Angie's Bark Ave - Mechanicsburg, PA -- Ignorant & potentially dangerous to Yorkies!

[ZacAndLea]

Stay away from this establishment! My wife and I are educated and weresearch everything that we do and buy before we commit to anything. We haveour new pup and it was time to bring her to her frist groomer. This is ourreview. I sent this information to the owner and she wrote back with a verynasty e-mail. If you are considering going here, please read my review and theher response (below) before considering going here. I realized afterward thatmost groomers do take an hour or two, but I only found that out after I lookedit up after the fact.

I would recommend staying away!

Pros: Price, Cleanliness (in the lobby, at least)
Cons: As a first time customer, there was a severe lack of customerservice. We have a small Yorkie puppy, and we requested they not use the tablegrooming leash around her neck due to potential trachea problems. The staffgave us a hard time, treating us like we didn't know what we were talking aboutand that they knew best. Thankfully, they didn't put the leash around our pup'sneck, but the fact that we were treated the way we were was very upsetting. Wewere told it would be an hour and a half wait, despite having an appointment.We were unable to watch our pup get washed and dried. We were told they did notuse heat but we don't know for sure. The shampoo that was used made our dogsmell like a car freshener mixed with stale cigarette smoke. Our pup's eyes havebeen red (bloodshot) and watery since we brought her home. One nail on each pawwas forgotten while being clipped. Her hair was cut very unevenly, some ofwhich we did not notice until we got home. After they gave us our little girlback, we were told what we owed and that was that. Again, the lack of customerservice made us feel like they didn't even care if we came back. Overall, wewere not impressed and we will not be back. From a first (and only) timecustomer, STAY AWAY!

In general we are very satisfied, and when we are not, managers/owners arenormally more friendly and willing to deal with an issue. Because we were firsttime customers, we only paid $26 (including tip), so this is obviously NOTabout the money. It is mainly about the poor treatment of our puppy andpartially about the terrible way the owner deals with situations. Please seebelow for her response:



The response from the owner – my comments in brackets [ ]:
"Zac,

First let me say I'm sorry you feel this way but Tina's response to you wasappropriate [regarding the use of thegrooming loop]. We handle many small dogs and safety is our main priority.No animal in our care has or will ever suffer trachea damage. A lot of smallbreeds do suffer from collapsing trachea but not from a leash or a groomingloop. We are competent groomers and responsible people. It was obvious you arefirst time pet owners. We can handle that as we do see it very often. Whichmakes us more knowledgeable from the beginning.

Our grooming process does take a couple hours unless otherwise discussed. Wedo not just do one animal at at time. I guess your research was lacking a bit.Perhaps if you brought it to our attention in the beginning we would have beenmore accommodating and not have scheduled Lacey until later in the day when itis less hectic. Not my fault.

As far as her grooming, I cannot or will not expect a PUPPPY to stand like astatue while I cut with extremely sharp scissors within an 1/8 inch or lessclose to her ear leather or any other part of their body [I never said anything about this – our puppy moves around when we puther harness on in the morning! I was never expecting her to sit still, justthat they would handle her properly and not get soap in her eyes]. Againsome more lacking in research! Grown animals do not even realize the concept ofone wrong movement sending them for stitches because they move into a sharpblade. Therefore what you say of her face being choppy I can assure you I ( andany other experienced groomer) will take with a grain of salt. Her nails werebarely in need of trimming which with all your research I am sure you couldsee. I certainly did not want her to bleed. And the puppy wiggling like....Ohhh let me say a puppy!!! made it a bit difficult to see every nail [We had our pup at training earlier that dayand even our trainer said that her nails were in need of trimming – the trainermissed one nail on each paw. AFTER her hair was cut. They were very easy for usto see when we got home. There is no excuse.]

As far as her eyes being red. It may be the fact that she had hard clumps ofdischarge dried on her skin/ hair in the corners of her eyes from her eyes notbeing wiped and the fact that you could actually see her eyes since the smellyhair was removed. [Again, not true. Therewas a little bit of clumping because her hair was getting long, but we wipe hereyes every night with eye wipes.] Our shampoo is tearless and will notburn. I have put it in my eyes as a test. Once more....research???

I'm sorry your puppy smelled liked baby powder [I didn’t say that she smelled like baby powder – I said that if a cardealership gets a car from a smoker and they try to cover up the scent it has aparticular smell – that is what our pup smelled like when we left, NOT anythingclose to baby powder].... Most people with puppies like it. There isNOTHING IN MY SHOP THAT NEEDS BE COVERED UP LIKE AN EX SMOKER!! Thefact that you bring up smoking and my shop together is DISGUSTING. No need tostep foot in my shop again. I'll mail your whole $21.20 back to you and good luckwith your future groomer. I will be sending out the red alert to fellowgroomers in the area and will keep these emails to forward so you won't beblaming us all for what you are lacking as a pet owner.

Please... No need to respond.

Angie Eyler
Angie's Bark Avenue
Www.abarkave.com"

[BiewerYorkie]

Oh my goodness, I have NEVER read anything like that in my life!!!! Most groomers want to KEEP business, not run people off!!!!

The average cost of grooming here in NW Houston I have discovered is between $35-50. I take Zachary to "A Dog's Life" and there is usually a 3 week wait. His grooming including nail trim was $48.50. There were cheaper places but all of them had negative comments when I Googled them. A Dog's Life had nothing negative and I spoke to people, including my vet's receptionist who said they were fantastic.

Try to Google the local groomers and that may help you make a decision of where to take your baby next.

Good luck,
Louise