PetSmart Grooming Experience

I just took Fenway to PetSmart to get groomed. I was an advocate for PetSmart until today. I asked them if they had the time to groom him and they said yes. After waiting over 1.5 hours (Fenway was getting dried out back), an employee came over and asked me about my grooming experience. I said I never would have gotten him groomed if I knew it was going to take so long (he was just going for a wash & dry - not a cut). The employee said the wait is 3 hours!! I said I was never told that. So of course, she went running into the groomers and squeeled about what I said and the groomer took Fenway from out back, quickly dried him, popped a damn bandana on him and charged me $32!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. I just sent and email to PetSmart telling them of my horrible experience. I felt bad for Fenway. He was treated like a sack of potatoes. I just made him a special supper as a way of saying "I'm sorry". He got a cheese/egg/chicken omlet.

I'll be sticking to his regular groomer from now on.

Many people have told me Petsmart and Petco are not good grooming places. (usually) I'm sorry that happened to you and Fenway, and I'm glad you emailed them. I Can't believe how much they charged you! I woulden't take him back there, either. It costs me 25 dollars to get a hair cut, bath, clipping nails... well the whole grooming process at the place I take Molli and Sam. Although the last time I was there, Molli's skin ripped and she had to get her skin glued to avoid stitches. :(

Give Fenway a big huggie for me!

3 hours is actually a great deal. Our regular time is 4 hours, but if we are behind, we can take up to 8 (just one dog can set us behind on all of them). People don't realise that there is alot more than just bathing and drying a dog -- atleast, at most shops. I don't know how Petsmart works but I doubt they are a big shop like we are. That price is outrageous. For a bath and points at our shop a small dog would cost $14-22, depending on the dog.

When I get my pets groomed I drop them off at 7:30 and can pick them up anytime after 3:00. The price is very reasonable and the head groom person is a sweetie and just dotes on my fur children. The price is in the $30's for a bath, clip and dry. My groomer is employed by my vet.
Labmomma :)

I took KiKi to Petsmart twice - each time takes about 3 hours. I think it is not bad at all. It take a barber about 30 mintues to cut/trim my hair lolz. It would take a lot longer to do the same job with a dog. :) I am ok with Petsmart.

Sounds like they didn't communicate very well with you. I don't use petsmart because it sounds like they have a high turnover of groomers. I do use banfield their veterinary service and have been happy with it.

Most big pet store companies are just jokes for their services. I only use them to buy toys, treats, etc..

There's a very small pet store 10 minutes from my house that grooms Mickey twice a year. They always do a fabulous job. Their technique is awesome, they trim so well, they bath and put on doggy perfume, they trim and sand the nails, and add an adorable bandana and send home a baggy of treats for just $50, which I think is very reasonable.

If only there were more like Aardvark Pets!

In my experiences with PetCo and Petsmart grooming, you call to make an appointment, you drop them off, then come back and pick them up a few hours later. And three hours is about average...

At the kennel where I work they take 4-5 hours. They take the dogs outside to go to the bathroom before and after, but 4 hours in front of a dryer sounds like too much for me personally. I use a shedding blade to dry Autumn as best I can and she's fully dry on her own after an hour. Pet dryers must be very slow.

That doesn't sound bad to me...3 hours is not that long to wait for a grooming in my experience. $32 is expensive though, how much did they quote you beforehand?

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Originally Posted by IRescue452

At the kennel where I work they take 4-5 hours. They take the dogs outside to go to the bathroom before and after, but 4 hours in front of a dryer sounds like too much for me personally. I use a shedding blade to dry Autumn as best I can and she's fully dry on her own after an hour. Pet dryers must be very slow.

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Not all shops use cage dryers. We use high pressure dryers, and they are not hot. Most dogs will not take more than a half hour to dry this way. We only use a cage dryer if the dog was difficult for it's head or something and it couldn't be dried well, or if the face or ears are still damp.

I have a question for the groomers out there....

When you are grooming a dog (and you have multiple dogs waiting), are the dogs who are waiting supervised at all? I know they're probably in their kennels, but is someone in there with them? Is someone keeping an eye on them?

Because when I was waiting, the groomer said my dog wasn't dried yet. Well, he was out back (all by himself) for over 1.5 hours and all I could imagine was this hot blower on him and he was frying.

I emailed PetSmart but got no reply. I was calm, cool & collected in my email. That's no way to run a business so I'll be sending a letter to the President (if I can find that info somewhere).

Thanks for all the responses.

Three hours does not sound too terribly bad to me. Although for the first visit it may be. My experience at all of the grooming salons I have been to (both private and mass market) has been pretty much the same. First, they may not be sitting around waiting for you to bring your dog in, so there may be a little wait until it is his turn (they were answering questions for other customers, someone brought their dog in for a quick nail clip, some dog was a bit harder than expected, any number of valid reasons). Second, it takes me an hour to bathe and blow-dry brush out my dog myself, I am asking them to also trim her hair and cut her nails, so it may take them a bit longer. Third, the more often you take your dog their and the more comfortable they become with him/her, the longer it takes to get him/her back. My theory with that is that they take the more difficult or unknown dogs first, and leave the easier ones for later when they don't have as much energy to deal with a dog that may be difficult.

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Originally Posted by elizabethann

Because when I was waiting, the groomer said my dog wasn't dried yet. Well, he was out back (all by himself) for over 1.5 hours and all I could imagine was this hot blower on him and he was frying.

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To my knowledge, the cage dryers are NOT heated at all. I used to help out in grooming when I worked at PetCo, and all the cage dryers were just like fans blowing on the dogs, not heated at all.

I'm a little confused as to why you are upset?

You wanted a bath and a dry. Most likly they gave him a bath, placed him in the back under a kennel dryer. Which are NOT what you would think they are, the dog does not over heat, the cage does not even get a little bit hot, most dog's don't even pant when they have one on them. Also all Petsmarts kennel dryers (including the groomers) are on for 15 minutes, then off for 15 minutes to allow the dog time without one on them, it is a Petsmart rule. If you are worried about Kennel Dryers you can ask for them not to use one or you could ask to see one. You would be surprised as they really are not hot and the dog's don't mind them. I'm assuming the groomoers plan was probably to allow him to dry a little under the kennel dryer and then bring him out to Force Hair Dry him before you picked him up. And I'm sure when the employee went back she probably was asking how long it would be till he was done and to tell them you were waiting outside. It seems to me like the groomer then stopped what she was doing to finish up Fenway since you were there early. To me this sounds like good service, they finished up Fenway an hour and a half before he was scheduled for pick up to make it so you didn't have to wait.

And while there was a communication error as to when he would be done, we are all human, we all make mistakes.

Ashley

Ashley, do you really think charging someone $32 for a 1/2 a$$ job is okay? Is that human error? I think not. My dog was still wet when they gave him to me. I wasn't stomping my feet and rolling my eyes and making faces - no signs of impatience was coming from me when I spoke with the employee. I just simply stated that I didn't think it was going to take this long to do a simple grooming.

I clearly asked them if they had time to groom him. There were 2 employees (1 of which was standing around doing nothing when I walked in). She washed my dog (actually told me he would be under the dryer for 20-30 minutes) and left for the day.

If they told me the wait was 3 hours I would have been more than happy to not groom him. They should have communicated to me that they were swamped. I can't see how many dogs they have waiting out back.

Also, I was never told how much it was going to cost. I asked for the Pet-riotic Pup service which stated $15. If I had any balls, I would have refused to pay the $32. Clearly, I have none.

Fenway has a regular groomer. He gets groomed while he's at doggy day care. We'll be sticking to that from now on. They do excellent work and charge me $35.

I took Keegan to PetSmart and had the delux groom and they had her for 4 hours.:confused:
I didn't mind b/c I did a lot of shopping.
Sorry for your bad experience

A dog in the shop I work in can vary depending how much the dog will allow you to do to him, If the dog is only in for a bath it normally takes around an hour and 1/2 and we dry using hand driers and a blaster but if the dog doesnt like either of these it does put on like an hours cage drying time, but if the dog likes the driers then normally a dog up to a retrievers size will take about an hour and 1/2.

I'm imagining Fenway to be a small dog? I cant see how it would take 3 hours just to bath and blowdry and I can see where you are coming from with that especially if they wasn't busy!

Can I ask what part of him was still wet when you got him back? was it is head? Sometimes we need to give back a dog with a toweled dried head if they get spooked by the driers

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Originally Posted by Muddy4paws

I'm imagining Fenway to be a small dog? I cant see how it would take 3 hours just to bath and blowdry and I can see where you are coming from with that especially if they wasn't busy!

Can I ask what part of him was still wet when you got him back? was it is head? Sometimes we need to give back a dog with a toweled dried head if they get spooked by the driers

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Fenway is 20 pounds. His backside & tail were wet. His head was dry. In fact, they didn't even wash him that well - his muzzle was still dirty.

Glad I didn't tip. :D

I missed the part where you said Fenway was still wet and you are right, that is unacceptable. Don't be afraid to speak up though, I'm sure they would have finished drying him for you (even though he should have been dry in the first place). Does Fenway have a white muzzel, they are very hard to get clean and depending on the amount of time spent and how often it is kept it clean in his daily life, some stains can become perminent.

Prices vary from place to place and town to town. I live in Atlanta. Now here in Lawrenceville you can get my sister's pom Bathed and Shaved for about what you spent on Fenway. However, if you would take my sisters Pom to the area where I work, which is only about a half hour from here, you would get charged 60 maybe 70 for the same work. I'm not saying the price was fair as I don't know the area in which you took him to or the services in which the specific grooming package you asked for contain. Also, If asked for a $15 service and were charged $32 that is wrong. You should have spoken up. You don't have to even be mean about it, a simple "Oh, I thought I asked for only a Pet-riotic Pup service. Which service did I ask for and what does it contain?" would have made the employee look to see what Fenway got and most likely you would have not been charged that ridiculous amount. It most likely was due to human error somewhere along the way. Was the groomer the one who checked you out? If not maybe the employee thought you got him clipped also. If it was the groomer, maybe the person who checked you in accidentally put you in the system for something else but you really only wanted the $15 service, which sounds like what you got. To be honest, it was most likly do to human error and the only way to correct that is by speaking up.


Also, the associates at Petsmart go through “ABC” training. Part of that training consist of D.O.G. Delight the customer, Operational Excellence and Grow Pet services. There are many other aspects to the ABC training but in the section of D.O.G, Delight the Customer, they are told specifically to go above and beyond for any customer. Even if you weren't acting impatient, rolling your eyes or complaining, the associate was trying to help you out by getting Fenway out as soon as possible. She probably saw that obviously there was a verbal mistake made and a misunderstanding in that you thought he would only be a little bit, while in reality the wait was 3 hours.

Also, if the standard wait is most likely 3 hours. So I assume when you asked if they had time to groom him, they said yes and they assumed you knew that they would not take him back, get him done and out right away but that you expected the normal 3 hour wait. If they said they had time to groom him, they most likely did. However, they probably expected the normal wait time of 3 hours to get him done in.

I also wanted to say, I'm sorry you had such a bad experince as both you and Fenway deserve the best care.

Ashley

Sorry about your bad experience.

I just do all this myself for my dogs. I like doing it :)

I used to work at PetSmart as a cashier and I just wanted to add something that may help clear up the price issue. The Patriotic Pup package you mentioned is $15 but it is an Add-On to a bath. Technically the bath was $17 plus the $15 add-on package.

Not saying that what happened was just, but hopefully that clears up the confusion about the cost.

i´m not used to Petsmart grooming since we dont have one, but where i took my dogs if i asked do you have time to do "x " and they said yes i wouldnt expect to deliver right away as i consider "yes, we do still have open spots and are not full for the day yet" so i took that in consideration asn took my dogs in the morning and picked them up at the afternoon (obviosly thay take more time since they are bigger adn fluffier than Fenway) but 3 hours seems considerably, whats not its the price i assume hes a small doggie and besides he was not having a cut thats way too much for just a bath......... maybe what flatcoatlver said kinda makes more sense the bath being 17 and the add on (i wanna think bandana) another 15 but they SHOULD¨VE had warned you beforehand.......

for my dogs bath, brush, nail and flea tick prev thay charge around 50 but i found a place where they only charge me half for the exact same job, same products AND in half time done........and they are HUSKIES!!!

sorry about that experience but maybe stick to your groomer of find another small business that does that, as i find pet stores and vet clinics to overcharge.........

The shop I work would have charged you approx $30-35 for a tidy up on a dog like Fenway. That is a bath, dry, nails clipped and face feet and sanitary trip. (Those are also Canadian prices btw) ;)

We don't take walk ins (in fact we are booking for October right now) but this is how it works with us. We ask that people bring their dogs in between 7:30 and 10:00 in the morning. Then we work on a first come first serve basis. If a dog Fenways size came in right at 7:30 he would go home at about 9:00 - 9:30 am. A dog the size of a golden would go home around 11:00. We try not to keep dogs longer than 3 -4 hours (depending on size). The only reason we would ever keep dogs as long as 8 hours is if the owners had to work all day and couldn't pick the dogs up.

I'm sorry you and Fenway had a bad experience. I think with big companies like that it's just the luck of the draw. I'm glad you have a regular groomer who you are happy with.

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Originally Posted by elizabethann

I have a question for the groomers out there....

When you are grooming a dog (and you have multiple dogs waiting), are the dogs who are waiting supervised at all? I know they're probably in their kennels, but is someone in there with them? Is someone keeping an eye on them?

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In our shop, we never have someone sitting and watching the dogs, really, but they are always in sight so if something goes wrong we would know.

At our shop, we have people grooming, people bathing, and people drying all at the same time. If a groomer is grooming their dog, their next couple of dogs should be dry and either sitting in a dryer (if they were still damp) or in a kennel out front (where there are several people).

I hate Petco and Petsmart groomers. They treat the dogs there like crap. Before and even more after you made this thread, I will not take any of my dogs now or in the future to Petco or Petsmart! :mad:

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Originally Posted by zoomer

I hate Petco and Petsmart groomers. They treat the dogs there like crap. Before and even more after you made this thread, I will not take any of my dogs now or in the future to Petco or Petsmart! :mad:

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You may have had bad experiences with them but one of our own is employed there. That's where wolf_q works and she would never treat a dog that way. I had a great experience with Keegan while there.

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Originally Posted by zoomer

I hate Petco and Petsmart groomers. They treat the dogs there like crap. Before and even more after you made this thread, I will not take any of my dogs now or in the future to Petco or Petsmart! :mad:

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I wouldn't generalize like that. The PetCo I worked at had AMAZING groomers who did an AMAZING job. Grant it, there are ALWAYS going to be a few bad apples in the bunch, but I don't think its fair to generalize that they all "treat their dogs like crap", because that just is not the case.

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Originally Posted by zoomer

I hate Petco and Petsmart groomers. They treat the dogs there like crap. Before and even more after you made this thread, I will not take any of my dogs now or in the future to Petco or Petsmart! :mad:

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I agree with what others have said. You can't generalize like that as it isn't far. Not every Petsmart or Petco groomer is bad and most are great at what they do. I was always taught that until you know someone who can't judge the person's character and it's true. You simply can't judge a group of more then 100 people on just 1 person, and how can you say that you hate ALL petco and petsmart groomers? Do you know them personally? Have you seen every single groomer treat a dog "like crap".

Ashley

I'm sorry to hear you and Fenway had a bad experience but around here, that is the average price you'd pay (canadian prices anyway) and the amount of time spent at the groomers is just as long, if not longer. It does sound like they didn't do what was expected of them though. Hopefully the next time you get Fenway groomed, it will be better.


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Quote:

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I hate Petco and Petsmart groomers. They treat the dogs there like crap. Before and even more after you made this thread, I will not take any of my dogs now or in the future to Petco or Petsmart! :mad:

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Did you ever stop to think that there is atleast one person (and yes, there actually is - she's a wonderful groomer & person) on the board that groom at Petco?? I think it's extremely unfair to generalize like that. As others have said, yes there are going to be bad groomers but there are also plenty of good groomers too.