Grooming Fees: Is A Difficult Dog Fee Fair?

fees, Grooming - By Staff Writer on Monday, August 16, 2010 - 13:48

Consumers today posted a letter from a regular reader Justin about an unexpected fee at Petsmart. 

 My girlfriend and I just took our yorkshire terrier puppy to Petsmart in [redacted], NJ for his first grooming. We had tried to get him groomed at a local groomer one time before but he was too skittish around the hair clippers, and the groomer didn't want to scare him away from grooming for the rest of his adorable life, so she didn't groom him. When we brought him into Petsmart, my girlfriend gave a heads-up to the groomer folks that he may be difficult and is a little scared of hair clippers, and the groomer said that was fine and that they'd work with him. They mentioned that if he was too uncomfortable, they'd do some of the job today and finish the rest tomorrow.

. . . .

Petsmart finished the job and tacked on a $6 difficult dog fee.   Yes dogs can be difficult and many do not like to be groomed so it is not unreasonable to ask for compensation for longer grooming times, but is it reasonable to charge fees without letting owners know up front?  Since Justin notified them that the dog was difficult should they have surprised him with a charge?

We think no!

Full Article [TheConsumerist]