to not want to pay for this

[BanKittenHeels]

Our dogs go to doggy daycare a few days a week (I can see you at the back rolling your eyes, Sharon) and it has always gone well. They are well looked after, clearly adore the staff and the price suits.
It’s a fairly big operation now (but started from home and we’ve used them since about 6 months after they opened) and the woman who runs it has gone off on mat leave, leaving a family member in charge, including billing.

Usually our dogs are picked up at 9am and dropped home at 4:30 - so when we are all out of the house. If the dogs are wet they are usually lightly dried off (but generally just seems to be drying their paws) and their coats etc. are hung up.

We have had the first monthly bill since the switch in staff and it is sky high compared to normal. I checked their social media and their prices per day have gone up £1 a day per dog which I knew in advance and was fine with but we now have an extra £22 A WEEK on top of the additional £1 per day - which isn’t mentioned anywhere.

When queried, it turns out we are now paying for the privilege of them running a towel over dog paws. I said I didn’t want to pay this and was told “it’s not our fault your dogs go in mud!” err well it kind of is.

The woman now in charge is threatening to “withdraw service” from us, despite us using them for 7 years and giving them thousands of pounds worth of business.
She is now slating us on social media for being “tight” and “uncaring owners”.

AIBU not to want to pay this charge or have I completely missed the mark and this is something I should be paying for?

Either pay it, let them leave the dogs muddy or move someplace else.

How much are other people a day? (I think it's relevant if they're not expensive in comparison)

I pay £29 a day.

Surely if the dogs are being walked in autumn weather they are going to go into mud and therefore need rubbing down with a towel and they are trying to charge you for this privilege. That's utter madness given that they then wont allow you the option of not rubbing them down.

Can you contact the lady who is on mat leave surely she would want to know what is happening to her business in her absence?

I certainly wouldn't be paying it and the social media comments are pretty shit for a so called professional business.

If you find it too expensive then go elsewhere

I’m not absolutely sure what else you can be told from this thread! Unless you want to ask what other owners pay for doggy day care?

Hugely unprofessional for them to be referring to you like that on SM.

I’d say a charge is fair but £22/week ridiculous. Maybe £5 so another £1 a day, what must it take, 69 seconds at drop off to dry the dog?

Does the mat leave actual owner know about all of this, she could quite possibly come back to a business on its arse as those she’s left in charge have massively taken the piss overcharging and slagging customers.

Why are they 'slating' you on social media?

Did you complain about them on there?

Contact the owner who is on maternity & ask her to sort it out.

Meantime, if you don't like what the new managers are saying on SM, refute it, exactly as you have in your OP, & stating that you were loyal clients of 7 years standing with an excellent relationship with owner.

They wont be the only doggy day care people around. Find another, & lose these creeps.

Can you contact the person on mat leave, if you've been using them for years are you friendly outside of the business relationship. They might not be happy to get back to work and find they've lost their customers

Depends how much you pay! I pay £30 a day plus £5 a day to drop off and collect

She is now slating us on social media for being “tight” and “uncaring owners”.

That is highly unprofessional.

I'd find somewhere else if, after 7 years of using them, they're happy to publicly slate you.

I didn’t complain about them on social media, I called and asked directly what the extra £22 a week was for and when they told me I said I thought it was unnecessary and that I won’t be paying it.

DH follows the doggy daycare on Facebook purely so we can see photos of the dogs when we are away or if the DC want to see them. I don’t feel it would be productive to start a slanging match on Facebook.

I suppose what I wanted from the thread was to know if it was a reasonable charge that others have had added. We usually pay £34 (now £36) a day for two dogs including pick up and drop off in a big city and that includes agility class. Which is about right for where we live.

They certainly shouldn't have suddenly started charging you for a service which isn't stated as chargeable anywhere.

Why are they slating you on social media? Have you commented about it there and they are responding (unprofessionally)?

£22 per week extra sounds expensive for that. How wet do the dogs get when wearing their coats?

£22 per week extra sounds expensive for that. How wet do the dogs get when wearing their coats?
Not that wet at all tbh, they just need their paws wiping off, they don’t need throughly drying because once left in the utility they just jump around drying themselves off ( usually against the curtains ). They weigh 4kg each and are no longer than 30cm, there isn’t £22 of drying in them in a lifetime.

YANBU. I wouldn't pay them and I'd contact the woman who's business this is and move your dogs.

If they’ve put their prices up they should have included the “drying off” cost in that increase. All the dogs are going to get wet. It’s par for the course in a dog walking business. Not sure I see where £22 is coming from though. It can’t cost that. I’d want to see a break down of the costs involved in drying off the dogs.

So neither you or your DH has posted on their page and amongst the usual SM updates like pictures of the dogs out for a walk they’ve posted a random update about you and called you tight, uncaring owners??? That’s so unprofessional I’d be looking for somewhere else sharpish. However, if you feel like you can I would first contact the owner who is on maternity to see if they can step in (and also to make her aware that her family member is trashing her business).

They can put their prices up anytime they like though and it’s up to you whether you want to continue using the service at the new rate but they absolutely should have given you notice. I’d be perusing a refund of the additional charges you didn’t agree to.

I wouldnt pay the extra charge. Skating you on sm is very unprofessional. I would actually find someone else.

Charging you extra for a service that used to be included required some advance notice.

Also slagging you off on social media is highly unprofessional.

Email the owner, express your concerns. If you dont get a satisfacrory response, move.

I'd be removing my dogs purely on the basis of you getting slated on Social bloomin Media, that is appalling.

Deffo contact the owner on maternity leave, let her know what's happening. Last thing she needs is to come back to a business that's going down the tubes due to money grabbing substitutes

£18 per dog for pick-up, 7.5 hours of care, including an agility class, and then drop-off sounds incredibly cheap to me.

But £22 a week to dry paws sounds pretty ridiculous... what does it work out per dog, per day?

Sounds ... odd. Especially the social media stuff.

What a cheek, should be part of the dog day care. Find someone else.

They certainly shouldn't have suddenly started charging you for a service which isn't stated as chargeable anywhere.

And to criticise you publicly on social media is disgusting! Very, very unprofessional.

I would write to the woman whose business it is, and tell her you are disappointed in the way things have gone and that you are sorry but you will have to take your custom elsewhere.

I know your dogs are happy there, but if things are changing the person they liked isn't available any more - and even if there are staff there they are familiar with, there's a chance the new management will pee them off too, and they'll leave.

Who knows - maybe the original woman has no idea about this new charge for a service that was once included in the daily cost. They could be creaming this money off for themselves.

In the meantime, tell them to leave your dogs wet.

Doggie day care isn't a necessity.
We used to pay £29 a day for ours and he hated it. Used to refuse to get out of the car when we arrived there.
My mum (farmer) made me see sense and told me that he thought his job was at home "guarding the house" and that I was totally wasting money.
So we tried leaving him on his own, I set up CCTV and he seems quite happy lolling around chewing his toys and occassionally seeing off a squirrel or the postman.

Your ddogs sound the same size as mine. No way would I spend £22 to dry her off. Although if that’s the going rate to dry off a dog Im in the wrong job! Yanbu