We felt taken advantage of by Sam Kabbel of Pet Behavior Solutions.
We met with Sam about our barking Golden Retriever after researching other behaviorists we felt she had the best credentiales. Upon calling to ask some questions about our problem before we scheduled an appointment, we left a message.
DJ, one of Sam's employees called back. We really wanted to talk to the person who was going to be doing the training(Sam Kabbel). She informed me that we wouldn't be disappointed in her abilities to work with all problematic situations. We were aked to meet her at a dog park. we arrived in the middle of the day for our appointment and saw no other dogs at all in the dog park. We thought this will be a waste of time and money. She proceeded to ask us questions and observe our dog by himself at the dog park. Eventually one other dog came when we had 15 minutes left in our appoinment. There was very little intraction of our dog and the other and no barking. She informed us by her observation that he was giving signs of alert barking and anxious behavior.
Her conclusion was that he needed to be socialized more and that her program(edu-care)was full do to the popularity. We were put on a waiting list and figured we would socialize him at a dog park ourselves. Later that evening, we got a call from Stephanie, another employee of Sam's that they now had an opening in their program if we would like to take it. We took our golden there 3 consecutive Fridays at $85 a visit. The hours are supposed to be 9am-3pm. we were asked if we could drop him off at 9:20am and pick him up at 2:45pm due to the large number of dogs they had to transport to and from their owners houses all over town. Why would the time be taken from others tht didn't need transportation? You would think that the employees woule leave earlier and stay later for transport situations. We are paying for 6 hours not 5.25.
After the third session and frustrted by the hours, we told Stephanie we would not be able to continue as it was out of our budget for long term solution to the problem but if they ever enlarged their program and changed it to accomodate more dogs we would be interested on an occassional visit. Stephanie proceeded to tell us that that option was available. We were suprised to hear that as we were told that the dogs enrolled come back every week if not everyday so there was no room for any new dogs. Not sure what kind of games they are paying here but it sounded fishy; all of a sudden they had an opening for us and then it wasn't a problem to come occassionally????
Sam also advised a second training session at our home to evaluate tucker's alert barking. We emailed pet behavior solutions to specifically ask that Sam call us back as we had questions before we made another appointment as to what exactley she would do in this training session. Granted the first session was a waste of money. We got an email answered back from her saying that her cat was very ill and she would'nt be able to talk on the phone to us that week at all and that we shouldmake an apppointment with Dj for her to come back out. That is where we decided that Sam wasn't the right behavioists for us or our golden.
We have worked with many trainers over the years and have never experienced one that wouldn't talk to therir customers over the phone. We understood her concerns for her ill cat and didn't need to talk that week but she could have told us when it was convenient for her to call us. We felt ripped off and taken advantage of. Her fee does not support her training or her customer service!
Pet Behavior Solutions Reviews
We felt taken advantage of by Sam Kabbel of Pet Behavior Solutions.
We met with Sam about our barking Golden Retriever after researching other behaviorists we felt she had the best credentiales. Upon calling to ask some questions about our problem before we scheduled an appointment, we left a message.
DJ, one of Sam's employees called back. We really wanted to talk to the person who was going to be doing the training(Sam Kabbel). She informed me that we wouldn't be disappointed in her abilities to work with all problematic situations. We were aked to meet her at a dog park. we arrived in the middle of the day for our appointment and saw no other dogs at all in the dog park. We thought this will be a waste of time and money. She proceeded to ask us questions and observe our dog by himself at the dog park. Eventually one other dog came when we had 15 minutes left in our appoinment. There was very little intraction of our dog and the other and no barking. She informed us by her observation that he was giving signs of alert barking and anxious behavior.
Her conclusion was that he needed to be socialized more and that her program(edu-care)was full do to the popularity. We were put on a waiting list and figured we would socialize him at a dog park ourselves. Later that evening, we got a call from Stephanie, another employee of Sam's that they now had an opening in their program if we would like to take it. We took our golden there 3 consecutive Fridays at $85 a visit. The hours are supposed to be 9am-3pm. we were asked if we could drop him off at 9:20am and pick him up at 2:45pm due to the large number of dogs they had to transport to and from their owners houses all over town. Why would the time be taken from others tht didn't need transportation? You would think that the employees woule leave earlier and stay later for transport situations. We are paying for 6 hours not 5.25.
After the third session and frustrted by the hours, we told Stephanie we would not be able to continue as it was out of our budget for long term solution to the problem but if they ever enlarged their program and changed it to accomodate more dogs we would be interested on an occassional visit. Stephanie proceeded to tell us that that option was available. We were suprised to hear that as we were told that the dogs enrolled come back every week if not everyday so there was no room for any new dogs. Not sure what kind of games they are paying here but it sounded fishy; all of a sudden they had an opening for us and then it wasn't a problem to come occassionally????
Sam also advised a second training session at our home to evaluate tucker's alert barking. We emailed pet behavior solutions to specifically ask that Sam call us back as we had questions before we made another appointment as to what exactley she would do in this training session. Granted the first session was a waste of money. We got an email answered back from her saying that her cat was very ill and she would'nt be able to talk on the phone to us that week at all and that we shouldmake an apppointment with Dj for her to come back out. That is where we decided that Sam wasn't the right behavioists for us or our golden.
We have worked with many trainers over the years and have never experienced one that wouldn't talk to therir customers over the phone. We understood her concerns for her ill cat and didn't need to talk that week but she could have told us when it was convenient for her to call us. We felt ripped off and taken advantage of. Her fee does not support her training or her customer service!