I am genuinely stunned by how we were treated at this location, and particularly by an employee…read morenamed Rachel.
We brought our dog, Pippin, in for his appointment with our children in tow. During check-in, we were told his vaccination records needed to be emailed from our veterinarian. Fine -- I immediately called the vet and was placed on hold while trying to get exactly what PetSmart was asking for.
Apparently, being on hold with another business was taking too long for Rachel.
Instead of showing even basic patience or professionalism while I actively tried to resolve the issue, Rachel was extraordinarily rude, condescending, and openly hostile toward us. I was standing there juggling my phone, our children, and trying to comply with her request while being spoken to in a way that was so unnecessarily nasty that I was nearly in tears. We weren't yelling. We weren't causing a scene. We weren't refusing to provide anything. We were literally trying to do what she told us to do.
Despite that awful beginning, we remained polite, Pippin stayed for his service, we were told that he did great, and we even tipped.
Imagine our surprise, then, when we attempted to book again and discovered that Rachel had apparently placed us on a DO NOT BOOK status.
For what, exactly?
Our dog wasn't reportedly aggressive. We weren't told that he behaved badly. We weren't abusive to staff. We didn't refuse to pay. We didn't create a disturbance. In fact, we left believing that, aside from Rachel's astonishingly poor treatment of us at check-in, everything had gone well.
I called the store after discovering the ban, hoping there had been some misunderstanding. Unfortunately, my interaction with Rachel only reinforced my impression of how she communicates with customers.
If there is a legitimate, documented reason that Pippin cannot safely be serviced, I am completely willing to hear it. His safety and the safety of employees matter to me. But if a customer can be quietly blacklisted because an employee became irritated that obtaining veterinary records at her request took longer than she wanted, that is an alarming way to run a business.
I have rarely encountered someone in a customer-facing position who made me feel so unwelcome while I was actively trying to cooperate with them.
Management should review exactly what happened here, including who authorized the do-not-book designation, what reason was documented for it, and whether that reason is consistent with what the grooming staff actually observed and told us about Pippin.
We were kind. We complied. Our dog did well. We paid. We tipped.
And somehow we walked away banned.
Absolutely unacceptable.
