We were excited when this grooming salon opened next to our neighborhood. We have a standard…read morepoodle, and poodles require groomers with specific experience. Our first appointment was with the owner, and the cut turned out very well-more like a German cut. However, she didn't pluck his ears and told us our dog "doesn't like it." That was strange, because plucking is an important part of poodle grooming to prevent infections. Even if he doesn't like it, his ears need to be cleaned.
For the second appointment, the owner was absent for several weeks, so another groomer handled our dog. He came back with an excellent summer cut. A few weeks later, I called and specifically asked for the second groomer. The owner insisted she had groomed him herself and repeatedly talked over me. She scheduled the appointment with herself again. I guess she did not knew, that in the time she wasn't in the shop our dog was groomed by someone else. When my husband picked up our dog, we were very unhappy--the dog only had a light trim instead of a proper short summer cut, no clean face/feet, and once again no ear plucking. On top of that, the price was higher than the first two visits.
Because his fur was already long and grew faster, I scheduled another appointment very soon and again requested the second groomer. The owner didn't like that and asked who it was, but we genuinely didn't know. We kept the appointment without knowing who would groom him. Unfortunately, the result was the worst so far. His body had an uneven short cut, but still not a summer cut. Long sections were left behind the knee joints, the neck was extremely long and fluffy compared to the body, and the whole cut looked like two different people worked on him with no coordination.The most shocking part was discovering a large shaved square patch on one side of his belly. It honestly broke my heart. I immediately called and sent photos. The owner apologized and asked us to bring him back to "fix it," but how do you fix a shaved patch? We declined. There was no offer of compensation, and despite paying extra each time, they never plucked his ears once--even though it's included in the service. They also happily accepted generous tips each visit.
After two very bad experiences, we debated whether to return to our old groomer or give this place one last chance because of the convenient location and the first two times. We decided to try one more time and scheduled an appointment with a note asking them to call us beforehand so we could confirm who would groom him. Instead, they simply declined the appointment and refused service because we had complained about the last two grooms.
Refusing a customer after the business made repeated mistakes is not only unprofessional--it's arrogant. The groomers always looked unhappy and stressed, and the atmosphere was nothing like other salons we've used. The last grooming was a huge red flag, and we're grateful we saw the true face of this business before more damage was done. I'm posting pictures as proof of my words.
