Just had he worst experience at the groomer's. They've apparently staffed the facility with people who don't like dogs, or at least not in a professional capacity.
I live in Durham, and about once every three weeks I take my now 7 month old maltipoo to the petsmart there for a bath and/or groom. He's also been to another Wilmington location and one in Charlotte, and every time he gets at least a "feet face and fanny" trim, nail grind, and teeth cleaning, and he always gets great "pawgress" reports. In fact, he's often such a hit with the groomers that I come back to find that they've made his bandana into a cute little bow, they're snuggling with him, showing him to other workers... just going the extra mile and I always leave with a huge smile on my face! This did NOT happen at the Mayfaire location.
Things first started to fall apart when Justice, the sweet but apparently "not actually a groomer," groomer called me at 2:22pm to pick him up. I arrived at about 2:40pm to find that my dog was not actually finished. What had they been doing all that time? But they told me that by the time I finished paying (the rather exorbitant fee of 44.99 to wash a 5 pound dog), they'd have his face done. I came back to find that the two groomers (a young female who looked to be about 12 years old and a middle aged man who was not wearing the blue Petsmart shirt) had started on two other dogs. Justice was nowhere to be seen and did not reappear until I was leaving. The worst part about this was that even while I was standing there watching them, they were saying stuff to the dogs like "stop moving, you little jerk" and "don't make me cut you!" It was unpleasant and angry and demeaning and I can't even begin to imagine what they must say when dog-moms aren't watching. The other terrible thing that happened during this interval is that they hooked my dog up to the base of a table so that he could run around... directly into piles of cut fur and other dogs' poop. After he'd just had a bath?! Now he's dirty again with the filth of other dogs! Gross, and not okay!
Finally, they get to my dog. He's all riled up now from being left alone on the floor and squirms when they try to cut his face. I offered to hold him, which, because I know my own dog pretty darn well, I knew would help calm him down. The guy told me that "no, he probably just senses you and you need to leave." I left and came back, again, to find out that "he's just too young, I can't do this. It isn't safe and would have been a freebie anyway." Despite the fact that now he's had this done about 7 or 8 times in his life and always does great, suddenly he's "not well behaved."
I asked to speak with a manager, whose name is Justin and is maybe 23 years old, who basically just said there was nothing he could do and to try again when the dog is older, and that the package I'd selected didn't come with a trim anyway. He just could not be bothered to care. Then the groomer (the old dude in his street clothes) comes walking over to defend himself and to reiterate that he was under no obligation to trim my dog's face and that he was just too young for it. Both of them just stood there, shrugging their shoulders and acting like I'd caused them some major inconvenience by asking them to do the job I'm paying them quite handsomely to do.
Oh, and to top it all off, they didn't give him his cute little bandana, barely washed him (I can't smell shampoo, but to be fair his fur does feel a bit softer), and didn't brush the fur around his neck, head, or tail. I left feeling like I wanted to cry because they'd just treated my dog like he was a nuisance rather than the part of my family he truly is. Maybe I'm crazy, but he is an incredibly meaningful part of my life and I know I'm not the only person in the world who feels like her dog is her child to be protective of.
Petsmart, please hire someone at this location who actually likes their job. I've never written a review on yelp before, let alone one with one star, because it's rare for something to be so grossly mismanaged in so many ways. Consumers, beware. Find a cheaper and more loving location for your pet to be taken care of.
*I will say that the blonde girl running the first cash register was sweet, polite, and enthusiastically helpful. She is the type of employee I was wishing I saw in the salon! There was also another person working the register who offered to give me a bonus coupon which was really nice, and I appreciated that! read more