At the beginning, they were great! They emailed me back right away with breakdowns of prices, and even followed up with a phone call. I asked to book for Monday the 17th and they sent me a follow up email, confirming the appointment.
I arrived around 12:35 (drop-off is between 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM). When I arrived, a sign on the door said to go to the alley for afternoon drop-offs (this was not mentioned in the emails or phone call/text).
I went to the alley and waited a few minutes after ringing the bell. When I went in, a young woman was physically present to check me in, and some person was on an iPad with 2 way camera on so they could see me/I could see them (super weird). They had no record of my dog being booked.
After some back and forth, I read the email to them, and the person on the intercom/iPad thing said he forgot to actually "confirm" the appointment. The email said:
"We would love to welcome [dog] at the salon!
Yes, you can bring [dog] at 12:30 PM.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask."
Apparently, this did not count as a confirmation which... okay.
So they were able to squeeze me in with the bather so I said okay, fine, let's just do it. The woman then tells me to be back at 2:00 - 2:15 PM. The pick-up hours on the phone, website, and email all say, "Afternoon appointments (only available for Basics service):
Drop-off: 12:30-01:00PM Pick-up: 03:00-04:00PM."
The woman said oh, well we're not that busy today so we won't be open after 2:30 PM. Bizarre.
I was like, well, I made this appointment here cause I liked the services you offered, and it worked with my schedule. I live 20+ minutes away, so I'd have to immediately turn back to come and pick her up. Too bad for me. So I had to call out of two dog walks (I am a professional dog walker) in order to come back to get her in time.
I left around 12:50 PM. I get a text: "[dog] was checked in for Basics (Bath + Nails) for Adult Dogs at Monday, 6/17/2024 1:23 pm." How are they possibly going to do all of the bath and other things in 37 minutes? Spoiler alert: they did not finish by 2:00 PM.
I arrived at 2:00 PM. I parked on the street because the alley is really tight. I called at 2:20 PM and asked for a time update. They said oh, she still has to do some things so another 20 minutes. This is pushing 2:45 PM now.
At 2:47 PM, I get a text saying, "Hi [ ]! Hope you are doing well. May we have an ETA for [dog] please?" I was extremely confused, so I told them I had been waiting for almost an hour.
I came in and the groomer checked me out. A new person was on the intercom and said they tried to bring my dog out to me but I wasn't there. I said well, I have been parked on the street for 54 minutes, and I even called 25 minutes before you texted me and you still didn't properly notify me.
They provided me a free "add-on" of shed control ($18.00) as an apology,, which I accepted.
Now, this is where I admit fault: I was really mad because my dog looked exactly the same when I came out. I didn't realize the basics didn't cover a trim of even sanitary areas, so that's on me. I won't fault them for that. But I can get the entire services they offer under basics plus trim and de-shed, nails, etc. for $30.00 - $40.00 cheaper at two other salons I called so I definitely would have gone elsewhere had I realized. I added a star (2 stars) because I misread the basics. I also tipped the groomer because this was not her fault.
My dog is still shedding a ton - last place I went she stopped shedding in the summer for about a week when doing a big de-shed treatment. I am really glad I did not pay for this. I also paid extra for nails and my dog's nails were cracked and breaking when we got back. My partner had to re-trim them this morning.
They also promised to have a full report card in print and verbally to explain how she acted, which I thought was great. The bather said, "she was really good, she was nervous at first, but she took a lot of pepperoni." I was expecting more. Today (day after the appointment) I got an email with a report card that they "forgot" to give it at the end of the appointment/verbally explain it to me.
I do not recommend Patrick's Pet Care. read more