Patrick C.
***PERSONAL TRAINING SCAM***
***PERSONAL TRAINING SCAM*** I literally spent $150 to get my dog walked for an hour. Is that what you would expect when you pay for a personal dog training session from Dog Academy? The trainer was REALLY nice, none of this is his fault at all. I have a dog with intermediate/advanced skill and Dog Academy employees booked me with a FIRST TIME TRAINER. (I was literally his first client ever and he normally walks dogs on the Wag app.) When I first called support to tell them about my experience, they said a supervisor and the previous employee that helped me would call me back. Neither of them contacted me at all. I had to remember to contact them again a week and change later. I wonder if I didn’t, would they have just swept my case under the rug? Support said a refund wouldn’t be possible since the trainer was already paid. I wasn’t asking for them to penalize the trainer; I was asking Dog Academy to take accountability for matching me with a trainer who wasn’t equipped to carry out the tasks I paid for. After speaking to a Supervisor, I made it clear that I didn’t even want a full refund - just half. They offered me $30 out of the $150, which was honestly insulting of my overall time, efforts, and seemed patronizing. The Supervisor said they would consider half and get back to me. I just got word that they denied my request for half and would only refund $50. At this point it’s not about the money, it’s just overall terrible service, lack of accountability and awareness on how to handle an issue like this. I hope the $25 they kept it worth it, as I anticipate this review will deter countless amounts of people considering personal training from Dog Academy. If you’re looking for online training, Dog Academy is fine. But please don’t waste your hard earned money and time by hiring a personal trainer from Dog Academy.
Response from DogAcademyOct 28, 2024
Hello, Thank you for sharing your experience. We’re sorry to hear about the frustrations you faced with our in-person training service and for not meeting your expectations. We take feedback like yours very seriously, as it helps us improve the quality of our services and our team’s responsiveness. It’s clear that you came to us with a dog who has advanced training needs, and we missed the mark by pairing you with a trainer who may not have been the best fit. We understand how disappointing it must have been to realize this during your session, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Regarding the support experience, it’s also concerning to hear that we didn’t follow through with timely communication. Our goal is always to provide attentive and effective support to our clients, and in this instance, we let you down. Your feedback on the partial refund offer is also noted; we understand your disappointment, and we’ll review our approach to ensure that our responses reflect the time and value our clients put into resolving these matters. Please know that your experience is helping us identify gaps in our training assignments and customer service protocols, so that we can provide a better experience in the future. If there’s anything further we can do to restore your confidence in our services, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We hope to have the chance to make things right with you and your dog. Mandy Wahl Customer Service [email protected]