Woman allegedly demanded lifetime membership & exclusive events for pet after accident at dog water park

A sliding metal gate at Wag & Wild fell over and hit her.

Jane Zhang | September 10, 2020, 04:21 PM

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Wag & Wild, a water park for dogs, took to Facebook on Tuesday (Sep. 8) to share its side of the story after a customer alleged that the company's staff failed to take proper measures to assist her and rectify the situation after a metal gate on its premises fell over and struck her.

Initial allegation

On Sep. 3, a dog owner (whom we will refer to as J) made a now-deleted Facebook post alleging that on Aug. 23, she brought her labradoodle to Wag & Wild. There she suffered an injury when the sliding metal gate to the swimming pool fell over.

She claimed that the gate, which she described as "massive and extremely heavy", was not secured properly, and slid out of its holding structure and fell to the ground.

J wrote that she was able to get herself and her dog out of the way in time to avoid being pinned by the gate, but was struck as it was falling and suffered injuries on her back and arms.

The woman alleged that after she was hit by the gate, the Wag & Wild staff did not offer any assistance to her, nor did they check whether she needed any medical assistance, during the one hour that they waited for Wag & Wild's owner to arrive.

J also claimed that she was told that there was no First Aid kit available on the premises.

"Overall, this was a very disappointing and an extremely dangerous experience, and I cannot in my good conscience recommend W&W to other fellow dog lovers", she wrote.

The dog owner added that she was taking the matter to social media only because she had tried to engage the Wag & Wild owners about compensation and how they planned to fix the gate.

However, she said that she did not hear back from Wag & Wild and was not confident that proper measures were being taken to rectify the situation.

Wag & Wild shares precautionary measures

In a Facebook post on Sep. 2, Wag & Wild shared about the efforts they were taking to raise their safety standards and acknowledged the "unfortunate incident" involving the gate.

Two precautionary measures were put in place for the gate: installing a stoppage structure to prevent the gate from unhinging, as well as a support beam.

On Sep. 5, they commented on the Facebook post with a public apology.

Photo via Facebook / Wag & Wild.

They also shared a certificate of inspection by a third-party engineer, as proof that the gate is structurally safe. 

Photo via Facebook / Wag & Wild.

Wag & Wild's side of the story

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Sep. 8), Wag & Wild addressed the customer's allegations, and shared their side of the story.

Wag & Wild claimed that the its general manager was on-site within 45 minutes to meet with the dog owner and her husband.

The general manager's first priority was to offer to call for medical assistance, however the customer declined and said that she would do so on her own after the discussion.

Wag & Wild also stated that their manager was "deeply regretful and apologetic" about the incident, and offered to cover the affected customer's medical bills, as well as to give her, her family, and her dog free access to the water park for a year.

However, the customer allegedly said that it wasn’t enough, and instead asked for S$10,000 in compensation.

The general manager said this was not possible because business had been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. J then requested to contact the park later with her desired compensation.

Later that night, Wag & Wild received an email from J with a list of demands. Aside from taking up the general manager's offer to cover her medical bill (S$233.50), J demanded lifetime memberships for her dog and a friend’s dog, and exclusive 2-hour annual private events for them and their invited friends.

Wag & Wild wote in their Facebook post:

"Do note in her Facebook post she said, and we quote, 'I cannot in my good conscience recommend W&W to other fellow dog lovers.'"

Wag & Wild estimated the list of demands to total approximately S$30,000. J and her husband also allegedly said that they were not willing to negotiate.

They had not intended to make the details of the incident public, Wag & Wild wrote in their Facebook post, but did so because of "the judgement of inconsideration and irresponsibility on our end by the public."

You can read the full post here:

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Top photos via dog owner's original post, Facebook / Wag & Wild.