Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  10/28/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We asked for our two dogs to be boarded together and outside and we booked with the owner, ***** himself. He ignored our requests and when we called within 24 hours of dropping our dogs off to make sure they were ok, he lied to us and said they were fine and in their kennel together outside when in fact they were separated and inside and extremely nervous and apparently had to be chased down to be brought inside. We were charged more than we had arranged and both of our dogs have had diarrhea for a week straight since leaving their care. We also were given back our dogs blankets covered in poop. We require full reimbursement and an apology. We should charge for our vet bills for our sick dogs, but would be fine with reimbursement for their stay at KEP Doggie Dude Ranch in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

  Business response

  11/20/2024

  We are a privately-owned business, and we have never had a complaint in our 20 years.  I told her how to register her dogs to stay with us. She finally got us the shot records the day before.  She did not come with her husband when the dogs were dropped off.  She has a husky and a cattle dog.  Both are dogs that get really nervous in unfamiliar situations.  She did ask for the dogs to be kept outside.  We have a contract that she signed and we told her, we will follow your requests unless we feel it will be better for the dogs to deviate from them.  In this case, we did have a hard time getting the dogs inside the first time.  We were concerned that they would jump the fence and run if they were left outside.  Therefore, it was better to bring the dogs inside and let them be outside when they can be monitored.  They were put side by side, so they were near each other.  The dogs became less nervous and more comfortable with their stay.  When they called to check on the dogs, they were doing fine.  We even sent pictures of the dogs enjoying their stay.

  When they came to pick up the dogs, my wife and I were out of town on family business.  My employees stated the blankets were clean, and there was no poop on them.  We have a discount of 10% on the second dog when they are kept together.  We intended to keep them together, but it was safer for them to be inside next to each other.  They were charged full price for both dogs.  That was a mistake.  They were supposed to get the reduced rate for the second dog.

  She called to complain once they were home, and she wanted to speak to me.  My employees told her I was out of town, and they would give me the message to call her when I get back.  She would not agree to this and called two more times.  She was rude and threatening to my employees.  They reached out to me, and I had to return a phone call to her while I was out of town on family business.

  I gave her more than the 10% discount.  I told her to have her husband come by on his way home from work, and I gave her $30 back.  She threatened me, because she wants more money.  She signed the contract that states we will do what we need to do to make the dogs comfortable.  We took good care of her dogs while they were with us, and we made sure they were comfortable and safe. 

  Customer response

  11/21/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: what they are saying simply is untrue. 
  1st lie: “we have never had a complaint in our 20 years” …you can go online and read their public Google reviews to find that this is not true. They’ve had several outbreaks of kennel cough and very upset customers in the past for other various reasons. 
  
  2nd lie: “she finally got us the shot records the day before” …I have email documentation of me sending both of my dogs vet records on October 7. Their stay was from October 15-20. 
  

  3rd lie: “she did not come with her husband when the dogs were dropped off”…I was there. Have him send you camera footage. You can track my phone and ask my husband as well. I even spoke with the owner myself and told him specifically, “Both of our dogs are shelter dogs and the only reason we feel comfortable booking them here is because you have an outside kennel option. Please be sure to keep them together in a kennel outside.” 
  

  4th lie: “when they called to check on their dogs, they were doing fine. We even sent pictures of the dogs enjoying their stay” …When we called less than 24 hrs after dropping them off, were told that they were doing fine and in the same kennel together. We only received pictures of them outside of the kennel area, so we could not tell that they were in fact, separated and very anxious. 
  

  5th lie: “my employees stated that the blankets were clean and there was no poop on them” … my husband and I spoke directly to an employee upon picking up our dogs, and she actually offered to us to wash the blanket and have us come back and get it later, but we were very upset and wanted to just leave.

  As you can see, there are a lot of lies going on here. We were lied to the entire time as well. Therefore, we want to be refunded because we did not get the services we paid for and on top of it we were yelled at on the phone, and had to deal with our dogs having diarrhoea for two weeks. We believe it is only fair to be reimbursed and would like this to happen as soon as possible.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******** ****

  Business response

  12/10/2024

  There is nothing more I care to add from my previous response.  I stand by it.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩