Documentation of Text Conversations with Elizabeth from Washington D.C.

Please visit our Crockett Doodles Facebook page to read hundreds and hundreds of wonderful five-star reviews from families who got a puppy from Crockett Doodles through the years and love their experience. Occasionally (1-2% of the time), a family has a less-than-ideal experience with Crockett Doodles. A few of these individuals have left negative reviews. The small handful of negative reviews are less than one-half of 1% of the of positive reviews. We recognize that even companies known for great customer service (Chik-fil-A, Apple, Amazon) have numerous negative reviews. It’s impossible to please all of the people all of the time, and no company is perfect.

At the time of this writing, we’ve had 4 reports through the years to the BBB, all of which were handled and closed. We have an A rating with the BBB, when most dog breeders rigorously avoid the BBB.

I started this particular page of “evidence” because “Elizabeth M” from Washington D.C. had a negative experience with a puppy that she got from Crockett Doodles. I don’t doubt that she did not like her experience, and she wrote a 1-star review on Yelp. For some reason Yelp seems to strongly prefer 1-star reviews to 5-star reviews. We’ve had more than 20 customers leave us 5-star reviews that Yelp hides, does not factor in to the star rating and calls “non recommended.” We should have a 4.8 rating with Yelp if they would factor in 5-star reviews (from actual customers) which they hide. Yelp has been seriously criticized and even the Yelp review of Yelp is very, very low.

I should clarify that Elizabeth is likely a nice person. I don’t doubt that she is a good mom, and I believe she is providing a wonderful home for her Newfiedoodle, Ozzy, whom she adopted from Crockett Doodles. She has posted very cute pics of Ozzy on her Instagram account.

Elizabeth had some good points to her review, but also made some invalid assumptions. I responded this way to her Yelp review:

Elizabeth M, I apologize that you had a negative experience with Crockett Doodles. We receive emails and Facebook messages daily of appreciative families with great experiences. We leave our comments and visitor posts completely open on Facebook so people can post the good, bad, ugly, but it’s 98-99% good, with literally hundreds of glowing reviews. 

However, you’re part of the 1% who had a negative experience which was your ONLY experience with us. I apologize that your pup was delivered to you in a way that upset you.

I’ve tried repeatedly to contact you to make it right. For the past 12 days I’ve tried numerous times to speak with you to see how to serve you better, but you’ve refused to talk.

We offered to give you a full refund, but you want to keep the puppy (we don’t blame you). We certainly want to reimburse you for any medical expense you incurred due to parasites. It’s possible for a puppy to still have a parasite, even after we’ve done the normal deworming procedure & had pups vet checked.

I think you make too many wrong assumptions in your review.

WRONG ASSUMPTIONS

1) Wrong Assumption: Because the puppy smelled bad when I received him & had staining, he must have come from a horrible environment. 

Reality: A puppy can soil himself on a trip across town to the vet. A 8-9 hour car drive (with one of our newest delivery drivers) is plenty of time for a puppy to get dirty. I agree with you that is unacceptable to get a puppy in a bad condition. 

2) Wrong Assumption: Because my pup was not house trained, I know that it must not have been raised in a house.

Reality: If you had come & picked up your puppy from his partner home, I think you would have a very different opinion. Your puppy’s partner home are good family friends that we’ve known for years, go to church with and work at BJU with. They have a gorgeous, clean house. Years ago, I went to their house & stayed with them as they delivered their first litter of pups in their bedroom. They bought a video baby monitor so she could watch the pups (which they moved to the kitchen), whenever she was away from home. They’re animal lovers & have done a fantastic job raising a couple litters a year in their home for Crockett Doodles. Many families have picked up at their home through the years & had a 5-star experience.

3) Wrong Assumption: My puppy was picked up at a place that had 20 puppies; this must be a puppy mill.

Reality: I think your info is probably wrong here. You never went to the guardian home, but had the pup delivered. There were fewer than 20 pups in the litter. I know over summer break some of our guardian homes watch puppies for another family that goes on vacation.

Wrong Assumption: I didn’t bother reaching out to Crockett Doodles about reimbursing my vet expense because I don’t think they would based on BBB reviews.

Reality: We have a better health warranty than any other breeder I’m aware of. We understand that sometimes in spite of our best efforts a puppy will have a parasite, and we are quick to reimburse for that. Many of the puppies that are adopted from us are 2nd pups for a family who got one from us years ago, or families who refer a friend. We’ve found that a strong health warranty is essential for maintaining a great reputation. If you had emailed us, you would have found that out. We still are trying to contact you to refund you that money.

Wrong Assumption: Because there are a small handful of complaints posted on BBB, Crockett Doodles must be terrible.

Reality: People contact the BBB when they’re upset. We have a fraction of complaints compared to our competitors. Nearly any business will upset people. For instance Amazon.com has almost 13,000 customer complaints and a B+ rating (compared to our A rating). Fewer than 1/2 of one percent of people who get a pup from us have left a complaint. Many of those are misunderstandings; like the lady who thought we “stole” her deposit. She wrote the wrong address on the check, thought we had deposited it because her bank put a “hold” on the amount of the electronic check. We let her know; she apologized & told the BBB it was resolved.

Elizabeth, I apologize for the negative experience you had. It’s certainly not typical, & I’d encourage you to talk with us before rushing to wrong conclusions. 

Please scroll to the bottom of reviews and read “non-recommended” Yelp shows 1-star reviews & hides our many 5-star reviews. We should have a 4.8 rating currently.

I was very surprised by what happened next. Elizabeth texted me saying that I had “outright lied” in my response. She also updated her Yelp review, saying:

The owner, Nathan Crockett responded to this review and actually lied— bold faced lied. He did NOT try to contact me multiple times or offer any refund. Even if he had, i would never surrender this dog back to a puppy mill. His response is grotesque. He’s just trying to protect his financial interests. Crockett Doodles is a profit making scam hidden under the guise of religion. This guy is shameless.

It was surprising to me that Elizabeth would accuse me of lying when she had the text messages where I had repeatedly reached out to her wanting to talk and had offered to give her a full refund (if we got the dog back). Perhaps she knew that Yelp would not allow me to place photos in my response to her review.

I’ve decided to show the full evidence of our text conversations. I’ve done screen shots with my iPhone; below you can see the full text conversation between myself and Elizabeth (without additions or subtractions). You will see that I tried 8 times (over 13 days) to reach out to her, and that I offered her a full refund for her puppy. Her text messages are in gray and mine are in blue. I want to get the truth out there. [Update: I’ve tried 7 more times to reach out to her in the past week since posting this online].