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?

Exactly. Its paid now and sorted. I doubt they will keep dragging it up again in the future....

It’s a dog that missed a walk. It’s not a massive animal welfare concern. The dog is not harmed by not receiving a walk on a specific day.

my doctor and my dentist text me an appointment reminder,
the dog walking company could have text an appointment cancellation notice

I can see both sides of the issue although I think I would be mentioning the reason you missed the email was because usually whattsap messaging was their mode of communication. I think I would mention you were a bit disappointed with their quick reaction too as you had had the issue in May and not kicked off. Business or not it's a 2 way street in my opinion.

Who says they won't move on from it?

I've had a few clients forget to pay me over the years - I don't hold it against them forever they just get reminded of my T&C's, they pay and apologise, I accept, say "don't worry, it happens!" and we all move on like adults.

This made me laugh! I actually do 'check' my personal email in the evenings as I haven't time to react to every notification when I am in work, so I swipe them away. The vast majority are crap anyway 😂

If that's the terms of your contract you don't have a leg to stand on and tbh they have to treat everyone the same, if they are lenient with some, some take the piss and will end up owing more and more and the company may never get paid so can't keep increasing that debt. If your not happy, change walker, plenty out there.

It’s a business, not a charity.

Pay on time.

You won’t make the same mistake now will you do lesson learnt.

I mean OP didn't penalise them for their mistake but they penalised OP for hers.

Our dog walker would never do this in a million years, I think with a history of using them for a year and always paying the should have cut you some slack with this as your dog is the one who suffered here. I would find a different dog walker.

She hasn't been "penalised", ffs. It's just a natural consequence of her actions.

She forgot to pay so they didn't walk her dog.
Earlier in the year, they forgot to walk her dog so she didn't pay.

If OP wasn't happy with how they dealt with the previous incident, she should have stopped using them and found another walker.

Hufflepods · Yesterday 13:00

I think they should cut you some slack, an animals welfare is much more important than a late payment

Good luck running a business like that. Should they just walk dogs for free because of animal welfare then?. ...
Given the owner was a regular customer then YES the welfare of the animal should be a priority

They don’t actually have to treat everyone the same. Many businesses treat loyal reliable customers differently from new ones.

You could also argue that OP didn't prioritise her dogs' welfare by not paying her dog walker.

The company's policy is no payment = no walks. OP knows that as it's in the contract she signed. They also sent her a reminder e-mail and she still didn't pay.

For those saying it’s the terms of the contract, I work with multi-million pound contracts and there’s always a level of goodwill between parties. No one throws their toys out of the pram over a one off mistake that is rectified quickly. The t&c’s are there for when someone is taking the piss.

Also, the 1st was on a Friday and the op sorted out the issue first thing on Monday morning. Even if she had paid over the weekend there’s no guarantee the admin person would have seen that outside business hours, so the decision to not walk her dog seems to have been taken on Friday, so too hastily imo.

A business providing such a personal service needs to show a bit of flexibility. They can charge a late payment fee but at least give the customer the chance to rectify the issue before stopping service.

Because of their inflexibility and lack of
goodwill I’d be dropping them.

Based on the incident when they forgot to walk the dog, you seem to expect a more personal service that goes both ways, op. Try to find a self-employed dog walker who can provide that. The admin team who sent you the late payment notice and took your dog off the walker’s schedule probably don’t even remember the incident.

No one throws their toys out of the pram over a one off mistake that is rectified quickly.

But they haven't thrown their toys out of the pram they've just enforced the contract that OP agreed to when she signed up to their services.

YABU. I'd imagine this is spelt out in their T&Cs but even if it isn't, it's obvious they're not likely to carry out more work till you've paid. It's not their job to remind and prompt you. If you're not good at organising your money, I'd suggest you set up DD in future.
Pay up and apologise and hopefully they'll accept you as a customer again.

The company operates on a 'no pay no play' basis. That's their choice. I think it's understandable that if they check their bank and find payment hasn't been made for August dog walks they are not going to want to continue to provide a service for free, but maybe they could have sent a better reminder.
If you are not happy then you can find someone else to walk the dog.

Did they credit you for the day they missed due to BH? I’d argue you were owed today’s walk because they were in arrears.
whilst everyone here loves quoting the contract, a massive part of business is goodwill, relationships, loyalty, common sense (you’ve always paid on time) etc
if you do business solely by the contract and do not value customer relationships then you should expect to lose customers.
its the business model that makes Ryanair so successful and profitable. We all swear we won’t use them again until we see a £14.99 flight to the south of France… they should lose customers but they don’t because price matters.
if the dog walker is cheap then you’ll stick with them. If you know there are dog walkers out there charging the same for a more personalised service (where customer loyalty is valued and customer relationships are important) then you’ll switch.

it’s not a question of you being unreasonable but a question about whether the dog walker is unreasonable. Ryanair could be considered unreasonable when they shut the gate bang on time or refuse boarding but they do it as they know it doesn’t affect business.

Did they credit you for the day they missed due to BH? I’d argue you were owed today’s walk because they were in arrears.

OP pays in arrears and she wasn't charged for the missed walk.

Whilst it was late, she paid but the dog still wasn't walked. It sounds as if they also charge a late payment fee. You are correct that OP could find another dog walker after their mistake and I think that is what she should now do as it doesn’t seem fair that they are allowed to make mistakes but not vice versa.

Why are you not paying by standing order?

But nobody's saying she's not allowed to make mistakes

They haven't dropped her as a customer or been rude to her. They've just said that her account needs to be up to date before they'll walk her dog again. It's not personal - it's their policy - that's all.

The previous incident is irrelevant - it's done and she carried on using them for months afterwards, so it can't have been that big of a deal anyway.

Id guess that the amount changes each month depending on wakring days, bank holidays length of month so probably more hassle for the walker to keep track

Perhaps not the best choice of words on my part, but they have massively overreacted to what was a minor issue with a loyal customer who had always paid on time.

They've also agreed to walk her dog in that contract, which they did not do on one occasion simply because they forgot. If the op hadn’t shown them goodwill, they would not have been walking her dog anymore. So she should definitely fire them now as they’ve shown they’re all about the bottom
line without care for quality of service or customer relationships.