PetSmart — Local services in Papillion

The good: I have taken my mini Pomeranian to get her hair groomed to PetSmart for over 4 years. Her groomer was always Courtney and she was awesome. She moved out of town and now the recent experience I had was beyond terrible. I took her in hoping they could provide the same great service but from the moment I booked her appointment it was a cluster. I called to book the appointment and was put on hold several times before I finally got my appointment made. It didn’t bother me at the time because I’m a pretty patient person.

The bad: Then when I brought her in, I provided very clear steps on how Courtney groomed my dog and what to do. They lady said she needed to use the “furmagtor” on my dog to get the tangles out and she tested it to be sure. I was a little worried at this time because the groomer seemed a little confrontational. She gave me the impression she was annoyed that she was going to have to groom my dog. I suppose if my dog was covered in filth and such maybe I could understand her annoyance but I have a 3 pound house dog. I never once got such treatment before so it actually hurt my feelings. She literally made me feel like a bad pet owner because I didn’t have a perfectly groomed dog before I brought her to be groomed. She told me it would take 3 1/2 hours and they would call me when done and I left.

The ugly: I got the voicemail my Pom was done 3 hours later and it wasn’t my usual call. She stated in the voicemail that my dog was screaming and they couldn’t get the haircut done. Strange, I thought. That has literally never happened in over 4 years I’ve been taking her. They also told me that I needed to get there as soon as possible to pick my dog up. My husband called there and asked all the questions about what happened and let them know that this was a first. I immediately went there to pick her up and when I saw my dog I was appalled. They literally did nothing except clip her nails. It was so weird. Why keep her there for 3 hours? Why didn’t they call me earlier to let me know? My dog also looked like she got punched in the eye. No answers to any of my questions. A manager came and spoke to me and said the dog’s safety was in question so that’s why they couldn’t groom her. I guess they were protecting my dog from their violent grooming skills. No clue. I let them know I’ll just find another groomer and I was sad that I couldn’t continue to get the same service I had received with Courtney. They said they don’t know Courtney and said good luck in my search for a new groomer. Clearly they could care less about my business and didn’t appreciate Courtney (even though I wrote numerous thank you cards, Christmas gifts, etc for her great work). Just terrible that they don’t care about grooming your dog properly and have no customer service skills to encourage customer loyalty. I suggest to go support a local business owner that cares about...

We went here to purchase a hamster for my 6 year old daughter. We had purchased a cage for the hamster and given it to her for Christmas with a promise to go get the hamster after Christmas. So we go in the day after Christmas, she picks out a hamster and we ask for assistance. We get this crazy lady who starts grilling us. She needs to know what kind of cage we have so we walk her to the next aisle and point to the hamster cage we purchased. She tells us this won't do, we need at least a 40 gallon aquarium for the hamster!! Keep in mind.... WE BOUGHT THE HAMSTER CAGE AT THIS STORE! We're standing there in the aisle pointing to it... in their store... where we purchased it... and she says it isn't good enough. So she shows a $230 aquarium that she says would be sufficient. I point out to her that: 1. You sell this cage!! and 2. You're keeping two hamsters in a container the size of a shoe box in the store! Crazy lady has no explanation for why they sell hamster cages that don't meet the basic requirements of a hamster or why they don't meet those basic requirements themselves. So we leave with our disappointed 6 year old and drive down the road to PetCo in Bellevue where a nice young man sells us a similar hamster for a better price and without 20 questions. Do yourself a favor and avoid this place. I purchased a leopard gecko for my son here once and received good service so I'm unsure if it's one crazy lady or a systemic problem but either way I won't be back. Reading some of the other reviews about a lady claiming they needed a huge aquarium for a 29 cent goldfish rings too similar. By the way, I was concerned so I found the humane society web page description of requirements for keeping a hamster and they say a 20 gallon aquarium or similar size cage is fine. Apparently the crazy lady has stricter requirements than the humane society. Oh and the best part, she used the term "legally" with us. We inquired about buying the hamster and then getting a larger aquarium off of Craigslist, etc. so we didn't have to spend their ridiculous $230 for one. She said "I can't legally sell it to you"! I literally laughed out loud as we left the store. Like literally she'll be arrested for selling us the hamster if we don't buy a $230 aquarium to go with it?? She was just standing there making stuff up and lying...

Sadly, my groomer moved out of state and I had to find someone else. I called Pet Smart and explained that I like my dogs cut with scissors. The person making the reservation said no problem. I arrived at the appointment with both dogs in tow ready to drop them off when Justine helped me. When She was checking them in and I reminded her I want a scissor cut, she said oh let me trade place with the groomer-whose name I don't know but it was her first day back from maternity leave and she has two years grooming experience. When she went to the other gals station she said, "Scissor cut, sorry." There were only 3 of us in the area and I wasn't speaking so I heard her loud and clear. The groomer then came up and said, "What does scissor cut mean to you?" I explained and then I said they get puppy cuts. She replied, "What does puppy cut mean to you?". She then proceeded to repeat that it was going to be A LOT more money to scissor cut and a LOT MORE TIME at this point I knew she didn't want to use her first day back from maternity leave grooming dogs. At NO point did I ever ask how much it was because I didn't care. I am willing to pay what they charge to use scissors. Finally I said, "I would prefer you to say you just don't feel like grooming these dogs today because I am not leaving them with someone who doesn't want to be around them." We walked out, happily. I would have gladly paid what it cost to get it done the way my 9 and 10 year old dogs are accustom to and tipped you...