Jo

Jul 22, 2025

Rude, refuse to accept there is an ongoing culture issue with problematic volunteers

I've adopted dogs from two different rescue centres. I have never had the experience that I'll share now. Completed an application. All fine. Received a phone call to ask that I visit the dog with my dog that week. Again, all fine. Was sent an email re doing a home review over video. There was something off about the tone of the email, but I chose to ignore that. It said they would be in touch within 48 hours from a mobile. If I didn't answer, it would be assumed that I was no longer interested. Oooookay. They phoned the next day asking me to the review. I work from home and explained that I couldn't do the review straight away as I WAS AT WORK. I offered to send it in 2 days time. The woman was very rude to me. 'But you work from home?' Yes I do. I WORK from home. The conversation continued and her tone was so odd and weird. Like she HATED me. There was no agreement made on when I would send the video, there was no goodbye, but I could hear her still talking. I assumed that she was talking to me. I very quickly realised that she was moaning about me to a colleague. I had spoken to her for 2-3 mins. She hung up after 9 minutes. She said to her colleague "she says she works from home but she can't do the video yet, yeah right" This went on and on and on. She didn't realise that I could hear her. I phoned the centre and a man apologised to me and asked me to email them with what happened. I did this and expected to hear back. I didn't hear anything. I phoned again. I was very upset...my integrity had been undermined and questioned. My professionalism was utterly ignored. After phoning a 2nd time, I received a call from the home check manager,Billie who,for some reason, deemed it important to tell me she was from Essex. She spent probably 10 minutes speaking in doubletalk. "It's not your fault at all and the woman you spoke to is a great volunteer and drives the foster dogs and it's a really stressful environment and potential adopters lie about their homes and try and hide flaws in fencing etc but it's not your fault but she's been a volunteer for years. Etc etc" No responsibility was taken at all. "Sometimes potential adopters butt heads with the volunteers"...proceeds to give me examples of this. I explained that I didn't have the chance to butt heads, she was rude from the start. All I needed to be told was "This was unprofessional, unacceptable behaviour and we will provide training for this volunteer on customer service." What I actually got was a load of excuses for her behaviour whilst simultaneously saying it wasn't my fault. She obviously didn't mean it. Before this call, I looked up reviews and like me, you will see that rudeness is a persistent problem with this charity. I decided that the experience was too negative for me to continue with the adoption. I had been so upset that I'd been in tears. To be spoken to the way I was and then to hear her bitching about me to then this call from a manager who is also a trustee telling me that I need to move past this as others had, was enough. I absolutely do NOT recommend this charity at all. They also charge almost double for a dog than any other rescue centre: £425.00 adoption fee per dog. I looked their finances up too. Hmmm. Rudeness is an issue and instead of solutions, I was presented with REASONS for the rudeness. I don't care if you volunteer or are paid, you do not treat someone that way. There were zero consequences given to this volunteer which is why the problem continues. The way they view potential adopters is disgusting. Never will adopt from them.