A couple on TikTok is living every pet owner’s nightmare. They entrusted a pet company to transport their dogs to a new state as they moved, but shortly after picking up the dogs, the driver allegedly caused the death of their beloved dog. The company’s apology gift only made things worse.
In a viral, multi-part video series, Eric Vaughn-Trainor (@mrvaughntrainor) explained that he was moving across the country with his husband and 7-month-old twins from Texas to California. Worried about something happening to his family’s two dogs if they traveled with them on the plane, plus the stress of flying with infants, the pair decided to hire a pet moving company, Waggin Wheels Pet Transport, instead.
But one of the two dogs didn’t even make it out of Texas alive, while the other was showing near-fatal health signs.
Vaughn-Trainor and his husband were getting ready to head to the airport with their kids for their flight when they got a heartbreaking call from their vet. Upon seeing the call, Vaughn-Trainor immediately knew something was off. Their pets had just been picked up the day before by the moving company.
“She asked if we were sitting down. And that’s when she told us that our French Bulldog had died,” Vaughn-Trainor says in one clip.
He adds that his husband had a missed call from an unknown number early that morning. When they got in contact with the driver, they found out that after the man picked up the two dogs he drove for about an hour, but got sleepy, so he allegedly turned the AC on for the dogs and took a nap.
When he woke up, he checked on the dogs, and Lumi, the couple’s French Bulldog, was dead. He eventually took her and their other dog, Honey, to the couple’s vet in Houston, where it was determined that Lumi died of heat stroke just 3 hours after leaving the couple’s home. Honey was showing signs of heat exhaustion.
@mrvaughntrainor I truly have no words #greenscreen #pettransport #pettransportation ♬ original sound – Mrvaughntrainor
The vet added that the driver’s van reeked of weed and cigarettes, and when he pulled into the vet’s office, the music was blasting so loud that if any of the animals were barking or making any sounds of distress, the driver wouldn’t have been able to hear them.
@mrvaughntrainor This was really hard to film and its even harder to post. Our hearts are completely shattered. Our french bulldog Lumi was murdered by Waggin Wheels Pet Transport based in Florida. 6 years ago today we brought Lumi home for the first time ans now we’re saying goodbye. Honey is with my sister and brother in law right now. He will be driving her to california soon so we can all be together. #greenscreen #pettransport #pettransportation ♬ original sound – Mrvaughntrainor
Vaughn-Trainor says he trusted the company’s services, especially after reading all of their positive reviews, but it turns out those reviews were fake. The company owner and her sister allegedly encouraged people to leave positive reviews for the business in exchange for a $20 payment.
“No matter what we do, our Lumi will never come back. Our Lumi will never be back,” Vaughn-Trainor says. “… Their negligence caused our dog to die. It’s animal cruelty, it’s negligence, and we don’t know what to do next.”
In a follow-up video, Vaughn-Trainor urges people not to leave bad reviews for pet companies with a similar name, adding that the company they used, Waggin Wheels Pet Transport, had either deleted or privated all of their social media following the backlash.
“They’re not just animals to us. Those are our babies. And this company took one of our babies from us and almost took our second baby, and people have the right to know that this company and those owners are responsible for this and should not be transporting any animals ever,” Vaughn-Trainor says.
@mrvaughntrainor just a few updates. Thank yall so much for your kind words. Its meant a lot to us. #greenscreen #pettransport #pettransportation ♬ original sound – Mrvaughntrainor
In another follow-up video, Vaughn-Trainor shows the condolence gift the pet moving company sent the couple. It had a note stating the couple was in the company’s “thoughts and prayers” and a rainbow bridge figurine representing a poem about loss.
“They literally sent us a rainbow figurine that we can look at every single day to be reminded that they murdered our dog,” Vaughn-Trainor says in disbelief.
Combined, the three videos have more than 7.6 million views and well over 20,000 comments.
Commenters under Vaughn-Trainor’s video are urging the couple to sue the company and many said they doubt the driver actually left the AC on.
“I’m so sorry! Definitely sue. Sue the business and Sue the driver. Suing cannot bring your Lumi back, but it could prevent this from happening again,” the top comment read.
The company has yet to issue a public apology.
The Daily Dot reached out to Vaughn-Trainor for comment via Instagram DM and to Waggin Wheels Pet Transport via email.
