Pet Paradise Charlottesville — Attraction in Charlottesville

This review is for the Charlottesville, VA location.

Lately things have been disorganized, unprofessional, and frustrating. There has been an influx of new people, a big turnover rate, and at the same time a new wing of their property has opened up - despite the fact that they don't have the resources to staff it. The new folks doing day to day stuff don't seem to care about how unprofessional or unhelpful they are.

In order to rectify issues, you are directed to call corporate which will take the majority of your afternoon/morning depending on when you call. Just be prepared to be on hold for long periods of time and when they answer, in many cases being told they're sorry they can't help.

Examples of frustrating situations include:

Pet Paradise called everyone who made (well in advance) daycare reservations for the week before and after July 4 - to cancel them, in order to accommodate boarding appointments (the possibility of appointments - this was anticipatory). So if you were planning ahead and knew you would need daycare and got your appointment in, and confirmed, you were now out of luck. We found out the hard way that reservations for customers who use their services daily are not quite as important as the reservations for (potential) customers who will be boarding, which is clearly a more lucrative option for them.

This location had a fire inspection last week during which they put all of the dogs into crates. They did not notify anyone in advance that this was going to happen, so if you weren't watching the web cams at all times, you never knew. Essentially you paid Pet Paradise that day, unbeknownst to you, to put your dog in a crate for an extra hour+. For context, dog playtime starts around 9:30 (they say 9, but if you watch the cams you'll see that it's more like 930), and start getting put back into crates around 2:30/2:45 in the afternoon every day (they say 3 but the cams tell a different story). On average, you're paying them $32 daily when the dog is crated for roughly 30% of that time. More, when things like inspections occur.

They have signs up on both entrances to tell you when to use which (i.e. use this entrance after 9am). Which seems helpful and efficient! But these timeframes rarely coordinate with reality. More often you go from entrance to entrance, trying to figure out where and who to speak with, for something as simple as a grooming appointment. When you do mention how disorganized it seems, eventually someone will tell you that it's not their fault. Or it's company policy. Or they're understaffed. But good luck tracking down anyone who will take responsibility for customer service.

In general, if you want to call the center - you forgot to tell them something about your boarded pup or want to check in with your baby - there is no local way to do so. The number given on google will route you to a phone farm that acts as a go-between for you and the local center. Making a tweak to an appointment, or trying to get an appointment for grooming and daycare in the same day - good luck. You'll be on the phone for 20 minutes minimum. Which would be tolerable if their website was useful. But their website has tons of "nuances" that can also be described as "bugs" where you can't do things you need to do or schedule things a certain way - again, just very frustrating.

The feeling that I get is that this business is a machine cranked out from FL, where the bottom line is getting as many animals boarded as possible, with as little overhead as possible, which would include professional training and customer service, and policies that take care of pet owners as much as the pets themselves.

We've given this place a year and I'm at the point where I don't have the patience to give them any more. If you decide to take your pup here, you may eventually come to the same conclusion. No service is worth the amount of frustration that comes with this place, and no business that actively takes shortcuts or devalues overall satisfaction deserves your hard earned...

My dog was a weekly day camper at Pet Paradise / Charlottesville for several years. For the most part, we were happy enough with their services (thus two stars instead of one). However, there was an incident that occurred in their lobby in early September that was completely unacceptable… and Pet Paradise was fortunate that no one (person or animal) got hurt. Three staff members were present, as were three dog parents, me being one of them. I had already picked up my dog, but gone back into the building with my dog because her collar had gotten left behind. One of the parents was there to pick up her two dogs. They were brought into the lobby space and handed over to their mom; she (and they) were standing in between the other parent and my dog and me. I was sitting; my dog was out in front of me, fortunately away from and ignoring the two dogs next to us. The two dogs starting growling and lunging at me, to within a foot of where I was seated. I spoke up, to help staff and their mom realize what I assumed they did not see happening. I was told to leave by the staff... that I was causing the dogs to get excited. Whoa!?! I needed to leave?? I couldn't move, as the aggressive dogs were directly to my right, between me/my dog and the door. My dog and I were pinned in the corner of the room. The two dogs were escorted out by their mom, and I then headed to my car ASAP with my dog. I was so shaken by the situation that - after I left - I decided to go back into the lobby to speak with the staff. I was thinking they would apologize, tell me that would never happen again, that a new arrangement was being discussed regarding these two dogs, etc... They did apologize, and then proceeded to explain that the two dogs act like that when their person is present. They knew these dogs act like that! I asked why she was allowed in the lobby with them in the presence of others. How dangerous that was... and how badly things could have escalated. Strangely, it appeared that all three staff members (one apparently being the manager, one being a long-standing employee) seemed to have no problem with what had happened 20 minutes prior. I left there bewildered. A week passed and I reached back out to speak with the manager about the incident. (That’s when I learned that he was actually one of the staff members who was there when it happened.) I asked to speak to his supervisor and was told I would receive a call from him. I have yet to receive any communication from him. I've since emailed Pet Paradise's corporate address to speak with someone about the incident; that was a week ago. No response. With what seems like apathy from Pet Paradise, I can only hope no one gets hurt when trustingly picking up or dropping off their dog(s) in the presence of these two dogs and their mom. My dog is now enrolled in day camp elsewhere. We have not returned to Pet Paradise since that...

My dog has attended doggie day care at this facility for several years. Ever since Pet Paradise bought out Pampered Pets, the quality of care and the attitude of management has made me reconsider continuing to use their services. Many of the long time employees who I knew loved and cared for my dog have voluntarily left their employment due to the new environment. Class sizes have increased -- at Pampered Pets, they were right around 15 dogs, who were carefully selected for their play styles and ability to get along. Now, PP allows up to 30 dogs in a play group. If there are only a few larger dogs in a day, they combine them all into one group, regardless of age or play styles. Under prior ownership, the dogs would get an house of rest time during lunch to relax and chill. Now the dogs spend much of the end of the day in kennels so that the group areas can be cleaned without having to pay employees to stay after business hours. All of this, and the prices increased!

In addition, the corporate policies are ridiculously strict. They require bordatella vaccinations every six months, even though my vet tells me the vaccination is good for a year. I am ok with this, because it keeps the dogs healthy. However, when my dog's vaccination expired on the first of the month, and I had an appointment for him to get the vaccination three days later, I was turned away at the door and told my dog could not come in that day because his vaccination was "expired." No grace period whatsoever, despite the fact that the vaccine is actually good for several more MONTHS, let alone three days. When questioned about this, the answer? "It is corporate policy." A good corporate policy is to understand that a vaccination does not simply stop being effective upon the day that it becomes due, and to understand that clients are busy. A good corporate policy is to work with those that keep you in business, particularly during a pandemic when your business is down.

I could go on and on about the disappointments, but you get the point. They have become an unbending, corporate nightmare, that treats its clients, and importantly, its employees, very poorly. While my dog loves to play with his friends there, I can no longer continue to pay good money to this place.

One final caution: I would NEVER board my animals here. The way that they handled the fire that occurred there was atrocious. No communication with owners, no acknowledgement of the volunteers who helped out during the emergency when their own management's response was complete paralysis, and no real change to prevent the same thing from happening again. Again, it was all about protecting the corporation, not about being transparent and doing the...