I need a bit of advice. Someone bought me a dog to be groomed and said they wanted it clipped down as short as it would go. This was a breed that is not meant to be clipped and I told the owner several times it would not look good, but they insisted that's how they wanted it. I had a hell of a job clipping this dog, the coat wouldn't clip properly and the fur was so thick and fluffy my shortest blade would barely go through it. I did eventually get it done the best I could, but the owner wasn't happy with it; admittedly it didn't look great as I simply couldn't get it nice and smooth all over, I apologised, told them I was sorry but I would not accept the dog again and gave them it free of charge. What I want to know though is can they badmouth me for this? As far as I'm concerned the dog looks exactly like I knew it would shaved down as best as I could get it, not good, but they asked for this despite me saying it would look bad over and over. I am rather upset about this, people are normally very happy and satisfied with my work, I am kicking myself for not listening to myself and refusing to work on this dog which would not have looked good with such an extreme cut no matter how tidy it was.

Do you do this as a business and if so are you worried they will bad mouth you on social media, to their mates or what?
Unfortunately the dog itself is an ad for your work. and people may ask 'Who did THAT'? It's a bit like me asking a tiler to tile over old cracked tiles. Even if he warns me it will be a bad idea - if he does it the judgement will ultimately be on him - not me for asking.
But you have done all you can after the event and I would try not to worry about it. Hopefully you will have enough satisfied clients to counteract any flash in the pan negative reviews. No supplier of a service or product gets good reviews all the time - just look on Amazon!

If you are generally well thought of as a groomer one dog that isn't usually clipped won't destroy your reputation, if you get bad reviews how you respond may make a difference. I think tell the truth but be very clear you did this free and warned it would look bad from the start and be very nice and polite in all interactions.

I know when I looked for a groomer I was more interested in how complaints were handled than much else. Wanted a reasonable unangry person handling my dog.

Thank you both, yes MrsG that's it, I don't really want them telling people I've made a mess of their dog , especially when it would have looked a mess regardless with the way they wanted it! As far as I'm concerned, I did what they asked for, against my better judgement and it turned out exactly like I knew it would - a mess because it wasn't meant to be clipped. Oh well there's nothing I can do now, if anyone does say anything about it I'll tell them straight though. That's what annoyed me about it, I don't mind too much if they just didn't like the job as you can't please everyone, but without trying to sound bigheaded, I knew better than them it wouldn't work and now it's my reputation that'll take a knock. It's like me going to my hairdresser and totally ignoring her warnings and advice then complaining to her when it goes wrong! Lesson learned though, I won't clip a breed not designed for it again ever no matter how much the owner insists on it.

Hope it all works out for you cw I'm sure it will one bad review won't hurt you just respond in a decent manner.

i think they're being unreasonable. Many years ago we had a dog that wouldn't normally be clipped but the vet advised clipping him one summer when he was older for health reasons. We couldn't find a groomer willing to do him as they all said we would be so unhappy with the result and wouldn't pay.
At that time we used a kennels when we went on hol who also did grooming, as they knew us they were happy to do it and he looked fantastic and was so much happier, he was like a puppy it gave him a new lease of life so we continued to have him done twice each summer in future. Was there a particular reason that they wanted him clipped?

Are you on fb as a groomer? or is there a fb site for where you live that they could bad mouth you on? I feel for you

It's worth knowing if a dog needs clipping for comfort or something other than giving it a different look many vets will get the nurses to give them a clip. When we got a rescue few years ago we were told no by several groomers but our vet nurse was happy to help, corgi with no hair was a bit odd looking but starting again with clean skin was best way forward as the glue she had through her coat would never have brushed out.