Classy Canine's Wiggle Rumps — Attraction in Castro Valley

This review is for an experience in October 2022. I didn’t realize the draft never posted.

TLDR; Sam, Miguel, and Mr. George are great. There is a new bather who isn’t good, they badly cut our dog’s toenail, photo attached, and knicked nearly the rest of his toenails, we were not informed at pickup. Additionally, our experience with the owner on what had happened was terrible; she was evasive, rude, and demeaning.

——

My husband and I have been taking our Belgian Malinois, Monte, here since January 2021. It was always great service and Monte comes out smelling super nice. He loved the groomers, as every time we park, he would try. to jump out the door immediately, and pull us to the front door. Sam or Miguel had bathed him.

When we moved to San Francisco in November 2021, we had a hard time finding a groomer that was a good fit, so we decided to come back to Classy Canine.

We took Monte back to Classy Canine recently and a new bather did his bath. This bather knicked nearly all his toenails and cut one of them deeply, photo attached. We were not told when we picked Monte up, we found out when we got home because we noticed him limping and in pain. We contacted our vet who prescribed him medication because they were worried he would get an infection.

We attempted to contact the owner and work this out with them, but long story short, she assumed we were making the issue up, demanded proof, but would not provide an emcail for us to send the proof to. At our next appointment, the owner was there, we attempted to talk to her again and give her the proof, but she kept interrupting to lecture us and was rude and demeaning the whole time. She did not seem concerned about Monte’s wellbeing and did not apologize for what happened even after seeing the photo. Another worker walked over during this talk and also lectured us. In the end, the owner did make it right by giving us the bath free, not without giving us a policy package on how they normally don’t refund any service; Mr. George bathed Monte that time and it went well. However, we will never come back after this experience with the owner and the new bather.

Also, for both of these recent appointments, we specifically requested Sam and was lied to that he would be the bather. Whoever was texting appointment confirmations was lying. They would not call us when we requested to speak by phone or call us back when we left a voicemail, it was always a text response. We did not know who was texting, they would not...

After our first time visit they sent a thank you card. I thought that was very nice and the grooming was also pretty good. Since then, however, quality has decreased. They never shave my dog as short as I ask. I need it short so the treatment for his skin issues is most effective. They never shave inside his ears either. I have to do it myself. His ears are long and after I cut them and shave inside, he walks around like a girl that just cut her long hair cut short. He LIKES it. If I have to re-do they're work at home, what's the point of me paying them? Also, they're not quick to respond. And closed on Mondays. I was just looking around at my other options online. Found one that books online....click, click, DONE. Classy Canine could benefit from a system like this. Let technology do the work for you AND give your customers instant service. Then you just need to work on following the customers' requests. Also, if rescues bring dogs in that are getting pretty so they can get adopted, Classy Canine might want to consider giving them a discount. These rescue people are paying for the haircuts out of their own pockets, and Classy Canine is charging full price plus getting tips when other businesses are pitching in to help these rescues. One I know gives a very generous 50% discount. That's not expected of every groomer, but they could give a...

I've been taking my dog here since February 2015, and I've always found the people here rather friendly. After trying out a few groomers -- who all did a great job -- both my dog and I found someone we like: Kat. She is a very friendly and bubbly person who understands what I want without my having to write an essay with diagrams (like I almost did at Wags and Petsmart). She's fast, attentive, and Snowball doesn't cower there as much as she did when I took her to the two former groomers mentioned.

They also have a cute waiting room for your dog if he or she is done, but you're late picking them up. They have these comfortable kennels that face a TV. How adorable is that? And when they say in their voicemail that they are busy with someone's baby, they aren't lying. They are always checking up on the puppies in the waiting room, or focusing on a puppy in the back. They are very attentive. Don't worry about leaving a message, either; they always call back later that day, or by morning the next day at the latest.

The nicest thing of all was, after Snowball was groomed for the first time, I was sent via snail mail a very sweet and pretty card thanking Snowball for stopping by. Really, this place is great. They are very accommodating, so...