Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  07/17/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  BBB unable to locate business

  More info

  2nd Chance Taxidermy and Anthony S***** is the ultimate example of a predator taking advantage of grieving pet owners. My experience with Anthony S***** began at the beginning of 2022 regarding my cat, ***. *** was our family's first cat adopted in 2015. *** was always welcoming towards everyone, often being the first to greet any guests, family, or friends as they walked through our front door. He found great pleasure in spending time with kids and other pets that we soon adopted shortly after him. On February 24, 2022, *** passed away unexpectedly. Heartbroken, my family and I did not know what to do. We wanted to preserve the memory of our first family pet who was extremely loved by everyone. Ultimately, we decided to preserve his body and memory through taxidermy. After contacting numerous taxidermists after ***'s passing, Anthony promised that he was able to show *** love and care through the entire process. We trusted him. Immediately, my husband and I brought *** and I over to 2nd Chance Taxidermy. Anthony told us that *** had to be preserved - which was a $1000 up-front payment. Again, being so heartbroken we agreed. After a few weeks, we paid him the rest of the money which was owed ($2000) because he stated that he would not begin the taxidermy process until he received his money. That was our worst mistake. After the payment we through, my family and I were ghosted. There was no contact whatsoever. We called him, sent voicemails, and tried to message him on social media sites but we did not receive any response. As a paying customer who entrusted Anthony with our loving cat, this was highly disappointed. However, we kept our hopes up in case he was busy with several other projects. More weeks went by, and he still did not return any of our calls. That is when I came across ******** ***** on the business' ******** page. Her story was scarily similar to mine. We came into contact and talked together regarding our experience with Anthony. He too had also

• Initial Complaint

  05/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  BBB unable to locate business

  More info

  Anthony and I agreed on $300 in August 2021 and a 6-month turn around time. I still have the receipt. 6 months (February) I contact Anthony as the agreed upon amount of time had lapsed. He initially didn't know which client I am, even after explaining the contracted service, and showing the receipt. At that point, he went off about it usually taking 8 months, and admitted he had not even started. Furthermore, he said he no longer provides customers turn around times, because people always bug him about when their projects will be done. I said ok, and agreed to check in at the 8-month mark. 2 months later (April) I attempted to contact Anthony and discovered his number is no longer in service. His website had been taken down, and his Facebook pages have been abandoned. After some digging on social media I find another contact number, and am eventually given yet another number. Unfortunately he never set up a voicemail box for this number. The number rarely rings through for incoming calls. After contacting Anthony's previous business partners, I finally reached him. He admitted the work still had not been done. During this time frame I discovered Anthony had been arrested multiple times. When I spoke to him and explained I no longer cared if his work was fine with her, I just wanted her back. I explained that I was facing a time crunch, and he agreed to meet. On the day of the scheduled meet, Anthony was a no-show. There was a large boot print on his shop door, and the lock appeared to be busted. Shortly after arriving, a police officer showed up, along with Anthony's landlord. We learned that he is being evicted from his unit at the end of the month, and facing legal troubles. He's been arrested 4 times in the last 7 months, and refuses to return my cat or money.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩