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Do You Give Guarantees? Do You Expect Guarantees?


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For the owners- do you expect a trainer to give you a guarantee regarding solving problems with your dog?

I don't expect a guarantee from a trainer, that's impossible to ask or expect a guarantee. I expect a trainer to be honest and not to take on a dogs problem unless they have the experience. How can a trainer give a guarantee anyway ? If the owner doesn't take on board what they've been instructed to do and follow through with the training, it'll never work anyway.

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If you see a vet for a medical problem with the dog and the vet prescribes antibiotics- you give the antibiotics and see no change- do you expect a refund? Or for the next consult to be at no charge?

My female Rotty had a very minor eye surgery and for 3 and a half weeks went back and forth to the same vet and no results were achieved. I took her to another vet and the problem was solved within a week. I had to pay the original vet fees.

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Yep, and my vet gives me the next consult at no charge.

crap. then your vet has no confidence in their abilities. Strength in your convictions.

I wont give guarentees. Then again I wont take on dogs that are out of the scope of my experience and abilities. If a person has provided a service then you should pay a fee. Buyer beware, its up to you to scope out the experience and training method.

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Yep, and my vet gives me the next consult at no charge.

crap. then your vet has no confidence in their abilities. Strength in your convictions.

What?

They give free follow up consults? How is that no confidence in their abilities? If anything, it is good service. Sorry, but you have no idea of my vets skill levels so it's pretty damn rude to insult my vet(s) like that.

I've also been given antibiotics three times and only had to pay for them once (for three different issues.)

Edited by Lord Midol
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I don't think you can give a guarantee in the true sense, because as so many people have said before, it comes down to whether or not the owner is prepared to put in the hard work.

I think there are people out there (owners) who are "shoppers", they go along, hear a theory, try it for about 2 days, then let it lapse, say it isn't working and move on to the next thing. That to me is not a mark of failure on the part of the trainer (whatever the owner might think), but a lack of commitment on the part of the owner.

That said, I guess one of the major aspects in being good trainer IMO is the ability to read people. Unfortunately for you you need to be a people AND dog reader! I think you need to be able to assess in your first meeting whether you think that the owner is likely to be committed in solving the problem or not as well as weighing this up against the severity of the dog's own issues. All in all a complicated business, I don't envy trainers/behaviourists that job.

I think for me what I expect more than anything is ongoing support, even if I might be a bit slow on the uptake and taking longer to work through things than might be expected, I would be unhappy with any trainer/behaviourist who just basically sent me on my way or washed their hands of me, that is the "guarantee" that I would be looking for.

Luckily the one person I have seen has been great in that respect and we are getting there in our own bumbling way :love:

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What?

They give free follow up consults? How is that no confidence in their abilities? If anything, it is good service. Sorry, but you have no idea of my vets skill levels so it's pretty damn rude to insult my vet(s) like that.

what a vet gives your dog a course of treatment, it doesnt work so then it gives you another consult for free? Or are you getting the check up to make sure the antibiotics are working for free and its a 2 minute visit?

I wouldnt really trust a vet that said 'oh we'll try this and if it doesnt work get another consult free'. To me that shows you havnt done a thorough job in the first place. And yep I've worked as a nurse before and dealt with all types of vets.

Midol if you want agreeance with you maybe explain yourself clearly in your posts before just getting angry. Anyway I thought you said the last vet you saw was 'weird' because she told you your pup was growing too fast.

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For the owners- do you expect a trainer to give you a guarantee regarding solving problems with your dog?

Simply - no. However, I do expect a guarantee of professional responsible service (lol, clearly not legally binding -just good customer service!) Both of which our trainer provides :)

Honestly I would be suspicious of a trainer who offered a guarantee to fix a behavioural problem - how would you assess and enforce a legally binding guarantee?

Especially as the dog interacts with its environment and people (primarily its owners.)

I would be curious to hear from trainers who do offer legally binding guarantees for behavioural issues... What are the terms of your contracts?

Is it a 'life time' guarantee or can certain actions/events void the guarantee?

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Yeah, she's not my normal vet :S I use the man, but the man wasn't there.

If the treatment doesn't work, then I get my next consult free. She doesn't say that, it's just what happens. When Montu had an issue with his mouth we couldn't figure out what it was without an operation. We treated it as though it was a bite first, then if it wasn't, I'd come back and we'd operate and she'd take the price of the first consult off the operation. That's hardly an issue of incompetence.

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We treated it as though it was a bite first, then if it wasn't, I'd come back and we'd operate and she'd take the price of the first consult off the operation. That's hardly an issue of incompetence.

geez and its hardly a situation related to this discussion is it :) well she would have no reason to re-charge the consultation fee for the operation as she has already done a diagnosis and plan of treatment. Hardly the same as giving a money back guarentee for ones word Midol.

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We treated it as though it was a bite first, then if it wasn't, I'd come back and we'd operate and she'd take the price of the first consult off the operation. That's hardly an issue of incompetence.

geez and its hardly a situation related to this discussion is it :) well she would have no reason to re-charge the consultation fee for the operation as she has already done a diagnosis and plan of treatment. Hardly the same as giving a money back guarentee for ones word Midol.

She asked if my vet gives consults for no charge if we dont fix the problem.

If we didn't, I wouldn't have been charged.

Can't be bothered, you seem to disagree with everything I say simply because I say it.

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Simply No...

i wouldn't expect or do not give guarentees...

If you attened a seminar from a well known dog trainer, and didn't like what you were told, or 6 months later your issues still havn't been fixed, would you require a refund...

IMO... the information given by a trainer is valuable no matter what it is, if one thing was acheived out of the session... does not have to be a major thing, as simple as dog will now sit better than it did before, than money well spent...

i think you are paying for a service, and for someones knowledge on what they know about dog behaviour/training... whether you like what information is given is irrelevant...

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I think if you're going to offer guarantees, then there should be clauses attached. I believe BB have guarantees on their training come with clauses stating something like...provide all training is effected as per their instructions etc etc. How could you prove you did and how could you prove you didn't?

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She asked if my vet gives consults for no charge if we dont fix the problem.

If we didn't, I wouldn't have been charged.

Can't be bothered, you seem to disagree with everything I say simply because I say it.

you have a small fee knocked off for a larger one charged - not the same and rather a good ploy from a marketing standpoint - clients brain thinks 'ooh I save X' and in fact how much do you get charged. Nothing against the vet but you are not getting a 'money back guarentee' or a 'saving' of any sort.

It should be like her operating for free because anti-biotics didnt work.

Dont just swipe all the pieces off the chess board because the game isnt swinging to your way Midol.

provide all training is effected as per their instructions etc etc. How could you prove you did and how could you prove you didn't?

smart marketing there - prove you deserve a refund. Rather por in my books.

Edited by Nekhbet
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For the trainers- do you give a guarantee sight unseen that you can resolve a dogs behaviour problem? Why/ why not?

For the owners- do you expect a trainer to give you a guarantee regarding solving problems with your dog?

A few weeks ago i received quite an aggressive email, demanding that i provide a guarantee with regard to a serious behaviour problem. I don't give guarantees for the simple reason that i am not the only input into the dog so i can't guarantee what others (owners etc) will do. A plumber can provide a guarantee because 'most' people won't touch the plumbing after he's gone- i think dog training is different!

OMG some people!! of course not for the same reason as you. Dogs aren't an inanimate object like plumbing, they are a living breathing thing with problem solving abilities that are quite often are better than their owners :)

cheers

M-J

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