Laura and her staff seemed professional if not super friendly the first time I took my dog for a "consultation" to determine if they would be a good fit to groom her. After confirming they would be able to, I made an appointment for the following weekend. I received instructions on where to park "at the cone" but when I arrived there were at least three cones. I mentioned this to Laura when she said I parked in the wrong place, but brushed it off. My dog has mobility issues and I asked them to be careful with her on the stairs (it sometimes takes her a little longer) and to put her harness back on when I picked her up. When I came back to pick her up the harness was not put back "because it was dirty" and they lifted her into the car for me before I could ask them not to. She's 85 pounds and jumping down from the car is also problematic if she doesn't have the harness. Regardless, they did a good job combing out her undercoat so I made a second appointment for today. Laura made a huge deal that it's important for me to be on time picking up my dog so that other customers aren't waiting since they only groom one dog at a time. Today when I arrived five minutes early for an 11 an appointment, there was a car waiting at the "correct" cone to pick up their dog. I waited ten minutes before a staff member walked their dog out, at which point he walked towards the car so I hopped out and got my dog down, assuming he would walk her up. Instead, he asked me to put her back in the car and pull up to the correct cone (about 50 ft away and up a hill). I declined. He then said I would have to wait for the first car to leave and then walk my dog up the hill myself and then walked off. I did that and second later when I rejoined the staff member and Laura, I asked if they would remember to put her harness back on at the end. Laura told me it looked complicated and they ask people to bring their dogs only in a collar. I reminded her she has mobility issues and the harness is helpful for the stairs, to get into her building, and critical for me to get her in and out of the car, and showed again the four buckles needed. She said they would "try" to figure it out and asked me again to park at the correct cone. I told her I'd arrived early and was already out of my car when the last customer left. I'm currently waiting outside for my dog to come out and I already know I'm not going to rebook. No matter how good they are at combing out her undercoat, the number of nit-picky rules and processes means it's not worth it to me. I already work for an inflexible bureaucracy, not looking to deal with one in my free time.
They also posted a Facebook live video of my dog being groomed without asking me, which seems pretty weird.
TLDR: the actual grooming was good, my dog seemed happy, but I can't deal with the weird rules from the staff and management, so I won't be returning. read more