AJ
Abhijit Jathar
Aug 7, 2026
I am extremely disappointed with the way I was treated by the groomer at Petco today, and I believe this experience warrants serious attention from management.
My dog’s grooming appointment was confirmed for 1:15 PM, and the appointment information clearly stated that the service would take approximately 2–3 hours. I arrived barely 8 minutes late after driving approximately 45 minutes to get to this appointment.
Instead of simply discussing the delay with me, the groomer claimed that I was 15 minutes late, which was simply not true, and used that as a reason to refuse to take my dog. She then said that she needed to leave early at 3:30 PM. That explanation makes even less sense considering Petco had confirmed a 1:15 PM appointment with an expected service duration of 2–3 hours. If the groomer was unavailable to complete an appointment within the time window Petco itself had confirmed, the appointment should never have been scheduled or confirmed in the first place.
What was especially frustrating was that, after I pointed this out, it felt as though the groomer was simply looking for additional reasons to refuse the appointment rather than making any reasonable effort to honor it.
I drove 45 minutes each way specifically for this appointment, only to be turned away over an 8-minute delay while being incorrectly told that I was 15 minutes late. My time apparently mattered far less than the groomer’s desire to leave early.
If Petco has a strict late-arrival policy that allows a confirmed appointment to be cancelled after eight minutes, that policy should be clearly communicated when the appointment is booked. If that is NOT Petco’s policy, then I would like an explanation for why this groomer was permitted to refuse a confirmed appointment under these circumstances.
This was an incredibly frustrating and unprofessional experience. I expect Petco management to review what happened, including the actual appointment time, my arrival time, the stated 2–3 hour service duration, and the groomer’s claim that she needed to leave at 3:30 PM.
I would also like Petco to explain what action will be taken to ensure customers are not put in this position again. Customers should not be expected to drive 45 minutes to a confirmed appointment only to have an employee search for reasons not to provide the service.
I will not be returning to this groomer, and this experience has seriously damaged my confidence in Petco’s grooming services.