[Lulu12]

Hi guys, basically we have been having trouble with a dog boarding company which we used for our 3 year old husky in september 2012 since we visited the USA for 2 weeks, anyways we told the individual who was looking after our dog to leave him be when he's eating, sleeping (but she swears we did not say anything of the sort but i have 3 witnesses to prove it), also we did not sign anything and told us that it was fine that we did not bring evidence of his booster injections! We also learned that she brought her young nephews and nieces down to play with our dog even though we mentioned he as never been around young children! so when we were away she started to rub his belly while he was asleep which must have startled him being in a strange place and nipped her. We got a call as soon as we we're boarding our plane and it was the owner of the home boarding saying that they have put my dog in kennels, which i did not want as he was petrified last time he stayed in them and we told them this hence the reason we put him in home boarding! so yeh ruined our holiday as we had no idea how and where our dog was! when we got home we phoned the owner it took a few calls before he actually answered his phone and this time he was very sharp with us and told us our dog is not welcome as the girl who looked after my dog had quit her job as she was now petrified of dogs and she kept having flashbacks of the incident. We collected our dog from the kennels which was actually ran by a lady who knew what she was doing with dogs! and she told us that our dog was absolutely fine while in her care. Anyways the trouble began when we tried getting our £170 back from the boarders who looked after our dog for less than 1 day (it cost us another £160 for the kennels) and the owner insisted that the £170 should be kept as compensation! we agreed to leave them with the deposit but £170 for one day? anyways we demanded our money back so they agreed since we we're determined that they was not going to keep our daughters money they asked for bank details, no way was i giving out my daughters bank details, so after 8 weeks of asking for my daughters money back she dropped off the money in a sealed envelope at the owners home as she refused to pay £4.00 postal order, when we opened the envelope £50 was missing! she left a note saying that if we contact her again she's taking us to court since she has evidence of her injuries which we have not seen since she was very objective to the idea of us going to her place to collect our money. In the past we had told her to take £20 for the day she looked after our dog but £50 was basically 4 days work for her. Both of them have been really unprofessional they way they have spoken to us, my daughter even had to put the owner in his place for being so rude! My question is, is it worth to take this further? are we in the wrong even though we warned her that he could be a little scared and weary for the first few days?
Sorry for rambling lol.
:thumbdown:

 

[Milliepoochie]

I wouldnt take it further - Its not worth the stress to be honest.

Personally the most important thing is that your dog is fine - The kennels it went to were good and your only £50 worse off.


If your going to use homeboarders again I would ensure that you have a written contract which you both sign and that you send your dog over for a trial night in advance in order for you and the carer to ensure that your happy with the care plan.

To be honest they dont sound like a very professional company with no contracts or proof of boosters etc.

 

[Lexiedhb]

Ok
1) Paragraph's- amazing invention!
2) You're down £30 (you said she could keep £20)- who are you going to take it further with? Your dog DID actually bite this woman
3) Your word against theirs as to whether or not you told them about your dogs issues
4) Don't think a boarding home is the right environment for a dog who "nips" if you touch it whilst sleep and resource guards.

 

[Lulu12]

Thanks for your reply, i agree we asked the owner if it would be ok to leave our dog overnight to let him get a feel of the place before we left him for 2 weeks but the owner refused and advised us to bring him for a quick visit which we did but i wold have preferred them to keep him for the night. Its not the fact that we have lost £50 but the fact she as taken it without permission and the fact that both are very rude and unprofessional people.

 

[thedogsmother]

I would also have a vote for leaving it, I think it would be far more hassle for you than its worth. For future trips though it might be worth letting your dog have a trial run with your next dog boarder. We left ours for a night prior to the holiday when we first started using them, our dog boarder is fantastic though so Im sorry you found a poor one

ETA I posted this before I saw that you had enquired about leaving your dog prior to the holiday.

 

[thedogsmother]

Thanks for your reply, i agree we asked the owner if it would be ok to leave our dog overnight to let him get a feel of the place before we left him for 2 weeks but the owner refused and advised us to bring him for a quick visit which we did but i wold have preferred them to keep him for the night. Its not the fact that we have lost £50 but the fact she as taken it without permission and the fact that both are very rude and unprofessional people.

The thing is, there isnt really a lot you can do, they have acted unprofessionally, and they were aware of your dogs issues prior to accepting the booking, but there really isnt a lot you can do about it. Even if you took them to court for the £30 how is this going to make them more professional?

 

[Milliepoochie]

Thanks for your reply, i agree we asked the owner if it would be ok to leave our dog overnight to let him get a feel of the place before we left him for 2 weeks but the owner refused and advised us to bring him for a quick visit which we did but i wold have preferred them to keep him for the night. Its not the fact that we have lost £50 but the fact she as taken it without permission and the fact that both are very rude and unprofessional people.

To be honest you should of walked away then - this sums up how interested the 'carer' was in your dog being comfortable and your dog being a healthy addition to their house for a 2 week period.

I think you should treat it as a lucky lesson learnt - If this person was that adiment they knew best for all you know they could of been intending to let your husky off lead in what they deemed a 'safe' place for example.

I think the company sound shorrendous and not professional but you caused this by not reading earlier warning signs - A let down on both sides really.

Sounds harsh you could be in a lot worse of a situation and alot more money lost.

 

[Lulu12]

Hi Lexi first off i didn't ask for a literacy lesson secondly for all i know this could have been a scam as i have no evidence whatsoever that my dog bit this woman as she refuses to let us go to hers apologize etc i think there is actually no injury! so their word against ours whether or not she was bitten (my dog as never bitten anyone in his life!) therefore we did not know how he was going to find it.

 

[BananaBassett]

Alarm bells would have rang when they didn't need a written contracts or to see proof of vaccinations, for me.

Sorry you went through this but i'm not sure i'd have left my dog there. Lots of boarders / walkers / day cares need written terms and conditions etc for their insurance to be valid in certain areas.

It is such a shame they just did not listen to your requests / advice, it sounds as though it could easily have been prevented. If this silly girl quit over her first nip then she should not have worked with dogs in the first place - especially when it is down to her not following basic instructions.

They do not sound like a reputable business to me, i would definitely be spouting my mouth off to everyone i know about them

 

[Owned By A Yellow Lab]

Thanks for your reply, i agree we asked the owner if it would be ok to leave our dog overnight to let him get a feel of the place before we left him for 2 weeks but the owner refused and advised us to bring him for a quick visit which we did but i wold have preferred them to keep him for the night. Its not the fact that we have lost £50 but the fact she as taken it without permission and the fact that both are very rude and unprofessional people.

If you weren't happy, you should not have left him there.

YOU are the client - YOU have to be happy. Remember this next time you leave your dog anywhere.

I would vote to leave it. They sound like a really nasty group and the last thing you want is them reporting your dog for biting someone - even if it never happened it will be your word against theirs.

Leave it. But please be MUCH more careful where you leave your dog next time. I totally agree with MILLIEPOOCHIE - you really need a written or emailed agreement detailing what can and can't be done with your dog.

 

[Owned By A Yellow Lab]

To be honest you should of walked away then - this sums up how interested the 'carer' was in your dog being comfortable and your dog being a healthy addition to their house for a 2 week period.

I think you should treat it as a lucky lesson learnt - If this person was that adiment they knew best for all you know they could of been intending to let your husky off lead in what they deemed a 'safe' place for example.

I think the company sound shorrendous and not professional but you caused this by not reading earlier warning signs - A let down on both sides really.

Sounds harsh you could be in a lot worse of a situation and alot more money lost.

LOL I posted mine and then read your second post - we picked up on the same thing and I TOTALLY agree with you, well said!

 

[Lulu12]

Thanks for the replies i agree with you all you see this was the first time taking him to a home boarding environment therefore we did not know the basic procedures and it was in fact the owner who said we needed to sign contracts etc which the girl didn't even mention.

 

[Lexiedhb]

Hi Lexi first off i didn't ask for a literacy lesson secondly for all i know this could have been a scam as i have no evidence whatsoever that my dog bit this woman as she refuses to let us go to hers apologize etc i think there is actually no injury! so their word against ours whether or not she was bitten (my dog as never bitten anyone in his life!) therefore we did not know how he was going to find it.

Only saying it is VERY hard to read that much no stop wording!!

Her word against yours on EVERYTHING then. How were you planning on taking it further? - a scam? she gave you back most of your money- scammers would have just told you to pee off, and they certainly would not have let you find out their home address/ number.

Its an unfortunate set of circumstances, but at least you know a good kennels for next time.

 

[thedogsmother]

What part of the country are you in Lulu12? We may be able to reccomend a good boarder for next time youre away. I can reccomend the one that I use in Huddersfield but they do book up very quickly.

 

[Lulu12]

Well i do apologize i was trying to quickly type the whole thing out, at the end of the day i know i'm telling the truth her side to the story i'm not quite sure about but i guess i'll never know, and again i just got to say it's not losing £30 i'm angry about its the fact they have helped themselves to my daughters money (who was very upset the whole holiday since she did not know where her dog was!) and they we're just so unprofessional and rude and ofc they had £80 deposit on top of that which i agreed that they keep for the trouble. I will hold my hands up that i did not pick up on the warning signs but what can i do now? it happened and i will never leave my dog again.

 

[Lulu12]

What part of the country are you in Lulu12? We may be able to reccomend a good boarder for next time youre away. I can reccomend the one that I use in Huddersfield but they do book up very quickly.

West Midlands i'm not sure how far huddersfield is from here.

 

[Lexiedhb]

Well i do apologize i was trying to quickly type the whole thing out, at the end of the day i know i'm telling the truth her side to the story i'm not quite sure about but i guess i'll never know, and again i just got to say it's not losing £30 i'm angry about its the fact they have helped themselves to my daughters money (who was very upset the whole holiday since she did not know where her dog was!) and they we're just so unprofessional and rude. I will hold my hands up that i did not pick up on the warning signs but what can i do now? it happened and i will never leave my dog again.

What can you do now?

Chalk it up to experience, and forget about it!

 

[cinnamontoast]

How do you propose retrieving the money? Small Claims is about £125 to start-so not worth it, obviously.

There are no licensing laws re home boarding, either use only a reputable person who has been recommended or kennel. Sounds like he was fine in kennels.

 

[Lulu12]

What can you do now?

Chalk it up to experience, and forget about it!

Thanks for your reply Lexi

 

[Milliepoochie]

LOL I posted mine and then read your second post - we picked up on the same thing and I TOTALLY agree with you, well said!

I couldnt leave Millie anywhere unless I am 100% happy. A good friend is having her in a few weeks for a week - I promised I wouldnt write a list of instructions but its already 2 pages long