Ashland Humane Society’s Poor Service

Posted by Creeva

January 27, 2008

Now you may at first wonder why I would say a humane society has poor service. Is it the treatment of the animals? No, I haven’t witnessed any animals at this point. Is it the prices they charge? No, as far as I know I have no specific objection to their pricing structure. My issue with the Ashland Human Society is there poor service.

I called this morning to confirm my appointment for the Rascal Unit that was stopping by to run a pet care clinic. I was taking in the three youngest of my brood to getting them spayed and neutered respectively. To show you what my main complaint is here is the e-mail I’m sending to Rascal Unit:

Dear Rascal Unit,

I regret to inform you of the poor responsiveness of your partner in offering pet care, the Ashland Humane Society. While I’m sure their intentions were well and their hearts are in the proper place, according to your web site with you calender it stated as follows:

January 27- Ashland County, Ohio

Contact the Ashland Humane Society at 419 2814722 or e-mail ashlandhumane@yahoo.com to make an appointment for this clinic date in this area.

Some of your calender dates show that you are able to make an appointment by e-mail or by phone call A good example of this is your calender date for Dayton:

January 16- Dayton, Ohio

Contact the Humane Society of Greater Dayton at 937 268 PETS to schedule for this clinic date in this area.

This calender entry has no e-mail address so it stresses the importance of calling. The reason this is an issue is because in your Ashland calender entry it treats it as if the e-mail and phone number are equal. I e-mailed in my appointment and called this morning to verify what time you were going to be there.

I addressed the lady who answered the phone asked why I was callig and I explained I was just calling to see if the Rascal Unit had arrived yet, she confirmed it was and asked me about my appointment. I explained I had made my appointment by e-mail and she stopped me right there, she said they hadn’t bothered it check it for appointments. Now she didn’t know how long ago I had e-mailed in and seemed almost oblivious that this was an option and stated she could make an appointment for on Feb. 24.

Now this is a rude method to treat someone who had made reservations in the proper fashion and was not informed in any way or shape that this was an issue. This being 2008 and some people like myself prefer to use e-mail since it’s been a primary communication tool for myself since 1994. I am an able bodied person with no disabilities, but giving the option for e-mail to make an appointment and then not validating and accepting that method may be an issue for individuals with disabilities. A growing portion of Americans are now using e-mail in venues where available instead of relying on the old teletext system. If someone with disabilities had attempted to contact the Ashland Humane society in the fashion that I did and received the same response, it may open it up for legal issues on The American with Disabilities Act.

I’m not saying any of this issue was your fault and hold the Rascal Unit blameless in this regard. What I do insist to save others the future is to verify your partners actually check and accept appointments by e-mail if they say they are going to. Beyond that I must suggest you remove the e-mail address for the Ashland Humane Society as a method for contacting them.

Sincerely

Creeva (ok I left my real name and full address)

Now like I said in the e-mail that I don’t hold the Rascal Unit for the responsibility of the partners, I do however insist they require a certain degree of responsiveness from those that do business with them. I do know some individuals would hold Rascal Unit responsible since technically the appointment was with them. I say they are blameless and have to put a certain degree of trust in their partners.

This is 2008 and companies should at least be able to check their e-mail in a daily basis, whether they be a non-profit or for profit business. These entities need to understand that in the current time that e-mail and websites are important communications tools for them and without utilizing these technologies they are going to be left behind and lost.

Update 02/07/2008- Ashland Humane Society Responds to My Blog Post

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ACHS 11 months ago 1 point
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Dear Mr. Gueth,

We thank you for your input regarding our email address being posted by Rascal. They are a wonderful organization and they do great things for the communities that they go to.

They offer low cost spay and neuter to areas where people have lost their jobs, homes, or had to take a reduced income and/or have a large population of un-spayed or neutered animals. In some of the southern counties in Ohio, they actually screen the people who use the rascal clinic for need, based on income. You can imagine how grateful these people are, who could not afford such a procedure with out the services rascals. The Ashland County Humane Society has not decided to take this approach and has allowed all who would like to use the clinic, to be able to do so.

I am responding to this blog as you forwarded it to us, i would assume for some response. Serious consideration regarding rather it should be responded to was given, but have decided to do so. There are things that would be helpful for the community to know.

Lets address your above issues.

Yes, you did email us regarding an appointment. That email was sent on Fri Jan 25 @ 12:52 pm. This is LESS then 48 hours prior to the arrival of Rascals. We close out the schedule for each clinic, either when the clinic is full, or the Thurs or Fri prior to the arrival of the clinic. Rascal needs some type of surgery schedule prior to arrival, so they know how to stock the unit for that clinic. Usually, our clinics fill up first.

This particular clinic was closed out weeks prior to Fri, Jan 25, as it was FULL. This information was stated on our voice mail at our phone number. I am not sure how we could have conveyed that information to you since you only emailed us. We may have been able to respond to your email if emailed us earlier.

I am sure this is still upsetting to you as your perfered communication is email, and you seem to be a very techy person having his blog and webpage. But, we are a Humane Society dedicated to the welfare of ANIMALS. So, we have animals to take care of, animals need medications, transported to vet care, spay and neuters scheduled, adoption visits arranged and handled, cages need cleaned, adoption websites need updated, injured animals need picked up, neglect and inhumanities called need fielded and investigated, community public relations, fund raising events, managing volunteers, and we could go on. So, our apoligizes, if we only get to check the email once a day or less. Animals come first.

Your email started with " I would like to make an appointment." And, appointment IS need. Someone would have had to made contact with you to schedule your animals, get your animals names, give you a time to show up, and pre-operative surgery instructions. Your blog here starts that you called to CONFIRM your appointment, just by sending an email does NOT mean that an appointment has been set. It is just a means to contact the Humane Society, to let them know of your need/interest, so someone can get back in touch with you.

I am sure that you would not contact your personal medical surgeon via email to schedule a surgery. and if you did and recieved no response assume that things were going to go all as planned. How would you even know if they received the email? How would you know if they were or weren't having email/computer problems. Wouldn't you be concerned when you did not hear from them, if they even recieved your email. Would you know wonder if there was anything you needed to know or prepare for prior to your surgery? 'Wouldn't you want your appointment confirmed? Wouldn't you want to personally hear from someone?

Further, many Humane Society are not open on weekends, others still have short hours on Saturday's and office staff is not there. I am surprised that you were not concerned about this possible issue when you sent your email on Fri. afternoon.

Apparently, concerned came about the morning of the clinic Jan 27, 2008. That is when a phone call was placed by you. And, one of two volunteers for that day (sharing her own personal time) answered the phone, in the middle of checking in, half of the 59 people/pets scheduled for the clinic that day. She was trying to keep the check-in flow going, and answer peoples questions, give instructions, handle surgery paperwork, assist with animals, ect. things were a little chaotic. She personally apoligizes if she conveyed herself as rude to you, as that was not her intent. She also stated she did not elaborate or explain to you the procedure or discuss the email as she did not have the convience of time to do so. She stated she told you it must not have been checked as she knew how hard we work at getting back with everyone. She personally did not know who & when the last time the email had been checked. You even stated that services were offered for Feb 24, 2008. We schedule the clinic on a first to contact us basis, even if a message is left.

We did not ask or instruct rascal to place our email address on their website. And, we gave serious consideration over the last couple weeks to your input about having it removed. In the end we decided let it remain as in the 14 plus clinics we have done with rascal, this is the only incident. And, we apoligize to you, we are terribly sorry.

One more note for the community and yourself to know. Your Ashland County Humane Society is only operated by volunteers, NO PAID EMPLOYEES.

These very same volunteers have regular paying jobs at 40 or more hours a week, some go to college in addition, involved in their church communities, some also volunteer for other non-profits, they have spouses, kids and some grandkids. They have regular busy lives such as yourselves and the hours they give to the humane society are hours taken away from the other parts of their lives. They do this for their love of animals and to provide service such as this for the community, to provide a better future for the animals, and to help and assist the people in the ,Ashland Community. The core group of daily volunteer's is small as most do not have time or want to dedication such a large amount of their free time to keep this Humane Society operational on a day to day basis. We appreciate and are grateful for anyone who can, does or wants to help, no matter how big or small a gesture. Mr. Gueth yourself included, as you can see we could use help in the techy department, it take a "back burner" to the needs of the animal.

These volunteers are the very same people who are "providing poor service", a little support and understanding is uplifting and greatly appreciated, it makes it worth the effort.

Ashland County Humane Society

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