Bark! Pet Resort

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• Jacob
  Jun 9, 2024
  Horrible experience, five staples required after visit

  I just picked my dog up from Bark Pet Resort after a six day boarding. He came back to me with a quarter sized wound that smelt like it was infected, his weight is also down 5 Ibs. A trip to the vet and five staples later, my $312.00 boarding just became close to $1000.00.
  It is safe to say that I will not be returning, I would encourage others to be wary of this company.
  Here is my full complaint:
  On 6/6/2024, I picked my dog up from Bark Pet Resort. After returning home, I noticed a smell and a patch of fur that looked like it was matted. I looked closer at the area and saw a wound (about the size of a quarter). Upon seeing this injury I contacted Bark Pet Resort to request an investigation into what may have caused this injury. The response I received from the representative was, "I am at the front desk all day but I can ask around". No apology, no concern, no asking how my dog was doing, absolute silence. By the end of the day, I had received no follow up, no one reached out to check in, again, just silence.
  I understand things can happen, dogs can play rough, they can run into things, etc... that is not what I am upset with. I am frustrated with the fact that this went unnoticed, unreported, and had I not picked him up on the 6th who knows how long it would have taken Bark Pet Resort to have noticed this injury. By the time I picked my dog up, the wound had already began to smell. I am unsure of the exact timing when this incident could have occurred (Bark Pet Resort has yet to follow up), but best case scenario he had this wound for 13 hours (from the end of play at 6:00 PM on 6/5/24 - to pick up on 6/6/24). Worst case, it happened earlier in the stay and had been festering for multiple days.
  Again I understand that things can happen, but I also entrusted this company to protect my dog and they failed to do so. At a price of $52.00 a night, I would expect Bark Pet Resort to evaluate the dogs under their care at least once daily for wounds or abnormalities. This lack of attention to detail speaks to this company's professionalism and ability to keep animals under their care safe.
  I am also disappointed in the follow up. To not reach out at the end of the day, to not show any concern to a dog that was their responsibility to protect, to not even say that they were still investigating the matter, shows a lack of professionalism on Bark Pet Resort.

  Update:

  I feel the need to follow up after receiving a call from the manager of this boarding facility. This call starts by:
  1. The representative claiming that they did "try contacting me a couple of times". This is a factually inaccurate claim, I will give the benefit of the doubt and say that they misdialed or misunderstood my call back number, but they never contacted me after I called them in the morning, the only call back was after I started posting reviews (I decided to include my call logs to support this).
  2. The representative then said, "I am most concerned about what the vet said it was". This was in reference to the wound that I found when picking my puppy up. I informed the representative that the vet ruled out a bite, but did indicate that, in her professional opinion, the wound was open for a few days based on the scabbing.
  3. Then the representative tried to blame their failure to recognize the wound on the fact that "he wasn't acting differently" and "he is kinda matted". I immediately responded saying that "he is not matted in that area", to which the representative stated "I know his face is". This victim blaming, gaslighting is unacceptable and unprofessional. Attributing their failure to recognize an injury to my dog's back left side on matted fur around the face, shows a lack of research on the representative and victim blaming.
  4. The representative then tried to attack my point on the wound smelling by claiming that "when you have that many dogs the facility just smells like dog".
  5. The representative then asked if my dog ever had an abscess in that location (I believe in an attempt to frame a new narrative on why the injury went unnoticed), to which I responded no.
  6. The representative then asked why the vet stapled the wound.
  7. The representative then asked if I was "positive nothing happened prior to him coming in here". To which I again said no.
  8. The representative then seemed very focused on the how it could have happened. In response to this, I stated that I was less concerned in the how (I understand things happen), I was more concerned as to why it went unnoticed.
  9. I then presented a hypothetical. In this hypothetical, I told the representative "let's say that he was brought in with the wound, why or how did it go unnoticed". I expressed my concern that with a little bit of individual care this wound should have been noticed.
  10. The representative then responded with "I understand and you are entitled to your review".
  11. The representative then responded to and tried to victim blame my claim of him losing 5 pounds as "some dogs do not eat when they are away from home". Which is completely possible, I only included that part as a holistic review of the difference between drop off and pick up.
  Not once during the 9 minute call did the representative ask how my dog was doing.
  Not once did she express any level of concern to the wellbeing of my dog.
  Yet, the representative had the time to throw in the statement about being entitled to my review and opinion (showing where Bark Pet Resort's real concern is).
  Yet, the representative had the time to attempt to deflect/victim blame/gaslight 4 times, points 3, 4, 5, 7.
  Yet, the representative had the time to ask why certain medical procedures were performed.
  This call was an abysmal attempt at customer service and a transparent tactic to gain information, I would assume to, refute and cover up my original complaint.

• Terri
  Jul 19, 2022
  Didn't End So Well

  My dog stayed at Bark Pet Resort for a weekend trip and then later for two consecutive weeks, for a total stay of twenty days. We purchased our days as two 10-day packages.

  Initially, Bark Pet Resort seemed to provide everything we needed, so here are the pros and cons for the first 18 days of our stay:

  Pros:
  My dog could play during the day instead of being confined to a kennel. Cameras were available to view my dog in the indoor common areas. I was able to check my dog out on multiple occasions to spend time with her. Facebook posts provide occasional updates for BPR, and one time, I was able to see my dog online, which I found exciting and enjoyable. My dog seemed content to go back to the kennel and did not show any signs of anxiety or fear.

  Cons:
  My dog was rarely in the common areas indoors, and there is no camera in the outdoor play area for big dogs. The report card feature on the BPR portal never included any updates or notes about my dog. The online portal seems to be used only for billing.

  That's my initial review of BPR, and if my dog's stay had ended at 18 days, I would probably give BPR five stars. Unfortunately, the end of our experience made me lose confidence in BPR, and I do not currently feel I could kennel my dog at BPR without going to check on her every day.

  Here are the facts, and you can draw your own conclusions:

  When I picked my dog up mid-morning on Saturday, I was asked if anyone had called us (which they hadn't) and then was informed that my dog had started coughing two days prior and that she may have kennel cough. No other information was given. We were on vacation, already checked out of our rental, and limited on options since it was Saturday, so we loaded up and headed home.

  It was soon obvious that my dog had more than a cough, and I began looking at options for emergency veterinary care. When I finally got my dog into an Urgent Care vet, she was diagnosed with severe pneumonia in both lungs and immediately transferred to ICU at a veterinarian hospital.

  After spending four days in ICU with oxygen tubes stitched into her nose and IVs pushing fluids with antibiotics, my dog was able to transition to oral medications.

  When she came home, it was with multiple medications, severe activity restrictions, and 3AM medication administration, along with directions to routinely time her respiratory rate and take her to the emergency room at any change, as respiratory distress would still be life threatening.

  Thankfully, our sweet, beautiful girl has pulled through the trauma and stress, which our vet suggests might have been avoided had we been contacted when she first began coughing.

We haven‘t received any photos of Bark! Pet Resort yet.

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