This is really long....
I want to start this off with, i was going to chalk this up as a giant learning lesson and letting it go. But as the days go on, i just wouldn't be able to stand myself if this happened to anyone else.
I took my 2 Great Pyrenees to a local groomer on Friday 3/31. I have been going to her for a few years. She even noticed something was going on with my husky weeks before she passed, that the vet overlooked. So i felt i had a relationship with this business. I haven't been to her for a service in a little over a year due to just in general life busyness and doing at home care.
I wanted to get them in for a deep shedding and some sanitary trimming. I dropped them off around 1pm, they told me it would take till 5/6.
The last time i went, i paid $100 for my GP and $85 for my husky to do a deep shedding back then. So i ASSUMED that it would be around $100-120 each for both due to that being the pervious price range - as NO pricing was discussed or displayed at this time of drop off. No pricing was listed on their IG/FB page and no business website either. Which I should have taken as a sign.
So i get a mid service call saying my younger GP( a yr old and has never seen a groomer), saying her "puppy fur" was never deshedded correctly and it's matted at her skin. I brushed her weekly and never noticed this but, she's the pro so i listened. She told me the dog needed to be fully shaved to start over. She needed permission to do this.
I was in totally shocked. I asked if there will be any long term issues with her fur growing back and she said, there shouldn't be but they couldn't say yes or no.
I trusted her and said, if you think that's the only best option, i trust you.
Minutes later, i pop onto Google and see that, that's the worst thing you can do for a double coated dog. So i start to panic, call her vet and who was modified that the groomer would even suggest this and she's never heard of this happening before.
I immediately get off the phone, call them back around 20 min later and it was too late, they were almost done.
I go to pick them up a short time later. I arrived with my kids, go in, the groomer states there was literally nothing she could do to prevent this from happening. I told her what i read and what the vet told me and she brushed it off as if she didnt hear me and walked away.
So I'm standing at the counter, kids yelling from the back of the car to bring the dogs out, the employee says, should i wait to bring the dogs out until she pays? Which at the moment kinda sounded weird but i didn't think too much of it.
I hand her my card and she says $450. In complete shock, my dogs come running out, i see my shaved dog, kids are still yelling and there was so much going on, i was just flustered in shock. I sign the slip which was my BIGGEST mistake and walked out.
On the drive home i realized what just happened, i called to talk to the owner and tell her how i felt like i was just taken advantage of but they were gone for the day, so i left a voicemail.
I get a call the next morning from the owner. I tell her my side, how I've paid Xxxx for previous appts with her, i assumed it was the same since there was no talk of pricing or any posted( AGAIN GIANT MISTAKE ON MY PART), how I'd appreciate it if she would refund a percentage to show she hears the issues from a loyal customer and understands the whole situation.
She tells me this whole story of inflation, which I agree and tell her i don't want a full refund, just something closer to what i was paying before. I even mentioned "Even $50, $75, $100 refund to just show you did not tell me a price and there was a huge malfunction within this service".
She then tells me she can't and she wishes there was something else she could do that's not money. I asked what her suggestion was as I'm open to getting this fixed.
She says " i dont know, maybe I'll search on Facebook on what to do if someone doesn't like your grooming service. "
I said, so then should I stop my transaction and take this up with my bank?
She replies with, "I'll then sue you for 3x the amount plus wages lost."
At that moment, i knew she was someone who has done this before to other customers and there was no reasoning with her.
I ended it shortly after that and wished her luck.
As that day ended, the back of my dogs ears became swollen as she saved so close to the skin, it's now as of today, infected. She has bruising on her nipples which wasn't there before and all these random sore spots.
Yes, i should have had pricing before hand, i shouldn't have let them shave her and most of all, never let her swipe my card/sign it.
Giant learning lesson 100%%
I'm just hope this never happens to anyone else that goes to her. I know have to take her to the vet to be checked over with her sores all over her body.
Happy to post pictures if this review will let me. read more