Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/13/2022

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This all happened at the Pewaukee, WI location. The ** location is the corporate location. My dog was boarding there from 12/1/22 to 12/10/22. I requested a spa appointment on 12/10 prior to pickup. This appointment was set but then moved to 12/9 without my knowledge/consent. I sent an email asking this to be moved back to 12/10. It went unacknowledged for 4 days so I cancelled the appointment. On the evening of 12/5, a dog bit my dog's collar and jerked her around like a chew toy with no employee action. I watched an employee hit my dog on live stream around 735AM CST in the back left corner of the room on 12/6. Around 740 she yells at my dog for rubbing her face on the ground. When my mom called to complain about this on 12/12, management told her the employee "swatted an arm toward a group of dogs" and "yelled at a group of dogs". My dog was alone in the corner with this employee, not in a group, so there's no way this could even be construed as such. We had to call to request a dog be kept away from my dog one of the days, as it had been harassing my dog for hours and sticking it's face in my dog's face and mounting her, making my dog visibly upset. On 12/8 a dog appeared to single out and attack my dog. My dog was put away instead of the dog attacking. Later, it appeared an employee found a wound on my dog's front leg. Upon picking up, my dog had a large scab on her front left leg and a puncture wound through her left ear. No employee ever let me know my dog was injured. They are supposed to check the dogs prior to turning over for pick up. My dog's profile and my own were deleted without my knowledge or consent as soon as I sent a complaint in. A refund for the remaining 6 days on the 10 day package my mom purchased, or boarding, where my dog was traumatized and my vacation was cut short, was not allowed even though I would never return my dog here. I spent most of my vacation worrying about and monitoring my dog instead of relaxing.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/03/2023

  As background, ****** dog attended Dogtopia day care for four days prior to the boarding stay. The pet (*******) had very limited social interaction with other dogs according to what was shared with us during the initial Meet and Greet session. ******* was timid and did not get heavily involved with the rest of the play group as she was learning how to integrate herself with the rest of the play group.

   

  ****** mother called us (one of our managers answered) during *******s boarding stay. She asked a number of questions regarding how ******* was doing and mentioned her interest in moving the pet to our romper room where there are fewer dogs. The pets in that room are much larger and we recommended having ******* stay in our toy box room since we did not want ******* to start over with getting acclimated to another room with another higher energy set of dogs. After a series of other questions, she mentioned that ******* was struck by our employee. Our manager asked for details, and she provided the specific time of the incident.  We searched our Nest camera log and found that specific time. She watched the incident 3-4 times and confirmed with the mother the time which was when our canine coach was in the far corner of the playroom and was picking up p*** off the floor. As she bent down, 4-5 dogs (including *******) surrounded her, and she extended her arm to keep them away from the ****.  She never struck *******. This employee has been with us for more than 9 months without a single customer complaint. We confirmed the time of the incident with the mother and she agreed it was the right time but she said that ******* was by herself at the time which was not correct on the Nest camera tape.  Our other manager reviewed the tape and agreed that our canine coachs activity was proper, and our canine coach did not strike *******.

   

  ****** mother then mentioned that ******* had been bitten at a specific time. We reviewed that portion of the tape and at that time of the day, our manager was in the room assisting the canine coach. The manager was 10 feet away from ******* at the time and observed that the other dog had stuck its nose into *******, who was laying on the floor, to try to instigate her to play. This is not unusual behavior for puppies and the puppy was not biting *******. Later in the day, we moved the other dog to another play room since he continued to ****** *******.

   

  We apologize for not finding *******s injuries. We do body checks each day, and in our customer agreement, we warn our customers that injuries can occur as the dogs engage in their normal play.  Neither of *******s injuries were significant to warrant vet attention but understand the pet parent concern and criticism of any injuries that did occur.

   

  After ******* was picked up from boarding, ****** mother called us to talk about *******s experience. She mentioned that she felt ******* would do better at a less busy time and we suggested that Saturdays are much less busy.  She said that would not work with her daughters schedule and then asked us to refund her pass. We declined that request since the passes are not refundable unless we dismiss the pet.(listed on our web site since we opened).The mother was cordial throughout both conversations but indicated that ******* would not be returning to Dogtopia which resulted in us initiating ending their app access which is used for requesting day care, boarding or grooming appointments and watching the pets on the cameras. This is our standard procedure when customers indicate they will not be returning to Dogtopia.

   

  Lastly, the spa appointment was scheduled for Saturday since we only run a small crew on Sundays since the only activity is boarding drop off and pick up. We are at capacity most days thus sometimes have to juggle our grooming/ spa schedule to the availability of our staff.

   

  We have been in business for over five years and have been fortunate to build a strong and loyal customer base and are at capacity most days. We are one of the few dog day cares in the ********* area with cameras in the room, and we have these cameras on whenever we are open for day care since our customers enjoy watching their pets. We understand we did not meet ****** expectations but spent considerable time in reviewing the specific incidents at the specific times with her mother and we DID NOT strike ******* or knowingly allow ******* to be bitten.

   

  Please contact me with any other questions. Again, my apologies for the timeliness of our response but we returned last evening from visiting our older two children and our grandchildren in *********** over the Xmas holidays.

   

  ***************************

  Dogtopia Pewaukee

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/03/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  I have attached photos of some of my dog's injuries incurred at boarding at Dogtopia, as well as the policy screenshotted from the website which indicates a refund may be given if the dog is "severely injured". The amount of scabs that my dog came home with, especially with no knowledge or action by the employees, and the fact that the puncture wound through her ear still has not healed a month later, is "severe" to me. There was a hole completely through her ear which has now permanently altered my dog's appearance (she has a large lump of scar tissue in this area now on the inside of her ear as well as the scab that is still there on the outside of the ear and still healing) and still hurts her if anyone touches it. The scabs that my dog came home with were in 5+ areas and many took several weeks to heal (some are still there but very small, others fell off last week or the week before Christmas), which to me seems like they were deep wounds and also "severe" and should have all received medical attention at the time they were received. However, I do not know exactly when they were received. No employee seems to have been aware of any incidents happening, even though I saw a black lab who was also boarding with *******, *****, who attacked ******* at least twice while I was watching the cameras. During one incident, the employee saw the incident and put ******* away, even though she was not the instigator, nor did she attack back, and ******* was NOT checked for injuries when she was taken back out. If body checks are complete, and the attached photos were taken potentially several days after any injury occurred (not sure when injuries occurred since no injuries were checked for or reported to me and no incidents were ever reported to me), how were 5+ spots of large scabs missed? My dog does not have long hair (except for her ears) which means scabs should have been (and were) easy to see.

  Additionally, the incident where they are talking about my dog being struck - she was alone with the employee in the back left corner of the room. There were no other dogs near her. My dog was sniffing the poo that the employee was attempting to clean up when the employee struck her.

  I believe the mental trauma and physical injuries inflicted upon my dog during her stay, as well as my own worry about her wellness and safety causing me to spend most of my vacation having to monitor her and also leave a day early so that I could remove her from the facility sooner warrants a refund of the pass in addition to some of the boarding fees.

  
  Regards,
  
  *************************

  Business Response

  Date: 01/06/2023

  I called ***** on Tuesday and we connected on Wednesday. We agreed that both parties had differences of opinion and I asked her what was needed to settle this complaint. She asked to be reimbursed for the remaining six days of her pass. I agreed and told her that I would be sending her a letter to sign and upon receipt of the signed letter, I would be sending a check in that amount to her home within 24 hours.  I sent her the email Wednesday evening with a letter that Dogtopia Corporate suggested which was consistent with what they have done with other Dogtopia locations in similar situations.

  Since I have not heard from her, I texted her at 9:46 to make sure she had received my note to her email address on Wednesday PM. As of this time, I have not heard back from her on either my Wednesday email or my text on Friday.

   

  ****

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/09/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  **** did contact me and said he would refund me the remaining 6 days on my package if I signed a document and sent it back to him. After reading the document as well as sending it to my lawyer to review, I will not be signing anything that I believe is untruthful, compromises my integrity or implies I was lying in any way, shape, or form. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************

  Business Response

  Date: 01/11/2023

  We agree to ***************** her remaining 6 days of her pass, as requested, provided, she confirms in writing, that this action will close this complaint and she will not add additional negative comments about Dogtopia Pewaukee or any of our employees on social media or any other website.

   

  ****

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/11/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************