I have been a customer of In & Out Pet for a few years now. I appreciated the convenience of their coming to my house to groom my dog, and they always did a good job of grooming. I also remained patient with them as they navigated some challenges and changes to their business model and staffing through the years, so it saddens me deeply to have to report this.
My recent appointment was booked out 3 months in advance for 12pm on a Friday, my usual day off, with agreement in advance that appointments can run up to 2hrs early or late. As a result, I was tracking 10am-2pm as the possible service window. All is well, so far. Then, on the day of, I got a text at 7:56am saying they could only do 9am or 3pm that Friday. I saw that text at 9:45am. After calling the receptionist line 3 times over the next hour and a half, I got through on the 3rd try. At that point, the receptionist seemed helpful and willing to make things work. I agreed to 3pm. I had postponed a medical visit to accommodate their 3pm proposal, although 3pm was outside the +/- 2 hour window. 2:13pm arrived and I got another text saying they couldn't make 3pm without explanation. They offered a discount for rescheduling, a gesture which I appreciated, and after some scheduling negotiations, they put me on the schedule for the following day, a Saturday. Unfortunately, that would not come to pass.
After the new appointment was set at 9:10am for 5:30pm on Saturday, I got a text at 4:53pm saying the generator broke down and offering to reschedule. However, as I had already explained my schedule limitations for the next week and a half, earlier in the text thread, I asked whether the other driver could still get there on that same Saturday. I never heard back from either driver after that. I also left a voicemail that Saturday evening for the receptionist, politely requesting her callback in order to arrive at an understanding and perhaps reschedule, but I never heard back from the receptionist either, even though today (Monday) was advertised as one of their business days.
I am typically very willing to forgive businesses of mistakes and unforeseen circumstances, and give people grace and make accommodations, so long as proper communication continues, and so long as the business makes it right for the customer in a timely manner. We are all human after all, and things can go wrong despite our best efforts. But after receiving no communication from In & Out Pet, 48 hours after the third of three missed appointments, and this, after spending two days scrambling to reschedule-- despite having originally been scheduled 3 months in advance-- I am going to have to look elsewhere for my dog's needs in the future. I'm looking on the bright side though. Maybe with my dog off their books, they can focus on a better experience for their remaining customers. read more