When something like this happened I would ask CZ (if he could not resolve a problem that has arisen due to faulty design of his product).
Can I see your superior please?
I agree that Claire may have been a little more observant doing a trade of this magnitude, but as long as enabling NPC trading (in 13.6) caused this uneccesary feature (trading with pets) to appear. It the sole responsibility of Funcom to fix it. The product did not behave in a manner one would expect with normal use!...simple as that!.
I apologize for the critisism CZ, because I appreciate the concern you have shown here. But Funcom is a company and somewhere above you there is someone with enough clout to make this descision and "do the right thing".... simply because it is causing a lot of customer dissatisfaction and as long as its posted on a public board it may deter new customers from joining what I think is the best online game out there atm (even with all the bugs, nerfs and patches).
I doubt that Funcom is a democracy, and if you cannot solve the problem, send it up to someone who can!
I very much hope this issue will be settled soon, because its giving a bad name to AO.
Regards