Walks With Zara

It blows my mind how this company that has allegedly been around since 2009, has only one Unilocal review. If that’s not a red flag then I don’t know what is.
I have been meaning to write this review for a while, but I knew I could write a short novel about how terrible this place is, that I’ve been holding off. But alas, without further review (pun intended?), here it is:
BEWARE! This was the by far the most unprofessional, disorganized, and downright incompetent business I have dealt with in my life. In interest of time, I’ll just move to the indisputable facts.
I signed up with this company via email back in April. The current manager for the company came out and did an in-​home consultation, and everything seemed normal. Engagement begin.
Within 2 days of me handing over my keys, I get an email from Russel (whom is, to best of my knowledge, the owner?). The email says that the manager and the dog walker that I met during my consultation have been fired for defaming the company and that his lawyers were looking into it. Hmm, defamation, really? Interesting. Well, when it comes to this post, I’m not overly concerned by this facet of the experience as I happen to be an attorney and know that truth is a complete defense. I digress.
Ok, his employee is fired. Fine. It happens. Moving on. That next week, no one shows up to walk my dog. After multiple attempts trying to get a hold of the owner via phone and email, he finally responds and tells me that I’ll be getting a new dog walker 2 days later. Ok fine, strike 2, right? But I give him the benefit of the doubt and nevermind the time I lost from work dealing with this issue.
Things proceed and I get a new dog walker. But before you know it, he has fired my and no one is showing up again. I know this because I left a tip for my dog walker because it was raining. I came home and the leash had not moved from its position and the tip was still there. Had I not the left the tip, I would have never known.
I call strike 3 at this point. Now comes the fun part. The company has charged my credit card a month in advance, and not just for April, but now also for May. I cancel my service and get my keys back, but guess what happens when I try to get a refund for what I was charged. Yep, the owner is non-​responsive via phone or email.
About a week and a half later, he ends up saying he was out of town for 2 weeks and finally processes the refund. In the interim, I had to dispute the charge with my credit card company. It’s not totally resolved yet, but looks like I’ll be getting back. Mainly it just illustrates how bad the communication is.
Needless to say, stay away from this company. What a disaster of a fiasco.