I've been bringing my dogs here for grooming for about a year and a half now. Frye (Pom Yorkie) comes every 3 months or so for grooming. Rosie (Pom Chihuahua) on the other hand comes once a year for a furminator treatment and spring clean up.
I apologize, because I think this is going to be long, but I feel it's important to give a lot of details.
Things usually go pretty well when we take Frye in. There have been a couple of times that we found things were not quite right - ie leaving the hair around his ears really long for some reason, or getting a little too close to his skin on his back. But overall, we've been happy with the service he gets.
Well, it was time for Rosie to head in. When I checked in, the nice lady at the counter asked if I wanted the "number 7, like last time?". I was confused, but realized she was talking about shaving length. So I corrected her and said that she was there for a furminating, and she definitely does not need to be shaved. Turns out that they entered Frye's notes under Rosie's. Not the end of the world.... we got it all fixed up.
It should have been on her file, but since the files were mixed up, I thought I should remind them that Rosie really does not like the blow dryer. I was told that wasn't a problem, they would just let her dry in the kennel dryer. She also asked if Rosie needed her nails trimmed, I said no because the vet had done it a few weeks prior.
They told me they would call me when she was done, but it would probably be about an hour and a half.
So I killed some time around the West End. I didn't want to go all the way home, just to turn around and come back. After an hour and 45 minutes, I hadn't heard from them, so I went back in just to check and see how much longer they thought it would be.
This time, the groomer herself (I believe her name is also Dana) came out to greet me. Definitely not as pleasant as the other young lady I had spoken to. She seemed confused that I was there. She said she just needed to finish drying her, then brush her, then do her nails.
I said "no no, I told her she didn't need her nails done", so she came over and looked at the computer screen, and said "oh, was she supposed to get a furminating?" I said yes... that was the whole reason she was there (blank stare).
So here's the story of what happened after I dropped my precious Rosie off. There was a big dog there who was getting clipped. When they were done with him, they discovered that he had lice. This apparently sent the two of them into a panic and they had to give all the dogs who were there a flea bath and scrub the salon down. If they had called to tell me that, I would have come back to get my dog, but they didn't.
They didn't do the furminating. In fact, all they did was give her a bath. AND BLOWDRY her. When I saw that they were blowdrying her, I said "oh, I had mentioned earlier that she doesn't like the blowdrier".
Now.... I can understand that these ladies are having a bad day, and are probably pretty stressed out. And if the next interaction had gone differently, this review would be really different. But it's all about how you respond to customers in these situations.
She said: "well, we can't let her leave wet", and I said "I get that, but I was told there was another option". and she said "well, she's fine with it, there hasn't been any issues".
No... there wouldn't be any issues with it while you're doing it, smart ass. When my dog gets anxious about something, her stomach pays the price. So since I picked her up, she's thrown up twice and her poop looks like rabbit poop.
She also added "just so you know... the kennel dryer would take two hours for her to dry, so if you're in a rush, it's really not a good option".
Oh! And when I expressed my displeasure about the furminator not being done, she said "well, I'm blowdrying her and no hair is flying off".
They didn't charge me for anything, which was great... because I'm perfectly capable of bathing my dog by myself. read more
