ashleighj

Hi, we did write proper statements and sent them through to the head office. The statements listed purely the FACTS of what happened from both our ends, and what was said to us, and was not an attack at all. We both mentioned the fantastic customer service on the Brisbane end, and how they tried to help even when it was out of their hands! This forum was just about public knowledge as well.

Looking after that puppy is not beyond their control. The flight being delayed, yes that is, but like I have said in other post, Dogsvet did not have an issue with the flight being delayed, it was the transport company who were paid to take care of their pup that did not live up to their promise splattered all over their site. People are a different story when a flight has been delayed, they can look after themselves, what can a 8 week old puppy do??? Sit in the crate(BOLDED above) like the rest of the animals do when there is a delay, and wait till they are put on the conecting flight. Thank all your lucky stars that some KIND person did not open the crate and let the dog escape, while they think they are being kind. What I I can't understand is ...why is Dog Tainers Adelaide in the line of fire. Unless they were contacted and paid to collect and look after the dog and return it to the airport for the flight how would they even know the dog was shipped ?. I am starting to think that that shipping dogs may be a new thing to the consigners and they are not conversant with the way shipping works. In response to the part above about why are Dogtainers Adelaide in the line of fire, it was completely their attitude to me during the whole process, from payment to finish. As I have said before, if ALL of the above happened, but they were nice to me - apologised for their mistake with payment, and also didnt get cranky on the phone as if I was disturbing their day, then I would be completely fine! I do not hold them responsible AT ALL for the delay in flights.. If the dog was to be kept in the cage and thats the way it's always done, then so be it - just say so and there is no worries, they shouldn't have said a word about taking her out if it wasnt going to happen. It seems to be getting way off topic a lot from the original post that DogSvet and I wrote. This wasn't an attack on how dogs are transported... It was purely about customer service and as I have said before OUR PERSONAL experience. This post was meant to help people get all the stories they can to make an informed decision, not for DogSvet and I to get bombarded with how wrong we are.

DogSvet please don't try and prevoke people on the list. We could all come out and shoot you down. If you are not happy with the situation of flying dogs then don't sell them to places where they have to fly. I just want to make sure people are aware that we aren't saying that flying dogs is the problem. It is simply a matter of we were treated poorly this instance!! This was the first time I have ever dealt with flying an animal, and even tho it was one of the most stressful days ever - If I had to, I would do it again - but I would just chose a different company and hope that I was more satisfied with the service, that is all I am saying! Plenty of people have no drama with dogtainers - this was just OUR experience - so we thought we would do the right thing and share it with everyone who was interested.!

No-one is forcing you to read this. We are writing to the companies involved.. It was not "supposedly" rude customer service - and you were not the person that was dealing with them, so I don't think you have any place telling us what to do - it also was not YOUR considerable amount of money that was spent for this service. If you don't care about other peoples experiences then don't read it - but I (and I'm sure a lot of other people) appreciate reading other peoples stories before making a decision. We are not doing this to try and turn people off choosing Dogtainers, we just want them to know all the facts. I researched Dogtainers before using them, and found plenty of great information about them and lots of people that highly recommend Dogtainers, as well as a few people who weren't satisfied, but I still chose to go ahead with them as I found more compliments than I did complaints, and it's unfortunate that they didn't work out for me! But I am glad I had the opportunity to see what other people had written first. It doesn't absolutely make my mind up, but it helps. We are not making it difficult for others to transport their dogs at all, I'm pretty sure that if every complaint affected other people there would be no companies left... If you find rude customer service ok, that is your choice - please do not accuse us of being wrong, this is our PERSONAL opinion and feelings!

We are just letting people know our personal experience so they can make an informed decision if they want to transport their dog. We have a right to share OUR experience, just as the others have commented and said they had no worries with dogtainers. I'm sure that dogtainers aren't like this EVERY time otherwise they wouldn't still be in business. I find forums are the best way for sharing all kinds of experiences - as if you look on a company website, you will only find the words "great" and "best at what they do" etc! Also we are not "bagging" them on a public forum for revenge.. and we are also taking the right steps and lodging a formal complaint. If no-one shared bad experiences ever, then companys could do what they like. And as for the not travelling after surgery, I would like to let everyone know that I had her vet checked after I got her to make sure, and she is fine, healthy! She is also a strong little girl - which I think helped dramatically during the transport.

I did begin to wonder why I bothered paying dogtainers for the Adelaide - Whyalla portion. I thought that paying so much meant that they would handle the dog from start to finish. I later found out that Air Express were the ones that did everything for Coco once she landed in Adelaide!!

As DogSvet mentioned, the Brisbane office were quite caring and understood our situation and stress level. They even phoned the Adelaide office for us to see if there was anything that could be done. It just would of been nice if the Adelaide office could have shown some compassion as well. The part that disturbs me the most is the lady I dealt with the entire time was the proprietor - so you would expect a much higher level of customer service coming from her. The other part I forgot to mention is that while she blamed the errors on "someone else" it was her name showing on all emails from quote - finish, and she was the only person I spoke with every time on the phone!!

Most definately. I have read other posts about the Adelaide office being rude. It's a shame, because no matter how good a company might do a job, if the customer service is poor, it brings the entire experience down.

Hi all, I was the person who bought the puppy of Svetlana and I would like to share my side as well, as my trouble with Dogtainers - ADELAIDE started well before the puppy even began the journey. I had booked and paid for the service a month prior to the travel, and received written confirmation. I knew that I would be working the day I was getting my puppy and as I do not get phone service, I gave Dogtainers my work number, personal email address & work email address. On the Friday night (puppy was due to fly Monday) I received a voicemail message from the Dogtainers Adelaide office saying that “as you have not got back to us, we assume you do not want to transport your dog anymore” that was the whole message. I tried calling back but it was already closed so I rang the emergency mobile number left on the answering machine. I spoke with a woman who was blatantly rude to me and said I was only supposed to call that number for emergencies (which I felt this was, as the puppy was due to travel before the office would re-open on the Monday). The lady then got nasty with me that I should of called back during office hours, but I did not have service, and they did not try to contact me on any of the other options I left them. I explained my situation that I had paid, and the money had come off of my credit card and that I had emailed confirmation of the booking and she just said ‘well we have no record – so nothing is booked’ and was making it seem as if I was lying.. then she said quite rudely that she would have to go to the office the next day to sort it out. I again reminded her that I have no service so gave her all my other numbers/email addresses again. On the Saturday afternoon after I tried calling her 5 or 6 times she finally answered and said that she already left me a message on my phone (even after telling her numerous times not to call my mobile), and that everything was booked – and she just blamed it on someone else. That was the end of the conversation with her about it. On the day of the flight – I found out thru the Qantas website that my puppies flight was delayed and wouldn’t make the connecting one – I emailed Dogtainers immediately and got no response. It wasn’t until well after the flight was meant to have landed in Adelaide that Dogtainers finally got in contact with me and told me she would be 5 hours late. I know that this was not their mistake at all but I had already organised time off work etc, so I was pretty upset that they didn’t tell me sooner. I get that animals travel frequently – but my puppy had also recently had surgery. And it was more about the attitude of the Dogtainers employees & the lack of professionalism that really bothered me and the fact that we were promised things that did not happen. Svetlana has already explained what happened the rest of the time. I just felt like I paid a lot of money to use a professional company, and was treated quite poorly. It was their mistake about the non-payment issue, and I didn’t get an apology, I was still treated as if it was my error. The entire dealings I had with the Adelaide office made me feel as if I had done something wrong. I have never used this company before, and never will again as I do not appreciate the way I was spoken to. If all of that had happened, but the employees were nice about it and didn’t promise things they didn’t deliver, I wouldn’t have a problem at all. Mistakes happen & I get that they can’t control the airlines BUT they have a lot of improving they need to do on their customer service skills