An Open Letter to the Wag! Community

Some of you have recently reached out to us through social media, email, and other channels. You said that we got it wrong in terms of both how we responded to certain, recent pet incidents and — when we finally did respond — not doing the right thing in addressing the pet parents’ needs.

We hear you loud and clear. We have some work to do on our end, and we’re committed to doing it.

We’re revisiting and reviewing our customer service systems. With thousands of walks occurring every day by committed, dedicated walkers on the Wag! platform, it’s normal for people to contact us for any number of reasons. And while all contacts by pet parents and walkers are important, some are of a much higher priority. We know this, and we need to ensure our processes reflect it.

Separately, we’ve taken a close look at one of our standard processes when paying a claim. In the rare instance when there’s an incident in which we need to work with the pet parents to make sure their needs are addressed, we’ve required them to sign an agreement — a common practice in the business world. It was so routine for us, in fact, that we didn’t pause to see if it made sense for every situation.

As a result of your feedback, we’ve already updated our policy regarding such agreements so that we’re responding with the highest level of sensitivity to the nature of each individual case.

I’m a longtime pet parent. My love for dogs is a key reason I joined this company one year ago as its chief executive officer. And working with dog lovers across the company, we’ve already made significant changes to help make Wag! better.

To further succeed, we know we have to be a company that pet parents can trust to do the right thing for them and their pets, and one that attracts the best walkers and sitters to take care of those pets.

I’m proud of where Wag! is headed. But I’ll never be too proud to listen to you — our pet parents and walkers, both current and prospective — or to make changes.

Thank you,

Hilary Schneider
Chief Executive Officer, Wag!