
Elizabeth of Fort Myers, FL on Nov. 14, 2009
I started taking my cocker spaniel mix to PetSmart to get his hair cut after a bad experience with PetCo. On Saturday, November 14, 2009, we dropped Zeus off at 7:30am to have him shaved. The grooming salon said he would be ready around 1pm.
At 1pm, I called to see if he was ready, knowing that they are always busy on Saturdays. Manuel the person working on my dog, told me he would be ready around 1:45pm. When my husband and I arrived at 1:50pm, Zeus was still not ready. His body had been shaved and Manuel was still working on his legs/paws. His tail and head had not been cut yet. We took the payment paper and proceeded to the register to pay and wait until he was finished.
After waiting at the PetSmart store for an entire hour, Zeus was retuned to us, looking like a lion! They had not cut his head, ears, or tail. He was in care of the PetSmart grooming salon for a total of 7 hours and was not 'shaved' when he was given back to us. Only his body and legs had been cut.
My husband proceeded back into the grooming salon after a few minutes to see what could be done about this. The store manager, Chris, and the salon manager, Manny, proceeded to explain to my husband that my dog bit the groomer 7 times, that he wouldn't sit still wile his legs were cut, and he was very hyperactive. They told my husband that it was his fault for bringing Zeus to the salon on a 'busy Saturday, when there were pet adoptions'. When my husband asked why he was making a fuss about his legs being cut did they not stop cutting his legs and cut his head/ears/tail, they had no response. When my husband asked why my dog was not taken off the grooming table and we were not contacted after the FIRST time our dog 'bit' the groomer, and they had no response.
I have taken my dog there every 3-5 months for the past few years to get the very same hair cut that I did today with no problem.
As we were in the car on the way home, I called the store to get a district managers phone number because I did not deem that a $23.50 refund from a $47.00 INCOMPLETE haircut was a good fix to my problem. When Chris, the store manager, whom my husband had just talked to, picked up my call, he proceeded to tell me that he 'underdstood why I was upset' but had noting to tell me as to how he was going to fix my problem...
I was on the phone with Chris for a total of 15 minutes where I was told that I had no reason to be upset and that I could bring my dog back to wait for him to be cut again. When I asked why that wasn't done when I went back into the salon after immediately picking up Zeus, he again, had no response. I was told by Chris that I was not giving him a chance to talk. He proceeded to explain to me my husband only asked for 1/2 is money back, which is not true. When I asked what was going to be done about the employees in the salon that obviously could not do their complete job in a 7 hour period, he said nothing. I then realized that I would be taking my dog elsewhere from now on.
After letting him say what he needed to he reluctantly gave me the district managers phone number, asking me why I wanted to contact him at all. I told Chris, as most dog owners would, that having my dog sit in a cage for at least 5 hours without food, water, or being taken to the bathroom was unnecessary and I would not let happen to him again. He then told me that my dog was 'being worked on the entire time he was there'.
All in all, PetSmart is a good company, but they have very bad people running it, who do not have customer service skills, whatsoever. I do all of my pet shopping there, and will try a different PetSmart store from now on...