I started my journey importing my dog to Australia in July 2022 when someone suggested using Sophie from AirPets to carry out the necessary steps for me.
This, unfortunately, has not been my experience with AirPets.
My dog is my world, like most, so for me importing him safely, happily and with a competent company was of the utmost importance. I trusted Sophie with the process and it has honestly caused me more stress, tears and anxiety than I can express.
From the start, Sophie's communication was lacking (she even commented on this herself, admitting that communication had been lacking) and there were several times where I was concerned about her management of my import request. The first issue was after our initial discussions when I had sent payment for the import permit with confirmation that the permit was being applied for, to receive an email the next day stating that she would need a copy of the RNATT test results to start the import application. I was pretty concerned at this point, but as Sophie had come recommended I decided to carry on. (NB: the person that recommend AirPets initially is now no longer recommending AirPets and is instead using a different Agent).
At every step of the process, I had to chase Sophie to get answers/results. Not once did she send over documentation without me chasing her for it, and this was always some time after she had received it! Even the Veterinary Schedule that you're supposed to receive alongside your initial payment for the permit, I had to chase - explaining to Sophie that the lack of information was causing me some stress meant she sent over a tentative schedule with a single date on! It was just a constant hassle to get anything out of Sophie - the worst being the PEQ Booking & updated Import Permit - the PEQ Booking Number (PRN) was actually never sent to me (until the very end of our communication after multiple times asking for it), nor was the booking confirmed until I chased Sophie about the dates as I had been told that the date we requested was fully booked & the updated Import Permit, which I was told about on Oct 21st, was completed on November 1st and I didn't get it until I emailed Sophie letting her know I was no longer going to be working with her on Nov 18th.
I honestly thought the whole thing couldn't get much worse, until I let Sophie know that I had lost faith in her ability to complete the import of my dog, to which her response was "thanks for the feedback, I'll go ahead and cancel your quarantine spot". To say that I was shocked at the response would be an understatement. It seemed like a very petty way to respond to someone, given how poor communication had been throughout. This then ensued a back and fourth of emailing for near 24hrs of me asking Sophie to provide the PRN Number for the booking (at this point, I honestly didn't trust that the booking had been made, so at the very least I wanted the PRN as confirmation for the booking) with Sophie, as per usual, ignoring my requests and instead pressuring for payment (of £42 for the booking fee, which is a nice upcharge of over double given that the current cost for the PEQ fee is just over £15 - £27AUD).
To say my experience with AirPets has been underwhelming would be an understatement and I would not recommend them to anyone. I would in fact, tell them to run the other way and avoid them. For a process that is beyond important for most pet owners, the way that Sophie handled things was just abysmal. read more
