Bark Slope — Local services in New York

NEVER. AGAIN.

tl;dr Bark Slope locked our senior dog (who has anxiety and a heart murmur) in a cage for 2 hours because the groomer couldn’t figure out how to finish her prior two appointments on time. Don’t commit us to a 3pm grooming appointment if you aren’t going to see our dog until 5pm.

On Saturday we booked a grooming appointment at Bark Slope for the upcoming Monday at 3pm for our small, 14 lbs, 15-year-old Maltese Shih Tzu. We asked for whoever would handle our senior pup with the most gentle care, and Wynter accepted the job.

We arrived at 2:30pm because we wanted to respect the groomer’s schedule and not be late. They said we could come back at 3pm; so we took a stroll around Park Slope, came back right at 3pm, and brought our guy to the back to get his hair done. We’d been here 3 occasions before: once for our little guy and twice for our little girl, and each appointment took about 1.5 to 2 hours max.

Now usually with our pup being his size, age, and anxiety-ridden with a heart murmur, we really appreciated Bark Slope being able to complete the job within a 2 hour time frame. But today, 5pm rolled around and I hadn’t heard a word from the groomers. As we were in the Brooklyn area, we decided to swing by.

This is when we found out Wynter had two clients before our little guy and she was “a little behind.” She apparently pushed our guy to the back of her list. All she had done was bathed him and then pushed him INTO A CRATE for 2 hours while she tended to her other concerns. My senior dog who has anxiety and a heart murmur was locked inside a cage.

Wynter had the audacity to give herself the expertise of working at a vet's office before and say he was fine and had no anxiety at all being in the kennel. This has been our dog for the past 15 years, we KNOW FOR FACT he does not do well in a kennel. He was frantically panting, eyes bulging, wheezing and whimpering, his heart noticeably pounding outside his chest. She said he could be groomed by the day’s end, by 7:30pm. SHE HADN’T EVEN STARTED TO TRIM HIM AND IT WAS 5PM; OUR APPOINTMENT WAS AT 3PM. All she did was give him a bath and brush. We said he’s been through enough and that we just wanted to bring him home.

If you know that your responsibilities before 3pm could carry over, don’t book our appointment for 3pm.

If you know you probably wouldn’t start grooming our dog until after 5pm, don’t ask us to come before 5pm.

They handed us our little guy without his collar, harness, and leash. As they collected our belongings and returned it to us, they said, “you still need to pay for the bath.” We’d already been brought beyond boiling point and we just wanted to bring our boy home so we could all decompress. They charged me a $75 price tag for a bath. I was livid, but to be fair it was not the receptionist/cashier’s fault.

Wynter: you treated us with utter disrespect, and more especially our dog without kindness, without compassion. Care and consideration are paramount qualities every professional groomer should possess, and today you certainly did not exercise either.

Bark Slope: you've broken our trust in your team and your services. No dog and their owner deserves to be mistreated...

We brought both our dogs here and had horrible experiences with both. First, my 13 year old dog came back and was in pain for two days. He would yelp every time we pet him on his side. We wrote to Bark Slope and they brushed the whole thing off by saying that maybe he had been injured before he arrived. That didn't sit right with me, but I decided to give them another chance because he's pretty old and maybe he wouldn't do well with any groomer.

Well, shame on me. I brought my other young dog in to see them. I had a bunch of email exchanges with them beforehand detailing exactly how I wanted her cut and even sent a link to a video showing what I wanted. They assured me they'd pass it along to the groomer (they did not). I also made it clear that since she was a double coated dog, the only cutting should be for the feathering on her haunches and underside. Not only did they shave her back legs and haunches, they did a poor job and one side doesn't match the other. When I wrote to them about all this, they called me back and told me everything I'd read about double coated dogs was wrong and they did everything the way they should have. When I contacted them, all I wanted was some kind of acknowledgment that it didn’t go as well as it could have, so we could figure out a path forward. Unfortunately all my concerns were just invalidated and shut down.

It's really unfortunate - I was so hoping to work with them since they're close to my house. I would have been a loyal customer for years to come. I should've listened to my gut and found someone else after the first incident. Do yourself a favor and run in the other direction. The proximity is not worth the poor customer service and...

Let me just start off by saying I am BEYOND LIVID & if I could rate 0 stars I would. LOOK AT MY BABY!! 😭 I took my dog here to get a grooming on 6/10/2024. Prior to the grooming I was told that my dog had less mats than the previous time which I was happy about because I expected the grooming would go much smoother. The first pic is my dog’s first grooming EVER at Bark Slope which I was so pleased with which is why I brought him back a second time. He is a 1 year & 4 month old miniature poodle and I was told by the staff that being that “he is transitioning between his baby fur and adult fur his fur becomes very matted & had to be cut all the way down.” They also explained this was “normal” Which I thought was an awful excuse for what was done to him! My dog looks unrecognizable! To top it off I was told there would be an up charge for “de-matting” my dog which I was not told was the case prior to the appointment. Instead of paying $132 which I paid the first time I was forced to pay $169.29 for this awful groom! I was not compensated AT ALL after I explained to the staff how unpleased I was with this outcome! I felt like I was given terrible excuses for how my dog came out and there was absolutely no remorse for how I felt this is truly the most terrible experience I think I could’ve experienced and I will definitely be taking my services elsewhere. This was truly unbelievable and...