tl;dr -
They were…read morefrequently telling me inconsistent things, and when they made mistakes, they didn't apologize, let alone acknowledge those mistakes - they were assholes.
**
I'm new to the area and called about boarding my small dog while I headed to a silent meditation course.
The first reception person I spoke to (whose name I didn't get) was nice. She told me the dates I needed would work, and that all I had to do was drop off a fecal sample.
I did that the next morning, to a reception person called Elizabeth. She told me the cost was $30, which had not been mentioned before.
It wasn't cool that this (seemingly way too high) fee had not been mentioned, particularly when paying it doesn't confirm booking, and they were not offering a record of these test results.
But I needed a place for my pup to stay (and I'd already collected the shit and driven it over), so I paid it. I also sent over vaccination records.
Elizabeth left a voicemail to say the fecal test was negative, which was good, but that my dog's Bordetella record was missing. I had thought it was included, but I misremembered what it was called (my dog has a pet passport from Europe which is in Italian).
Elizabeth had a habit of replying with the word 'Correct' in this kind of authoritative way, even when the thing in question was not. She did this on our call, and I overheard it in the office when she was speaking to another customer.
So I called around a bunch to try and confirm a Bordetella shot, and eventually found a nice vet who could do it.
I called Pioneer Valley back to ask if I could confirm the dates for boarding now that the Bordetella shot was scheduled.
This time I got Linda, who at least wasn't rude, but the call took forever. She told me Bordetella was there, but distemper was missing. Getting this information took something like 25 minutes.
I mentioned a couple times that Elizabeth had told me the opposite the day before, explicitly confirming distemper was there. I knew my dog had had the distemper shot previously, so I confirmed with Linda that they offered it at their facility, and that he could get it and still board there assuming he had had the shot previously (so therefore did not need the booster).
Linda told me this was fine.
I found the record quickly and sent it over, and someone named Alyssa called back.
Alyssa was a dick. She was rude as hell as she told me the vaccine record I had provided wouldn't work (there is definitely a nice, professional way to do this). She made me re-confirm the boarding dates I had requested for something like the 5th time, only to once again tell me they couldn't take him.
I told her Linda had confirmed for me that they could do distemper maybe 15 minutes before. Alyssa said they couldn't get him in for this because "they were booked until August, and he would need a full checkup BY LAW." Emphasis hers.
There was no apology for their terrible internal communication, and their even worse treatment of me as a customer, and as a human being. I want my $30 back.
Don't go to a place like this where they're incompetent and they treat people poorly. There are other super nice, knowledgable vets (Shelburne Falls Vet Hospital is one!) minutes away.