Good Grief!

Jake doesn't usually receive a lot of "blog time". Since the arrival of the 2-legged children, Jake is pretty low on the totem pole around here. If he could talk, I'm sure he would remind me of the days when I treated him like a first-born son. Jake recently celebrated his 5th birthday and what an eventful week he has had. He stayed at a local kennel while we were out of town for Thanksgiving. When I picked him up, they told me he had a cut on his paw pad. No one knew what happened, they were really sorry, if it didn't get better someone should probably take a look at it, blah, blah, blah. Oh, and let's not forget the best part, "good luck keeping the bandage on, because we've tried to keep one on and it just keeps slipping off. "
Now, if this were a human child, I would be freaking out. If Luke's preschool teacher handed him over to me with an injury and said, "sorry, don't know how this happened. By the way, my first aid skills stink and I couldn't find a band aid. So, if he doesn't get better you should maybe get somebody to look at him." Can you imagine the outrage?
I'm just a teeny, tiny bit wound up about this one.
Wait. It gets better.
When I signed Jake in at the kennel, I purchased a $5 healthy pet guarantee. In plain english, this means that if Jake gets hurt at the kennel, they will cover his expenses at the veterinary clinic. It scared me that they even offered this policy, but I was all over it. So, when I picked Jake up and the oh-so-informed attendant happily charged my Visa card for an obscene amount of money, she also acknowledged that the guarantee was in place and they would "totally cover" my expenses.
Jake's 20 minutes at the vet, including bandage application and amoxicillin, was $55. When I called to ask for reimbursement, these kennel people are suddenly not so helpful. Suddenly they have decided Jake arrived at the kennel with his foot cut open. They don't cover any pre-existing conditions. Grrrrr!
When I was a kid, my grandfather was forever bent over his trusty typewriter, drafting letters of complaint to all kinds of people who had demonstrated poor customer service. He once broke a toilet 3 times trying to install it and 3 times returned it to the store. Of course it was the toilet's fault that it kept cracking. This guy was good.
So, I did something a few minutes ago that would make my Grampie proud. I sat down at my trusty laptop and wrote a very tersely worded letter to the kennel, requesting reimbursement. I don't know if it will do any good, but I certainly feel better.
I am a bit sarcastic today because I am so irritated. On a more serious note, it has occurred to me that it is so important to keep your word and honor your commitments. As a consumer, I am so disappointed that I have encountered such poor customer service. But, more importantly, as a parent, I am reminded of the values of honor and integrity. We need to raise children who hold these values in high esteem...and possess strong communication skills so they can write tersely worded letters.