Dog walker didn’t pick up my dog

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I’ve been using this dog walking company weekly for just over a year, they’ve been great and my dog loves going.

I’ve had no problems except in May, because of the bank holiday the dog walk was cancelled for the Monday so it was agreed to walk on Thursday instead but then my dog wasn’t picked up. I text the company owner, she apologised profusely and said it was a mix up and wouldn’t happen again. It wasn’t the end of the world and I just said no worries, these things happen but I did have to leave work an hour earlier as my dog had been at home without a toilet break.

Anyway, today he was due to be walked as I’m at work. August has completely run away from me and I got into work, logged on and realised it was the 4th already! I was due to pay the dog walker on the 1st so straight away paid her and text to say really sorry (I’ve paid on time every time before this). I didn’t get a response, his usually pick up time came and went but I left it for a bit, after an hour I messaged again to ask if the walker would be coming soon, she replied with
“In keeping with our policy, a reminder will be sent on the day a payment is due. If payment is not received, a late payment charge of 2.5% will apply for each subsequent day of delayed payment. We then consider the contract to be paused until payment is received and will not honour any services scheduled during this time. We apologise for the inconvenience and hope you understand that prompt payments are vital to the success of our business”

I understand I was late paying and therefore owe the charges, but to not tell me they would not be picking my dog up seems really unfair, this is the only time I have paid late and the reminder they sent was via email (which I didn’t think to check) when all other communication with them has been over text. Im confused because they have been so great in the past. I didn’t make a fuss when they forgot my dog in May, but now it’s such a hardline approach to my delayed payment. AIBU?

It sounds as if your ‘dog walker’ is actually a company that employs dog walkers.
I would pay up and never use them again.

I think it’s really average of them not to allow your dog out on the walk today when you’ve been a great customer for a long time.

Sorry OP, you can feel hard done by until the dogs cows come home but they lived up to their terms. They sent you a reminder, you didn’t pay on time, you didn’t pay the late fee.

The issue when they forgot is neither here nor there. They apologized, didn’t charge you for the missed walk, and you clearly were ok with the resolution to continue to pay for their services.

Does it suck for you and your dog…yes. But just accept what happened and that you made a mistake and either move on or find a new dog walker.

Im sorry but I don’t think it’s unreasonable that I missed the reminder sent on the 1st considering it was sent via email, they have never before communicated by email with me, it’s always been text.

But the texts were probably from your personal walker whereas the email is from head office as they're the ones who deal with payment.

By all means suggest they text you in future if you think that would help.

@Songbird74 It’s not that hard to pick up the phone / text you sooner to let you know about a late payment.

They emailed OP on the first day. Why should they chase again?

your poor dog is the priority here.
The dog is OP’s priority! Not a businesses.

@Hufflepods if the company usual respond via text / phone calls, then why on earth negate those forms of proven effective communication and send an email?! I think people rely too much nowadays on technology (texts / emails) when a simple phone call would’ve resolved the issue for both parties; “hello Mrs S, I can see we haven’t received payment, can I check that you can pay as we are unable to book in your next session until the balance is paid”. Difficult, yes??

@Songbird74 Because email is a formal and trackable form of contact for something important like payments and the terms of a contractual agreement. Plenty of people would claim “I didn’t get that phone call” and the business would have no recourse to prove otherwise.

It’s also not difficult to just check your email
or enable push notifications so your point about difficulty is pretty pointless.

I only communicate directly with the owner and her sister who do the admin, they let me know any changes to schedule, sometimes send pictures etc. I do not have any communication with the actual walkers unless I see them at pick up/drop off. So the two people that always text, are the same two people that would have sent the one email

Right… how many people would answer the phone. It would seem that every 2nd person these days has phone anxiety.

It would also seem that the company found the perfect way to get the OP’s attention. She noticed right quick when they suspended service.

Hi, I do dog walking and boarding.

While I think their approach does seem quite heavy handed, and I couldn't go that far myself, I know from my own experience that it's astonishing how many people don't pay on time or need to be reminded.

If it's a particularly small business you may be one of many who regularly have to be chased and while you are normally prompt it doesn't really matter when you have bills to pay (or, also like me, are just sick of chasing money.)

Hence, they have adopted a heavy handed way of making people not forget to pay (yet) again, and apply it to everyone, even those who are normally not an issue.

My pet sitter is an absolute gem and we’re lucky to have her. I’ve had the opposite problem in that she seems a little too relaxed about payment. We use for a couple of times year and I’m typically chasing her for a invoice before we leave. (In my mind she’s not locked in until we’ve paid even though she typically invoices after for returning customers ). She laughs at us and told us we were fine and that she has customers she has to chase down.

My thought is there are a lot of bills that I’m not going sweat if I am late but the person taking care of my pets is not one of them!

@saltinesandcoffeecups you sound great! I have a few that almost always forget and I hate chasing money (it always seems to be difficult dogs too), it makes you feel quite unappreciated.

Are all those terms actually in their contract? Have you checked?

OP, you accepted their terms when you took them on as a dog Walker and they have stuck to them. Email is an auditable and easy form of contact, it isn't their fault you didn't check it. How many times do people miss calls and messages, or lose phones? Much more reliable to email when it's about payment rather than just day to day arrangements. You still hadn't, at the time of posting, paid your late fees, so I'm not sure what you expect them to do? They're a business. You're responsible for your dog's welfare, it isn't for them to pick up the slack. A mistake months ago whi h was rectified isn't basis for them relaxing their policy.

Can you also afford to piss off your customers? Would you behave like this when you knew you had already cocked up with this customer and they'd been OK about it?

It's not comparable to payment of a salary, because if you run a business you have to think about customer relations. If your business model is such that late payments literally mean the difference between you eating and not eating, then it's a poor business model. Because it will only take you annoying one customer enough for them to bugger off to tip your business over into failure.

Absolutely this!

I've been running my dog walking business for 10 years and found that what works best for me is a little flexibility. I prefer to build a good working relationship with my clients rather than be anal about sticking to T&Cs. My policies are there to be implemented at my discretion.

I think every one of my clients has been late paying at least once but being a couple of days late isn't the same as not paying at all and I just think that we're all human, we all forget stuff sometimes, life happens and I'm not going to just not walk their dog because of it. None of my clients are piss takers (I've only ever had two of those and they were given notice) so they get afforded some leeway. I think they all appreciate the way I run things because I'm regularly baked cakes 😄

OP if you've been using this business for a year then they should have a fairly good idea of whether you're a good client and I think they've been a little over zealous implementing their policies, especially as they cocked up once before. I'd suggest looking for another walker. Try and find one by asking for recommendations on a local Facebook page or from other owners. Try to find one like me 😁

Would you think that with someone who had always been 100% reliable for a year?

Or would you think that maybe it was highly unlikely that they were taking the piss, given that history, it was likely to be a genuine mistake, and one that could be sorted out with a quick phone call?

Customers who are 100% reliable payers are not so common that you really want to annoy them into going off and finding someone else to do their dog walking.

It's not comparable to payment of a salary, because if you run a business you have to think about customer relations

It would appear they have to worry about paying the salaries of their employees. Who knows maybe their model is to be tough with first time late payers so it doesn’t become habitual 🤷‍♀️

OP if it's a big company, or not a 1man band type thing, as them for a Direct Debit to he set up. Then they will collect the months walks costs at the end of every month and you won't have this issue.

I think they should have sent you a text on 2nd September to say that you hadn't paid and did you still want the dog walking on 4th - in which case, could you please pay promptly.

I am all for prompt payment, but this is over the top. Anyone can forget once and a reminder is all it takes. If it carries on happening, then you can take a view.

It's odd how we expect individuals to pay everything immediately yet large companies go for months without paying their suppliers.

Edited - I see they did send you a reminder but by email. Do you not check your emails? I check mine several times a day!

@ZadocPDederick youre absolutely right, customer relations are very important and to treat paying customers like this is appalling. Ive never seen any business behave this way before.
I suspect the ones saying the OP is being unreasonable have no experience of what its like to actually make this sort of call

If the business doesn't value your custom OP take it elsewhere, they must be swimming in it

Anyone can forget once and a reminder is all it takes

They messaged her 1st of the month to say payment was due.

If I'm being honest, yes, I can afford to lose a customer who only uses me once a week. I've been fully booked for months now and have a long waiting list for customers who would be more than happy to take up a space.

I was exaggerating with my comment about eating, but the point is the same - if someone works for you, bloody well pay them on time. It's really disrespectful to make them chase you for money.

It's a bit of a silly model if it doesn't take into account that it could be a good idea to cut habitual prompt payers a bit of slack. People do occasionally forget, and things happen in their lives. Suppose they forget due to illness or a bereavement? It's not a good look demanding hefty interest payments in those circumstances.

To be honest, if it were me, this sort of behaviour wouldn't make think "Goodness, I must make sure I never pay late again". It would make me start looking for different dog walkers.

If you lose all your custom, you will definitely have cause to worry about whether you can pay salaries.

Well, you'd be wrong.

I'm a self-employed dog walker and my policy is very similar to this - basically if you don't pay me, I won't walk your dog. Payment is due on Friday (in arrears) and I will send one reminder. If I haven't received payment by Sunday night, I send a message saying that walks are now suspended until payment is made in full. I've only ever had to do that once.

If it did happen again, that customer would get a message telling them that they now need to pay upfront for all their walks if they want to remain on my books. I've never gone to that stage but if a customer chose to drop me over it, it wouldn't really bother me - especially if they only used me for one walk a week.

I've been fully booked for months now and have a ridiculously long waiting list in operation - the last time I lost a dog (due to the owners relocating) I filled their spot in less than half an hour.