I have never left a review on this website before but given what happened in my case with Wiggley Walkers, I felt compelled to share my experience with potential customers who are considering using Wiggley Walkers as a dog-walking service. I am also assuming that, based on the other reviews on this site, that someone from WW will reply explaining their side of the story. I have no problems with that at all, provided that it is honest and forthcoming.
To start, I will preface this by saying that I am sure there are many customers who have had different experiences than mine with WW; They are very nice, mostly responsive, and were enthusiastic when we elected to use them to walk our dog. They are very nice people. However, if you hire them, I would highly suggest to any potential customer to do your due diligence and make sure that whatever service you select from WW, that they actually do it.
In my case, we hired WW for the 25 minute walks for our dog. Our understanding of this was that the total time of the appointment was 25 minutes, with the walk included in that time. We had two primary problems with them when it came to this. First, a majority of the appointments were not even for half of the 25 minutes. Second, they never even showed up on one of the days.
Typically, when we returned home in the evening, WW left receipts in the apartment (which is helpful) that let us know when they showed up to walk the dog and when they left (I am sure that they do this for all of their customers). The problem, however, is that these receipts, in 4 cases, downright wrong. My apartment happens to have a security system that keeps a log of when the doors open and close and at what times. This means that we could see when the walker entered our apartment, when he/she left the apartment with our dog, and when they returned with the dog from the walk and left after unleashing him. Of the 7 days that WW walked our dog, 5 of the times were stated by WW on their receipts to be 25 mins, with 2 being 30 mins. In reality, our security system listed the total time of the walker in-and-out of our apartment as 10 minutes twice, 12 minutes twice, 18, 22, and 24 respectively. Now, I understand that it takes time to get into the building, leash up the dog, and get outside, walk him, take him back in, unleash him, and leave. I was willing to accept that for the 18+ min walks, giving some break time to open the doors and unleash the dog when he returned from the walk. However, the 12 min and less walks meant that the 25 minute stated apointment of the walker was overstated, unless the WW dogwalker was hanging out outside my building, without the dog, just doing nothing (if it means anything, all 4 walks were listed as "Adam"). Given the discrepancy, I'm not even sure if my dog did #1/#2 at all or if those were just as incorrect as the stated times.
The second, and final straw, was the day we terminated the relationship. On this day, WW never even showed up to walk our dog. There was no receipt left, and a review of our security system showed that nobody entered or exited the apartment during the afternoon. We received no call, no email, no text, no nothing to explain what happened or why nobody even showed up to walk our dog. The poor guy was out of his mind because he had to use the bathroom so badly by the time we got home. I promptly composed an email to WW explaining just these reasons, in more detail, to them on why we were firing them, along with the evidence (receipts and security system logs) that showed why we decided to no longer use their services.
As I stated above, the workers that we dealt with over the phone/email were pleasant and enthusiastic. Nobody was ever mean, nasty, etc.. I am sure that they love dogs and have no evidence to suggest that they mistreat the animals that they walked. They certainly did not mistreat mine (outside of the final day when they never showed up to walk him). The email sent to me after I informed WW that we were firing them stated that the matters we stated would be addressed with the staff, and we were not required to pay anything. I certainly hope so. I would like me to be the outlier for this company, the one mistake that they made. The problem is that, in this business, given that I am trusting them with the care of a creature that I love, I have to be able to trust the people I am placing my dog's care into. Given the time discrepancies and the entire day skipped of a walk, I could no longer trust them as a company to walk and take care of my dog. We signed up with them with the intent to pay for 25 minute walks that we never received in a majority of the dates. If you are going to hire them, as I stated, make sure you are getting what you pay for. read more
