Petstock Adamstown

I took my dog Walter to petstock in Adamstown to be groomed because my usual groomer (petstock at Bennett’s green) was fully booked. I arrived at the time of my booking, 9am and I was asked to fill in some forms. I asked if the information requested on these forms could be taken from the petstock in Bennett’s Green but for some reason this wasn’t possible, and I was handed 3 A4 sheets of paper to fill in all of my personal details. While I was filling out the forms, Walter was taken away and put in a crate on the other side of the room, out of eyeline and he immediately started barking because he couldn’t see me and was clearly confused and distressed. I filled in the forms as quick as I could and I asked the groomer, Penny, to take him out of the crate so I could say goodbye to him. She did this, I gave him a hug and calmed him down and Penny told me she would be ‘a couple of hours but would call me if he was done sooner.’ When I left I could still hear him barking and it was fairly clear at that point he had just been put straight back in a crate. I left, ran a few errands and returned around 10:45. I was told it would be another couple of hours because Penny had three dogs booked in and was grooming all three of them at the same time by herself. I was told she would wash one dog while the other two sat in a crate in another room. The washed dog would then get put in a crate and she would wash the second, etc. This meant that Walter was being put in and out of a crate for the best part of 4 hours. I returned at 12:30. I sat in the car park and I could hear Walter barking. At around 12:40 my wife text me saying she had just had confirmation from Petstock that Walter was ready. I was never contacted despite giving my phone number on three forms earlier in the day. I went inside and the manager approached me, saying Walter was ready and told me she had to intervene during the groom because Walter tried to bite Penny. I was apologetic and asked if she was okay, but also very confused because he has never had any issue with biting at Bennett’s Green. Monique said she had contacted Bennett’s Green and they had also confirmed that Walter had never had any issues when being groomed. I firmly believe the issue with biting was a combination of Walter being put in and out of a crate mixed with lots of loud noises from the whole facility, which brings me onto my next point - the facility itself. Petstock in Adamstown is nowhere near the same standard as Bennett’s Green. The Adamstown store is a huge shed with a very tall roof and concrete floor, meaning all types of noise in there become louder than normal, causing further stress for Walter and any other dogs that are being kept in crates mid groom. The room where dogs are groomed is clearly dated, cluttered and looks like it would be quite a stressful location to keep a dog. About an hour or so later I notice Walter’s lead is ripped almost in half. It’s a 5 meter lead which cost around $60. I called and ended up going in and asking for a replacement because it’s clear this somehow happened during the groom. Monique showed me the only long lead they had which was 10 meters and ultimately far too big, but at this point it was either that, or no lead at all, so we accepted this as a free replacement. This facility needs an upgrade, and soon. Going from Adamstown store to the Bennett’s green store you’d think it was two completely separate companies. I’m sure head office are in the process of updating their stores to better represent what is clearly a good brand, but the Adamstown store is a huge let down. I won’t be going back, and we have now chosen a groomer that is outside of the Petstock brand entirely. I’m really disappointed.