ComplaintsforWag!

• Initial Complaint

  04/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I use "Wag" the dog walking app to dog walk, sit, and board as a caregiver. My last recent boarding was a very awful experience. 1 of the 2 dogs that stayed with me for a week got into the trash, had diarrhea all over my apartment, and had a terrible ear infection. I didn't know if I should have taken the dog to the vet, so I contacted the Wag support team. They told me that me and the pet parent have to figure out who would pay and what to do. The pet parent decided that she wanted me to take her dog to the vet and that she would reimburse me. She also had to extend her trip due to a flight delay and told me that she would add extra to the tip for the vet bill, extra day, and tip to get my carpet cleaned. So, when the boarding was over she told me that she was going to give me $850, but I only had $684 to cash out. I contacted her immediately. She sent me screenshots of how she paid $850. I then called customer support and they were no help. The lady danced around it and kept saying how I had fixed rates and so because of that what I get is affected. I thought that it was crazy that Wag gets to decide how much I should get out of my hard earned money. So I emailed the Wag support team and never heard back from anyone. The app tells you that you get 100% of your tips, but I didn't. They show that my service was $374.40 but on the pet parent's side it shows that my service was $539.42. I have screenshots of everything. Then I did research and this is actually very common. Wag is stealing people's money. They are taking advantage of vulnerable populations who dog sit/board for extra money by stealing their money.

  Business response

  04/18/2023

  Thank you for forwarding this customer concern to us.
  
  The end-user has been contacted by the appropriate team at Wag! regarding this concern. After careful review, the *** Caregiver was provided appropriate resources for their concerns. *** Caregivers are responsible for costs incurred during a service and details can be found in their *** Care Provider Platform Use Agreement.

  The Incident Resolution Guide (*************************************************************************************************************************************************) or Terms of Service (****************************************************) can be referred to further information. 

  The *** Caregiver was paid out appropriately. For more information on how payouts are calculated visit: ******************************************************************************************

  
  We are dedicated to working with the consumer on any outstanding concerns.
  
  Best,
  The Wag! Team

• Initial Complaint

  04/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The week of 13 March 2023, we searched for dog sitting services and found Wag via a ****** search, and established an account. On 15 March 2023, we looked for dog sitting services for the week of April *****, 2023, made a service request and waited to see what kind of responses we would get. We received a response the evening of 15 March 2023. While text messaging with the potential provider, we asked if they had small children as our dog does not do well with children. The provider had two small children and understood that this wasn't a good match. The provider said simply cancel the request and another potential match would be made. We expected another match would happen via the Wag! smart phone app. We checked our bank account to make sure we hadn't been charged and discovered that Wag! had charged us $317.49 for the cancellation. The app is not clear in their fees related to process of searching for a match for our pet sitting needs. We feared that each time a match was offered, if it did not work, we would be charged the $300+ fee. Not wanting to make the disputed amount increase, we requested a refund. Wag! texted that they could not provide a refund. We called their service number the next day, explained the situation and requested a full refund. Both the customer service representative and manager offered a credit on Wag! We refused, informing them we had lost confidence in how their service worked and asked for a full refund. They continued to refuse, so we ended the call. We filed a complaint with the ******** ************************* and now are filing this complaint with the BBB. We looked again through the Wag! terms and conditions and could not find any discussion of fees associated with searching for a match for our pet needs or a clear explanation of fees for failed matches. At first we thought Wag! might be a scam if they were charging such large amounts for not providing any services. We also filed a dispute with our bank.

  Business response

  04/14/2023

  Thank you for forwarding this consumer concern to us.
  
  The consumer's concern has been reviewed and they have been in communication with our dedicated team. We are unable to move forward with a credit card refund for the cancellation fee. Per Wag!'s Cancellation Policy, the consumer was offered Wag! credits for the cancellation. More information on Wag!'s Cancellation Policy can be found here: ********************************************************************************************************************
  
  Per Wag!'s Terms under Section 7, "Charges paid by you are final and non-refundable regardless of your decision to terminate usage of the Services, Wag!s decision to terminate your usage, any disruption of the Services, or any other reason whatsoever, unless otherwise determined by Wag!". More information on Wag!'s Terms can be found here: ****************************************************
  
  We are happy to assist with any further questions or concerns.
  
  Kindly,
  Wag!

  Customer response

  04/20/2023

   
  Complaint: 19907420
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The company charged us for cancelling a pet sitting match that did not meet our needs.  Their approach to finding matches appears to force users to subscribe to their premium service in order to see potential matches before they are made.  They suggest using the browse feature, which was not available when we searched for a match.  Their website is unclear in how matches are made.  So a first time user is left to find out that the non-premium service *** make a match that doesn't work for the searcher and then charges the searcher for the match, even when no services are provided.  Then that fee is offered as a credit to the user, not as a refund.  We don't want to use WAG at all, so we want our refund, not a credit for services that *** never be a good match. This really appears to be a scam.  First time users are seemingly tricked into having their money captured as a credit and forced to use WAG to get the value of the credit somehow.  Again, how the search works is not clearly spelled out.  Nor is the amount of the potential service, that is then held as a credit if the potential service doesn't work out.  They refer to their cancellation policy, but that doesn't help a new user who is simply searching for a potential service match, without even knowing how much the service might cost.

  An analogy would be going to a car mechanic and asking how much an oil change is.  The mechanic says $300.  You say, nope, doesn't work for me.  ******** says fine, you now have $300 of credit to use at their shop.  You don't want to use that *********, not even for a first time.  ******** says, sorry, that is our cancellation policy.  You say, I never agreed to the service in the first place and was just looking for the price of the oil change.  ******** says sorry, cancellation policy, over and over again.  This sure looks fraudulent.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************************

  Business response

  04/26/2023

  Thank you for forwarding this consumer concern to us.
  
  We are unable to move forward with a credit card refund for the cancellation fee. Per Wag!'s Cancellation Policy, the consumer was offered Wag! credits for the cancellation as the service was already booked and confirmed with a Pet Caregiver on the Wag! platform. More information on Wag!'s Cancellation Policy can be found here: ********************************************************************************************************************
  
  Per Wag!'s Terms under Section 7, "Charges paid by you are final and non-refundable regardless of your decision to terminate usage of the Services, Wag!s decision to terminate your usage, any disruption of the Services, or any other reason whatsoever, unless otherwise determined by Wag!". More information on Wag!'s Terms can be found here: ****************************************************

  We understand that the consumer has concerns surrounding how to book a specific Pet Caregiver. More information on how a consumer can choose, contact, meet, and rebook a Pet Caregiver can be found here: **********************************************************************************************
  
  We understand that the consumer also has concerns regarding the amount the service will cost. For a detailed pricing estimate, consumers may select the type of service they'd like to book from the Home Screen of the Wag! app. When booking a service, you'll find the estimated cost of the service and associated fees at the bottom of the screen. More specific information on additional fees and one-time fees can be found here: ********************************************************************************************************************

  Wag!'s *********** has been put together to help consumers with transparency and assistance with questions that they may have. Our dedicated Customer Support team also is available through Wag!'s *********** to assist with outstanding questions consumers may have. 

  We are dedicated to assisting the consumer with any outstanding questions or concerns that they may have.

  Kindly,
  Wag!

  Customer response

  04/27/2023

   
  Complaint: 19907420
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Wag! stated they would not refund my money because "a service was already booked and confirmed with a Pet Caregiver on the Wag! platform". This was not true. I placed a request for a pet caregiver to board my dog for a certain set of dates. I was contacted by a pet caregiver through Wag who offered her services, but after finding out that she had small children, which my dog is not comfortable with, I determined that this particular caregiver was not a good match for my needs. I informed the caregiver of this issue and she informed me to cancel this match and Wag could find another pet caregiver. I canceled the match and decided not to use Wag. I then went to my online bank account and found the charged cancellation fee. I call Wag customer service and explained to them I could not use the caregiver they matched me with because of the small children issue and they refused to reimburse the charge and would only offer me Wag credit. I told them I did not want to use their service, hence wanted a cash refund not a credit. They kept referring me to their cancellation policy which did not apply because there was no service contract made. This is why I made the complaint with the BBB.

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************************

• Initial Complaint

  03/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We were looking for dog sitting services for the week of April *****, 2023. We found Wag! via a ****** search for similar services.We established an account the week of 13 March 2023. We made a service request on 15 March 2023 and waited to see what kind of responses to our request we would get. We received a response the evening of 15 March 2023. While text messaging with the potential provider, we asked if they had small children as our dog does not do well with children. The provider had two small children and understood that this wasn't a good match. The provider said simply cancel the request and another potential match would be made. We expected another match would happen via the Wag! smart phone app. We checked our bank account to make sure we hadn't been charged and discovered that Wag! had charged us $317.49 for the cancellation. The app is not clear in their fees related to process of searching for a match for our pet sitting needs. We feared that each time a match was offered, if it did not work, we would be charged the $300+ fee. Not wanting to make the disputed amount increase, we requested a refund. Wag! texted that they could not provide a refund. We called their service number the next day, explained the situation and requested a full refund. Both the customer service representative and manager offered a credit on Wag! We refused, informing them we had lost confidence in how their service worked and asked for a full refund. They continued to refuse, so we ended the call. We filed a complaint with the ******** ************************* and now are filing this complaint with the BBB. We looked again through the Wag! terms and conditions and could not find any discussion of fees associated with searching for a match for our pet needs or a clear explanation of fees for failed matches. At first we thought Wag! might be a scam if they were charging such large amounts for not providing any services.We also filed a dispute with our bank.

  Business response

  04/05/2023

  Thank you for forwarding this consumer concern to us.
  
  The consumer has been contacted regarding this concern. Upon review, it was found that the consumer, *******************************, is not the account holder in relation to the consumer concern that was forwarded to us. Our customer's privacy is our top most priority. We are unable to assist further for security purposes.
  

  Should the account holder reach out to us with further questions, we are happy to assist further. Thank you for your understanding. 

  
  Kindly,
  Wag!

  Customer response

  04/06/2023

   
  Complaint: 19861189
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  This appears to be a delay tactic.  When we, our family, made the initial attempt to find services for our dog, we did this as a family.  My wife is the one who opened the account and I was listening and participating in our effort to resolve this issue with Wag.  It seems odd that they now say they will only deal with one of us.  Though I am rejecting this response, we as a married couple are also rejecting this response.  However, in order to continue to try to resolve this issue, my wife will file a separate complaint on this issue under her name.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  Business response

  04/12/2023

  Thank you for forwarding this consumer concern to us and for your understanding.
  

  As mentioned, this consumer is not the account holder in relation to the concern that was forwarded to us. We take account security seriously as customer's privacy is our top most priority. We are unable to assist further for security purposes and this was communicated with the consumer per our Privacy Policy.
  
  
  Kindly,
  Wag!

  Customer response

  04/13/2023

   
  Complaint: 19861189
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I have previously rejected this response because this is a deflection of the issue.  However, my wife has opened a complaint and if that complaint is resolved, then at that time I will accept this response from WAG.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

• Initial Complaint

  03/27/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hello,Wag!s customer support service is refusing to look into a fraudulently created account and simply has not directly addressed this in a multi day email chain with me stating it approximately 4 times. I repeatedly have told them I was not aware of the account until just now when I removed my card and cancelled the premium service upon discovering it. They simply continue to reiterate they will not provide a refund because I would have been told there were no refunds when signing up, but again they fail to address that the account was fraudulently created.

  Business response

  04/04/2023

  Thank you for forwarding this consumer concern to us.
  
  The consumer's report has been reviewed and appropriate action has been taken as determined by our dedicated team. The consumer has also been informed that any unauthorized charges to their bank should be followed up with directly with their banking institution. 
  
  We are happy to assist with any further questions or concerns.
  
  Kindly,
  Wag!

• Initial Complaint

  03/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We hired a dog sitter through Wag! under the assumption that our sitter would actually care for our dogs. Upon returning from our trip, this was not the case. Our animals were without water for an indeterminate amount of time, and we needed to take one on an emergency vet visit where she was diagnosed with dehydration. We believe one of our dogs was not properly fed, as she was the one to need veterinary care. Our other dog's prescription was not finished properly and required us to take time off work to monitor her health more closely. We are seeking a full refund for the service, a refund for our emergency veterinary visit, and reimbursement for the *** taken to care for our sick dogs. These items are all *directly* related to the negligence of the caretaker that Wag! provided.

  Business response

  03/24/2023

  Thank you for forwarding this customer concern to us.
  
  The end-user is currently in communication with the appropriate team at Wag! regarding this concern. They will continue to communicate with the end-user and, upon a final resolution, we will communicate with the Better Business Bureau of the final resolution.
  
  
  Best,
  
  
  Tori
  
  The Wag! Team
  

  Customer response

  03/25/2023

   
  Complaint: 19611540
  
  I am rejecting this response because no resolution has been come to. The company has dodged any and all avenues of working with me regarding the health and safety of my animals. We have put in a dispute with our credit card provider and are attempting ************* of recovering out funds.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Business response

  03/30/2023

  Thank you for forwarding this customer concern to us. 

  The end-user has been contacted by the appropriate team at Wag! regarding this concern. After careful review, it was concluded that there was not sufficient documentation provided to Wag! to not determine that the incident reported was a result of a Wag! service.We are dedicated to working with the consumer on any outstanding concerns.
  
  Kindly,
  Wag!

  Customer response

  03/31/2023

   
  Complaint: 19611540
  
  I am rejecting this response because no resolution has been suggested by the other party. I am open to compromise, but Wag! is not acting in good faith to come to a resolution for this issue.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  03/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was solicited by Wag! to enroll in their premium membership program. It advertised benefits for a monthly fee of $14.99. On the Wag! Website under the premium membership page the following language is used to describe the discounts included with the premium membership: Premium perks discount Get exclusive deals from our pre-fured partners, including pet food, toys, supplements and more from the highest quality products.There are logos for their discount partners. DogTV is one of them.In the app for Wag! there are discount codes for these partners. When I tried to use the DogTV discount code it didnt work. I called Wag! to resolve the issue. The Wag! employee had never heard of the discounts and needed to consult with her leadership team who first told me the code was not provided by them. I had to provide a screenshot of their own interface/app to prove it they offer discounts for premium membership. Then I was told the discounts are an old offer, but the website says discounts are a new offer of premium membership. Then I was asked for technical specifications and advised that the technical team would be in touch but no one ever reached out to me. I am paying for the premium membership and they are advising perks that dont exist and their own employees dont even know about them.

  Business response

  03/17/2023

  Thank you for forwarding this customer concern to us.
  
  The end-user is currently in communication with the appropriate team at Wag! regarding this concern. They will continue to communicate with the end-user and, upon a final resolution, we will communicate with the Better Business Bureau of the final resolution.
  
  
  Best,
  
  
  Tori
  
  The Wag! Team
  

• Initial Complaint

  02/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I ordered Wag! Premium pet walking service and used the services only 3 times before we realized the service was not up to the standards we had been "sold" via the ap and website. We decided to cancel service and ask for a refund of the premium service (the portion of the month we did not use, which would have been 3/4 of first month). The company did not respond. We sent numerous emails and reached out via all social media platforms - with no response. I had to dig to find a customer service phone number and it took me over an hour to reach and speak with a call center person who had no idea how to assist me. She admitted it was Wag! mistake to charge me for a second month of premium but was unable to remove it. As a result, i want a refund of both months of premium. A total of $29.90

  Business response

  03/08/2023

  Thank you for forwarding this customer concern to us.
  
  Upon careful review, it was found that the consumer had been in contact with the appropriate team regarding the request for a refund for their Wag! Premium Subscription. As a courtesy, the team did reach an agreement with the consumer and has received a refund for the Wag! Premium Subscription. The concern has been resolved to the end user's desired resolution and we have reached out to the consumer to offer support for any outstanding questions they may have, though we have not heard back. 
  
  Kindly,
  Wag!

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am a caregiver on the app called wag. I walk dogs for a small fee and wag receives a percentage of the fee for using their app. They deactivated my account supposedly for a community violation with no warning or reason as to what the violation is that was violated. I also have mony due me as well. This app does not allow you to contact anyone via phone and I am not getting any answers. They have a tendency to persecute those who work through their app for any reason they deem to identify as a violation without any explanation or allow you to defend yourself. I have no complaints against me from any of the pet parents whom I have provided a service. I have a great overall rating with the app as provided from these pet parents. So therefore I cannot see any real reason for my account to be deactivated and monies owed paid. What ever you do can to assist me in getting paid I would greatly appreciate.

  Business response

  02/14/2023

  Thank you for forwarding this customer concern to us.  

  The end-user is currently in communication with the appropriate team at Wag! regarding this concern. They will continue to communicate with the end-user and, upon a final resolution, we will communicate with the Better Business Bureau of the final resolution. 

  
  Best,

  
  Tori

  The Wag! Team

  
  

  Customer response

  02/15/2023

   
  Complaint: 18941072
  
  I am rejecting this response because: They stopped communicating with me and have not provided any satisfactory response to my complaint. This is typical for them to not respond or just stop responding altogether. Their answers are very evasive and leave you scratching your head.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business response

  02/21/2023

  Hi there,
  The end-user has been in communication with the appropriate team regarding the status of their account. At this time the consumer has been informed of the specific violation to the Community Guidelines that they had agreed to adhere by at the time of signing up. The Community Guidelines have been referenced to the consumer and can be viewed here: *******************************************************************
  The status of the consumer's account has been informed to the user via email and is not eligible for appeal due to the number of infractions and warnings received prior. Any remaining earnings should have already been paid out according to our records and should there be a discrepancy, the consumer may follow up with us directly.
  Kindly,
  Wag!

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩