Where do I begin? Although we've shared our negative experience at Rondivills with people in our community, other dog care facilities, and people we know involved with the BCSPCA, it never occurred to me to write a review on yelp until now. It saddens me that another negative review here sounds familiar to our experience, and even if this saves 1 pet from experiencing trauma despite the positive reviews, then it's all worth it.
Knowing we were going to be away for an extended vacation, we wanted to test out this place figuring it must be pretty good if it's been in business for so long. We had a tour of the place and ended up leaving our dog for an overnight stay. Staff seemed friendly and when we picked up our dog the next day everything seemed fine.
Great! We found a place we could leave him while we were away on vacation. We asked around and nobody really had anything to say about Rondivills except that it had been in business for a long time.
We left our e-mail contact information, vet information, and local emergency contact information as this was the first time our puppy would be away from us for longer than a week.
Mid-way through our vacation we e-mailed them for progress on how he was doing, how he was adjusting, and their response was positive, no worries.
Fast forward to picking him up after our vacation. His eye was cloudy and swollen. We questioned the lady who released him as to what happened and she seemed to play it off as something minor that they hadn't noticed until that point. My immediate reaction was to get him to our vet right away and get answers later.
Our vet office was quite busy by the time we came in but one look at our dog and one of the vets commented that the next available vet would see him right away. Long-story short our puppy was treated right away for a scratched cornea that turned into an ulcer due to the unattended infection--he could've lost the vision in his eye.
We spoke with the manager at Rondivills and she denied the eye was in as bad a condition as the photos (taken while waiting in the vet's office) we sent them. Furthermore, she suggested his eye's condition became worse after the vet had probed it.
Needless to say she would not admit to any responsibility in the matter, wouldn't refund any portion of our money for the stay, or any portion towards the vet bills. We escalated it to the owner and absolutely no response. We are not rich by any means, maybe that's why we considered Rondivills in the first place. Since then we've found a much better, trusted place to leave our pooch. A bit more expensive but absolutely worth our pup's happiness and care. Well over a year later and we know this has had a lasting effect on his eyesight...to what degree we will never know. One thing we do know: we would NEVER do business with Rondivills again and anybody who asks, "Do you know of any good places for doggie daycare or boarding?"...NOT Rondivills! read more