We first contacted Shari on a rather urgent basis and she was very quick to answer and was very accommodating, which was a relief. Things went fine for a couple of months.
About a week ago, we forgot to leave a key for the walker. After I remedied the situation, I contacted him directly to let him know that a key would be waiting for him as usual. When I didn't hear back from him and it had been an hour after he was supposed to let our dog out, I called him. He informed me that he no longer worked for Pawsitive Petcare, was surprised that Shari hadn't told me and that, no, he didn't know if someone was coming to walk our dog. I was in a panic. I was also in the middle of my work day. I then text messaged Shari hoping for an explanation and to ask her if someone was going to walk our dog and if not, that I needed to know ASAP so I could try to find someone. She text messaged me back about 10 minutes later saying, "sorry about that" and that someone who we had never met before would be coming into our house and walking our dog. I was shocked. I then had to prompt Shari with another text message to see if the other walker had come. The other walker did eventually show up, 2 hours late, where she walked our dog without his harness and coat, without knowing his routine, etc., and proceeded to leave our apartment door wide open when she left. Not just unlocked. Open.
I waited for a phone call, a text message, an email, something, for some sort of explanation to ease my mind and make me feel better about the ball being dropped. I got nothing. I finally called 4 days later and expressed my anger to Shari regarding the whole situation; basically to give her one last chance to explain and take responsibility for what had happened. Instead, she was completely unapologetic. She placed blame on everyone and everything else, but she never once took ownership. No apology, no explanation, nothing. If she is one of the faces of the company, then she owes any one of clients an explanation/apology for something like this.
One of my biggest concerns is not only did they not offer any sort of explanation or apology, but that if we hadn't had the mishap with the keys that morning which led to me contacting our dog walker directly and the series of events that followed, would anyone have come to walk our dog. Or, would we have found out that Pawsitive Petcare was giving us a new walker?
I will never use Shari and her company again, nor will I ever recommend her to anyone. If a reliable and professional dog walking service is what you want, do not use Pawsitive Petcare.
UPDATED W/ RESPONSE - The response below just reinforces my disappointment with this entire situation: No accountability. When you are insinuating that your clients are liars, there is a problem. I did not embellish; I have no reason to do so, I gain nothing from it. The reality of the situation is disappointing enough. My account is exactly what occurred.
1) I should have been contacted by the first point of contact to inform me that a new person who I have never met will be walking my dog. I wasn't contacted, and found this out only when I happened to contact the usual walker to assure him that keys would be in the usual spot. In an urgent situation like this, contacting the walker directly is reasonable, otherwise I always went through Shari. 2) The replacement walker did in fact fail to close the front door to the apartment. This is not debatable. Again, I have no reason to make this up. 3) The backup keys which our neighbor left for the walker were left in the usual spot which is why the replacement walker was able to lock the front door to the building. 4) And yes a picture was sent, which is exactly why we know that a harness was not put on our dog, nor was his outside coat put on. The leash was attached to his collar and he was taken outside in a hoodie he wears indoors. This is clearly shown in the photo. 5) The only agreement we made was that our dog would be walked by noon. At 2:04pm I sent a text to Shari asking if the replacement walker had been to take our dog out. I received a text back stating that the replacement walker was with our dog at that time; two hours later than usual. 6) And the biggest issue is that I was NOT contacted during the week after these events transpired to be given an explanation or to be reassured. The only call I received was a call back to a call I originally placed. I received no other calls to offer explanation. There were no emails or texts. When I did speak with Shari, I did not yell. I expressed my disappointment with the situation, at the lack of communication and accountability, and explained why we would be hiring another company to walk our dog.
The below response to my original post is poor form and reinforces the lack of accountability. read more
