Pet Chauffeur — Local services in New York

I booked Pet Chauffeur this past July to transport my dog from NY to Zambia. I have flown with my dog many times over the past few years without problems, but this was the first (and last) time I had used Pet Chauffeur. James was the representative assigned to help me with the process. James' repeated errors caused so much stress and undue financial burden, and ultimately caused my dog to fly a week later than planned. Perhaps the other representatives in the company are better, but I would not recommend Pet Chauffeur to anyone who cares about their pet.

From the start, communication was quite difficult and I often found myself having to repeatedly call for updates after James forgot to call me back.

It finally seemed like we had everything sorted and my dog would fly out a few hours before my own flight. This was the ideal situation- my dog would fly first, then I would fly and meet him in Zambia. We were still missing some paperwork from Emirates, but James suggested going to the airport that morning with my dog in the crate and trying to check him into the flight anyway. I was greeted by the Emirates crew with confusion. My dog was never scheduled to fly that day.

The Emirates cargo team was incredibly helpful and investigated the issue from their end. They printed off several pages of emails between their crew and James. It became clear that James had actually scheduled my dog on a flight THE WEEK AFTER. The Emirates crew went on to list the extensive paperwork that James would have received by that point if my dog was in fact scheduled on that flight - something they reiterated that any pet relocation company should know.

At this point, my gut said to cut ties with the company and sort it all out myself, but unfortunately Emirates Cargo will not work directly with customers so I had to continue to use the Pet Chauffeur service if I wanted my dog to fly.

When I contacted James after I left the airport, dog still in tow, he was unaware that there were any problems and assumed my dog would have been on the flight. It wasn't until I sent him copies of the emails between himself and the Emirates crew that he was able to realize the issue. He admitted the mistake was completely his fault and offered to refund the company's service fee (still waiting for that refund several months later).

Because I still needed to fly that afternoon, I was left scrambling to arrange a pet sitter for the extra week (additional fee) and schedule another vet appointment (additional fee) to get updated time-sensitive paperwork for the next week's flight, all before I got on my own flight in a few hours. While my dog did eventually make it to Zambia, the whole ordeal was not without undue stress and financial burden.

Of course, with any pet relocation company, the consumer assumes the risk associated with live animal transport and the possibility of flight cancellations. One should not, however, have to worry about a supposedly well-reputed company making silly mistakes that derail the trip and cause the customer additional financial burden.

For the sake of other customers that will still use this company, I hope they Pet Chauffeur has provided their staff with additional training and improved their customer service. Once I receive the refund, I plan to be finished with this company for good. My dog and I will continue our travels with another pet relocation company and I will ensure that the pet parents in the expat community are aware of this irresponsible and untrustworthy company.

Edit: It has been some time since I’ve used this company, but in the past few weeks they have spammed my phone and e-mail more than a dozen times asking for a review using a spam-like link. There also seems to be a high number of reviews left by other people in the past few weeks as well. Looks suspicious. Trying to spam good reviews to rebuild...

I was stuck in Upstate NY with my dog during severe wind and ice storms, needing to get us both back to Phoenix AZ. I’d planned to fly to JFK and then on to Phoenix, but I had no idea how to transport my dog, and flight after flight out of Upstate was cancelled. I contacted several pet shippers who told me “not gonna happen, impossible.” I kept trying, and I got David at Pet Chauffeur, who promised he could get it done. He even offered to drive upstate, pick us up, and bring us to NYC if necessary.

Thankfully, the ride wasn’t necessary, and our tiny airline to JFK finally had a flight and let me bring my dog in the cabin. But the big airlines that went from JFK to Phoenix wouldn’t allow that, he’d have to fly cargo. David met me at JFK at exactly the right moment , picked up my dog, and took over from there. He and his crew handled everything for me, from veterinary visits for all the proper paperwork to getting a crate and even boarding my dog in their homes with close personal attention and care every day. They kept me updated daily with progress on the many hoops they had to jump through and photos of my dog on walks and taking comfortable naps in their homes.

If you ever need pet transportation of any kind, I’d recommend Pet Chauffeur with all my heart. They delivered when others said it was impossible, and did so with true care for my dog, all at a reasonable price....

I have used Pet Chauffer for almost 26 years. I had two Golden Retrievers whom I took to their veterinarian appointments and the AMC in Pet Chauffer. I also volunteer for an organization that trains service dogs and I use Pet Chauffer to travel back and forth to the pick up/ drop off area with these pups once a month. In this day and age when others prefer to book rides solely through APPs, I welcome and celebrate the fact that when you call Pet Chauffer there’s a live person on the phone and a person who genuinely cares about me and the my dogs when they were alive and the other dogs I am now helping train. I love that I know the owner of this wonderful company by name and I also know the dispatcher and the small crew of drivers. In fact when I had to put my last dog to sleep I had it done in my apartment and one of the drivers from Pet Chauffer came to help me transport his body back to the vets. He was comforting and he cried himself because he knew my dog and cared about him. If you are looking for great service and real people who care about you and your pets, then Pet Chauffer is the best company around to help you! Thank you for almost a quarter century of...