Unfortunate Petsmart Grooming Encounter

[wx511]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this community so I hope I am posting in the right forum.

So, not too long ago I decided to take my toy poodle for grooming at one of the petsmart locations. They did not introduce me to my groomer and they just took in my dog and told me they will give me a call when they're done.

About two hours later, I received a call and they told me that my dog was injured during the haircut session. On the phone, they told me that it was a small cut and nothing serious. The vet will take a look and disinfect the area. That, they will give me a call later.

I waited another hour or two and I decided to go back to the store to check out what is going on. When I arrived at the store, the other groomers asked me if I was the owner and that I should have headed to the emergency vet hospital, which I was never informed of on the telephone.. The other groomers said that the cut had to be glued..which, again, I was not informed of on the phone.

When I arrived at the hospital, the petsmart grooming department's manager stopped me at the entrance and had a chat with me. She said that the cut was nothing serious and that my dog may need some stitches! At this point, I thought, wow.. oh the phone I was never informed of going to the hospital immediately. Neither was I informed that my dog would need stitches! Even the other groomers said, the cut only has to be glued.. I was really upset and I asked the petsmart manager how many stitches and she said two maximum.

I waited at the hospital for around THREE hours until I had a chance to speak with the doctor. And, my other two dogs are at home (my house is far, takes about 45 minutes to drive back). It's late at night and my other dogs are waiting at home to go to the washroom and to eat dinner. BUT, they kept telling me that just another half an hour or so. And I ended up waiting about at least three hours.

When I finally spoke with the doctor, the doctor said that cut is V shaped and is located on the palm of the back leg. When I asked her how many stitches were needed, she said perhaps a FEW MORE.

Anyway, in the end, I took my dog home with me. Petsmart says they will only pay for the medical charges. And, I have to take my dog to have the bandage changed every 2-3 days, and stitches off in one month.

Now that the stitches are off, I took my dog to another grooming salon. The groomer told me that BOTH of my dog's ears are INFECTED. Most likely due to last time's grooming (water got in and was not cleaned properly). The groomer told me it was SERIOUS and that I should go to a vet IMMEDIATELY.

Well, it's been about 3 weeks+ after that unfortunate Petsmart's grooming experience.. I haven't went in to petsmart for the medical fee expenses yet.

I just want to know if anyone else have had a similar experience? What actions did you take? Or any suggestions or advice greatly appreciated. I am just thinking that, is Petsmart supposed to be responsible for MORE than just the medical costs.

Also, my dog's infected ears.. Petsmart definitely should be responsible for this too. But from speaking with Petsmart's higher up manager. I really don't know if they are going to ignore me and just shoo me off.

Please help me out and tell me what I should do.

Thanks everyone!

PS my dog's ears have never been infected before. She's 3 years old now and I take her for grooming regularly.

[wx511]

Advice needed
Thanks everyone

[Reg]

Hi wx511

Welcome to the forum.

If it was me, I would be getting in touch with the insurance company that has your dwelling contents and tell them your problem. I think maybe you might be able to classify your dog as "contents", but I don't know.
Insurance companies will work for you with other companies and they are more knowledgeable in dealing with these type of situations.
PetSmart should have insurance to cover accidents caused by their employees and it sounds to me as if the manager is going to cover the problem without notifying the company. So I'd be trying to circumvent the store manager by using your insurance company.
At least get them to give you information on how to handle the situation.

[hazelrunpack]

You might also want to contact Petsmart's corporate headquarters--not the manager of that particular location. They may still come through with the money for the vet visits--have you shown them the bills, yet? They'll need copies before they can reimburse you.

[Barkingdog]

If you haven't paid for the vets and grooming bills yet , you shouldn't ! You should look on line and see what kind legal advice there is for dog getting hurt while being groomed . Did you have to sign any papers before having your dog groomed? If it was me I would bring the dog to his own vet to have his ears taken care of . Your poor dog , he might not like being groomed anymore. I had Standard Poodle that got cut and the groomer didn't tell me . I couldn't see the cut right away but my dog kept licking his side. The vet used 3 staples to close the cut up . My dog hated going to the groomer after this happen. Maybe you could learn how to groom your dog instead.