Lara Y.
Yelp
I would give negative stars, but that's not possible.
I had the WORST experience with my two dogs at Seaport Paw last Tuesday.
I brought my dogs to get groomed and was emailing back and forth with the girl at the front desk about a) how my dogs were doing and b) what time to pick them up because I had to leave work midday to get them. 4 hours after I had dropped off my dogs, even though I had been emailing with them, they called me and told me to pick up one of my dogs immediately and to take him to the vet. Apparently, his eye was hurting and they 'stopped grooming' to be safe. After I ran over, picked up my dog, and carried him to the vet, we found out that he had a really bad eye infection. He had nothing wrong with his eyes prior, so it was due to grooming that his eye got injured. He had also NOT been groomed even though he was there for 4.5 hours and I was scheduled to pick him up in just 30 more minutes.
My dog's eye was bloodshot, he couldn't open it, he was crying when we went to check it out, and he was shaking. I ran to the vet with him in my arms. Literally RAN.
I asked the girl at the front desk to talk to the owner / manager immediately and was told she was out of town and would be back the next day. I asked to review the security footage in the groomer section of their space. I went to speak to her the very next day to understand what happened, talk about next steps in terms of my dog's additional vet visits, and to see the security videos. She told me that there are no security cameras in the back and that they didn't do anything wrong to my dog. Not only is this terrible for the pet owner, but also for the safety of their groomers. What if a dog attacks them or the groomer gets hurt, how would they hold anyone accountable?
I went to the back of the store to the check it out the groomer section since they didn't have an office, cameras or anything, and was shocked to see that it wasn't clean and all of the groomers had their cell phones on their stations. When I pointed this out, they told me that 'they have their phones out to look at pictures of dogs for inspiration'... I'm vehemently against being on your phone when taking care of dogs, especially when you have sharp objects in your hands..
The groomer had also contacted my vet and requested additional information on my dog's health history, without my permission, knowledge or consent. A few months ago, I had asked my vet for suggestions on allergy meds for both dogs, and the groomers used that email chain to tell me that my dog's eye injury was not caused by them, but that it was his allergies and that 'he did this to himself'.
What bothered me THE MOST was that they didn't want to take responsibility for injuring my dog.
Apparently, eye infections at the groomer are not that uncommon and I really would have appreciated something like 'hi, we're so sorry about your dog, we love him and all dogs, and we got soap in his eye, accidents happen, but we're so sorry!', and I would have really respected this and actually understood it.
But the fact that they were on the defensive immediately REALLY bothered me and made me question their honesty.
A week later, I found a scab from a cut on my other dog.
In conclusion, I will NEVER ever EVER go back to this place and will tell any and every dog and pet owner to never step foot in this groomer or store. If you love your fur baby, don't go here.
I love my dogs more than anything and when I go to a pet groomer, I want them to be 'dog people'. Accidents can happen. Dogs move, you can't predict them, but be honest about it and don't blame it on the fact that months ago he had allergies or blame it on him for doing this to himself. They're there with them and are responsible for their safety.
My dog had to have an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory eye ointment for a week and wear a cone.
I'm incredibly disappointed in this store and am so grateful my dogs aren't more hurt or blind after this terrible experience.
