This past year proved to be monumental for Pet and Home Care. We expanded our pet care team and office staff, made new investments in our facilities, and improved our technology to deliver an even better customer experience for both pets and their parents alike.
The biggest change came when we launched a new app and online customer center back in March. Both our clients and team members seamlessly adapted to the new tech, and it has made a better all-around user experience for booking, scheduling, communications, and payments. If you haven’t done it yet, we strongly encourage you to download the Apple or Android app today!
As much as things evolved this year, we’re constantly updating our business to adapt to a shifting pet care industry. By keeping up with new trends and practices, we’re better positioned to accommodate both our clients and our team members alike.
In this spirit, here are a few more changes and updates that are coming for Pet and Home Care in 2023.
RATE INCREASES ON JANUARY 3
OK, we get it: we can hear you screaming “NOOOOOO!” through your screen. No one likes paying more, but we had to make this difficult decision for two major reasons:
- Our team is bigger than ever.
- They’re staying with the company longer.
Both of these trends are welcome developments for our clients who rely on our staff’s invaluable experience and their familiarity with your pets. They also mean well-deserved raises and promotions and more benefits to administer. In the end, both our clients and our company are better served by long-tenured, well-compensated, and happy team members!
We did everything we could to minimize rate increases for 2023 — which will officially go into effect on January 3 after the New Year’s holiday — and we took lengths to make sure we’re still competitive with other local pet care companies, without having to implement additional increases anytime soon.
Check out the menu laying out the new prices for our most popular services:
We recognize that many of our clients have already booked services in 2023. If an invoice has already been generated for these services, we will honor those existing rates. We will also honor existing rates for any 2023 bookings made before the end of this year. So if you know you need care in January and beyond, we encourage you to book your services before the New Year and save!
If you are a client with daily or weekly recurring visits we will honor our existing rates through the middle of February 2023. The exact date will vary by each recurring client’s invoicing schedule.
PET AND HOME CARE POLICY CHANGES
As Pet and Home Care continues to grow, we’re constantly evaluating our existing policies. Some policies that once made sense a few years ago — or even this time last year – don’t make sense now. After our most recent review, here our some new policies that Pet and Home Care is implementing for 2023:
Free Meet-and-Greets
We know how important it is for our clients to feel good about the people they allow into their homes to provide care for their pets. Pet and Home Care is finally in a place where we no longer need to charge for meet-and-greets, so all new clients will be able to meet with their primary sitters at no additional cost before their services start!
Simplifying and Reducing ‘Extra Pet’ Fees for In-Home Visits
A lot of clients have given us feedback that our pricing structure for extra pets was too confusing, so we made changes and updated the policy to clear things up:
- All our base prices will now reflect service for the FIRST PET ONLY, no matter what type of pet it is.
- If additional dogs or cats require servicing in the same visit we will charge an extra $4 per pet, starting on January 3. This will be a decrease from our existing extra pet fee of $5 (YAY!).
- Care for additional exotic pets (including but not limited to small caged mammals, birds, fish, lizards, snakes, farm animals, etc.) will be charged at custom rates established with our office managers. Please contact us at care@petandhomecare.com to discuss these custom rates.
Updated Late-Booking Policy
We’re always happy to accommodate last-minute bookings made within 24 hours of needed service, but we are increasing our late-booking fee to $15 for standard in-home visits and daycare, and $25 for last-minute overnights and boarding requests. Of course, the best way to avoid these fees is to book your care well in advance (or at least more than 24 hours before your requested service).
New Cancellation Policy
Up until now, we’ve maintained a lenient cancellation policy where clients could cancel services up to 12 hours ahead of time with no penalty. But in the last year we found that the existing policy would regularly throw our schedule into turmoil, affecting services for other clients. So starting in 2023, we are extending our cancellation policy to a minimum of 24 hours before the start of any scheduled services to avoid any penalties.
Of course, we know that some last-minute cancellations are the result of forces out of a client’s control and we will consider account credits in lieu of penalties on a case-by-case basis.
One More Holiday on Black Friday
We updated our holiday calendar earlier this year to include all major holidays and their federally observed dates. In 2023, we’re adding the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) to the mix. There are no changes to the additional 30% fee on all designated holidays.
OTHER CHANGES
Here’s a sneak peak at all the other fun stuff we have up our sleeve for the coming year…
Yummy Treats at the Resort!
Don’t have time to pack a doggie snack pack? Or maybe you think your daycare or boarding pup deserves an extra treat for being a good boy or girl? Well, we have your tail covered!
The Pet and Home Care Dog Resort is thrilled to introduce a new menu of healthy treats available as delicious add-ons to your pup’s daycare or boarding stay! We call it our Doggone Good Barkery Treats & Eats!
Starting in January 2023, we’re rolling out our menu of delicious treats from puppy ice cream, to veggie bowls and meal toppings, to other seasonal offerings and calming CBD add-ons. We’re really excited about this delicious new addition to the resort, so be on the lookout for more information coming soon!
Brand New Website!
We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to roll out a new PetAndHomeCare.com that’s cleaner and easier to navigate. Our goal is to make it simpler to learn about our services, rates, and the team members that care for your pets. Target date to launch the new site is mid-January 2023.
If you’d like to learn more about the most updated pricing and policies at Pet and Home Care, please reach out to us through our app or at care@petandhomecare.com.