Advice please?

Hi there.

Since Clover was a pup I have been to one dog trainer for several things. Puppy classes, then private loose leash walking, and rally classes. I feel I've been a good customer to her. I talk highly of her to everyone I talk about it with at the dog park.

However. Our last Rally class was cut off by 30 mins because of rain. I really wanted to finish the class. She told us we could make it up another time, but I guess everyone else said not to bother. Except me. Maybe I'm selfish but I feel if I paid for something I should get the time for it. Anyway, I was talking to her and she said she'd let me know next week about making up the class. I think it's been 2 months now. I e-mailed her maybe 3 weeks ago. I figured she's been busy and forgot. I asked her a question about Clover and said maybe we could get together to talk about my issue for 30 mins instead of having her set up the rally stuff for just me. She never replied. So about a week ago I asked her on her business FB page if she saw my e-mail. She said no, so I sent it again and told her so on the page. Still no reply.

I'm finding this upsetting because I don't know why she's ignoring me when she still owes me time. She could at least reply and say sorry I'm busy right now. I really don't want to say anything that will result negatively. There was another training here who I didn't get along with. Josie was aggressive and he said the best thing was having her around other dogs. So he took his Rotti around her she kept getting more and more upset. I was SO upset to see her like this that I got up and started to cry and just left and never spoke to him again until several years later :rolleyes: (It seems he remembers me and was very rude to me)

Anyway what can I do? Should I just say forget about the time owed?

It seems like this trainer is NOT going to give you time owed, and there's probably not much you can do but to forget about it - unfortunately.

If that's the case, I certainly wouldn't speak so highly of her in the future. I'm not saying that you should "bad mouth" her, but just let the facts be known to anyone who might ask about her and her services.

I've never had a problem with her before. I would e-mail her every so often for advice on the training we had been doing and she always responded.

It's been 2 months and you contacted her twice with no reply? That doesn't paint a very good picture - IMO. If she had been sick or otherwise indisposed, then that would be a different story - however since she didn't indicate that to you - it doesn't seem like that is her issue. You could always give it one more try - then I would consider it to be a case of "3 strikes and you're out"! :(


ETA: You could always TRY to get a response out of her by asking for a refund of your money for the unused time. Sometimes money speaks louder than words. Of course if she hasn't answered you so far, she probably wouldn't answer this either - :rolleyes: - but it might be worth a TRY.

Maybe she is not getting your emails? She did respond to your posting on her business page.

If you have the message you sent her, I would copy it, go to her business page (yes it will be public, but what can you do? ) Say you've sent this twice with no response, but as she responded to you on the business site you know she is receiving those, and here is the request you sent along twice already. Be polite about it.

UNLESS you have a phone number, then I would say phone her first, before going 'public' with your request.

I don't think you should let this person off the hook, Sowa. Could you find out when rally will be offered again, when she will have everything set up, and make up the 30 minutes at that time?

Just a thought - maybe contact the Better Business Bureau. Let them know the problem and that you'd either like a refund for the 30 minutes you missed, or to receive the remaining training at a mutually acceptable place and time in the near future. Maybe they can mediate a solution for you.

Your time is just as valuable as the trainer's. She owes you 30 minutes of work, for which you paid. I don't think it's okay for her to take your payment and then not provide the service. Just because other people have said oh, forget it doesn't give her permission to assume the same for you.

((((HUGS)))), Clover!

Maybe when you contact her next, you could ask about setting something up in January - this is a very busy month for most people, and maybe she is just feeling overwhelmed with everything she has to do.

You could also try to find out if she'll be having another set of classes in the new year and if she is then just mention that you would like to attend a 30 minute session to make up for the lost time that she owes you. As was mentioned this is a busy time and she could be overwhelmed by that or maybe even health issues that she prefers to keep private... I'd give her another chance to reply before going public with it. If you get nothing then you'll know she wasn't the person you thought she was.

Problem is she doesn't have an indoor place. So now that winter is here I can't do my class anymore until next spring. It was still warmish when we had our last class. I want to say it was in October. I think I'll try sending her a private message on FB for now. I just don't want to get on her bad side or anything. I just feel it's bad business for her. I don't think I'll be going back to her if she doesn't at least try to make up my time with something else like. I've spent probably over $300 on the several different classes I've taken with her since I got Clover. I do feel the least she can do is give me my last 30 mins.

She replied to my FB message. She said she did get my second e-mail but was busy with a foster litter of pups she needed to feed.

At this point, I'd be asking for a reimbursement of some kind vs. make up time. It seems like 30 minutes of a missed class is no big deal to her and she's likely hoping you'll just forget like the rest of your class.