Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  03/29/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I found a stray dog. Went to their website and entered in all my personal information. At NO time was there ANY mention of a fee until AFTER I had already entered all info. This is very poor business practice. They should be upfront about the fact that there is a fee before someone spends time and enters personal information in good faith. I would like BBB to tell them to be transparent that they are CHARGING FOR A SERVICE UP FRONT!

  Business response

  04/09/2023

  Hi ****,
  
  Thank you for sharing your feedback with us! We see where you were able to reach out to us via email. We have responded to your email to offer further assistance with using PawBoost. We would like to let you know that its free to add a pet to PawBoost, which includes posting to the lost pets ******** page for your area, emailing local members of our Rescue Squad, creating a printable missing flyer, and adding the pet to our lost & found. The Rescue Squad is a group of rescue owners, shelter employees, veterinarians, and volunteers. You do have the option to turn the post into an advertisement that is forced into peoples ******** feeds for a fee if you choose to do so. Unfortunately, all advertisements have a cost associated with them, but this is optional.
  
  PawBoost is an ***** alert service for lost pets. We exist to help people with lost pets raise local awareness for their situation so that they have a better chance at reuniting with their family member. As part of this service, we need to collect contact information for purposes of putting out the alert. What information we collect, how it is collected, and how it is used is all outlined in plain English in our privacy policy, which can be viewed here: **********************************************************
  Protecting our users' personal information is extremely important to us, and we actively take steps to help protect the sensitive information submitted.  
  
  Please reach out to us directly for further assistance with using PawBoost or to request your information to be removed, we are happy to help any way we can. You may reach out to us using the following email address *******************************

  Customer response

  04/10/2023

   
  Complaint: 19866250
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  When I was navigating the site;  there WAS NO FREE OPTION; either that; or it was obfuscated completely.  In order to progress, I had to enter in my credit card information.  Again; I would not have wasted my time, nor given out my personal information, if I knew I would be directed to a credit card information site.  If indeed, there is a free option; it needs to be spelled out up front, rather than going right to the credit card information page with no indication that a fee was involved beforehand.  I stand by my claim that it is a dishonest business practice.  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************

• Initial Complaint

  03/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I used paw boost alerts received a text message saying they found my cat the number wanted me to send a ****** verification code so they can send me a picture of my cat to prove that I was the owner within minutes after the text my cat showed up so I knew 100% scam youre trying to get into my ****** account

  Business response

  03/15/2023

  Hi there, So sorry to hear that you received scam texts while using PawBoost. PawBoost is not a scam and we are not attempting to scam you. PawBoost is an online platform providing a place for people to share information about Lost and Found pets to help reunite them with their families. People that are searching for their lost pets, or trying to reunite lost pets with their owners, are trying to spread the word to as many people as possible. Unfortunately, this may sometimes attract unscrupulous scammers looking to profit off their desperate situation. We're continuously battling these scams and are actively trying to notify our users via email about lost & found pet scams. Our email notification includes a link to our blog post that we keep up to date with active scams we are aware of: ******************************************** under "Recognize and Avoid the Lost Pet Scam". Adding a phone number to PawBoost is optional, and we have implemented measures that make it more difficult for potential scammers to view phone numbers on PawBoost.

  Please reach out to us for assistance if needed using the following email - ********************************* We are happy to help any way we can. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to assist you with using PawBoost. - Sincerely, The PawBoost Support Team

• Initial Complaint

  12/19/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Pawboost claims to be solely an entity wich exist to facilitate the reunion of an animal; such as a dog,cat,so on and so forth; with their human beings from with wich they have,unfortunately,been separated. However if the person who has taken possession of the displaced animal should choose to ignore the attempts of the animals loved one to contact them the loved one is left with no information on the whereabouts of the missing animal. As well as no actual contact information for the possessor of said animal. They will not release a phone number or name nor physical address of the poster/ possessor because of "legal reasons" wich essentially means they are afraid that someone will do something drastic when faced with a situation where the person who has taken possession of their animal friend, instead of helping them to return home to their family they chose to not help them they instead decide to keep the animal. Wich is not only incredibly selfish it is criminal... As well as if the information was released then that would sease to be an option because they would not be able to hide behind the platform that was to intended to help reunite them because if we knew their identity they wouldn't even try it so no one would be compelled to do anything unpleasant that has them worried about liability. In the first place. If you know who has the animal they can't just decide to hostage your pet because if you knew who it was you wouldn't let them. So you are actually creating the issue that you are trying to say you are concerned about by keeping the identity a secret

  Business response

  12/22/2022

  Hi *******, we are sorry to hear that ******* is missing. Unfortunately we have not received an email from <************************ We have reached out to ************************ to offer further assistance. To try and help, we have also reached out to the finder of pet ID# ******* on your behalf and provided the message you sent them. We encouraged the finder to reach out to you directly with more information. We are happy to assist you with contacting the finder, however we cannot force them to respond. Additionally, we do not know where the pet is, nor where the finder is.
  Please keep in mind that PawBoost acts as an intermediary company providing a place where people can connect and share information online. We do not have any direct contact with the pets, nor users, unless they reach out to us for assistance with their account. We do not have any information in reference to the pet, except what is displayed.
  PawBoost is an amber alert service for lost pets. We exist to help people with lost pets raise local awareness for their situation so that they have a better chance at reuniting with their family member. As part of this service, we need to collect contact information for purposes of putting out the alert. What information we collect, how it is collected, and how it is used is all outlined in plain English in our privacy policy, which can be viewed here: ****************. Protecting our users' personal information is extremely important to us, and we actively take steps to help protect the sensitive information submitted. We do require a valid email address to sign up, however we do not provide this information publicly. PawBoost creates an encrypted email address to display to the public. A phone number is not required to post, but if it is provided in the 'Phone Number' field upon sign up, it is placed on the pet landing page and not directly on the public ******** post in attempt to provide further protection. It is optional for a person to add their contact information to an account. In order to protect the privacy of our users, we cannot give out personal information without going through the proper legal channels. If you believe that someone has the wrongful custody of your pet, that is a matter for local law enforcement. Please contact local police for advice and assistance. The rules around pet ownership depend on your local property rights laws and ordinances. They will be able to advise you on the best course of action to take. If we hear something from the finder in the meantime, we will reach out and let you know!
  Please don't hesitate to send an email to support@pawboost.com for further inquiries. Thank you again for reaching out to us, PawBoost Support Team.

• Initial Complaint

  08/05/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased a subscription to Pawboost re my lost cat. I just receive spam and misspelled weird texts and now realize it was a scam. It is not actually posted. I just receive emails from Pawboost daily which ask me for more money.

  Business response

  08/05/2022

  Hi there, So sorry to hear that you received scam texts while using PawBoost, and that you are having trouble finding your free alert posts that were posted on July 27, 2022 & July 28, 2022. PawBoost is not a scam and we are not attempting to scam you. PawBoost is an online platform providing a place for people to share information about Lost and Found pets to help reunite them with their families. People that are searching for their lost pets, or trying to reunite lost pets with their owners, are trying to spread the word to as many people as possible. Unfortunately, this may sometimes attract unscrupulous scammers looking to profit off their desperate situation. We're continuously battling these scams and are actively trying to notify our users via email about lost & found pet scams. Our email notification includes a link to our blog post that we keep up to date with active scams we are aware of; ****************************** under "Recognize and Avoid the Lost Pet Scam". We have provided you a full refund for the advertisement subscription charge today Aug 5, 2022 as requested. We reached out to you directly today Aug 5, 2022 and provided links to your free alert posts listed on July 27, 2022 & July 28, 2022. It's free to add a pet to PawBoost, which includes posting to the local lost pets ******** page, emailing members of our Rescue Squad, creating a missing flyer and adding a pet to our lost & found. We can also help with re-sharing and bumping the alert to the top of the feed for free to help keep the alert current, for assistance with this please reach out to us directly. PawBoost users have the option to turn the post into an advertisement for a fee. Unfortunately, all advertisements have a cost associated with them, but this is completely optional. PawBoost FAQ's about our free and premium lost and found pet services, including how to cancel active paid advertisement subscriptions, can be found at the following website www.pawboost.com/blog/ under "PawBoost FAQs". Regarding the emails you received, you can unsubscribe from Marketing type emails in your PawBoost pet dashboard under 'Notification Preferences' please reach out to us for assistance with this if needed using the following email - s******************* We are happy to help any way we can. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to assist you with using PawBoost. - Sincerely, The PawBoost Support Team

• Initial Complaint

  07/09/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed up for paw boost and paid 69.99. As far as I know it was a one time charge but evidently it is renewing every week!! I tried to unsubscribe . They said to go to my account. Then click manage my subscription-which I did- Then they said to click "cancel my subscription" but there was NO such button to click. Scam I can't afford that much money every week. -outrageous. They tried to chargeme for one extra week but I didn't have enough funds left on that credit card. I'm sure they will be ready to pounce the minute I make a payment! I have to be able to stopp these renewals. I'll go broke!! They know There is no such button for me to click to cancel!

  Business response

  07/10/2022

  Hi there, Thank you for your feedback! So sorry to hear about this experience. We can confirm that you were able to cancel your subscription on July 8, 2022 and the campaign did not renew for the account associated with * ************************ *. Please see attached screen shot for what the 'Cancel Subscription' option looks like as an example. Currently, you will no longer see this 'Cancel Subscription' option in your PawBoost account because the subscription has already been cancelled. So sorry for any confusion, we will work on making this more clear for the future. We can confirm you were able to cancel the subscription on July 8, 2022 and your card will not be charged moving forward. Additionally, we have attached a copy of the cancellation notice that was sent to < ************************ * on July 8, 2022 according to our records. So sorry to hear you did not receive this cancellation confirmation notice that was sent. To try and help we have reached out to you directly today July 10, 2022 and provided an additional cancellation notice, the screen shot example of what the 'Cancel Subscription' option looks like, as well as links to where you can unsubscribe from PawBoost. We wanted to mention as well that it’s free to add a pet to PawBoost, which includes posting to the local lost pets ******** page, emailing members of our Rescue Squad, creating a missing flyer and adding a pet to our lost & found. We can also help with re-sharing and bumping the alert to the top of the feed for free to help keep the alert current, for assistance with this please reach out to us directly. PawBoost users have the option to turn the post into an advertisement for a fee. Unfortunately, all advertisements have a cost associated with them, but this is completely optional. PawBoost FAQ's about our free and premium lost and found pet services, including how to cancel active paid advertisement subscriptions, can be found at the following website www.pawboost.com/blog/ under "PawBoost FAQs". Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to assist you with using PawBoost. - Sincerely, The PawBoost Support Team

• Initial Complaint

  04/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This company is a complete scam. They use the information desperate pet owners provide in hopes of finding their missing animal and use it to scam people. I received messages claiming someone had my animal then demanding messages wanting me to provide a Google code. Cannot contact the company cannot log into the account. These people are disgusting. Upon further investigation they have been doing this for years.

  Business response

  04/27/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/04/19) */ Hi there, Thank you for reaching out to us about this. So sorry to hear that you received scam text messages. ): Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous people who try to take advantage of others in this difficult time. We're continuously battling these scams and are actively trying to notify our users via email about lost & found pet scams. Our email notification includes a link to our blog post that we keep up to date with active scams we are aware of; https://www.pawboost.com/blog/ under "Recognize and Avoid the Lost Pet Scam". PawBoost is not a scam. PawBoost is an online platform providing a place for people to share information about Lost and Found pets to help reunite them with their families. Adding a phone number to PawBoost is optional, and we have implemented measures that make it more difficult for potential scammers to view phone numbers on PawBoost. So sorry to hear you did not see our reply to your email on April 16, 2022, and that you have had a hard time getting in touch with us. For assistance with logging into your account or having your account removed please reach out to us using the email address associated with your PawBoost account. We were not able to locate an account with the email used here, but we are happy to help any way we can. For more information and assistance with using PawBoost please reach out to us using the following email: help@pawboost.com Sincerely, The PawBoost Support Team

• Initial Complaint

  04/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This company has been told multiple times to stop harassing me with sales emails. As soon as I posted a found pet the SALES emails started flooding in. I contacted the company multiple times told them to delete my account and to stop sending emails. There unsubscribe conveniently doesn't work. When I tried to log on to do it myself it says my account has been blocked. I would love to be blocked if that meant getting rid of them. But it doesn't. This money-grubbing company uses peoples emotions and email access to harass and guilt people into giving them money. It's despicable and I want them out of my life but they REFUSE TO LEAVE ME ALONE. They've had way more than enough time.

  Business response

  04/22/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/04/13) */ Dear Valued PawBoost User, Thank you for reaching out to us. We looked into this issue for your account associated with the email used for this complaint and found that there was a technical error that occurred when your account was removed. We sincerely apologize for this error that occurred. We have deleted the account as requested and manually added your email to our suppression list to prevent further emails from being sent to you. Additionally, we have taken steps to prevent this from happening again in the future. Sincerest apologies for the technical error. Thank you for letting us know. Sincerely, PawBoost Support Team

*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. ↩