Ideapad

Dear Biscuits and Bath:

"I didn't make her cry. She chose to cry."

This is what I was told by the manager of the 13th Street Biscuits and Bath when I asked him why my wife had just left your store in tears. She had asked him why Biscuits and Bath called our vet for vaccine information without informing or asking us, then contacted us anxiously three times in a week leading up to our grooming last Saturday. The manager, John, was aggressively unapologetic, and suggested "this isn't the place for you" anymore.

This would be an uneventful customer service story if it weren't endemic to our experience with you. Having found a great dog groomer, we dealt with error after insult for more than three years, figuring a happy, handsome dog outweighed the nuisances. Among them:

• On at least three occasions, our appointment time was moved without our knowledge. More than once we found out we had a new time less than 24 hours before the appointment.
• Twice the staff failed to inform us in advance when our groomer's schedule changed, leaving us to arrive at the store for a nonexistent appointment.
• The groomer regularly got double- and triple-booked by the main office, leading to our dog being trapped for hours on end. Customer service once told me, "You're the only 9 a.m. tomorrow," only for me to be the second 9 a.m. appointment to arrive, moments ahead of a 9:15. Our poor groomer was often harried first thing in the morning.
• Despite repeated calls to the company, customer service representatives refused to escalate any complaints. Management is completely opaque--when I asked John the store manager for his boss's name, John flatly refused to tell me.

This culminated in Saturday's incident, where Amy, looking for answers, was instead told to take her business elsewhere, and my attempt at resolution was met with the quote at the top of this letter and a threat to call the police. I left your store wondering if other Biscuits and Bath customers have had similar problems, and sure enough, the posters at Yelp and Citysearch tell more of these tales. One saga on Yelp sounds almost exactly like ours.

I'm also wondering if other Biscuits and Bath patrons would frequent the store if they really saw what went on there. How the 13th Street location packs 30 or more large dogs into an 800-square-foot space in the name of exercise. How the smallest dogs sit alone and unstimulated in the front of the store, often lying in their own urine. How a dog died last year while supposedly under active monitoring. In a way, I'm glad we were asked not to return--I will miss our groomer, but I have momentum to take my business to a more reputable establishment.

Of course, there are two sides to every story. No doubt if you were to reply, you'd cite how we became upset at your staff's insistent phone calls, and how we often bristled at waiting three hours while our triple-booked groomer took care of our dog. And how I used foul language after John the manager sneered at the suggestion he did something wrong. All we wanted was a pleasant, hassle-free trip to the groomer every month. We rarely got it.

The unprofessionalism at Biscuits and Bath suggests a business that should be running into the ground. Somehow smart marketing positions it as a premier, high-quality dog care establishment. In the process, you seem to have forgotten about the service and operations that go into a well-run store.

I hope someone at Biscuits and Bath reads this letter and acts upon the many flaws in this business. But I'm not expecting much. Your true reputation precedes you.