Sooooo......buckle in kids, this is gonna be a read, I am super upset with the whole situation.
I am super NOT stoked on this place. The place I took my dog before was booked, so I decided "Hey, lemme see what Yelp has to offer"....
*insert me seeing Aardbark Grooming here*
So I call, I know it's busy this time of year with the holidays and such, and they were able to get me in. Great! Appointment on Friday at 930 am, got it!
Friday rolls around, I am excited to get my dog groomed, she was lookin a little ruff, time for a much needed spawday.
So I get there, I see one of the groomers outside, he's polite enough, tells me he's not grooming my dog, cool beans. I go inside, nobody at the front. A lady finally walks out and says,
Lady: "did you talk to him?"
Me: "yes"
Lady: did you tell him what you wanted?"
Me: "no, he informed me he's not my groomer today"
So, once this exchange happens, mind you I was never greeted, no hello, nada....she asks who my dog is. Ok great.
A young lady comes out and starts talking to me, let's me know she's going to groom my dog. It's at this point I let her know my dog is...
1. A rescue
2. Not the greatest at getting groomed (like "hey she REALLY sucks at this just a heads up")
So I proceed to tell her what cut I would like for my dog, she never asked, even showed her a couple photos so she had a reference of what I wanted her cut to resemble. Then I asked her name, as she never introduced herself. The last thing I asked was how long this will take, to which she replied "no more than 4 hours". Ok.
So I hand my little lady over to the groomer, she is just scared shaking, I've never seen her like this, EVER. Cue the knot in my tummy.
**Three hours later**
It's now 12:30
I call and check the status of the groom, they tell me they're behind because "they have a bunch of big dogs". Then ask if I want a call 15 min before they're done and I said yes, they asked me this before I left but apparently that wasn't communicated.
*2 hours later*
I left my house because I was worried, it had been 5 hours at this point. My dog is 5 pounds. On the way to go pick her they finally call to let me know she's done and read to be picked up. I arrive and there are a few others getting their dogs so I wait. So they ask who my dog is, I tell them, and the groomer comes out. Not with my dog, just to collect a payment before I've even seen the cut. So I say "I'd like to use this Yelp coupon", 7$ off. Haha. Sure why not. So then this older woman comes out with my dog, she lets me know she helped groom my dog (she's a sassy one, but obviously something is up if it takes 2 people for a tiny dog). Then she proceeded to tell me she "knicked my dog in the spot they always get knicked". So this is where things are absolutely not ok, why was I not informed of my dog being injured when it happened? She told me it happened 10 min before they called me, which means my dog sat there not being groomed for hours. The older lady was super rude. They didn't seem to care that they cut her, they just said that she was moving around a lot. They never apologized either.
Also, if my dog was so hard and impossible to groom why didn't they just call me and say they can't do it? I'd much rather have them tell me they can't groom her because she isn't behaving then attempt to groom her and stress her out more and then injure her.
I worked with groomers previously, so I've had to make hard calls like that. It's hard but it's better than the "surprise I cut your pet!". I walked out in tears with a stressed out little dog.
I highly suggest NOT bringing your animal here, they don't have the compassion for an animal or their owners. I'd rather wait weeks for the other groomers who said she was a brat but didn't injure her and gave her the hair cut I asked for.
Please learn how to handle dog and people better, you'll be able to stay open another 30 years.
Sorry for the extremely long review. read more