Bad experience with unreliable and suspicious facility

My wife and I scheduled a meet-and-greet with the owner by text. We drove 45 minutes to get to the "resort," but [owner] wasn't there. [Owner's husband] walked over from his shop to greet us. He new nothing of our appointment and seemed a bit confused and unfocused. He asked twice if we were there to drop off our dog, even after we told him we were there only to meet [owner] and see the premises. We asked [owner's husband] if we could see the part of the house where our dog would be kept, away from other boarded animals. He said we could not enter that part of the house because two other dogs were staying there. We then told [owner's husband] we'd be happy to look in through the window. [Owner's husband] declined again, saying cagily that he would have to "rearrange" some things. So, after driving 45 minutes with a confirmed appointment, we neither were able to meet the primary caregiver nor see the room where our dog would be staying. [Owner] texted us after we left to say she had forgotten the date.

In ordinary circumstances this would be disturbing. After all, we would be entrusting our pet -- and her feeding and medication schedule -- to someone who apparently cannot manage her own schedule. (We just saw another online review which reported the same thing.) And, [owner's husbands] unwillingness to let us look through a window into a room where two dogs supposedly were being boarded is highly suspicious. These circumstances were all the more troubling because before scheduling the visit I spoke to [owner] at length about a bad experience my wife and I had with another home-based boarding service. On that occasion, the primary caregiver at the boarding facility refused to meet us and refused our request to see the interior of the building. [Owner] agreed that our experience with this other facility was very troubling and not acceptable -- and then she and her husband put us through virtually the same thing!!

Apr. 05, 2023