Hip Pooch reviews and complaints

I would like to say that I recently brought my dog there for a grooming and will never ever do so again. I strongly advise that people think twice before brining their pets to Hip Pooch. This was the second time I have brought her here. The first time was for a wash a trim and this time was that as well as de shedding for winter.. After dropping her off I immediately got a call from the shop asking if I had noticed that my dogs nails were too long and were soo long in fact that I had caused her physiological damage and most likely daily pain. I was very shocked and confused by this as I have 100lb dog who was jumping out of the car and walking around perfectly normal prior to the check in at the groomers. They were very rude towards me and tried to explain the internal damage I have caused by allowing her nails to grow this long etc. I then remembered that it had been only 3 short weeks before when I had her nails trimmed by a vet when she was under anesthetic for a teeth cleaning. I was confused that the vet would not have mentioned the ill state of her nails if this was the case. I hung up the phone feeling as though I have somehow been a neglectful pet owner without realizing it. I was also told during the conversation that my dog had to be muzzled because she was snapping..they were surprised with this behaviour as she was not like this last time they groomed her and they could only owe to the fact that she was in pain from the matting and long nails (explained that she was brushed regularly, therefore not sure why the matting would be so bad) After she was picked up I realized there was no way this damage was cause due to long nails. she was bleeding profusely and limping...could hardly walk. She was brought to the vet immediately. She needed to have the entire nail removed and the vet stated that she had never seen this before, the nail was split all the way up. It was in no way from her nails being too long, they were fine, it looked as though the nail clippers were not strong enough or the dog flinched and the groomer split the nail. being that nails on dogs are comparable to the last metacarpal on a human's finger the amount of pain must have been excoriating. My dog was casted and sedated and brought home. Now two days later and a phone call to Hip Pooch later Daisy is still recovering with a cone and a cast, no apology or acceptance of responsibility was taken by hip pooch. I understand accidents happen, but to put the onus on the owner and in such a rude judgemental way then to not accept responsibility even after a professional medical opinion was given is not ok. SO now I have huge vet bills to contend with and they even charged extra at hip pooch for "matting" .It is concerning how badly this situation was handled by them.

I also had a terrible experience here. I purchased a pair of dog boots that were on sale on their website and picked them up in store. When I got home and opened up the box there was a hand written note stating that the boots were floor models (not mentioned on the website or when I picked them up). The boots were all scuffed up and one of them looked like it had been chewed! I took them back to the store to (with the note) and asked for a refund (since the boots were used). The owner REFUSED to refund my money...she said she has a strict NO REFUND POLICY. She looked at the boots and told me they were not that damaged when she sold them to me and I must have let my dog chew them. I was so angry. Luckily, I had paid with paypal online so I told her if she didn't give me a refund I would open up a dispute with paypal and get my money back (without returning the boots). She tried to argue with me but I had the note as proof that they boots were not "new" so eventually gave me the refund. What terrible customer service. I hope they go out of business.

I shop here and never have had any problems even when it comes to returns. I have received store credit or cash return. I love the merchandise that is brought in and will return again and again and again.

In response to Vancity - we all have the right to complain and to let people know our experiences, be them good or bad. In our city stores like BestWest Pet Store do take back dog food even if it has been opened. Any brand except raw dog food, as our other stores. I do think however it is our responsibility to check on the store policies before we make purchases.

There is a great grooming place in Winnipeg called Barks N Bubbles, who also carry dog apparel in small sizes. They are also located on Corydon, close to Wilton.

I took my dogs here to have them groomed due to my regular groomer being ill. I discussed with the groomer and showed her picture of my dogs recent grooms of what my expectations were. When I picked up my dogs I was horrified. She basically had taken the clippers a completly shaved of their entire coat. There was no grooming skills here. After paying 180.00 and having to look at how terrible this groom is for the summer! I could have done this cut at home myself! DONT HAVE YOUR DOGS GROOMED HERE! Very disappointed!

I took my dogs here for a groom due to my regular groomer being ill. After discussing with pictures of a recent groom of what my expectation were, I picked my dogs up only to find the groomer here had just taken the clippers and totally shaved the coats off of bothe dogs and I was charged 180.00 for this ridiculous cut. There was no skill in this groom. I could have done this cut myself at home! DONT GET YOUR DOGS GROOMED HERE! My dogs look horrible and I am so very disappointed!

Have to agree with these complaints. This store owner is a Piece. Of. Work. Made me feel like an idiot because she was so judgemental, I tried to gloss things over by being as nice as possible... doesn't matter. She still looked at me like I was a piece of dog crap.
Want to buy something from this store? Make sure you REALLY want it and won't have any reason to want to return it, because she only does in store credits (fair enough, but a bit of a bummer) BUT she makes it seem like it's pretty much the worst thing you could ever ask of her. I'm sorry, but if you own a merchandise store, you better start getting used to exchanges! If the person is being unreasonable, then fine, stand your ground. But, in my case, the item was untouched with tags still on, I had a legit reason where it actually didn't suit my needs, but she still told me I was "being techincal" (rudely!) and tried to avoid the exchange all together. I literally had to recompose myself, plan what I was going to say and gear myself up to go through with it. NOT what you should be forced to do for a simple return.
Never been so uncomfortable and put off as I was with this woman.
Furthermore, she ripped me off because I bought the item with a 20% discount coupon, and then had to pay back the 20% on the first item that I was exchanging and THEN pay full price on the second item! So essentially, the coupon did diddley squat in her eyes and I may as well have thrown it in a garbage bin because I ended up paying full price on the final item and paying the 20% back on the first item.
And in case someone like "Vancity" tells me this rant is immature, YOU try reasoning with this woman! She made me withdraw for cover like a turtle going into its shell. She reminds me of girls who would make me cry in school.
Final point - don't expect ANY form of customer service from this place unless you crawl towards this owner on your belly waving a peace flag and stroking her ego. Not even worth the effort. HORRIBLE store.

You hit the nail on the head, , , we said the same things when we were there.. I guess we are just bothering her with our money, , having to ring it up and put it in the cash register.. HOW DOES A PLACE LIKE THAT STAY MAKE IT... They don't luckily, not for long, , , , she should be made to work for someone not in her own biz...
Yes and she will not stand behind any faulty stuff she sells, , , makes it your fault the collar breaks after the first day it was put on..
DO NOT SUPPORT THIS PLACE...
Petland the place to go, , food not liked by dog, , no problem, try another, , collar faulty heres a new one sorry about that... NOW THATS SERVICE

First of all, what kind of person actually takes the time to post a complaint like this? You are obviously not a very happy or nice person in general so any complaints you have really have to be taken with a grain of salt.

I have shopped at Hip Pooch myself, in fact I was looking up their website so see what new items I might pick up the next time I visit Wpg when I came upon your little rant. It is too bad that you feel your experience was so negative, I have shopped there a few times and have nothing but good things to say about the store. Just the fact that I would choose to shop there and try and support a young entrepreneur in my home town when I have so many “dog boutique” options here in Vancouver really says a lot I think. When you mentioned the service that the owner gave the couple “who had money” did you stop to think that maybe they got better service (if that was even the case) because they were nicer customers who were easier to deal with?

One last thing, I’m not sure what kind of food you tried to exchange or why you wanted to exchange it, but food (for pets or humans) is generally not a returnable item unless there is something seriously wrong with it. I work in the specialty food business myself and that is our policy too. The store obviously cannot resell the food once it is opened, and especially in a small store like that it is unfair to ask them to take it back and take a loss on it, you now just know not to buy it again.

The mature thing to do if you were so unhappy with your experience would have been to decide not to shop there again, not to post this angry note on the internet for everyone to see.