LaBest Pet Resort and Spa — Local services in Edwardsville

Well, I had taken our Miko to this place. She had never been away from home before, she was 7 months old. We opted no road trips for her. They advertise a 1st time discount, but you must ask for it. They will give you a tour of the place because we asked. We decided because our Akita likes the cooler weather and we paid for her a suite w/air conditioning and a tv and a larger room, she is a bigger girl. Their website states, automatic water and food dispenser - THAT IS NOT TRUE AT ALL. When Jordan gave us the tour, we mentioned it and she said, "no, there are no automatic things like that." We said, "but you advertise that you do, what gives?" She quickly brushed that off. We were close to our trip and the cooler, larger room was ok for Miko, they also do NOT have cameras in the rooms either. So, the advertising is false, I have a pic of their site with it advertised that they do. Also, we came back from our trip a day early and called them a day in advance or our arrival and let them know. I mentioned the adjustment on my credit card, and they said, no problem. No one EVER mentioned waiting a week to get it or anything about only one person who handles it or anything about Friday’s. We picked up our Miko and she seemed hot and she was definitely thirsty and needed the bathroom, that is disturbing to me. They only have one person on the weekend for pickups and it is 12pm or 5pm and you only have a short time to get them. I had to call back 2x last week and spoke to Jordan about the refund to my credit card and she said, “Sabrina handles that on Fridays.” Never were we told about having to wait for a refund to my card, they quickly charged it when we took our pet there. Jordan went on to tell me that if it is not done on Friday, 7.8.2019, call back on Monday or Tuesday of the next week and someone will check on it, seriously??? I explained that was not right no one told me that my money would be held captive. So, today, 7.15.19, I had to call 2x again, to see where things were as I want to pay my credit card off from my trip, but this place is holding me up. I called and spoke to Jennifer this am, she said a VP/Julia would come in this afternoon and take care of it. I asked for a telephone call to know that it had been done. It is now 3:35pm, cst, 7.15.19, and I have not received a call again, so I called to see what the next issue was. I called, 3:35pm, cst, spoke to McKenzie she passed the call to Julia/VP of the company. Julia was not a friendly person, I explained things to her or tried and she rudely cut me off and said, "oh yeah you called this morning." I have just been busy and just got to work, I have been in meetings all day. This is excuses to me that I did not need or care to know, she knew why I called so what is the problem, since this morning Jennifer stated she could do it herself and that she had a few times??? I had to correct Julia from talking over me, explained, why I wanted it taken care of. Julia went on to tell me that is done by Sabrina on Fridays, but she did not come in then or today. Again, not my problem, more excuses. She sarcastically told me, that she would take care of it today by 6pm, if not I will contest it with my credit card company. I don't like excuses from people, it has been way over a week, almost 10 days. Julia said, "years ago we had an employee steal $50,000.00 from us, so we only allow so many people to have access to credits." Credits go back on a card; it was not cash. Not happy with this unprofessional policy! Julia the VP, lied, she still has NOT refunded my credit card, now it is in dispute and...

We have been using this groomer for the past year and a half for our dog Bruce. We have had multiple instances where we felt the service was much less than professional, yet we still went to them hoping it was just a fluke. What happened today is the last straw! Today, 5/15/18, Bruce was dropped off around 8-9am and we were told we would be called when he was ready. 4:30pm, which is their out time, rolls around and still no word, so we go to pick him up and are told “Oh sorry, we started bathing him but we were it of shampoo and had to re-bathe him, he will be ready at 5:30.” Fast forward to 6pm and we pull up to see all the employees leaving and started to lock the doors. Never once did we receive any kind of phone call to let us know what was happening with or dog. When we told them we needed our dog and were upset about this whole situation the girl working replied with “there’s only so much I can do.” They didn’t offer to give us any kind of discount, but when asked about getting one due to the service we recieved they comped the $80 that they charge(the only good part of this experience) The last issue we had with them was a two maybe 3 months ago, we dropped him off at 8-9am like always and 3 hours after being dropped off we recieved a phone call asking when/if we were dropping Bruce off! They had completely FORGOTTEN about him. We were told that Debbie will call us when she gets back into town, but it’s to late for that. We will not be returning customers anymore.

EDIT: Now that we have been home for a couple hours we’ve been able to take a closer look, it’s also clear that they did a rush job to get him “ready to...

I board my dog at LaBest when we go out of town and the staff are friendly and really care about taking care of your dog. I just learned recently during one of my dogs first visits she didn't really care for one of the girls, Hannah, so Hannah took the time to sit in the room with Bailey in the corner and built up a relationship with her where my dog now loves Hannah. Also I took my Girl Scout Troop to LaBest where they gave the girls a tour, showed us some agility training of one of their dogs-Merlin, helped them make pet toys, and let them play with some dogs. Also Debbie, the owner, took the time to come and talk to the girls about her life with dogs and the fact that she has been training dogs for 50 years, very impressive. She took time to get to know the girls and listen to their dreams of what they wanted to do when they grow up and gave them encouragement and made them feel that whatever they decide to do they will make a difference. Just a wonderful experience for the girls and it makes me know that I am making the very best decision to leave my pet in the hands of the LaBest when I am not at home. Big shout out to Debbie, Hannah, & Halle from Girl Scout Troop 68 and the The Empson Family and...