Persian Cat Breeder ****

I came to learn about Mr van Eeden / L'Unique Persians & Exotics Cat Breeders via social Media (Facebook) somewhere in January 2019.

On the 8th of February I contacted Mr van Eeden via WhatsApp to enquire to reserve a black Persian male kitten. On the 9th of February I was sent a contract via email, stating that a deposit of R3500 is needed to secure the above mentioned boy to be delivered / collected end of May 2019.

I arranged to pay the deposit in two payments, R1750 on the 14th of February & the remainder on the 27th of February, which I paid. On the 2nd of March I enquired if we could register the above-mentioned kitten under the name “Diego”. On the 6th of March I received a reply from Mr van Eeden assuring me that registering the kitten under this name won’t be a problem and that the balance payment of my deposit was been received.

Mr van Eeden suddenly became unreachable, despite various attempts to make contact with him via phone calls and WhatsApp messages during the period of the 7th of March to the 29th of April.

On the eve of the 29th of April, I received a WhatsApp from Mr van Eeeden, stating that two of the litter’s kittens have gotten sick (this includes the kitten we’ve reserved) and that he has cancelled the sale of the other kitten with the respective buyer. He asked if he could replace the kitten, we have reserved with a younger black Persian male kitten from a later litter. I informed him that I wasn’t opposed to the suggestion but asked for photos of the new male and asked when he would be delivered to us.

I only received a reply on the 14th of May from Mr van Eeden stating that the new male was much younger than our previously reserved kitten and that photos of the new male will be sent the following day – however no photos was received to this date, neither was there a new date for collection or delivery communicated.

Despite various attempts to contact Mr van Eeden again via phone calls and WhatsApp to no avail, I decided to contact a lawyer to get legal advice on the matter. I informed Mr van Eeden of this via WhatsApp.

On the 27th of May, Mr van Eeden finally got back to me via a voice note over WhatsApp, saying that he’s extremely busy but will ask his partner Willie Viljoen to bath the new kitten the following day and send us photos of him.

Again, no new collection or delivery date could be specified. On the 30th of May I emailed Mr van Eeden’s partner, Willie asking for the photos but didn’t get a reply.

Again, I received no replies on my WhatsApp messages, emails or answers from phone calls to Mr van Eeden. He finally answered my Partner’s phone call on the 17th of June stating that the new kitten has fallen ill and that he doesn’t feel comfortable selling it to us anymore.

On the 18th of June I sent him a message via WhatsApp giving him my banking details to repay the deposit.

On the 19th of June Mr van Eeden sent me contact details of another registered breeder, who was willing to supply us with a black male kitten as requested. On the 24th I notified Mr van Eeden that I will be proceeding with buying the kitten from the new said breeder who at that stage also notified him of this and sent through her banking details to him.

The new breeder was willing to bring the new kitten up to Jhb from KZN free of charge on the weekend of the 29th of June, but unfortunately didn’t receive any deposit payment from Mr van Eeden and I was forced to cancel the purchase with her.

I enlisted the help of a registered debt collector to contact Mr van Eeden to get my deposit back. On the 29th of June, Mr van Eeden finally responded to my WhatsApp messages saying that he’ll pay my deposit back in 3 payments over the course of 3 months and send through POP’s as it’s done.

To this date (21 October 2019) I haven’t received any payment or a kitten as promised. No WhatsApp messages or calls are being answered, please think twice before paying your deposit to Mr van Eeden.