Complaint Review: PetSmart - Topeka Kansas

I am really sorry about what happened to your baby. From the sounds of it the associate who assisted you in the grooming salon was not very well trained or she didnt care for her job. Unfortunately this does happen, where there are employees out there that way. I am a PROUD Petsmart Professional Pet Stylist. I am one of the ones who truely loves my job with the animals. It is very unfortunate that you had a bad experience at your local Petsmart, But since you had ONE bad experience, it shouldnt affect the way you view the company. Most grooming salon will refund you the money if you are unsatisfied. Did you think to bring your complaint up to the company at all or just to make us out as some bad salon? I personally do not work for your local Petsmart but I have worked in three different stores, and they treat all their unsatisfied customers the same. Your puppies nails scratched you more then likely because they were still sharp after the cutting. A normal nail trim often leaves the nails jagged until naturally grinded down by the dog walking on concrete. You can ask for our special nail grinding service where we will personally grind the nails for you for an extra 11 dollars. If you dont want to pay for the service buy a dremel, its an easy process to do at home if your dog tolorates it. You can also take a human nail file to your puppies nails to round off the edges. As for the dog still being dirty, you should have broughten that up to the associate apon pick up and they would have issued you a free bath. Im sure your dog was washed, the associate just might not have been the best at doing so, if you are unhappy with a service, once more bring it up the associate before leaving, trust me the associate who did the dog will get talked to and if its a constant reaccuring situation with that associate, the situation will properly be taken care of. As for the ears not being touched and getting a yeast affection. I highly doubt your VET told you water was poured into your puppies ear! NO ONE in their right mind would POUR water into a dogs ear! During the bathing process there is times a small amount of water can get into a dogs ear but not enough to cause an infection. More then likely if the ears were not cleaned, it was because the dog was showing signs already of an infected ear, it is part of our jobs to NOT clean an ear showing signs of an infection, cleaning it can cause the situation to get worse, most associates will notify you of why they couldnt not clean the ears. But we are not Vets and we cannot give medical diagnoses on an animal, we can only tell you are findings and ask you to seek medical evaluation on your pet. As for the woman getting fired... if you didnt bring your complaint up to the company then they will never know your feelings on the situation and wont know if they need to take action with that associate. Maybe she was an unhappy teenager who didnt like her job, who knows. You cannot base your opinion of Petsmart because of one bad experience at one store, there are Petsmarts everywhere, try giving another one a chance. If your not satisfied the second time, then once more I am sorry. My store treats our customers with respect and we go beyond to satify our customers. All Petsmart follow them same policies and should treat their customers the same. Once more I am sorry for your bad experience but please dont base your opinion of Petsmart off of one store.

I work in a grooming salon at petsmart so I know where you're coming from. New bathers are normally not trained very well depending on the salon manager. They really leave everything up to the salon manager and alot of stores do a poor job of training new employees.

I have no doubt your dog was probably groomed poorly, but you say when you picked him up he scratched you and they weren't filed. Did you pay the extra $11 for the nail filing?? This isn't included in your $10.99 puppy package. And if he scratched you, more then likely his nails were clipped, bc they are VERY sharp after getting cut. If they were untouched then nothing would have been different with his nails. Nail filing is an add-on service and unless you pay the extra money, they are not going to do it for free. Also, bathing a dog once WILL NOT cause a yeast or ear infection, especially since you saw this as soon as you picked him up. Puppies are very prone to ear infections, which is why when grooming a dog, we pluck the ear hair because hair left inside traps an ear infection and makes it worse. The grooming salon is not to blame for an ear infection. But since you felt the dog was bathed poorly, they should have given you a bath for free. That's what most salons do.

I have a few issues with some of the statements made. They don't do a good job by my standards and in my opinion. If you were following the grooming manuals to a tee, wouldn't you be doing that yourself at home (among other things and also usually a GOOD job at a shop and a good home job are two VERY different things and alot of that has to do with some expensive equipment and other supplies as well as the fact it is their profession)? I didn't read anything about the filing in the package when I looked it up online and a dogs nails are usually MUCH rougher after a clipping until they naturally file them down unless it is done manually afterwards. It is a common misconception that nothing was done to the nails because they 'scratch' when you pick them up when it is quite often the opposite and the scratches are BECAUSE the nails were clipped, though they may not have done it and sometimes it just doesn't need to be done. If it is important to you it is best to ask when you drop your pet off if they can file the nails after clipping if they don't automatically. The ears? Sorry, by what you say your dog had the beginning of the yeast infection when you took him in. It is difficult to clean an ear with a yeast infection even when they are flushed out and that may have been why your dogs ear was still 'filthy' (or they 'forgot' to do it, but it still would not be the cause of the yeast infection). Visual signs would not have been apparent the day of the grooming if it had not already been there. Not all (in fact very few if any) health issues your dog runs into will be someone's fault but simply because he's a living thing. What was the weather like around the time it started and what type of food do you feed? My suggestion is next time try to find a private shop and a good indicator is quite often to ask if they cage dry, if the answer is no then they probably have higher standards than a 10.99 job and it's much safer for your pet (though a little scarier sometimes until they are used to the dryers) AND they look a million times better. *just my opinions*