Had a terrible experience at the grooming salon.
I have been taking my 6 year old Cocker there for over a year, and haven't had any problems beyond the occasional not-so-great haircut or water in the ears. He always got glowing "report cards" from the groomers.
The last appointment I scheduled, they put me down for the wrong day, so I accommodated them and changed my schedule.
When I dropped him off in the morning, they said it would be 4 hours, which I thought was odd, since it usually only takes 3. I figured they were just being conservative. 4 hours later... no call from them, so I stopped by assuming he must be close to done (I had other things to do with my day, after all), and was turned away with no estimate as to when he'd be finished other than "more than an hour."
After waiting another hours at home I called and again was told he wasn't ready. After another hour and a half of waiting... still no call from them explaining that they were running late or when he would be finished... I decided it had been quite long enough and I went to get him, finished or not. When I arrived he was out on the tables with 2 groomers cutting the fur around his paws. They took him in the back "to finish his ears" while I paid for him. No apology for taking 6.5 hours for a single groom. They only said that he wouldn't hold still. (He is a cocker, he's only still when he's sleeping.)
After I paid, the salon manager came out from the back to say that my dog had been injured and I had to take him to the vet. They had cut his paw- not sure if that was before or after I got there. I waited while the store manager went in the back to assess the situation. Several groomers, not attending dogs, stood around and stared at me and didn't say anything. By that time, I just wanted to take my dog home.
We spent another two hours at the emergency vet, waiting to get his foot looked at. It was just a cut to the pad, but it needed cleaning and daily antibiotic wash.
To their credit, PetSmart paid for everything, including the vet bill. They called me to follow up, but it seemed like they were just concerned that there wouldn't be an additional vet bill coming.
Not sure if there was a recent staffing change or what- I never had any problems before- but we won't be going back. I am sure there are other groomers with better professionalism, time-management, experience, and courtesy to call when they are running late. read more