2 Dogs and a Cat Arnie and Grace Martinez Dog walking/pet sitting business who doesn't take care of their clients' pets Everett, Washington
This past weekend, I was supposed to go to a workshop but I was sick. So I was home when the dog walker, Arnie, arrived. What I saw was super upsetting:
-- he walked both dogs together even though I've left instructions to walk them separately because of occasional on-leash reactivity.
-- put the wrong harnesses on the wrong dogs, even though they are color coded and they were given clear directions which harness belonged to who. The dogs are 25 pounds difference and the harnesses are different sizes. This is another safety risk as dogs can escape a harness if it isn't fitted correctly.
-- completely oblivious to signs of extreme distress as he tried to put the harness on one of my dogs.
I planned to talk to them the following day, so stayed home to discuss it with them face-to-face. They had no idea I was going to be home, I told Arnie when he left I would be leaving the house at 8 and not returning until after 6.
He didn't show up. Didn't contact me, email me, text me, call Based on what they knew my plans to be, my dogs would have been abandoned with no potty break or human interaction for 11 hours. (Fortunately I stayed home to discuss what I had seen on Saturday).
Then they were pretty rude about it all. The reason they didn't show -- he was sick, took some cold medicine and went to sleep. "So sorry."
Regarding walking my two dogs together when they were instructed to walk them separately, he wrote "Pets act different depending on who walks them so I thought I'd see how they did with me." No discussion, didn't even tell me that was what he was doing.
Then both of them started blaming me for all that went wrong. They were appalled I was home, I should have called to cancel, I caused them to be sick, and that's why they didn't show up. They have tried to paint me as a horrid, difficult client. They tired to misrepresent what happened. Every time they wrote lies as a comment to my Yelp review, they re-wrote them again.
When I asked them to return the keys to my house, they at first refused until I paid their $42 bill. This bill includes a charge for 30 minutes when I witnessed Arnie only being there 20. Who knows how much money this company cheated me out of over all these years, and what neglect my dogs may have experienced at their hands.
There is another review on Yelp that outlined how this company was cheating another client. http://www.yelp.com/biz/2-dogs-and-a-cat-everett-2#hrid:H0n8qeeLCh5p-cIZWX8-uA
When you hire a dog walker/pet sitter, you are entrusting your precious pet. You believe they will show up and they will not be left abandoned. You believe that they would follow your instructions for their care and not decide to ignore those instructions. You would think that when this is pointed out, they would do whatever it took to make things right.
I am physically ill thinking of all the times my dogs may have been neglected or mishandled, and at the other precious pets that may have suffered.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
randirossman
Bothell, WA,Washington,
United States of America
What lie? Even they admit what they did . . . .
#3Author of original report
Tue, January 15, 2013
I have emails from them admitting that they did not show up and that they disregarded my instructions.
What's the most galling is that they defend their actions. Which means that they would do it again, and again, to other clients.
There are no lies here. THEY ADMIT to it.
They did not show up to discuss it face-to-face -- I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt of what I saw and discuss it, but that was they day they just didn't show up to take care of my dogs.
After they started placing blame on me and being rude, there's no reason to have a phone conversation with them. Throughout this, they never tried to contact me, they never tried to make it right. When I fired them, they sent an invoice 2 minutes later. T
Check out the other Yelp report -- Arnie had been cheating those people for months.
They are appalled that I am using social media and other resources such as this to warn potential dog walkers away from their services. This is my right.
I feel a responsibility to advocate for my dogs, and to inform other dog owners to be very wary and careful of who you hire to take care of these precious animals.
I have all the email communication between us, if anyone is interested.
A couple of things I learned from this:
-- Nanny cams for your dog sitters. Monitor if they are coming and going when they say they are (these people weren't) and you can tell a lot by how they prep for the walk. (Recommended to me by a legitimate dog walker).
-- Surprise them. Be home one day. Walk in on them. Note their reaction. If they are not happy to see you, ask yourself why. Note your dog's response to them -- is it typical? One of my dogs did not greet the dog walker (the one who was fearful when he put the harness on her. She is a wiggle-butt who is super excited to say hi to any person. That was odd (until I saw how he handled her). My other dog barked and didn't want the dog walker to enter my living room, where I was. Neither was interested in him when he picked up the harnesses. All this is very unusual behavior. (Recommended to me by a legitimate dog walker).
-- If you have neighbors who are home during the day, ask them to track the dog walker's comings and goings.
-- If you are out of town, have friends, relatives and neighbors drop by unannounced to make sure everything is okay. (Recommended by a legitimate pet sitter).
By doing these things, you will be able to quickly and rapidly determine whether your dog walker/pet sitter is providing appropriate care for your pets. Do this at regular intervals. I used this company on and off for 5 years and I really want to believe that they have not been doing this all this time. Things change, people get stressed, people's priorities change. It is up to us to advocate for the safety and well-being of our pets.
2 Dogs & A Cat
Everett,Washington,
United States of America
Liar
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, January 15, 2013
Instead of talking face-to-face or discussing via phone (as we have offered), she continues to insinuate that we neglected her pets and is bashing us via social media.
Instead of spending lots of energy and time to refute all of her lies - we will take the professional road and move on to more positive dogs/clients. We hope anyone who reads this will remember that "bad" reviews are usually rants in order to destroy reputations rather than solve problems.