“We were going on a trip over the holidays,” says Nicole Uhlenkott, “and my brother-in-law was supposed to watch our dog but unfortunately got ill and had to cancel.” It was then that the Uhlenkotts decided to board their 2-year-old yellow Lab, Lucca. “We live in San Diego, but my whole family’s in the Bay area around San Francisco,” Mrs. Uhlenkott explains. The Uhlenkotts did not want to put Lucca through the long car ride. “We have a new baby — she was born in October,” Mrs. Uhlenkott says. The Uhlenkotts also have two older children, four and seven. “I thought three kids plus a nine-hour drive might be too much for Lucca,” she comments.
“I had about three days to find a place,” she relates. “I had never boarded my pet, so I didn’t even know where to begin. I started googling ‘pet boarding in San Diego’ and found Furlocity. I booked a place through them. The site gave a description of each boarding facility, its cost — a kind of snapshot that made it easy. But I called the place the Monday before we were leaving, and the woman said they were ‘sold out’ even though we had paid online already. I hung up, and within five minutes, Andy [Smit, the CEO] called me to apologize because the place we booked hadn’t updated their records to note that they had sold out. Andy immediately went into action mode. Within half an hour we were booked at a new place — about $15 more per night than the rate I originally paid, but Andy said, ‘I will cover it.’ Not too many times do you get a call from the CEO” — who then fixes the problem. “He went the extra mile,” Mrs. Uhlenkott says.
The best part, according to Mrs. Uhlenkott: “Our dog loves this place. I will never not board him anymore. He’s so happy there.”
