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Complaint Details
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Initial Complaint
01/21/2022
- Complaint Type:
- Billing Issues
- Status:
- Answered
On Dec 1st 2021 I payed 936$ for 2 different memberships: 3 days per week enrichment and 3 days per week of daycare. On Dec 21st when I picked up my dogs I was informed that there was not going to be any daycare until Monday Dec 27th. Come to find that they were closed Monday too, due to staffing issues. Dec 28th we asked the team if we could pay only for the services they provided in Dec = 4 days of enrichment or if we could use some of the balance for future services (Jan). Our question was answered Jan 21th 2022 and it was a no, after numerous emails (for about a month we got different answers mainly that the manager was not available, most recently that they want to sever the relationship after being their clients for a year). I thinks it's fair to be reimbursed for the days they were closed in December (those days were the ones we needed to use as a result of our work schedule). Furthermore, if now they want to sever the relationship, we would like to be reimbursed the remainder of the days from our punch card. As a side note, I think that they should disclose on their website that they will not reimburse people for the days they are closed, and should advertise their schedule for the Holiday.Business response
02/16/2022
Thank you for accepting our response to the complaint. I spoke with **** last week who let me know the deadline could be extended since the complaint was not brought to my attention for several weeks after being submitted. Please find our summary below.On behalf of ************************************* & Little Dogs Resort & Salon,
In response to claim ID ********; This response is being submitted in the timeliest manner possible given severe staffing shortages.
This complaint was brought to my attention on 2/2/2022; I was able to find the first email from 1/22/2022 when I searched BBB in our email and found it in the spam folder. Thank you for your understanding as to why this matter was not properly investigated within the seven days your company recommended.
I investigated this claim to my fullest and am including all dates of commerce and correspondence according to our records; The ****** family have been clients of Little Dogs Resort & Salon (LDR) since 1/4/2021 with their dogs, Mars & Meena, passing our temperament testing/trial on this date; Their first package was purchased the following day, 1/5/2021 with recurring billing starting on 2/1/2021.
The first correspondence I was able to obtain regarding this matter was on 10/24/2021 from, *********************************** denoting they would be out of town for the month of November and to please put their membership on hold. It is important to note that Mrs. ****** herself used the term, membership within this correspondence indicating that the ****** family was aware that the packaged services they paid for are a membership program. For example, with a gym membership: clients pay for the membership monthly, whether the services are used or not. The ****** family purchased a membership that is not permitted to be refunded if the services are not used. Our K9 ********** ****** presented the request to our CEO, ********. ******** graciously allowed this exception to normal business practice as she always goes above and beyond to accommodate her clients. Katie responded to ****** ****** on 10/29/2021 denoting that we will not process their recurring billing for the month of November and stated it would start again on December 1st.
The ****** family used their membership for the following dates in December of 2021: 12/1/2021, 12/2/2021, 12/3/2021, and 12/21/2021. ****** claims our front desk agent told her on 12/21/2021 that we would not reopen for the holiday until 12/27/2021, but I believe that was simply misheard, misunderstood, or misremembered since I have documented in our database that several dogs were here for daycare services on 12/22/2021 and 12/23/2021. We were closed for ******* services on Christmas Eve, the 24th and Christmas, the 25th of December 2021. ******* services are not provided on Sundays, 12/26/2021.
Another claim was made by ****** ****** in her original Statement of the Problem that we were closed for daycare due to staffing issues on 12/27/2021, yet I am deeply confused as to where this claim derived from as we were open, staffed, and had 7 dogs show up for daycare services on 12/27/2021. I would normally assume my staff misspoke to a client, but in this case, ****** ****** is the only client that has had issues and the numbers of clients who did show up for services furthermore proves the issue was not due to my employees. As I currently investigate this claim, I am sitting at our front desk where our holiday closure dates are in an obvious location every employee is trained to know.
Investigating the historical usage of the membership packages for the ****** family left me with the understanding that they are well aware of the membership being used as needed:
April of 2021 they used our daycare services a total of 13 times
May of 2021 they used our daycare services a total of 10 times
June of 2021 they used our daycare services a total of 13 times
July of 2021 they used our daycare services a total of 11 times
August of 2021 they used our daycare services a total of 10 times
September of 2021 they used our daycare services a total of 10 times
October of 2021 they used our daycare services a total of 13 times
November of 2021 they used our daycare services a total of 0 times (Owner had membership suspended upon request and at the discretion of our CEO)
December of 2021 they used our daycare services a total of 4 times
December of 2021 dates LDR services were used: 1, 2, 3, & 21.
At the very end of the month, on December 28th of 2021 ****** ******, from her previously denoted email address, reached out to our email asking, Hi, could we pay for December as a la cart? Did not use nearly enough days to make the monthly membership..thanks ******. We immediately escalated this question to our CEO, ********, who answered the same day with:
Hi ******.
If you'd like, for ******* you could switch to 2 days per week if you find you are not using all of your days on the 3 days per week membership. You also have the option to purchase a ******* Punchcard instead of the monthly membership. The ******* Punchcard comes in 5, 10 and 20 day increments and the punchcard days don't expire. This option works well for families with fluctuating schedules. The one difference for your family would be that the punch card is only for ******* and not enrichment. Your membership is due to renew on Saturday. I'd be happy to make any adjustments for ******* before then. Please let me know how you would like to proceed.
On ******* 4th, ****** replied with:
Your email still didn't answer our question:
Our question is: can we transfer that credit or at least some of it for future service? (Talking about the credit we didn't use in December).
If the answer is no, please cancel any future membership, as I find it more than unfair for you to keep 600$ for no service.
Especially since you were closed around the holiday/ Christmas which I wasn't aware of until 12 21 2021, when I was told that there was going to be no daycare until the 27th.
At this point ****** had called and spoken with a staff member, and had made it a point to say she wanted to speak with the manager, which was myself - still in training, so again, I escalated it to my CEO, ************************************* who called the family on 12/29/2021 with no answer.
The ****** family never responded to Jennifers 12/28/2021 email, or 12/29/2021 call.
On 12/30/2021 Denises husband ********************* contacted our Front Desk Agent via telephone and purchased a 10 day punch card.
The ****** family continued to use our daycare services on 1/3/2021 and 1/4/2021. I was present for both of these instances, and to put it simply and professionally, ****** was discourteous in her interactions with my staff. When we assured her our management team would contact her again, she loudly responded with, I guess have the Jen ***** call me - whoever that is while scoffing out the door. At this time I told my employees to always have myself present for any correspondence with the ****** family; I simply cannot have clients mistreat myself, my CEO, or employees - especially when they make a scene in front of other clients.
********************* was always a pleasure to work with. ******, on the other hand, has been less than polite on more than one occasion over the past year. We were terribly saddened when Mrs. ****** raised her tone and intimidated our front desk agent via telephone correspondence on 1/5/2022, even going as far as threatening the company with legal action; A mere twenty year old employee who did not know how to properly understand or handle the gravity of the situation. Said employee was absolutely distraught for the rest of the day, unable to properly perform their position, and utterly scared to be front face with Mrs. ****** again. Mars and Meena were beloved amongst our whole staff and it was a hard decision to make, but necessary after Mrs. ****** continued actions.
According to our records, the ****** family had been clients of LDR since 1/04/2021 and with every major business decision this was not easy, nor preferred, yet for the reasons stated above it was the sound decision to make for our business and employees to sever our professional relationship with the ****** family.
To simply answer ****** ****** question on being reimbursed for unused dates/credits, Id have to reiterate the services they had paid for was a membership style of service. Meaning, our business is up and running whether clients decide to use those services or not - such as a gym membership. For example, in a gym membership if the membership is unused it is a common business practice and common commerce understanding of the services that no refunds will be issued.
As per the daycare punch card reimbursement, we are more than happy to reimburse ********************* for the remaining daycare punch card days. If **** could please email me at ************************************************************ with the make of the card, and the last four digits of the card he would like me to refund those unused services to. We would politely ask if the Haivas family has any further correspondence, that it only comes from **** and goes through management moving forward.
While I am still new to my position with LDR, I am going to adhere to Denises claims that we should put our holiday closure dates on our website moving forward. While our holiday closure dates are clearly displayed at our front desk, these changes will be made to the website as soon as possible.
Thank you again, for your time and investigation into this claim. I have created an internal investigation amongst myself and ************************************* and would be more than happy to denote our findings of historical commerce and communications with the ****** family if needed to finalize your decision.
***PLEASE MAKE NOTE: If this response is posted, please change, or block out the dog names.
Kind regards, Jen*************************************, FounderLittle Dogs Resort & Salon, Inc.4095 ****************************************************************** 84107PH: ************FX: ************
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