groomer problems...wwyd?

2 weeks ago I took both my dogs to the groomer. They came out fine but a few hours later one of them started squinting. It kept getting worse and he started scratching his eye and yelping in pain. That same night DH took him to the vet where they diagnosed him as having an ulceration. The vet said this can be caused by soap left in the dog's eye but was very hesitant to say it was the groomer's fault.

He was in a cone for a week and we applied ointment to his eye every 8 hours. We had a follow up visit with our regular vet and the ulcerations healed and everything was fine. My regular vet said this is absolutely the groomer's fault and the ulceration is most commonly caused by soap getting in the dog's eye. I e-mailed the groomer to let her know what happened and to hopefully avoid this happening to other dogs she grooms in the future. I was a little perturbed with her response. I don't expect her to cover the vet bills but I did expect her to offer of us some of our money back. She did feel very bad about it and said that she treats each dog she grooms as if it was her own and uses drops on the dogs eyes before washing and is very careful to rinse out all of the soap. What annoyed me was she said she wishes I would have told her and she could have taken the dog to her vet. It was 10 at night and my dog was in pain. Obviously her business wasn't open at that time so I couldn't contact her and my first thought was to get my dog help immediately since he was attacking his own eye and yelping in pain, not whether the groomer has her own vet. How would you respond to her?

groomer problems...wwyd?

I would say exactly that... He needed to go to the vet after she was closed and it couldn't wait until business hours the next day.

Initially, my first reaction if this happened to me, I would not expect compensation and just chalk it up to my dog having a reaction to soap in its eye. I'd be wondering why she doesn't use tearless shampoo but if she does, going back to it being my dog just being sensitive to that particular formula of shampoo and not really the groomers fault. I wash my dogs all the time, I get soap in their eyes sometimes. I rinse it out right away. They have never had a reaction. I would have emailed her to make her aware of the situation and if she offered me a free grooming or something I would have been happy with that. I think that good customer service and going above and beyond would have made me a more loyal customer.

But after seeing her response to your email...

First, money aside, I wouldn't feel comfortable with a groomer taking my dog to the vet without me there. Money wise, by her saying she would have taken the dog to her vet, she is assuming responsibility both for it happening and financially. And by saying she would have taken her to her vet, makes me think she is saying "I would have paid for the vet bill if I took her to my vet where I get a discount".

So if she is willing to pay for her discounted vet... why didn't she offer some other form of compensation you?

It's really one of those situations where no matter who is at fault, sometimes to keep a customer happy you need to take one for the team so you don't lose future business.

Message edited 4/22/2013 11:31:20 AM.

Re: groomer problems...wwyd?

Re: groomer problems...wwyd?

It's hard for me to say what I would do because I bathe and groom my own dog. With that said, I wouldn't go back to that groomer. When I wash my own dog, or my friends' dogs, or my brothers' dogs, or whoever's dogs I was asked to help out with, I don't get the soap anywhere near their eyes. I've been bathing/grooming my own dogs, other people's dogs, and I worked for a breeder for a few years and all I did was bathe and groom dogs and I've never gotten soap in a dog's eye before so it kind of baffles me how that would happen unless the groomer didn't have their full attention on the dog and was distracted by something else.

Re: groomer problems...wwyd?

I don't plan on ever going back to the groomer even if she did compensate me. I googled what happened to my dog and while it's definitely not common it's not unheard of either. I re-read her e-mail and I noticed not once did she apologize (I guess so she didn't have to accept blame) and she also said I should have (not wished like I previously stated) called her to take my dog to her vet.

Re: groomer problems...wwyd?

Re: groomer problems...wwyd?

Re: groomer problems...wwyd?

My mother's groomer cut her dog's foot and didn't tell my mother. My mom only discovered it was bleeding and sore when her dog was limping.

My mom called the vet and the vet offered apologies, though she didn't pay for the vet bills. She did however offer to give 6 months of free grooming. My mom decided to take the 6 months of grooming but they had another accident when the groomer nicked her belly. This time my mom decided to change groomers.

I would probably change groomers regardless but I do believe she should have offered free grooming, not said she would have taken the dog to the vet AFTER the fact. That's like offering to clean up dishes once they are already done (something my STBX used to do all the time).

groomer problems...wwyd?

You can easily get soap in the eyes when you are washing a long haired dog or a dog with tear stains... There are times you need to leave the shampoo/conditioner on the dog for several minutes. They paw at or rub their faces or even just shake their heads because they are wet and it goes into their eyes.

As for the groomer, I think since you are not going back you should try to get compensated. I would want to at minimum ask her why she would tell you you should go to her vet at all? And I would tell her you are surprised she didn't offer an apology and compensation.

Message edited 4/22/2013 4:41:13 PM.

Re: groomer problems...wwyd?

I have never heard of this nor thought of it. My dogs have been getting groomed for 8 years, every 6-9 weeks and this has never happened. I would move to another groomer. I am sorry your dog had to experience this.

Re: groomer problems...wwyd?

Groomers should be using a tearless / extremely gentle shampoo for the head and face of each animal they groom to avoid this.