Very unprofessional…read more
I want to share my experience with Giovanna, the lead walker, because it was unfortunately very disappointing.
I just got back from a 1 1/2 month vacation. And this is the first day i was going to see my dog after that long.
George's walk (My dog) was scheduled for 12 PM, as Giovanna and my ex-husband had told me. She later said the walk would take place sometime between 12:00 and 1:30 PM. I gave it a thumbs up I understand.
That timeframe already felt too long, and it made me wonder whether this was how things had been handled during the month and a half I was away. We pay for walks specifically so George does not have to be alone in the apartment for four or five hours at a time. Since we are not there for most of the day, my ex-husband only gets to see him while he is sleeping and leaves for work at 7:00 am.
However, by that point, I no longer expected Giovanna to walk George, so I decided to walk him myself. I then expected the key to be returned though, but that was pushed back again to 2 PM. By 2:00 pm, George had already been alone in the apartment for approximately nine hours. I was still patient and understanding and I explained that I could not wait until 2 PM because I wanted to take George to the beach and i had other responsibilities to do later, Giovanna responded, "So do we!!!" The repeated exclamation points in her messages also made her tone feel unnecessarily dismissive.
We paid for George to be walked so that we could attend to our own work and responsibilities during that time. Her response made it seem as though our responsibilities did not matter.
I told Giovanna that I would walk George myself and planned to do so for the rest of the week, even though we had already paid for the service. On that particular day, I was only asking for our key to be returned. I originally expected it to be returned around the scheduled walk time, but even that became an issue.
What concerned me most was how my questions and concerns were handled over the phone. I was speaking calmly and asking reasonable questions, I understood her point. However, she did not seem willing to understand or address my concerns from the perspective of a customer who had paid for the service. Instead, she repeatedly speak and raised her voice. I found that unfair and very unprofessional.
She later wrote:
"You had the opportunity to text us last night about needing the key today, and we would have made that happen for you."
However, I did not need to notify Pawmates the night before that I wanted the key returned. I was not adding a service to the calendar; I was removing George from the schedule actually. I was doing them a favor. Since his walk was already scheduled for that day, I expected the key to be returned within that same timeframe Atleast.
She said that they don't work for George alone and have other clients in between. But that wasn't my concern. I was only asking about the time allotted for George's walk.
I ended the phone call while she continued raising her voice and decided to call Nathy, her other walker, to get the key since Giovanna had mentioned in her message that Nathy had it. I figured I would just get the key myself
But Nathy didn't respond, and a few seconds later, Giovanna messaged me:
"For the record, anything related to hours, keys, and our schedule goes through me since Nathy is only a dog walker that works under me!!!"
At that point, I just stopped engaging
If the number of dogs and appointments being accepted becomes too difficult to manage properly that caused you mental loads, it may be better to accept fewer walks rather than compromise the quality of care. Pet parents deserve respect, professionalism, quality of service, accountability, and reliable communication. Customers should not be made to feel as though they are inconveniencing the provider by expecting the service they paid for.
Speaking loudly, repeatedly and dismissing reasonable questions is not an appropriate way to communicate. As a customer who paid for the service, I deserved to have my concerns addressed respectfully and directly, without being interrupted or shouted down.
We trust petcare providers with members of our family, we deserve to feel confident that they are receiving the care, attention, and reliability we are paying for and were promised.