Welcome to Dodo's Mobile Doggy Wash Pet Grooming

Customer satisfaction is important to us, and the only way to make this happen is to communicate clearly.  Many customers come from using salons previously or haven't used mobile groomers before, which is completely fine. However, this may cause disparity in expectations and satisfaction which we need to communicate to bridge the gap

1. PRICING 

Our prices are set to be slightly higher than stationary groomers, not because we want to mark up the price, but simply because there is higher cost of running a mobile business. 

Some people assume we have less overhead by being mobile, but this is far from truth. Fuel consumption and large vehicle keeping is no cheaper than a running a physical store on a busy street. There is also at least 10 minutes travel and setting up involved in every dog we do, which store groomers does not have. This decreases the number of dogs we can do per day, so price per dog must go up.  It is important that customers understand the substantial effort it goes into bringing a mobile salon in your front door step to provide convenience and less stress for your pet at your front door.

2. APPOINTMENTS

Some customers assume we can just stack appointments up and slot customers in easily like salons or home based groomer do. This is not how mobile services can operate. All appointments needs to be carefully routed and planned thoroughly to avoid going all over the place.  

Our mobile service caters for a niche audience, which we are required to operate 20 minute away from where we live.  Therefore, to cut down travelling time, there are actually only few day out of every week we are actually in your suburb, which makes availability quite scarce. It is important that as an ongoing mobile grooming customer that you provide enough flexibility to date and time of your appointment.

All appointments time given, eg: 10:00am, are not actually 10:00am appointment, but are arrival windows only. You should allow 1 hour before and after the appointment time. Eg. 10:00AM appointment's arrival time is anywhere from 9:00 - 11:00.  We do this because Mobile dog groomer schedules are prone to being delayed due to traffic, difficult dog behaviors (we get more difficult dogs than stationary groomers) , equipment failures, or being held up for other reasons, will immediately push the next appointment time back or even make next appointment early. So allowing a generous 1 hours before, 1 hour delay for arrival and 2 hours for grooming = 1 hour before and 3 hour allowance from time of appointment is requirement of your mobile grooming booking. 

Clients are expected to be occupied with other errands, and not waiting anxiously, eg. standing outside with your dog and wait for us to arrive. We will ring your door bell or call/text to notify you we are here. 

3. QUALITY OF GROOMING.

When choosing a mobile service, you're trading convenience, increase in comfort for your pet, at a slightly higher cost and most importantly, a decrease in quality of grooming, not to be confused with inexperienced grooming. 

Our mobile van operates on slopes, limited room space, reduced air circulation, and reduced water supply. Dogs that often don't behave are often referred to mobile groomers, so our skills is tapped into handling dogs. If you consider that we also spend substantial time driving a large vehicle on a daily basis, which means our grooming skills are not as refined as stationary groomers.

Good grooming require full cooperation of your dog. Poor behavior will affect grooming result dramatically. 

4. STYLE

Our default grooming style is the style that most customers are very happy with. If you have a style in mind you're after, and you're very particular about it, you need to let us know precisely, objectively. Using words like 'short', 'long', 'fluffy' here and there is not expressive enough. 'mm', 'blade number', 'finger length' is better approach. If you have a complicated style, we recommend bringing a picture to support your ideas.

5. PET CARE

Some dogs become anxious or agitated during our mobile grooming session. Shop groomers often don't report poor behaviors enough, as the dog is usually handled by a different person, which may lead to client thinking 'why did my dog suddenly become anxious' when we talk with pet parents for their dog's grooming behavior. 

Mobile service is the least stressful for any dog and the closest you can get to in your dog's grooming session. You are allowed to watch as long as your dog is not in a 'trying to go home mode' while being groomed because of your presence. 

Our goal is to provide high level of pet care and comfort, but clients are reminded that some dogs may never get better with dog grooming, despite doing everything we can, and this is unfortunately reality of animal behavior. Fortunately, most dogs will see improvements.

As dogs get into old age, they also tend to get more anxious, so dogs that are with us for a long time tend to decrease in grooming behavior, which is completely normal. 

6. BOOKING IN ADVANCE

Booking in advance is critical as everything needs to be planned out as mobile groomers. Very few customers consistently rebook (or give enough notice) when they don't book in advance, which is why 

Clients who do not rebook at the end of their appointment will see their next groom price increase by 15% due to increase in difficulty in scheduling, plus additional fees charged for grooming a dog with overgrown hair or matting. We're usually fully booked a month in advance and clients who always call back to book hoping for appointment in next few weeks will increase burden of our administration, hence, a rebooking fee is charged. However, clients wanting to reschedule an appointment already booked well in advance will not be charged with a fee, and will be rescheduled quite easily, because is not the same as adding in a new appointment to our already jam packed schedule, but swapping time with another customer.

7. COMMUNICATION 

I want to emphasis that  I don't have an dedicated admin or a crew to handle appointment booking etc. I wear all hats and I'm often behind in admins.

I am often unable to respond to your messages when I'm grooming or away. But i will get to customers as soon as i have spare time.