Petco — Local services in New York

My review is about a Petco groomer Shiann (sp?) who could use some more training in customer service. Considering the store has announcements about how they hire groomers with no experience, and train them through their academy — I thought this may be helpful.

My wife and I came in to have our 20lb service dog-in-training get a face, feet, and fanny a la carte service and we were told that the location didn’t offer it (even though it was on the menu) and we were encouraged to do the Mini MakeRover. All good. It was a little weird when we first were being attended to bc Shiann complained to us about a customer who had just left their dog (“That’s her dog barking, she knows her dog has anxiety and she isn’t going to come get it until 4. This is not doggy daycare”.) — but we brushed it off. Maybe we shouldn’t have?

As we were waiting for the groomer to come out, we were talking to another customer and I guess Shiann was ready. We didn’t even see her approach us all from behind, but my dog did because Shiann literally walked over holding a slip lead collar wide open and went straight for my dog and attempted to put the collar around his neck (without greeting us; having our dog even see that we knew her; or even attempting to gain trust from the dog) — at which point my dog cowered and moved away from her. As soon as I noticed, I tried not to make a big deal and just get my dog to come to me, and suggested a quick reset by putting some treats in Shiann’s hand to show my dog this wasn’t a stranger and that I am giving the okay to go to them (service dogs are trained to look to their handler for permission to engage with others attempting to take them — even when off the clock, which he was).

This seemed to bother Shiann who quickly went into defense mode, “Ok, enough treats. He needs to trust me. Grab his harness and bring him over here.” Aggressive, ego driven energy. At this point I get my dog, get the collar on him, pick him up and place him in her arms. I think that she is just going to head off and do the service but no — here comes a lecture and list of questions to my wife and I completely unrelated to the nail trim; my dog’s experience being groomer; or behavior during the grooming session.

She started to on this rant about how it’s not good to spoil dogs and then asked if it was a poodle mix, to which we confirmed. Then went on to lecture about how we shouldn’t be holding them all the time because poodles are an intelligent breed (duh— we know our dog), and dogs understand who is boss based on eye level contact and at that point I stopped her and said, “We do not hold him. He is a 20lb dog.” She didn’t know he was a service dog. Then she goes on to ask, “oh yeah, do you let him on furniture?” And I completely ignored the question. She goes, “If you let them assert their dominance over you, that will create bad habits. I noticed when I walked over to get him, he actually was looking at you to see if mommy would baby him. That’s a sign of bad habits already forming. Boy dogs are always going to be the baby.” I was stunned.

I let her finish lecturing and said, “Actually, he is a service dog and he trained to look to me before letting someone just approach him and take him. He did the right thing. That is how he is trained.” At that point she looks to my wife, “Oh, an emotional support dog?” My wife says, “No, service dog. Medical alert.”

I mean, I have seen how awful groomer ego culture is on social media — most is mocking client requests and how we care for our dogs — but never has a groomer not only complained to a client in front of me to me, but then proceeded to lecture me as if they were my personal vet; dog trainer; and dog behaviorist wrapped in one. It seems they personally believe in the dog training methods based in dominance and being the alpha and that’s not how my service dog is trained. I am actually happy we didn’t do any bath or cut because I can’t imagine how hostile they would be attempting to exert dominance over my dog — without doing anything to quickly...

My dog's grooming appointment was for 3:30 with Ella. I made this appointment October 8th and today is October 19th. I reconfirmed the appointment yesterday and also received a confirmation from them this morning at 10am. (Please note that they say there is a 48 hour notice for me to cancel.)

But at 10:50am, I'm on my way to take my daughter to ballet and I receive a voicemail from them saying that Ella is only working until 5pm today and an hour and a half is not enough time to groom the dog so I'll need to bring her in right now. Like ... ??? So I call them back immediately and no one answers.

I drop my daughter off and call them while she's in class at 11:57am. Petco tells me again that Ella was only scheduled to work until 5pm today and I need to bring the dog now. I say that I can't, that's the reason behind an appointment. I have other things to do. I'm not home. I also live 45 minutes away. Their response? Well, you can still bring the dog at 3:30 but then Ella will have to groom her straight through. I say, what does straight through mean? They tell me that means without cage time and without a break which is bad for dogs and also it'll be a VIP treatment. It's not until I ask, is that an extra charge for me that this person confirms that yes, it would be. Again, WHAT??

I said, I planned this over a week ago. It's her birthday so I wanted to make sure she was groomed and this is the only time that I can bring her. YOU are inconveniencing ME and you mean to tell me that I need to pay EXTRA for my original appointment although YOU are cancelling?? Make it make sense. I told them they should be offering ME a discount and trying to figure it out on their end, especially since they say multiple times that should I want to cancel before 48 hours, I'd have to pay a fee. But they don't have to pay a fee or do anything to rectify it??? They're just off the hook?? The person just says she's sorry and we reschedule for tomorrow morning where I'll have to get myself and child up early to come in and rearrange my schedule yet again.

I wind up calling back and spoke with Carlin and explained the whole ridiculous situation and said I've decided to just take our business elsewhere. As a Vital Premier member who pays a fee monthly (which I've now cancelled as well) and this was scheduled way in advance it's ridiculous that they would call and say I need to bring the dog NOW or pay an extra fee for my original appointment. Carlin is the only sensible person and explains that the online booking system was updated and they only found out a week ago. I said that I understand backend systems fail but they've known for a week and called me less than an hour after the final confirmation the day of the appointment. Carlin calls back offering a discount if I can bring my dog an hour early. While I appreciate her trying, I still wouldn't have been able to make that time. And honestly, after the headache of the situation and the fact that I had to tell them how absurd this was multiple times before they even TRIED to assist or offer anything, I just don't want to give Petco my business anymore and wouldn't...

This is such a gorgeous store! The space is large, it's not overwhelming noise wise or smell wise- despite it being a pet store. The employees are friendly and very helpful.

There is so much to be found here. The displays are well done and easy to navigate over the two floors this store occupies. There is a space for everything! Inside the front door there is a self wash area where you can bring your pet and give them a full bath treatment after checking in, across the way there is a space dedicated to fresh pet food- where you can pick the ingredients. There is also a water fountain/bowl for your baby in here. Beyond the initial front part of the store there are adoptable cats inside the base of the stairs, it has been divided up very nicely- the habitats looked well cared for and the cats seemed very happy and clean. Across from this there is the fish/reptile/bird/small animal area of the store, again creatures all seemed very well cared for and habitats were clean.

There is a very cute kind of DIY area where you can pick clothes for your pets and there are so many trinkets/accessories/patches.

There is a photo booth where you can take pics with your fur baby.

There are clean up stations everywhere in the event your pet has an accident in store, cleaning solution, hand sanitizer, and paper towels abundantly stocked.

There is a vet practice located in the first level, we did not make use of it but it didn't seem overly busy on a Saturday morning. I can't comment any further on this as our girl has a vet she sees regularly elsewhere.

Upstairs you will find pet food, vitamins and supplements, care products, comfort items, and a lot more. There are also restrooms located on this level that are accessible by code.

It's definitely worth a look here, the prices are actually very decent and reasonable storewide in my opinion.

I also have to give major kudos for the cleanliness of the whole store. We spent about an hour or so browsing, and the staff was super dedicated to the cleanliness of high touch areas and more. Literally everything was being sanitized, and that is so appreciated and impressive.

I will definitely be visiting again...