@abc15.com.
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