Thank you for your review of KSM Pet Care on Yelp! While I welcome reviews that are less than five stars as they can be useful in helping me improve my business, your review really concerns me.
Based on the details of your review, your bad experience must have taken place several months ago, in the fall. At that time, I was using an outside dog walker on an as-needed basis. Most of my clients were aware of this, as the occasional absence of notes led them to inquire as to what had changed. This is because a close family member of mine had suddenly fallen very ill, and I had become their primary caretaker and emergency contact. This meant responding to emergency calls, taking them to and from the hospital as well as house/pet-sitting for them while they were there. I often had little to no notice for this, which is why I enlisted the extra help on some days.
It was eventually brought to my attention that my hired dog walker was not performing up to par. Some people reported that the dog walker had been missing days, as in your case, as well as other issues. Other clients though, reported a great experience so he was clearly missing some walks but not others. Therefore, I had no way to know when he was actually filling in properly and not.
When I realized that I could not continue to use this substitute dog walker, I promptly refunded all of the payments that my clients had made that covered days in which I was not the walker. I had no way of knowing when the walks were completely properly or not, so I refunded each and every walk that I did not personally give and could account for. I still held myself personally accountable for the problem. From there, I contacted all of my clients and informed them of the situation, explaining that I would not consistently have anyone to cover their walks for the time being as I may be called away occasionally and that I was not comfortable hiring another outside dog walker. I took the remaining time off entirely to finish my caregiving duties until she passed, and arranged (and paid for the first week of) dog walking for all of my clients with another company. When I was able to perform all of my walks again, each and every client of mine that had used the other company returned to my services.
Because of your review, it is apparent that you were one of the few people who did not contact me with your concerns when you discontinued your service around that time. I am not sure why this is, but I wish you had so that I could have refunded your payment and arranged for an alternate solution as I did for most everyone else! People start and stop their dog walking/pet sitting services all the time, so I had no way of knowing who was canceling due to these issues and who was canceling due to other, personal reasons.
It is unlikely that I would be able to refund you this far in the future, as I may or may not still have your payment/walk records. However, it is possible and I would be glad to look into it if you could provide me with more details (who your dog is, exactly when the missed walks occurred, etc.). If a refund is not possible at this time, I would be willing to discuss other options with you as a way to compensate you for your bad experience.
While no business can satisfy 100% of their clients/customers 100% of the time, this experience of yours really troubles me because it could have been easily remedied when it occurred. Also, a portion of my profits are regularly given as donations to support two Chicago-area animal shelters/adoption centers that I work and volunteer for (primarily, the foster care programs which I am active part of, especially now that it is kitten season!). One bad review can turn a client away that would have actually had a great experience and helped contribute to getting some dogs and cats temporarily out of their shelters! While I am not asking you to revise your review, I am asking you to consider allowing me to remedy the situation. Please let me know what I could do to improve your view of KSM Pet Care.
Also, please note that the reason an abundance of reviews were made on Yelp within a few days of each other is because I claimed my "Yelp for Business Owners" account on February 7, 2009 and sent out an e-mail to all of my clients notifying them that I was listed on Yelp and would be thrilled to have them list their experiences for all to see! Many of my clients (like myself) were unfamiliar with Yelp, so did not have prior reviews. I can assure you that they are all current or past clients that I use regularly for references as well, some of which have been with me for years!
Again, please consider letting me make up for your past experiences in one way or another. Due to this past problem, KSM Pet Care is now proud to be and intends to stay strictly a two-person owner-run business! It restricts us in size, but at least we are able to give quality care at all times.
\Feel free to contact me directly at: **********@yahoo.com.
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