PetSmart Grooming Experience

**elizabethann** · 06-27-2006, 12:04 PM

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.

**shais_mom** · 06-27-2006, 12:09 PM

I took Keegan to PetSmart and had the delux groom and they had her for 4 hours.

I didn't mind b/c I did a lot of shopping.
Sorry for your bad experience

**Muddy4paws** · 06-27-2006, 12:30 PM

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

**elizabethann** · 06-27-2006, 12:41 PM

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

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.

**Aspen and Misty** · 06-27-2006, 02:55 PM

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

**My Peanuts** · 06-27-2006, 03:18 PM

Sorry about your bad experience.

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

**Friendy2004** · 06-27-2006, 03:48 PM

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.

**Husky_mom** · 06-27-2006, 04:01 PM

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.........

**Shelteez2** · 06-27-2006, 06:53 PM

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.

**wolfsoul** · 06-27-2006, 08:49 PM

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?

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).

**zoomer** · 06-27-2006, 09:15 PM