Singapore—A botched haircut on a beloved pet dog has led to an online fight between a pet owner and a grooming company, with the owner allegedly even threatening to file a lawsuit.
On Saturday (Jan 9), a woman who goes by “Bossa Nova Queen” on Facebook posted a series of photos on the Dog Lover Singapore page, writing how heartbroken she was that the fur of her female Pomeranian, Dede, had been completely shaved off by a groomer from a company called Precious Pets.
The company’s owner, Mr Sylvester Tan, took to Precious Pets’ Facebook page the next day with their side of the story and has asked Bossa Nova Queen to take down her post and publicly apologise.
The pet owner wrote that they asked the groomer for a cut that would make Dede look like a mini shiba inu, showing the groomer pictures of what the dog looked like after her previous groomer gave her a haircut.
The owner said the former groomer only used scissors and not a shaver.
“So we leave our pom with the groomer in the room so that the groomer can do her job comfortably. To our horror, the groomer shaved all the fur, all gone outer and inner coat all gone. ALL GONE!”
This made the pet owner “cry and tremble for the whole day.”
The grooming service then charged them S$100 for the service, which the owners refused, asking the business owner to call them.
“Instead the owner text me on what’s app to demand payment and trying to push blame to us that what their groomer did was just following instructions,” wrote Bossa Nova Queen, adding that she had saved screenshots of her WhatsApp conversations with the groomer.
She added that the inner coat of Pomeranians should not be shaved completely “as it will damage the coat and the hair follicles permanently. It will NOT grow and if it happens to grow in future, the coat will be patchy and will never be the same.”
Bossa Nova Queen also appealed for help from the group for advice as to how Dede’s inner coat can grow back and for them to share her post so that “no other furkids will suffer like this in future.”
In response to her post, Mr Tan issued a public statement, which can be seen here.
He wrote that while the company has been highly rated by satisfied customers, it takes complaints seriously.
As for Dede’s case, he wrote that he had “tried to explain our groomer’s version of events, and how our groomer had done all that she could under the circumstances to meet the requests of the customer and her husband.”
However, “Despite my best efforts, the customer did not accept my explanation. Instead, she has threatened to ‘sue [us] for [her] Pomeranian inner coat’, and has gone on to post her version of events on our Facebook page, at least 4 other Facebook pages…and submitted negative ratings for us on Facebook and on Google Reviews.”
Mr Tan went on to say that Bossa Nova Queen’s husband had told the groomer to shave Dede’s body, despite the groomer saying this would leave the dog bald.
According to Mr Tan, the groomer and Bossa Nova Queen’s husband had held a discussion about the tools to be used on Dede’s haircut, the length of the cut, and looked at photos of what they want Dede to look like, but both husband a wife were surprised at the final result.
Bossa Nova Queen reportedly said, “Maybe it’s miscommunication. Next time don’t listen to my husband. He don’t know anything one.”
But Mr Tan believes that the “groomer had done all that she could…to meet the customer’s and the customer’s husband’s requests.”
And while he understands that the pet owners are upset, “There can be no excuse for doxing, bullying or harassment.”
He then asked Bossa Nova Queen to delete her social media posts and negative ratings, the screenshot of the groomer’s Facebook page and all of her personal information, as well as issue an public apology “for the inaccurate posts made against Precious Pets.”
“In the meantime, we will need to take advice on the customer’s threats of legal action, and to take the necessary action to protect Precious Pets and its members,” wrote Mr Tan.
As of Wednesday morning (Jan 13), there is no longer any information about the groomer among the photos on Bossa Nova Queen’s post. However, a screenshot of Precious Pets remains.
It remains to be seen how this dogfight plays out.
/TISG
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