Ross & Friends Dog Experience — Attraction in Dacorum

AVOID! NOT SAFE! (And the owners care more about lining their pockets than the welfare of dogs.)

My dog was attacked by an off lead, out of control dog whilst visiting the main safari field. The owner tried recalling his dog, and when the dog wouldn't go, he walked away (perhaps assuming his dog would follow). I managed to push his dog away from mine.

I called security multiple times, who didn't bother answering, then emailed them. Security finally called back and when I described the man and his dogs, they said they could see him at the car park and would speak with him then call me back. They didn't bother to call me back, nor did they email me back.

I emailed again to ask what they'd be doing in response to the incident, and they said because the owner said his dog only attacks other dogs on a 'rare' occasion, they'd taken the decision to do absolutely nothing (i.e. not ban him and his out of control dog).

Obviously they can't predict if someone is going to bring an aggressive dog, but they can choose how they respond, and it's an absolute joke that their response is to do nothing. AVOID! They could care less about the welfare of dogs.

EDITED TO ADD: in response to the lies in Zoe's message, so other owners can see they're not only uncaring about the safety of dogs, but also liars.

From my original email: "I'm writing to express my shock and disappointed at how, honestly, completely useless and uncaring your team have been in response to yesterday's incident. I emailed after my dog was attacked, as the team didn't pick up any of my phone calls. When a member of your team phoned me back, I explained the situation and they claimed they could see the owner of the dog in the carpark, and that they would deal with it and call me back."

In your response to my first review, you claimed the employee had asked me to go and speak with him after he spoke to the owner of the aggressive dog. This is a lie. As you can see from my email, I informed you that your employee said they'd call me back but they didn't bother. He did not ask me to go to speak to him after. You tried to make excuses for him by claiming it was because he was a trainee in your email.

Your colleague Elisha wrote: "In terms of our team, I’m so sorry to hear they didn’t speak to you afterward. The guy that you spoke to is a trainee"

You also made up a complete lie here:

"She explained she wasn’t in the previous day and I’m aware you felt the delay in responding was unacceptable and at that point threatened to write a public review unless we banned the other party."

There was no mention of your customer service assistant not being at work, nor did I threaten to write a negative review because of a delayed response to email. In fact, I told you I'd be writing an honest review to protect other dogs and their owners in response to you deciding to do nothing. Here is my email:

"That is an embarrassing and weak response, and, clearly, we won't be returning since you obviously care more about lining your pockets than you do about the welfare of the dogs who attend your park. A 'rare' occasion makes it clear it has happened before, so to take the stance that you won't be banning him is unacceptable. Sadly, to protect other dogs and handlers, and to avoid other people finding themself in a similar situation with absolutely no support from you, I'll be ensuring my reviews reflect our experience."

Not only have you shown yourselves to care less about the safety of the dogs that use your park, but you have also shown yourselves to be...

This was a very unpleasant afternoon for us primarily due to the appalling customer service of the receptionist at Ross and Friends (5 hours of stress and upset). We had a difficult journey travelling from North London and experienced delays (not the fault of the company at all). I phoned ahead (using the website contact number) to apologise and ask for my call to be returned, particularly if late admission was not allowed. There was no recorded message on the phone, which was odd. I was travelling with our 11 month Irish Setter and my partner who has terminal cancer, Alzheimer's Disease and is mobility impaired. When we arrived I went straight to the reception desk. A young man with dark hair and beard sauntered over. I apologised for being late. He immediately said "I don't think I can rebook you"...and "why didn't you phone?". I explained I had but nobody returned my call. He then asked "why not email?". I explained I was enroute and driving. His tone was accusatory, as if I was causing him problems. There was no sense of customer reassurance from him. I was given no induction to the facilities as a first time visitor, nor was I asked whether this our first visit. My partner wanted the loo. I asked the receptionist for directions. He didn't respond so I asked other customers, who didn't know either. We then noticed signage which we followed along a long gravel path. My partner was becoming unsteady by this point and had to urinate behind a kennel. My partner decided he was too tired and wanted to sit and wait in the car. It was impossible to sit and have a coffee by the firepit. There were between 8/10 men drilling, sawing, hammering and playing loud music which would be difficult for anyone, but for customers with Alzheimers the noise was unbearable. In addition there were diggers operating in the area and somebody laying what looked like electric cable. Sitting to enjoy peace and quiet was certainly not possible. When I eventually got to take our puppy into the safari park, I was challenged by the receptionist. He asked where I was going? I explained I had checked in but I had no idea of what to do or where things were (including the toilets). He said "I thought you'd been before"! That was a massive assumption to make as he didn't ask me. I asked if the builders loud music might be turned down. His response was that some people like it. I asked for his name as I considered his attitude and behaviour were amongst the worst I had experienced for a long time. He wasn't wearing a name badge either. He let me into the safari park. I had no idea where I was allowed to go or which facilities we could use. My partner waited in the car which was upsetting, as I wanted him to be able to enjoy our dog running around (he is terminally ill, so it's important we make the most of every moment). While my partner was waiting in the car the receptionist tried to speak with him (my partner, who is 71 yo said he felt harassed and intimidated). As I was returning to the car, he also tried to engage with me. I ignored him, as I felt his behaviour was entirely disingenuous. In summary, the open spaces for dogs are wonderful. However the customer service from the receptionist was dire (not simply bad). We felt like very unwelcome guests. The noise from tools, machinery, and loud music certainly didn't help either. There's no way anyone would want to sit by the firepit and enjoy a coffee. For anyone with mobility impairment or wheelchair users the toilets are located in the...

We were very disappointed with this place! Having seen amazing reviews and hearing great things, we travelled two hours away to visit. We hired the invisible woodland at £32 for 50 min. Expensive yes, but apparently this place is amazing! We arrived, the access road is not great and it’s quite tricky getting through in a single track road with passing places but we managed. With no one at the ‘guest hut’ we were told by another customer to just walk in 🤷‍♀️ so as we were early we thought we’d get a drink. The guy serving (part of the guest happiness team) was friendly enough, nice hot choc and we sat by the fire pit which was nice. Fairly good start. When it was our time we were directed to our area and duly entered the code we had been emailed. We were horrified! I’ll add photos. Mud mud mud, stagnant pond, tiny area. Thank god we didn’t drive our car in as it would have got stuck! After 10 minutes we couldn’t bear it any longer and came out. We found the guy who had served us and asked if we could use the main safari as coming all this way our dog really needed a walk. He said as it’s our first visit he would allow it. (We since found out it’s included in the price anyway!) The 35 acre communal area was a vast space but not exclusive. There was a couple of other dog users in there, and a big staffy hurtling towards our dog so no better than walking in your local park really. Despite some snazzy sheds dotted about, and more stagnant water points (perhaps empty these for the winter?) the fencing was a little patched together, not a good look but looked fairly secure. The best bit of the whole experience was the hot showers and dryers. Such a shame. You do so well with your marketing, social media it’s like you’ve forgotten about the actual product! Smarten up your areas, invest in some decent fencing, get rid of the pointless sheds! The wristbands? What’s the point in those, no one checked and more waste of costs! We wouldn’t go back and I honestly can only think the people who rave about it, haven’t been to other dog parks!

Edit to reply: I totally agree the private dog spaces need to close to repair, and I’m glad you recognise this. But feel slightly ripped off you were aware of the state of these and still charged clients full price.

Second edit: they have now realised the area was not fit for hiring and I’ve received a...