I’m a dog owner who’s been through a scheduling nightmare today - need a groomer’s POV

[repent4sins]

I’m not a dog groomer but I’ve been consistently having a difficult time with groomers rescheduling appointments on my 1 year old. We’ve booked all of our appointments 6+ weeks in advance; however, groomers have rescheduled on us all but one time so far with little or no advance notice. Some have done that to us multiple times, so we’d try someone new and still run into the same problem. Because of all the rescheduling, he probably has gotten a haircut every 8 weeks on average (instead of 4-6). It’s really frustrating because we had a poodle for 14 years and never ran into any problems like this. Never have been late for any of those appointments.

So, this morning, we were supposed to have an appointment with Shop A (that we made back in March), but when I got to the door, there was a sign saying the owner retired and all appointments have been moved to Shop B. I called Shop B, and they said they tried to call me, but they had a booking overlap and moved me to Monday the 6th instead. They said they tried to call but it must have been a month ago while I was on vacation and had no cell usage. There wasn’t any calls or texts for the three weeks after that to today. So, I agreed to Monday and went back home. I then got a call at 1pm today saying they had a cancellation at 3pm and I said I could make it. On the drive over at 3:07, I called and said I was running 10-15 behind and felt really bad, and they said it would be fine. Then, at 3:12 as I was pulling into the lot, they called me back saying “because you’re over 10 minutes late, the groomer decided she couldn’t take you today. Would you like to reschedule?”. I said “OK, thanks, I’ll call back to reschedule” and I hung up the phone. A few seconds later, I called back because I didn’t specify that I was literally next to the shop (and not ten miles away). A different person answered the phone and said that the first person didn’t tell me the correct thing and that the groomer was actually running 45 minutes behind and couldn’t take me today. The next appointment they had was June 18 (which is two weeks after our original date).

I booked for 6/18, but was not happy - I kind of felt like they pawned the blame to me because I was 12 minutes late.

Would they have still taken me even if I was on time (because the groomer was still 45 minutes late regardless)? Is this common in the grooming industry? Or is Shop B simply disorganized? Am I at fault? Should I give Shop B another chance?

I’m usually very flexible with my schedule, and understand there’s staffing shortages everywhere and that personal events could come up that would cause a groomer to reschedule (accident, sick family, etc), but it feels like this has happened too many times.

 

[sara716]

@repent4sins So reading this makes me feel terrible because I know my shop has done similar things to owners recently. Ours was due to a water pipe exploding, a bather no-showing repeatedly then groomers walking out (this could be summed up as mismanagement)

At least in my area, most shops are extremely over booked and understaffed. Although it doesn’t excuse it, maybe this explains it…?

 

[amethyst86purple]

@repent4sins Goldendoodles are a TON of work. They always take longer to groom than expected. I guessed you had a doodle from reading your post. Odds are, the groomers are overworked, are probably being overscheduled and simply can’t handle fitting in yet another doodle. I groomed 4 doodles today and only one of them didn’t have unexpected extra work involved. There’s always matts hiding somewhere in their super thick coats. This is gonna sound harsh, but those groomers don’t want to groom your doodle. Best to find a new groomer. Maybe someone with a small business at home, or a mobile groomer with more time and not a busy shop. You sound like a very reasonable person to have as a client. A young, eager groomer would be thrilled to have you as a new client!

 

[thankfullness]

@repent4sins I don't agree with how this was handled but I would be looking for another shop that isn't related to these at all. It seems like they just don't want to take your dog and are using a lot of excuses rather than just telling you up front that your dog is not a good fit for their shop. It could be miscommunication but it feels more like your dog may be a handful and no one wants to tell you.

 

[repent4sins]

@thankfullness I’ve never been inside this new store before. I don’t even know what kind of notes the previous store owner left, either, other than details of the appointment saying he is a goldendoodle. And they take a lot of golden doodles based on their Google reviews.

Other than that, if they didn’t want us, why did they reach out to me last minute yesterday wanting to see if I can fill in a cancellation?

 

[thankfullness]

@repent4sins I can't tell you why they would do something? I'm just going by the fact that these salons are owned by the same person's It's possible someone called you and then the groomer changed their minds. The only way to find out is to ask them. Or call that salon a wash and go somewhere else.

 

[livelifeliving33]

@repent4sins What kind of dog do you have? I sort of get the vibe that they might be a challenge to groom based on the reluctance and weird communication from the groomer. Not that it's an excuse for the lack of professional handling of the situation, but it maybe gives you some insight.

 

[repent4sins]

@livelifeliving33 Goldendoodle. That’s what I think, too. It just sucks because I haven’t even been to Shop B in person yet so they can see him in person. I already brush him every day to make him easy to groom but it’s so hard to do when it gets so long

 

[livelifeliving33]

@repent4sins To play devil's advocate, groomers often hear "We brush every day!" which might be true, but also is usually the owner brushing incorrectly or only the top layer of hair while the fur next to the skin is a solid mat. It's very rare for any dog, goldendoodles or otherwise, to come in for their appointment in perfect condition.

 

[carsade]

@livelifeliving33 Just did a wire coat bernedoo yesterday with a coat at least 3 inches long, who only had mats behind the ears. I immediately fell in love with the dog and made spots on my already double booked scheduled for him to come in.

Many hearts for a well brushed dood

 

[carsade]

@repent4sins You could have been a client from 3 weeks ago. Had a maltipoo scheduled on another groomers book and that groomer left. We called 3 times and left messages over 12 days to call us back because the groomer left. Owner calls same day as appt and needs directions/address for their appt. We told them we cannot do the dog and they had a total fit because dog was “so overgrown” it couldn’t see and was so smelly! I said I would work it in but they had to be there 30 min before the original appt. Owner called 10m to original appt and said they cannot find the shop. We gave EXPLICIT directions and I said I would still take the dog if he came in within 5 min (they said they were in the parking lot down the road at the Walmart which is literally a 90 sec drive due to connecting parking lots). Owner calls again 5 min past appt. Doesn’t know where we are still. Finally comes in 20 min past appt time. The dog looked like it was bald 4 weeks prior. Not even hair in the eyes. Owner said it was not their phone number and they don’t know where we got that # therefore it’s our fault.

Turns out, someone in the family scheduled that dog with the salon behind us for the month beforehand and they no shows that one. Same person called and scheduled with us. Owner of dog DIDNT EVEN KNOW ABOUT EITHER APPT. Only knew about the one with us because that person mentioned it off hand the day before as a reminder to them.

Sorry you had a bad grooming/shop experience. Our groomer left and caused us a disorganized shit storm. Hope you find a safe and reliable groomer.

 

[strings51415]

@repent4sins Have you tried looking for another shop? Not sure I would tolerate this type of back and forth and I absolutely wouldn’t treat my clients this way.

 

[repent4sins]

@strings51415 I called two other shops and the soonest they’d be able to get us in is also around June 18. So I decided to maybe give the current store one last shot unless I can find somewhere I trust that’ll take him sooner

 

[chaz1268]

@repent4sins I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. A lot of areas have a shortage of dog groomers and are booking out super far in advance. I feel like the groomers at that shop are super overwhelmed and are just not handling it the best way. At my shop, if a customer is more than 15 minutes late, the groomer has the option to turn them away or take them. Most of the time I’ll still take them if they can still get to me in a reasonable amount of time but if I’m super behind I’ll tell them no.

It sounds like this salon is drowning and I know that everyone is booked out right now but call around and get on as many wait lists as you can.

 

[cclun]

@repent4sins There is a massive shortage but still they handled that all wrong. Are there any mobiles in your area? Maybe you could get on a schedule with one of them or housecall?

 

[clare5890]

@repent4sins Yikes what a waste of gas. There is no excuse for that poor of communication, they aren’t even doing the bare minimum. I get we’re all busy but cmon. I would look around for a more organized groomer with better communication and customer service skills….if you can find one.

No, you are not at fault for being 10-15 minutes late to an appointment they rushed on you last minute. When they have you come on an earlier date you are doing them a favor too since they had an open spot and wanted to make the money. so there should be a little more mutual respect and communication in this instance…..
You also should of been able to keep your original appointment for Monday, not 2 weeks out….
Because you were 15 minutes late to a groomer that was 45 min behind all of a sudden? they are totally railroading you and that’s not right….
Do not listen to the “oh maybe your dog is difficult to groom” BS either…they wouldn’t have called you to push your appointment up if your dog was difficult. And that’s a pretty poor excuse if you’re a professional. I hope you have better luck with another groomer. This would never fly in my shop.

 

[repent4sins]

@clare5890 They wanted to see if I’d take the appointment today at 3 because the groomer that they assigned to me for Monday had a serious family emergency and probably wouldn’t be in for a while.

 

[repent4sins]

@clare5890 But when I called this morning, I was also told that they had multiple experienced groomers. So IDK I’d have that long of a wait between all of the employees.

And yeah, I thought there would be more leniency for being late because I was filling in for a last minute cancellation on 2 hour notice. And I called after being 7 minutes late and they said it was fine. I thought the most I’d here was “please don’t be late next time”. I’m always on time to hair appointments. My husband is a hair stylist and he even charges me a late fee if I’m late - so I never an