Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  02/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Date of transactions: January 2, 2023 Transaction amount: $52.20/day, $887.40 (17) $42.20/day, $4338 .80 (104)Service to be provided: Dog boarding and weekly(2 times a week) daycare Reservation(s) confirmation: 01/02/2023 Reservations(s) cancelation: 01/14/2023 Owner canceled all ****************** for 2023; stating she will "no longer discuss" any matter as it pertains to my pet. She dismissed us from her facility with no notice, canceled all ****************** in 2023 & beyond. Confirmation emails were sent in January of 2023 for care. I then made and booked travel ************************* were made in January, May, **************** 2023. How can reservations be canceled without a **** business day notice? Laughing Dogs Daycare and ******** Services (Kodiak's Canine Connection LLC) is responsible for all of my losses, for the 104 days of daycare, & 17 days of boarding. As I can not attend any scheduled meetings or other travel without care for my pet. Especially since the owner canceled all of my reservations on 01/14/2023, on a Saturday with a legal holiday on the 16th of January; leaving 1 day to secure alternate care. Additionally, the owner refuses to send any requested transaction receipts to satisfy the request of card services and financial institutions. It isn't legal to charge for services that aren't rendered prior to 24 hours in advance; all services were charged to my account & credit card after reservations for 2023 were confirmed (see above). On 01/14/2023, the owner revoked all client portal access so I can not access them myself. A certified letter was sent to ********************************************************************* requesting all agreements, documents, reservations, confirmations, etc. to be sent via email and via **** by 01/25/2023; both the ************* representative ************************ have ignored the request. Additionally, the former owner of the facility, responded on the current owner's behalf, not acceptable, as she knows nothing about this matter.

  Business response

  02/13/2023

  I received a letter stating that a customer complained about our business. Actually, the complaint was about Laughing Dogs LLC which isn't even my business - this is the former owner of this business. But regardless, this complaint is from one of our former clients.

  
  

  This client had numerous conversations with our staff regarding her dog's behavior in our facility. He is an intact male dog who began showing signs of behavior concerns that are common with intact male dogs, which is why our policy is that intact male dogs need to be dismissed from our care if they show signs of these concerns. Concerns included: mounting other dogs, sniffing and licking private areas of other dogs, and marking/urinating frequently and problematically throughout our facility. These issues cause safety and hygiene concerns for all of our other clients and are dismissible. Our staff worked with this client for months attempting to help to solve these issues per the client's request, and against our better judgment and this client repeatedly attempted to blame our staff, our facility, other dogs, and anyone other than her own dog's behavior. On January 13th, 2023, the owner stepped into the conversation to explain to this client why these issues were concerning, and to explain that even though our staff created a detailed training plan, it was possible none of this would fix the behavior because there were other factors (him being intact) that were at issue.

  
  

  This client then proceeded to tell the owner that her dog might be sick and she was having him checked out and him being sick might be the reason he is having these behavior issues. She claimed her vet said the dog had an infection of some kind, but would not allow us to confirm this with her vet. At that time, the owner of Laughing Dogs declined services until the dog was healthy, because an unknown infection could be contagious to other dogs. The client then demanded that Laughing Dogs stop discussing her dog's issues as behavior issues because she claims he was sick and that was the cause of the issues. The issue was not a new issue, so whether he was sick or not had little to do with his behavior, and her telling us that we could not discuss his behavior (which is all we deal with at our facility) was unacceptable. She was unwilling to discuss the issue at hand, and her communications became rude and unprofessional. The owner chose to dismiss the client from our care due to health and safety concerns and the client's inability to hear the concerns of the facility and understand our obligations to all other clients.

  
  

  This client was refunded for all four boarding deposits she made for future boarding services in the amount of $52, the amount she signed an agreement to pay as a deposit for boarding stays. She was also refunded $10.55, the difference between a full day of daycare and a half day of daycare for the one day her dog was sent home early due to his behavior, which the client was made aware of. All refunds were made immediately after she was dismissed from our care on January 13th, 2023. The client then several days later charged back several credit card charges after she had been refunded, so she therefore now owes our facility approximately $260 because she was refunded to her credit card immediately and her credit card company pulled the charged back funds from our account as well, so she was double refunded. 

  
  

  Regarding her claims that we owe her anything for canceling her stay(s) on short notice - they are without merit. The agreements she signed when she signed up for boarding services with our company expressly state that we reserve the right to dismiss dogs from our care who cause safety concerns for our staff, other dogs, or our facility. This dog's frequent urination, mounting and pestering of other dogs was a safety concern, and this client's attitude toward our business caused distress for our staff who were no longer willing to provide care for her dog due her own actions.

  
  

  The fact that her dog is a service dog has no bearing on this situation, as service dogs are only working when in service of their owners. If this dog was attending daycare or boarding services, he was "off duty" and not providing services for the client at the time. Regardless, our attorney indicates there are no requirements that service dogs be allowed to stay in daycare or boarding situations regardless of their own behavior and to the detriment of all other client dogs in the care of the facility.

  
  

  We consider this matter closed, our attorney has been in touch with this client, and we do not owe this client any additional money beyond what was refunded to her immediately upon termination of services. Her personal travel expenses are not our responsibility.

  
  

  Respectfully,

  ***************************, Owner

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