I feel it's imperative that I post this review, as I felt extremely uncomfortable after my experience with this company. Fortunately, my puppy is safe.
I had reached out to various dog trainers on Yelp to find one for my puppy. I came across Michael of Genius K9 who offered me some free training advice. He then pitched dog walks and dog boarding with his company if I was ever interested. Since my regular dog walker was going to be away a few days this month, I was interested.
It was downhill from here.
I tried to set up a "meet and greet" with the dog walker that Michael suggested (I will not name him here), and I couldn't reach Michael via text. After I sent him a follow up, I got a message on Yelp from the dog walker.
We exchanged a few messages, and despite me getting an uncomfortable vibe from the person, I agreed to a "meet and greet." The meeting further confirmed the uncomfortable vibe, but I was going to go for it anyway because I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and trust them.
The next day, when I was confirming the walk, it took almost seven hours to hear back from the walker to the point that I started contacting other walkers. At this point, I no longer felt comfortable using a company that did not carry insurance where I did trust the walker.
Boy, did I make the right decision.
I message Michael on Yelp that night to cancel and he says no worries and please feel free to use them in the future. Okay, sounds fine.
Next day, I get a text message from the walker saying that he'll be by in 25 minutes to pick up my puppy for the walk. I told him that I cancelled last night and asked if Michael told him. Michael hadn't.
The walker responded that I should pay him anyway because he traveled part of the way and really needs the money. He also gave me the impression that he was going to go pick up my puppy.
Fortunately, he wasn't going to still pick up my puppy. He just wanted to be paid.
I am still shaken up by this experience and want to warn others out there to be careful with this company. I am still worried now that I should change the code to my lock box, as I had told the walker the code before deciding to use another walker.
If anyone has questions about my experience, please feel free to message me directly. read more