Lisa
2/5
Warning: If you do not want to go through what I just suffered through, please read this. It's long, but I guarantee it's an interesting story, and one that every Marin pet owner should hear before going to this business. I had a very disappointing experience today with Pride and Groom. I will give it two stars because the haircut, itself, was good, and I am a fair person; however, I believe that the customer service is as much as a part of a successful business as the service itself. Unfortunately, Pride and Groom is an example of the worst in customer service. Background: I took my elderly golden retriever to them a year ago. She was groomed then, and it cost me $139. Expensive, but I knew it was costly. I took her again this year, and when I dropped her off, I asked and was told that the price would be the same. When I was called to pick her up, the owner said it had taken them several hours and the cost had now jumped to $229. Oh, and they only take cash. According to them, they have a policy on their crowded and messily written white board that says that $139 is a "base price" and that extra work would cost an unknown quantity more. In the course of the conversation, they accused me of not properly caring for my dog, because she had a substantial undercoat, and her nails were too long. I frequently wash my dog and brush her, but her coat can get fluffy, which is why I decided to get her professionally groomed in the first place. (I leave her coat alone in the winter as she loves being outdoors.) My feedback to the owner, which I tried to explain to no avail, was that if they want to go above the price they agreed to when I walked in the door, they should consider calling the me to explain the reason for such a steep price hike. I would then have the choice: accept the increase or come get my dog before they put the work in. Alternatively, they should make their open-price policy clear in the beginning, and I could then have the choice to accept it or go elsewhere. Seems reasonable, right? Then she suggested that even though my dog looked "cute" right now, she could cut her hair all the way down and make her look "like a german shepherd" if I wanted to pay the price we agreed to that morning--huh, sounded like revenge to me. I was stunned. I ended up saying that I would pay full price, because money is not my end goal--customer service is. Keep reading, it gets much better. Obviously, P&G is either used to what they probably deem "rich Marin pet owners" who can pay any cost, and/or they just don't care about their customers. I think it's both, in my opinion. The real exciting part was when I went to pick up my dog and the police were there! The owner then poured a paper bag of my dog's fur on the floor and showed me one toenail. I couldn't believe that the owner, Angela, actually wasted the police departments time over this matter! It reminds me of parents who go to the principal rather than have a conversation with the teacher about a disagreement in teaching philosophy. Meanwhile, as all this went on, a person with dementia went missing, but the police officers couldn't leave until our case was resolved. To help them out, I suggested that the officers try to urge her to agree to my original compromise. It took them two tries, but at last, she begrudgingly agreed. I hope my story makes you turn away from Pride and Groom. I had a bad feeling when I went a year ago, though I didn't know why. I should have listened to my gut. Below is a picture of my 14-year-old golden retriever right before I brought her in. Looks like a regular golden to me, and a well-loved one at that. (The longer version of this is on Yelp.) Thank you.
