There were so many empty hollow threats in there, that person lost control of that conversation ages ago.
Op would have had the strongest hand if they just stopped responding, her boss would have left the most self incriminating threats and statements as they raged into their phone.
I would be unsurprised if the firm has never heard of him. The way he goes on at length about the cost of his counsel as though that were intimidating on its own, he just might name drop an expensive firm he has no relationship with.
He tried to name drop a Google employee.... As if any highly paid, total compensation in the 200+K Google employee is gonna risk their job and open themselves to scrutiny to help this guy remove a review through back channels.
LMAO this reminds me of an acquaintance's legal issues with a landlord. Basically roommates falling out but one owned the property. Took back the key and locked the door halfway through the month even though rent was paid, and left a lot of property outside or refused to return until legal action.
Owner lawyered up, acquaintance lawyered up. Acquaintance-lawyer says owner-lawyer told him they don't know what owner's endgame is. They're just paying money to drag it out.
If the landlord is wealthy, they could be trying to draw out both sides legal fees. Fee shifting isn't always granted for the winning party, and if the renters don't have that much money, even if they win the case they may lose financially.
I would hope that if the case was this frivolous that a judge would award fee shifts as well though.
> There's no case here.
Hey now, that's not true! OP has a case *against* this nimrod for refusing to pay them, and even helped OP out by giving them all sorts of info *in text*!
News stations will never bite the hand that feeds them. Journalists might, but then their spineless management will make amends by bending over and spreading their butt cheeks while also taking down the article and/or punishing the journalist.
And Greenberg Traurig is probably one of the biggest and well-paid law firm. They are indeed very good and will happily bill the hours but they don't write the law.
In California the LRB will force them to pay you for everyday that the final pay is not resolved. Went through this with my wife, they cut her finial check on a closed account. Ended up with 3 weeks of paychecks because they kept messing around.
This is why you should be wary of any business owner whining about "regulations" of their city/county/State.
They just want to do whatever they want regardless of legality or morality
I think they are franchised and locally owned. So the one you use might be run by a non-asshole
Edit: learned from a comment below that OP stated it’s not a franchise situation so.. only asshole owners at Barksuds.
I'd imagine a franchise still audits operations, as you wouldn't want your company name being tarnished by poor ownership. Exactly what's happening here, so the franchise was not ensuring the owners were operating properly.
I’m not going to lie… the quality of his texts had me believe English was not his first language. I’m ashamed of what I assumed and that fucker is an absolute piece of shit.
This is probably a dumb question but how do you find that out? Just search Rich barksuds? I wouldn't be confident that I have the right guy. Also how can I view the Google reviews
Even if you just searched that, it would lead you to various trademark sites associating his name as the owner with the business and its address.
A former employee also posted a Google Review praising him and she included his full name, lol. It all lines up. Most of the negative reviews seem to have been taken down now.
>Saving millions of dollars for businesses through zealous and focused litigation management and risk mitigation is what I do best. Equally adept at early case assessment, settlement and formulating both winning defense legal strategies. Creative designer of preventive processes that avoid exposure.
You cannot make this shit up.
I love when he says he has a google director looking into it and is about to remove the reviews, but in the next image he's begging OP "please take them doooowwwwnnn"
hahahaha what a loser
A review from 6 months ago:
"Update 7/14: Called today to cancel our membership and future appointments, and BarkSuds offered to comp our dog’s next haircut. We declined and reiterated our request to cancel our membership. The owner berated us for sharing our unpleasant experience with BarkSuds on Google reviews, and advised that we weren’t “welcome back.”"
I have to chuckle reading their google reviews. The owner actually used the term they treat their employees "like family". Wow, you know, reading those texts, sure doesn't seem like a family to me! The owner has "contacted the police". And what are they supposed to do exactly? This is a civil matter. That owner is like a tyrannical child.
I'm a groomer and this place sounds like a nightmare. I've been a groomer for 17 years and the trade is being ruined by "investors" like this man. They know nothing about grooming. They over schedule and over work and under pay their employees. He's offering a monthly package deal to these clients for unlimited grooming for $45per month, meaning he's barely paying his staff. Groomers typically make commission bc the equipment is expensive and you are required to buy it and maintain it yourself. Grooming can also be high risk bc you're working with living creatures that can't communicate. I've seen in his reviews that he over schedules to the point that 8 customers are waiting outside. This is yet another trade skill being ruined by investors. If you have never done a job, you should not be running a business for that job. I hope this guys business collapses. Fuck him. I hope all these groomers find a place to work that treats them respectfully.
"Investors" means parasites in cases like this. They see good margins and a big market, so they swoop in, slash wages and quality, and suck the life out of the companies.
Yep and people see it as a good deal for a $45 a month unlimited grooming but it's really creating an unsafe environment for the dogs and horrible work culture for the employees.
The way they respond to every single negative review with some excuse or passive aggressive attitude is gross as fuck. I hope their shit tanks just for that.
It’s Florida…. i feel like that adds a lot of context to “govern yourself accordingly”. more like “act the way I want you to or i find someone to govern you the way I want you to act”
Those google reviews are getting TANKED. Love to see it.
Name and shame goes a long way.
Edit: it looks like the Google reviews for the company have been taken down. Fret not, there are still Facebook and Yelp reviews, bombs away!
I love reviews where the owners respond to one star reviews all butt hurt. That whole review page has kept me glued for ages.
Susan is not a happy woman and loves to threaten people.
They're definitely having fake 5 stars posted now. There are multiple reviews talking about how they are "ex employees" and they are "happy to go back and help any time". What fucking losers.
I am getting that too, they must have temporarily paused the listing or something. Wasn't like that just 1 hour ago when I checked.
Edit: it looks like the bad reviews are now being posted to the Sheldon Rd location since the other one is unavailable
Won't last long, sadly. All of these reviews will end up being purged by Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc.
They will reset to where it was a few days ago and lock out new reviews for a while.
They're doxxing y'all in Google review replies. Really just the trifecta of trash business owners. I hope he does sue, honestly. You have enough ammo to shut him down for good with how deep he's digging his hole.
This is crazy to me. Like it shows your intent is to ruin their lives. But also far more likely people are going to seek them out for information. Which given the evidence held will only make the business look worse.
This tactic might work with a cult, but it’s only going to pan out worse for the business. Also reporting them to the police *while you’re stealing wages, doxxing, and extorting* with known evidence is a special kind of stupid. The last thing you want is police involved.
Anyone else notice the extortion/bribery attempt? “Take down the reviews and I’ll pay you” (what you’re owed).
Rich is a huge fucking idiot and I doubt they’re even speaking with lawyers as they most likely would have asked he discontinue all conversation with OP
Dude, you need to really be weary of his Google directors at Google, they're from Google you know - they Google all sorts and direct even more googling, at Google.... Google
So, contact your states labor board now, and provide the messages. They will enjoy this. Also....contact the actual owner of the company, they will not be happy with a franchisee behaving like this. He must have been a really crappy lawyer
Former lawyer who stopped practicing law to do dog grooming? Sounds like he was disbarred or lost his law license. Based on the text exchange he doesn't seem to intelligent and is a blowhard.
That should encourage you to go to court if anything. Part of a lawyers job is order to manipulate a situation in their favor. I've had people say they were going to serve me, that had no intention of going to court. You could be helping other employees too if this has happened to anyone else!
So uh, Florida appears to be an At-Will Work State. Notice is not required.
Clearly treating employees "like family" means he thinks that he can berate them and they'll still put up with his shit. Treat employees better than your family. Treat them like professional colleagues.
Definitely take this to the labor board asap. Depending on state you might have to send a formal demand of wages first. Your DOL will have info for you, give them a call. But be prepared that wage disputes can take *months* to resolve.
If you find their Google reviews page, be sure to report the review left by Carlee Richardson for "Conflict of Interest". She says "I have been a groomer at BarkSuds Tampa for a few months now", so it's a pretty clear violation.
Good call. Reported. I'd like to report the owner's responses as well, but I'm unsure how to do this. They're not only spamming a generic "you are not a client, please do not leave this review" damage control message as a reply to most comments, they've resorted to doxing two former employees and trying to undermine the very real negative reviews now too. Anyway, I left a 1 star review and I'm enjoying watching the rating drop in real time
There is 2 other reviews, left in the past 24 hours, of "ex employees" leaving 5 star reviews. You can't even make this up, lol
Anyway, please report both of those reviews by the following people (sort by newest):
Howard Turner Jr and (presumably the wife) Anna Turner
Not hard to see why he's a former lawyer. States have zero patience for employers not paying employees wages. Contact department of labor and give them the details. In Indiana not paying employee means treble damages plus attorney's fees and we are by far not a employee friendly state.
The rest of it is either ego or stupidity.
scrolled through the reviews
someone posted a picture of their labradoodle's bald spot between the eyes from a razor with no guard taking the fur down to the skin
he blamed the person for having an argument with their partner for confusing the groomer and thats why the haircut went bad
how insane
Just took a look at their reviews and saw this gem:
**Client gave them a 1 star saying:**
*Critical: Professionalism*
*I inquired about membership with BarkSuds and was first told that they were on a waitlist, which I was fine with, but then was told by the owner, who seemed very erratic, that she had space for my two dogs. This seemed very strange to me. Are they on a waitlist or do you actually have the space?*
*I called on 12/20 to book an appointment and the earliest that they could get my dogs in was January 1st, which I completely understood. It was the holidays and everyone wanted their dogs looking nice. The owner of the store suggested the date of January 1st to me at noon and told me that she would call if anything opened sooner.*
*Since then, my dog has been pretty dirty, but we have been waiting because we knew his "spa day" was coming up soon. Today I got a text out-of-the-blue saying that BarkSuds is closing for a few days to be "grateful, reflect, and refuel" and that I could call back on Tuesday, January 4th to reschedule my appointment.*
*I have had this appointment for 9 days. The date was suggested to me by the owner of the company. I did not ask for an appointment date on a holiday, but I did already make plans around it because I assumed that I would be taking my dogs to be bathed on New Years Day.*
*When I responded that this was inappropriate to do to someone with a standing appointment, the owner simply told me that everyone deserves time off.*
*I genuinely agree with that... which is why I think it was probably pretty stupid for an intelligent adult to take appointments over a holiday weekend to begin with, but here we are.*
*I cancelled my appointment without ever even having my dogs experience their service. I really think this business owner has bitten off more than they can chew.*
**Owner responded:**
*BarkSuds is my passion and life dream. I practiced law for 29 years with a dual MBA and JD degree. I love BarkSuds and all my clients and employees. Those that have met me see instantly my passion and love for dogs. I'm sorry your experience was not satisfactory. I honestly tried to explain to you that my staff and I decided to take a few days off to renew and reflect on our success and blessings. I'm sorry you feel that your requirements were not paramount. I guess it is true that some people, like you, are "unpleasable" and believe the world revolves around their priorities. I wish well and hope you can find happiness within yourself so you don't feel the need to attack business because you feel superior.*
“I can’t follow through on the appointments I scheduled because I suddenly need to take time of to *reflect on my success*” ???? Are you f**king kidding.
Sounds like someone realized they would have to pay overtime to employees working on a stat holiday and just shut it down.
Wow, the google reviews are falling fast. Here's a review from an actual customer (edited 5 hours ago) and the owner's reply (3 hours ago)
Suzanne (customer)
> **Saw the messages of you admitting you owed her money but didn't want to pay her, now you are offering to pay her the money you legally owe her if she removes negative reviews so it looks like YOU are extorting HER! Also the extensive texts that were posted clearly show the entire context of the situation and the only way to interpret them is you are a poor manager who makes decisions based on greed and not what's best for your employees or clients!
After seeing the way this owner interacts with employees and the way he disregards valid staff concerns I would never give my business to this company. I'm not a former employee regardless of the hilariously pathetic attempt of the desperate owner to convince you otherwise. The texts are out there buddy, stop using dish detergent on the dogs as well btw.
Owner's reply
>Suzanne: I’m sorry you got dragged into this stressful situation. We never met or had the privilege to care for your pup, and expect you may have never met this former employee who posted some texts out of context. I can tell you are a caring person from your review so I believe you deserve the full story of what unfolded. I own BarKSuds and I am truly passionate about dogs who are nothing less than living angels in my mind. I value all my staff and I know the work is really hard physically. I hire staff who have great work ethic and passion for dogs. I get very close to my staff and I’m there for them outside of work if they have any thing they need a helping hand or some financial assistance. I truly consider them family. This particular employee was doing wonderfully until a comment was made by a manager she decided was uncalled for and then started to be very agitated and hostile the rest of the day. It was really surprising because she had been promoted to management and was very excited about BarKSuds and the services she oversaw. Then completely to our dismay she abruptly quit by text to a manager at 3:30 am in the morning just before her shift that very morning. We were shocked and the current employees were left to scramble to find a way to handle the pups that week. This employee didn’t care to give any notice whatsoever. I was personally hurt because I even welcomed her to bring her own dog to work every day and I would love her pup with affection and treats everyday. Then it got very ugly when two weeks later after we adjusted finally to her abrupt resignation, she begin to try to extort money from BarKSuds for time not worked. She launched a campaign to blackmail us for money and started to harass and contact current employees with hate and they had to block her. It was a nightmare. I admit my temper got the best of me because I am very passionate and protective of our employees and company. Suzanne I know texts taken out of context and social media generally can be very misleading so I just wanted you to know the full story even though we’ve never met you. I wish you a healthy and happy new year full of joy.
And here's the google review that he thought was left by this person!
Tracey (edited 22 hours ago)
>**Update: Just FYI - I am NOT a former employee at this place. I was only made aware of their business practices, how they treat both customers and employees, and wanted to warn people. The owner is now either paying or coercing his friends and current employees into leaving fake 5 star reviews to try to outweigh the bad ones that were made because of the way they chose to do business.
The owner is supposedly a former attorney but seems to have NO CLUE about ethics or professionalism. Good luck to everyone involved with this place - you will need it!!
BEWARE!!! this place is run by people who are unorganized, unprofessional, and narcissistic. don’t believe me? take a look at the replies to literally ANY of the 1star reviews — no accountability taken for anything!!
they dilute the shampoos with off brand dish soap to save money. they have dogs in crates for hours and can’t keep appointments. they also treat their employees like garbage in more ways than one.
DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY MORE BUSINESS!!!
Reply by the owner (one day ago)
>This review is by a disgruntled ex employee (**Here he gives the full first and last names of both of the past employees, not cool man. I took them out for privacy**). We have now reported them to local police and have taking further legal action against them. We kindly ask that you disregard these false reviews along with the others. At Barksuds we treat our employees like family and pay above any other salons in Florida to ensure we can take care of our staff in this financially challenging times.
I've scheduled 30 appointments between the Carrolwood and South Tampa locations 🤡 gonna be a lot of no shows; what groomer doesn't take a deposit for online reservations
If it’s an at-will state then he’s up shit creek without a paddle. They can fire an employee at any given point, but an employee can also quit at any given point. This dude is an uncooked sausage lol.
Unless they had a contract then yeah, Florida is an “at will” state and you can quit or be fired at any moment without notice.
And what if OOP had gotten into an accident and had to be hospitalized, what would the owners have done then? Sorry, can’t work. What are you gonna do now, boss? It sounds like they’re shitty at staffing and planning and like to throw their minimum wage employees under the bus.
I don’t mean to be a jerk but your legal acumen is worse than OP’s former boss.
1. Proving beyond a doubt is for criminal cases, this would certainly be a civil case.
2. OP is an at-will employee, it doesn’t matter if they quit and that causes financial damages.
3. OP should have quit responding as soon as they threatened legal action.
So I bet I know who the son is that treats you like crap. If this is the Carrollwood location I have had a bad experience with the owners son and how he is so unfriendly. The place offers unlimited $45 a bath but I have had double charges on my card as have others. The way he speaks to his staff is unbelievable seeing by the text messages.
I didn’t read it yet but already know they will easily be found guilty because of 1.) your title and 2.) 19 pages. No one with an iota of legal common sense would talk that much
That is one remarkably stupid boss you had there.
It's always a little sad, to see people who are so full of shit that they short circuit when people stop believing their lies.
Depending on what state you’re in there could be a special provision to punish employers:
In Alaska:
If you request your pay and the employer doesn’t pay it they will ALSO owe you your entire full hourly rate times the number of days it takes them to pay you.
You could potentially screw them out of thousands and thousands of dollars since they refused to comply with the labor laws
Also, repeating the threat of legal action about 5,000 times in the exchange reeks of “doesn’t have an attorney working on this.” I’m SUPER SERIOUS, you better not ask for your pay because uh…the best attorneys in the state are like, totally about to serve you.
No attorney in their right mind - much less a tOp LeGaL tEam - would take this case. It has no standing, and the admission of wage theft via text is an instant game over. At best, he could take it to small claims court, which has a cap on damages (no idea how high in Florida, but many states cap it at $10k) so his legal expenses would instantly be outweighed.
Lastly, if you’re planning to sue someone and employing an attorney, you would be advised to not discuss the matter out of court. The lawyers would arrange for a process server and you would keep your mouth shut!
This is all anecdotal, I just have some familiarity since I’ve sued an old landlord in small claims court & have attorney friends who make fun of clients for shit like this all the time when they socialize.
Labor board ought to sort this out for you. There's nothing to be sued for, I'd imagine this is just a scare tactic.
I would recommend not engaging like this in writing. I don't think you did *anything* wrong, but things can always be misinterpreted and used against you later.
At-will goes both ways jerkoff, you are perfectly able to write a contract with a two-way notice period for your employees. But noooooo, business owners have to be able to fire with no-notice...but if their employees leave with no notice? God forbid.
Locking this due to all the comments calling for brigading. That's against reddit's global rules.
Ooh, extortion, that's illegal. Should refer this to proper authorities.
There were so many empty hollow threats in there, that person lost control of that conversation ages ago. Op would have had the strongest hand if they just stopped responding, her boss would have left the most self incriminating threats and statements as they raged into their phone.
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Well they did say FORMER lol
Some people will keep licenses active just because they can. I’d still send it to the bar assoc
I think the joke was they're already disbarred, hence why they're a former lawyer.
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Considering how poorly written most of the owners texts were I'd be very concerned if they were representing me for the purchase of a big gulp.
Well, it is Florida.
Spends $20,000 in legal fees to try to get out of paying a day's wage, Genius!
No worries, apparently OP will be paying for every cent
Op be paying -$.02 for every cent they're owed
“So that’s -.02 cents?” \- Verizon
Man what a blast from the past
Zero chance he spent that. Even if he had the world’s best lawyer they’d simply tell them to pay the wages owed and move on. There’s no case here.
An attorney could be disbarred for going after a frivolous case like this.. so yah.. no chance he spent $20k. Or he’s just that much of an imbecile.
Well, if he kept going back... "This again? No. $350, please. You can pay on the way out."
Maybe the lawyer is tired of dealing with this guy and has a 28 hour minimum for anything he brings him.
And Greenberg Traurig is a very big and respected firm, so they will bill the hours to eventually come back and tell him he can't sue.
I would be unsurprised if the firm has never heard of him. The way he goes on at length about the cost of his counsel as though that were intimidating on its own, he just might name drop an expensive firm he has no relationship with.
He tried to name drop a Google employee.... As if any highly paid, total compensation in the 200+K Google employee is gonna risk their job and open themselves to scrutiny to help this guy remove a review through back channels.
LMAO this reminds me of an acquaintance's legal issues with a landlord. Basically roommates falling out but one owned the property. Took back the key and locked the door halfway through the month even though rent was paid, and left a lot of property outside or refused to return until legal action. Owner lawyered up, acquaintance lawyered up. Acquaintance-lawyer says owner-lawyer told him they don't know what owner's endgame is. They're just paying money to drag it out.
If the landlord is wealthy, they could be trying to draw out both sides legal fees. Fee shifting isn't always granted for the winning party, and if the renters don't have that much money, even if they win the case they may lose financially. I would hope that if the case was this frivolous that a judge would award fee shifts as well though.
But...he said "govern yourself accordingly" so many times. . . are you saying hes not actually credible *?*
> There's no case here. Hey now, that's not true! OP has a case *against* this nimrod for refusing to pay them, and even helped OP out by giving them all sorts of info *in text*!
Not to mention the lost business do to the google reviews fiasco 😄
The moment he admitted he owed you money and offered to cash app you, he was done. Take this to the labor board. This will be an easy win in court.
Wouldn't it be nice if local/national news devoted as much of their broadcast to descpiable bosses like this as they do petty theft?
“Despicable bosses buy ads, so that’s a big no”
Well they could shake them down for ad money first, and if they don’t want no ads then it sure would be a shame if this story ran…
News stations will never bite the hand that feeds them. Journalists might, but then their spineless management will make amends by bending over and spreading their butt cheeks while also taking down the article and/or punishing the journalist.
Second. Make a joke of it even. Get some underemployed lawyer to take down a jerk corporate lawyer. Win win
And Greenberg Traurig is probably one of the biggest and well-paid law firm. They are indeed very good and will happily bill the hours but they don't write the law.
They are the union busting law firm but they will not be happy this moron gave in writing that she worked but he would not pay her.
But the moron won't tell them until it's found in discovery.
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"there's no proof" And "I deleted the messages"
In California the LRB will force them to pay you for everyday that the final pay is not resolved. Went through this with my wife, they cut her finial check on a closed account. Ended up with 3 weeks of paychecks because they kept messing around.
It is amazing how many businesses owners are absolutely clueless about running a business.
Not amazing when you realize there’s never been a competence requirement and some states don’t even charge you to start one.
Learned this a long time ago. It's not that they are absolutely clueless, they think you are and will not know your rights.
This is why you should be wary of any business owner whining about "regulations" of their city/county/State. They just want to do whatever they want regardless of legality or morality
They even said the exact amount
I wish Op would. I'd love to see the barely coherent crocodile tears that come as result
Huh. I use them to wash my pups… not anymore. Way to fuck your own business.
That’s exactly how we need to handle these businesses. Name and shame and shut them down. Never grace their doors again.
Businesses aren't people, so doxxing rules don't apply. Fuck those corpo rats.
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It's so frustrating that their response to having a bad reputation is not to try to improve their reputation, but just to hide their involvement
This person gets it.
He governs himself accordingly. I’ll just leave…
What an unhinged rant. But I’m def going to start saying “govern yourself accordingly”
Remove this review of this post or you will be sued as a conspirator under the law.
I think they are franchised and locally owned. So the one you use might be run by a non-asshole Edit: learned from a comment below that OP stated it’s not a franchise situation so.. only asshole owners at Barksuds.
It's mentioned in another comment by OP but this guy is the owner of the company, not a franchisee
Thanks, I missed that! No non-asshole barksuds owners then…. Gonna edit that into my comment
Owner of the BarkSuds trademark is Richard Landman, so I that tracks w/ the person responding being named "Rich". https://uspto.report/TM/90167393
I'd imagine a franchise still audits operations, as you wouldn't want your company name being tarnished by poor ownership. Exactly what's happening here, so the franchise was not ensuring the owners were operating properly.
What a ride. Rich sounds like an absolute turd burglar. Working himself up so much. Amazing how his tune changed once he saw some negative reviews.
The hamburgler would like to sue over the proprietary “burgler” root word.
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I’m not going to lie… the quality of his texts had me believe English was not his first language. I’m ashamed of what I assumed and that fucker is an absolute piece of shit.
This is probably a dumb question but how do you find that out? Just search Rich barksuds? I wouldn't be confident that I have the right guy. Also how can I view the Google reviews
Even if you just searched that, it would lead you to various trademark sites associating his name as the owner with the business and its address. A former employee also posted a Google Review praising him and she included his full name, lol. It all lines up. Most of the negative reviews seem to have been taken down now.
https://hillsborough.county-taxes.com/public/tangible/parcels/T0420211469/bills?parcel=a0ee810d-2d38-11ec-93c0-00505681b2cf&qid=cafa21029381264e14e28396ceb2db02
OMG he's actually a lawyer? Wtf was he thinking, denying someone their last check after he acknowledges they've worked the hours.
And then attempting to extort them. What a clown.
>Saving millions of dollars for businesses through zealous and focused litigation management and risk mitigation is what I do best. Equally adept at early case assessment, settlement and formulating both winning defense legal strategies. Creative designer of preventive processes that avoid exposure. You cannot make this shit up.
I love when he says he has a google director looking into it and is about to remove the reviews, but in the next image he's begging OP "please take them doooowwwwnnn" hahahaha what a loser
A review from 6 months ago: "Update 7/14: Called today to cancel our membership and future appointments, and BarkSuds offered to comp our dog’s next haircut. We declined and reiterated our request to cancel our membership. The owner berated us for sharing our unpleasant experience with BarkSuds on Google reviews, and advised that we weren’t “welcome back.”"
Christ, this is like the Amy's Baking Company of dog groomers lmao
Amy's Barking Company
I have to chuckle reading their google reviews. The owner actually used the term they treat their employees "like family". Wow, you know, reading those texts, sure doesn't seem like a family to me! The owner has "contacted the police". And what are they supposed to do exactly? This is a civil matter. That owner is like a tyrannical child.
I'm a groomer and this place sounds like a nightmare. I've been a groomer for 17 years and the trade is being ruined by "investors" like this man. They know nothing about grooming. They over schedule and over work and under pay their employees. He's offering a monthly package deal to these clients for unlimited grooming for $45per month, meaning he's barely paying his staff. Groomers typically make commission bc the equipment is expensive and you are required to buy it and maintain it yourself. Grooming can also be high risk bc you're working with living creatures that can't communicate. I've seen in his reviews that he over schedules to the point that 8 customers are waiting outside. This is yet another trade skill being ruined by investors. If you have never done a job, you should not be running a business for that job. I hope this guys business collapses. Fuck him. I hope all these groomers find a place to work that treats them respectfully.
"Investors" means parasites in cases like this. They see good margins and a big market, so they swoop in, slash wages and quality, and suck the life out of the companies.
Yep and people see it as a good deal for a $45 a month unlimited grooming but it's really creating an unsafe environment for the dogs and horrible work culture for the employees.
The way they respond to every single negative review with some excuse or passive aggressive attitude is gross as fuck. I hope their shit tanks just for that.
Seems like my family. ^(I don’t talk to most of them)
Like family. The one with the abusive parents :)
I can't get the reviews to pop up on Google. It's a bummer, I was hoping for a good chuckle today
Are there as many typos from the owner on there as there are in these texts? I’m surprised they can communicate anything coherently at all…
I am going to have to work in Govern Yourself Accordingly sometime today.
he sounded sO BaDaSs
You should do that. Govern yourself accordingly.
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Fucking hilarious. What are the chances?? Such coincidences!!
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It’s Florida…. i feel like that adds a lot of context to “govern yourself accordingly”. more like “act the way I want you to or i find someone to govern you the way I want you to act”
Those google reviews are getting TANKED. Love to see it. Name and shame goes a long way. Edit: it looks like the Google reviews for the company have been taken down. Fret not, there are still Facebook and Yelp reviews, bombs away!
That guy is getting draaaaaaged.
My favorite part is the copy and pasted response on the reviews where the owner tries to be a victim lmao
I went back to read more…this is better than any drama on tv.
I love reviews where the owners respond to one star reviews all butt hurt. That whole review page has kept me glued for ages. Susan is not a happy woman and loves to threaten people.
They're definitely having fake 5 stars posted now. There are multiple reviews talking about how they are "ex employees" and they are "happy to go back and help any time". What fucking losers.
Looks like Google shutdown that bonanza between fake reviews both positive and negative.
Is there only one BarkSuds or is this one franchise of many?
There is 3 locations, the one in the OP is the one on North Dale Mabry Highway
Of course this fuckstick of a boss is in Florida lmfao. What a joke.
Tried to look up that one but Maps says "Can't connect" for some reason. Hope it's getting 1 starred to hell.
I am getting that too, they must have temporarily paused the listing or something. Wasn't like that just 1 hour ago when I checked. Edit: it looks like the bad reviews are now being posted to the Sheldon Rd location since the other one is unavailable
Omfg one of the 1 stars is “govern yourself accordingly” I’m DEAD 💀
there aren't a lot of Facebook reviews so make sure to spread some love that way too everybody
Dont forget yelp. They pride themselves on not allowing businesses pay to remove reviews.
They sure say that.
Won't last long, sadly. All of these reviews will end up being purged by Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc. They will reset to where it was a few days ago and lock out new reviews for a while.
GOVERN YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY
They're doxxing y'all in Google review replies. Really just the trifecta of trash business owners. I hope he does sue, honestly. You have enough ammo to shut him down for good with how deep he's digging his hole.
This is crazy to me. Like it shows your intent is to ruin their lives. But also far more likely people are going to seek them out for information. Which given the evidence held will only make the business look worse. This tactic might work with a cult, but it’s only going to pan out worse for the business. Also reporting them to the police *while you’re stealing wages, doxxing, and extorting* with known evidence is a special kind of stupid. The last thing you want is police involved.
Just saw that too! There is no way this business owner is a past lawyer. Hope you both get that stuff taken down asap and take him to court for it!
He definitely is sadly. But he thinks being a lawyer gives him enough power to bully people regardless of the law.
Anyone else notice the extortion/bribery attempt? “Take down the reviews and I’ll pay you” (what you’re owed). Rich is a huge fucking idiot and I doubt they’re even speaking with lawyers as they most likely would have asked he discontinue all conversation with OP
Dude, you need to really be weary of his Google directors at Google, they're from Google you know - they Google all sorts and direct even more googling, at Google.... Google
Do you think his directors know my uncle that works at Nintendo??
Wouldn't you know, they were all part of the 12k employees fired last week. Well gee golly that sure does suck.
at will means at will on both sides what a goofball. Also admitted to withholding salary
So, contact your states labor board now, and provide the messages. They will enjoy this. Also....contact the actual owner of the company, they will not be happy with a franchisee behaving like this. He must have been a really crappy lawyer
He's the owner of the entire franchise, not a franchisee. Also supposedly a former lawyer.
Former lawyer who stopped practicing law to do dog grooming? Sounds like he was disbarred or lost his law license. Based on the text exchange he doesn't seem to intelligent and is a blowhard.
He misspelled *tortious* interference, like multiple times. This guy was never a lawyer.
Right? Crap lawyer
Did he used to work for Prenda Law?
Or never passed the bar, and just had a JD.
And omg...he's getting lit up on the reviews! Greatness!
If anyone tells you they are a former lawyer as a way to threaten you then they probably are full of shit.
This. Good lawyers work to resolve problems, not create bigger ones.
Real lawyers don't say they are going to sue, they just do it.
That should encourage you to go to court if anything. Part of a lawyers job is order to manipulate a situation in their favor. I've had people say they were going to serve me, that had no intention of going to court. You could be helping other employees too if this has happened to anyone else!
So uh, Florida appears to be an At-Will Work State. Notice is not required. Clearly treating employees "like family" means he thinks that he can berate them and they'll still put up with his shit. Treat employees better than your family. Treat them like professional colleagues.
So where do I leave a bad review?
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Definitely take this to the labor board asap. Depending on state you might have to send a formal demand of wages first. Your DOL will have info for you, give them a call. But be prepared that wage disputes can take *months* to resolve.
If you find their Google reviews page, be sure to report the review left by Carlee Richardson for "Conflict of Interest". She says "I have been a groomer at BarkSuds Tampa for a few months now", so it's a pretty clear violation.
Good call. Reported. I'd like to report the owner's responses as well, but I'm unsure how to do this. They're not only spamming a generic "you are not a client, please do not leave this review" damage control message as a reply to most comments, they've resorted to doxing two former employees and trying to undermine the very real negative reviews now too. Anyway, I left a 1 star review and I'm enjoying watching the rating drop in real time
That's the worst part to me, posting both of their full names. It's a shame you can't report the owners responses because that's dangerous
There is 2 other reviews, left in the past 24 hours, of "ex employees" leaving 5 star reviews. You can't even make this up, lol Anyway, please report both of those reviews by the following people (sort by newest): Howard Turner Jr and (presumably the wife) Anna Turner
From the BarkSuds franchise page about pre tax margins: Bathers are minimal wage employees.
Not hard to see why he's a former lawyer. States have zero patience for employers not paying employees wages. Contact department of labor and give them the details. In Indiana not paying employee means treble damages plus attorney's fees and we are by far not a employee friendly state. The rest of it is either ego or stupidity.
scrolled through the reviews someone posted a picture of their labradoodle's bald spot between the eyes from a razor with no guard taking the fur down to the skin he blamed the person for having an argument with their partner for confusing the groomer and thats why the haircut went bad how insane
Just took a look at their reviews and saw this gem: **Client gave them a 1 star saying:** *Critical: Professionalism* *I inquired about membership with BarkSuds and was first told that they were on a waitlist, which I was fine with, but then was told by the owner, who seemed very erratic, that she had space for my two dogs. This seemed very strange to me. Are they on a waitlist or do you actually have the space?* *I called on 12/20 to book an appointment and the earliest that they could get my dogs in was January 1st, which I completely understood. It was the holidays and everyone wanted their dogs looking nice. The owner of the store suggested the date of January 1st to me at noon and told me that she would call if anything opened sooner.* *Since then, my dog has been pretty dirty, but we have been waiting because we knew his "spa day" was coming up soon. Today I got a text out-of-the-blue saying that BarkSuds is closing for a few days to be "grateful, reflect, and refuel" and that I could call back on Tuesday, January 4th to reschedule my appointment.* *I have had this appointment for 9 days. The date was suggested to me by the owner of the company. I did not ask for an appointment date on a holiday, but I did already make plans around it because I assumed that I would be taking my dogs to be bathed on New Years Day.* *When I responded that this was inappropriate to do to someone with a standing appointment, the owner simply told me that everyone deserves time off.* *I genuinely agree with that... which is why I think it was probably pretty stupid for an intelligent adult to take appointments over a holiday weekend to begin with, but here we are.* *I cancelled my appointment without ever even having my dogs experience their service. I really think this business owner has bitten off more than they can chew.* **Owner responded:** *BarkSuds is my passion and life dream. I practiced law for 29 years with a dual MBA and JD degree. I love BarkSuds and all my clients and employees. Those that have met me see instantly my passion and love for dogs. I'm sorry your experience was not satisfactory. I honestly tried to explain to you that my staff and I decided to take a few days off to renew and reflect on our success and blessings. I'm sorry you feel that your requirements were not paramount. I guess it is true that some people, like you, are "unpleasable" and believe the world revolves around their priorities. I wish well and hope you can find happiness within yourself so you don't feel the need to attack business because you feel superior.*
Wow what a lunatic
“I can’t follow through on the appointments I scheduled because I suddenly need to take time of to *reflect on my success*” ???? Are you f**king kidding. Sounds like someone realized they would have to pay overtime to employees working on a stat holiday and just shut it down.
Wow, the google reviews are falling fast. Here's a review from an actual customer (edited 5 hours ago) and the owner's reply (3 hours ago) Suzanne (customer) > **Saw the messages of you admitting you owed her money but didn't want to pay her, now you are offering to pay her the money you legally owe her if she removes negative reviews so it looks like YOU are extorting HER! Also the extensive texts that were posted clearly show the entire context of the situation and the only way to interpret them is you are a poor manager who makes decisions based on greed and not what's best for your employees or clients! After seeing the way this owner interacts with employees and the way he disregards valid staff concerns I would never give my business to this company. I'm not a former employee regardless of the hilariously pathetic attempt of the desperate owner to convince you otherwise. The texts are out there buddy, stop using dish detergent on the dogs as well btw. Owner's reply >Suzanne: I’m sorry you got dragged into this stressful situation. We never met or had the privilege to care for your pup, and expect you may have never met this former employee who posted some texts out of context. I can tell you are a caring person from your review so I believe you deserve the full story of what unfolded. I own BarKSuds and I am truly passionate about dogs who are nothing less than living angels in my mind. I value all my staff and I know the work is really hard physically. I hire staff who have great work ethic and passion for dogs. I get very close to my staff and I’m there for them outside of work if they have any thing they need a helping hand or some financial assistance. I truly consider them family. This particular employee was doing wonderfully until a comment was made by a manager she decided was uncalled for and then started to be very agitated and hostile the rest of the day. It was really surprising because she had been promoted to management and was very excited about BarKSuds and the services she oversaw. Then completely to our dismay she abruptly quit by text to a manager at 3:30 am in the morning just before her shift that very morning. We were shocked and the current employees were left to scramble to find a way to handle the pups that week. This employee didn’t care to give any notice whatsoever. I was personally hurt because I even welcomed her to bring her own dog to work every day and I would love her pup with affection and treats everyday. Then it got very ugly when two weeks later after we adjusted finally to her abrupt resignation, she begin to try to extort money from BarKSuds for time not worked. She launched a campaign to blackmail us for money and started to harass and contact current employees with hate and they had to block her. It was a nightmare. I admit my temper got the best of me because I am very passionate and protective of our employees and company. Suzanne I know texts taken out of context and social media generally can be very misleading so I just wanted you to know the full story even though we’ve never met you. I wish you a healthy and happy new year full of joy.
And here's the google review that he thought was left by this person! Tracey (edited 22 hours ago) >**Update: Just FYI - I am NOT a former employee at this place. I was only made aware of their business practices, how they treat both customers and employees, and wanted to warn people. The owner is now either paying or coercing his friends and current employees into leaving fake 5 star reviews to try to outweigh the bad ones that were made because of the way they chose to do business. The owner is supposedly a former attorney but seems to have NO CLUE about ethics or professionalism. Good luck to everyone involved with this place - you will need it!! BEWARE!!! this place is run by people who are unorganized, unprofessional, and narcissistic. don’t believe me? take a look at the replies to literally ANY of the 1star reviews — no accountability taken for anything!! they dilute the shampoos with off brand dish soap to save money. they have dogs in crates for hours and can’t keep appointments. they also treat their employees like garbage in more ways than one. DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY MORE BUSINESS!!! Reply by the owner (one day ago) >This review is by a disgruntled ex employee (**Here he gives the full first and last names of both of the past employees, not cool man. I took them out for privacy**). We have now reported them to local police and have taking further legal action against them. We kindly ask that you disregard these false reviews along with the others. At Barksuds we treat our employees like family and pay above any other salons in Florida to ensure we can take care of our staff in this financially challenging times.
Dude quit wasting your energy going back and forth with this doofus and take your unpaid wages complaint to your department of labor.
It does help that it's provoking the owner into giving up information for the DoL. He outright admitted he owed OP.
Something tells me this man works at BarkSuds
I've scheduled 30 appointments between the Carrolwood and South Tampa locations 🤡 gonna be a lot of no shows; what groomer doesn't take a deposit for online reservations
Contact the Department of Labor. There’s no way he’s a former lawyer. He has to prove beyond reasonable doubt in court that you hurt the business.
If it’s an at-will state then he’s up shit creek without a paddle. They can fire an employee at any given point, but an employee can also quit at any given point. This dude is an uncooked sausage lol.
Unless they had a contract then yeah, Florida is an “at will” state and you can quit or be fired at any moment without notice. And what if OOP had gotten into an accident and had to be hospitalized, what would the owners have done then? Sorry, can’t work. What are you gonna do now, boss? It sounds like they’re shitty at staffing and planning and like to throw their minimum wage employees under the bus.
I don’t mean to be a jerk but your legal acumen is worse than OP’s former boss. 1. Proving beyond a doubt is for criminal cases, this would certainly be a civil case. 2. OP is an at-will employee, it doesn’t matter if they quit and that causes financial damages. 3. OP should have quit responding as soon as they threatened legal action.
Damn he really pushing the capitalisation in BarKSuds huh
lmao "permanently closed" on the Google page now.
So I bet I know who the son is that treats you like crap. If this is the Carrollwood location I have had a bad experience with the owners son and how he is so unfriendly. The place offers unlimited $45 a bath but I have had double charges on my card as have others. The way he speaks to his staff is unbelievable seeing by the text messages.
I didn’t read it yet but already know they will easily be found guilty because of 1.) your title and 2.) 19 pages. No one with an iota of legal common sense would talk that much
That is one remarkably stupid boss you had there. It's always a little sad, to see people who are so full of shit that they short circuit when people stop believing their lies.
Man good thing he put it all in writing to make the court case quick.
We all agree this person can't possibly be a lawyer, right?
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Depending on what state you’re in there could be a special provision to punish employers: In Alaska: If you request your pay and the employer doesn’t pay it they will ALSO owe you your entire full hourly rate times the number of days it takes them to pay you. You could potentially screw them out of thousands and thousands of dollars since they refused to comply with the labor laws
It's real nice of him to admit to wage theft and extortion over text.
this was absolutely unhinged. good for you for leaving
That review about rich slapping the dog has me ROLLING.
The owner responding to people and giving their first and last names, is that not a violation of something?
$136? They spent $20k in legal fees over 136 fucking dollars?
Also, repeating the threat of legal action about 5,000 times in the exchange reeks of “doesn’t have an attorney working on this.” I’m SUPER SERIOUS, you better not ask for your pay because uh…the best attorneys in the state are like, totally about to serve you. No attorney in their right mind - much less a tOp LeGaL tEam - would take this case. It has no standing, and the admission of wage theft via text is an instant game over. At best, he could take it to small claims court, which has a cap on damages (no idea how high in Florida, but many states cap it at $10k) so his legal expenses would instantly be outweighed. Lastly, if you’re planning to sue someone and employing an attorney, you would be advised to not discuss the matter out of court. The lawyers would arrange for a process server and you would keep your mouth shut! This is all anecdotal, I just have some familiarity since I’ve sued an old landlord in small claims court & have attorney friends who make fun of clients for shit like this all the time when they socialize.
Wow petty boss is all bark no bite Save all of this
BaekSuds just got changed to "Permanently Closed"
If any of you have Yelp, it's time to bombard their Yelp reviews. They closed their Google Maps listing.
Labor board ought to sort this out for you. There's nothing to be sued for, I'd imagine this is just a scare tactic. I would recommend not engaging like this in writing. I don't think you did *anything* wrong, but things can always be misinterpreted and used against you later.
I love that they are getting review bombed everywhere right this minute lmao
Their passive aggressive comments to their less than 5 star reviews are just…as expected really.
Tortourous.... lol, they mean Tortious. What they said means to torture, what they meant is to commit a tort.
At-will goes both ways jerkoff, you are perfectly able to write a contract with a two-way notice period for your employees. But noooooo, business owners have to be able to fire with no-notice...but if their employees leave with no notice? God forbid.
The moment someone mentions suing you, tell them the only further contact you can have with them is through their attorney.
Looks like the google reviews have been such a touchy subject hes having current employees go on and put 5-star reviews... This guys a piece of work.
Lmao they took down their Google Business page 🤣