Buying Dog Toys, Bad Experience with Kruuse

No one likes being treated poorly when shopping for dog toys—especially not being told a toy is one price in the US, then having the price doubled for the same toy in Canada. Here is my experience with Kruuse, a Danish company whose products were displayed at the North American Veterinary Conference(NAVC) in Orlando, FL, January 2016. 

Veterinarians go to the NAVC to attend lectures and to enjoy the hundreds of new animal products.  Between lectures on Feline IBD and Fascia, the Forgotten Tissue, I was on a quest to find a toy for a Mandy, a beloved cockapoo with newly diagnosed diabetes. Mandy had poorly regulated blood sugar levels despite tight dietary control and twice daily Caninsulin. Her family, like most families of newly diagnosed diabetic dogs, despaired of ever being able to master blood sugar levels. They deserved a toy that rewarded their efforts, and the ideal toy would slowly dispense kibble and reduce the rate at which Mandy gulped her evening meal.

After passing anesthesia machines, dental polishers, pet insurance providers, and lasers, I found the ideal toy at the Kruuse booth: a Buster Interactive Mat. The Danish product manager for Kruuse, Rikke Jarlkvist, proudly showed me how the toy worked and gave me a beautifully illustrated catalog. I asked to buy the toy, which Rikke said was $35.00, was told I couldn’t purchase it at the NAVC, but that I could purchase it from their Canadian supplier, whose name she did not have.

Within a week of returning home, Rikke e-mailed the name of the Canadian supplier, and I contacted McCarthy and Sons, Rafter 8 Products, requesting to purchase the toy. I provided information on my Canadian bank account, asked the toy be sent to a Canadian home, and requested the total purchase price. The $35.00 US toy was now $59.41 with an additional $20.00 handling, totalling $79.81. To make the transaction even more difficult to swallow, the Canadian distributor would not send the toy to the family, but only to me, despite the fact that the family lives in Canada and I live 2000 miles away in the US.

Not happy with the situation, I e-mailed Rikke Jarlkvist at Kruuse describing the difficulty I was having; she shrugged it off, saying it was a Canadian distributor`s matter.

This is what I think could have been done differently:

1. Kruuse could, like all the other vendors at NAVC, sell the products they carry at the Orlando meeting

2. Kruuse could have a price list and a list of distributors available at the NAVC.

3. Kruuse should not condone price gouging and doubling the price of items sold to Canadians.

4. Kruuse product managers could follow up on purchases, especially when there is discord between purchaser and distributor.

 We have choices when we buy pet products, and one of the reasons that Hills, Merck, Merial, and Nordic Naturals do so well with veterinarians is that they have excellent customer service. (Hills, I want to thank you again for that cup of coffee rustled up at 5:30 just before the session on the Science of Semiochemicals and Its Applications to Veterinary Medicine. Because of that cup of coffee, I learned a lot that evening.)

 Kruuse, you`ve a lot to learn from the veterinary companies that provide excellent customer service, and if you want to model yourself after one of the best, I`d suggest you learn from Nordic Naturals. Nordic Naturals doesn’t just have great products, and beautifully illustrated catalogues, they have outstanding service. Their veterinary product manager, Bonnie Johnson, makes sure that every interaction with her clients is superlative.  One day, maybe we can say the same about you.

 

 

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