If I could rate the grooming services and the doggy daycare services separately, I would give the grooming services 5 stars--they did a great job. Unfortunately, I would give the daycare 0 stars if that was even possible, so i'm settling for a collective 2 stars.
I hate to leave a review that is less-than positive, but unfortunately, my experience at Dog Gone Good Place hasn't been that positive at all. We tried Dog Gone Good Place because it's 1 mile from our new home. Our first red flag is that the place does not offer 1/2 days of daycare... What?? When I inquired about why they don't offer half days, the owner responded that she "couldn't make it work...." Whatever that means. Considering every doggy daycare in the world offers half days of daycare, I was a little dumbfounded by this. But we needed a doggy daycare, so I bought a daycare package for the coming weeks.
After my dog's first full day of daycare, I arrived to pick her up. I walked into the lobby, and the receptionist didn't even look up... A painfully awkward 30 seconds passed while the receptionist still refused to look up and acknowledge my presence in the lobby. I thought I was on Punk'd. Finally, I said "Hello, I'm here to pick up my dog," and the receptionist acted annoyed that I was interrupting her. I don't care if you're in the middle of something or not. Customer Service 101 says that when a customer walks through your door, you look up and greet that customer regardless of whether you're in the middle of something. She wasn't on the phone, and she wasn't assisting another customer, so it beats me what her excuse could have been for failing to acknowledge a paying customer's presence.
To make matters worse, when I said "I'm here to pick up Spot," the receptionist said "Oh... do we even have a dog named Spot here today?" I was panic stricken and extremely concerned that they had lost my dog! I said "You better! I dropped her off this morning!" Low and behold, my dog most certainly WAS there, but the receptionist clearly hadn't made any attempts to familiarize herself with the dogs that were in her care that day. Like most dog owners that are willing to pay $28 a day for daycare, I like to think my dog is pretty special, and it would be nice if the people who watch her all day at least pretend to take an interest in her.
I was hoping the poor customer service was just a fluke, but unfortunately, it was not. The next few times I arrived to pick up my dog in the evening, there were 5-6 other "parents" in the lobby waiting for their dogs--no receptionist or employee to be found. There were times where I had to wait over 20 minutes for my dog. I don't care if you only have one receptionist working. When your business is so inefficient that people have to wait for 20 minutes for something that should take 5, it's time to reevaluate your system. There were times I was so fed-up with the wait and running late for dinner that I literally almost opted to leave a $20 on the counter and tell them to board my dog overnight. It should not be a half hour ordeal to pick up my dog from daycare; and if people DO have to wait in the lobby, train your employees to apologize for the wait and act appreciative of their customers' patience.
Finally, I noticed one evening when I was picking up my dog that there weren't any dogs running around on the webcam (they have TV screens in the lobby with webcams that show the play areas). I asked where all the dogs were. Come to find out, everyday at 4:30, all dogs are kenneled so that it is "easier for the employees to track down the dogs as their owners come to pick them up." Are you kidding me? If I work late and can't pick up my dog until 6:30, that means she's been in a crate for 2 hours. Why am I paying you over $25 a day so my dog can sit in a kennel for a quarter of the time she is in your care? Our dog has been to several day cares since she was a puppy, and no other daycare has ever used this technique. If your employees can't handle retrieving the dogs when they're owners arrive, it sounds like you need to provide better training to your employees.
As much as I wanted to like this place, I just can't. My dog has been to many different doggy daycares, and I've never experienced such poor customer service and utter disinterest in my dog. There are better places in the area that will actually treat you and your dog like a valued customer. Go to one of those places instead. read more