In December, my mother took our schnauzers (my dog: Oliver, and her two dogs: Coconut and Ardmore)…read moreto Clipper Creations for a routine grooming. We had taken them CC once before and had no problems when the owner, Pearl, was there and groomed them with an assistant. This time, Pearl was away at an appointment, leaving her assistant, Katie, to groom the dogs. When my mom dropped our dogs off, she spoke to Katie. Katie asked if she wanted for the dogs to have the standard schnauzer cut. She replied "Yes", but said to "do what you can" as their coat had some matting. All three dogs had moderate matting to their lengthier belly and legs, minimal matting to their beards, and no matting elsewhere. My mother picked our dogs up right before CC closed and was trying to quickly pay and get the dogs home after a busy day. She paid an extra $5 for each dog for a dematting fee and assumed all was well. Because she was in a hurry, she didn't inspect the dogs before paying. Upon getting into her car and turning to look at my dog, Oliver, who was the only dog not in a carrier, she was overcome with grief when she realized Oliver, a schnauzer, was completely shaved - all one length, with no beard or eyebrows to speak of. She cried the entire car ride home, not only with the sheer fact that the dogs looked completely different - ALIEN, but also because I planned to get pictures of the dogs with my newborn baby.
Coconut the dog's beard and eyebrows were maintained. Understandably, his legs and belly were shaved down due to matting. The problem lies with Ardmore and Oliver: while they had minimal matting in their beards, no more or less than Coconut's, they were nonetheless shaved completely off. And their eyebrows, which had NO MATTING in them, were shaved completely, also. They looked like rats. No semblance of a schnauzer left. Our dogs' beards have been much worse off at other points in time, but no other groomers chose to completely shave their beards. At times, groomers have chopped them down significantly, but still left some length so they they still had the appearance of a beard. And we have never had the eyebrows shaved. So in a nutshell, shaving the belly and the legs: totally understandable. But it was not at all necessary to shave the eyebrows and to completely shave the beard.
We believe Coconut was groomed first. Katie put the effort into grooming him properly. But for whatever reason, she chose to take the easy way out and put no effort into Ardmore and Oliver, and with no difference between the three.
In discussing the matter with my mother and father, we deduced the following: we have had four dogs over the course of 20 years, yielding approximately 74 grooming appointments, with 8 different groomers. In this entire time, we have NEVER had such TERRIBLE haircuts. NEVER. And we have NEVER had such terrible customer service. And THAT is what bothers us most.
We called Pearl the next day to discuss the matter and to hopefully attain some sort of compensation and validation of our frustrations. Pearl repeatedly asked how long it had been since our dogs had been groomed, implying the dogs were matted to the point where nothing could be saved, and that this was our fault. This point is moot as the eyebrows and beards, our chief concern, were not effected. She then said she needed to speak with Katie before she could say anything more to us or do anything. Again this is moot if the eyebrows were shaved. Nothing Katie could say could explain that. As we argued these points, Pearl admitted she couldn't explain why the beard and eyebrows were shaved. But with the same breath, she would repeatedly ask how long it had been since they had been groomed. She then said "Well, I don't know what you want me to do about it." To me, it is ridiculous that a business owner cannot offer any form of compensation to appease a disappointed customer. She either couldn't think of anything, or she didn't care. I'm pretty sure it's the latter.
At some point, she hung up on us. Deliberately. Not good business.
We were going to suggest either a refund for a portion of the money, or a free haircut several months down the road, where she would of course attempt to adjust their cut to appear more schnauzer-like. We were not granted the chance to suggest this. She did not give her business the chance to redeem itself.
Had she been more amiable, taken some responsibility, and offered SOMETHING to rectify the situation, we would have felt better and would have gladly returned to her business. However, Pearl has shown us that she doesn't care about her customers, and I assume she doesn't really care about the loved pets whom she and her employees groom.
I implore you to reconsider taking your pets to Clipper Creations. While 1) Hair grows back, 2) It's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, and 3) We love our dogs even though they are ugly, I refuse to do business with someone who treats their customers in this manner.
