Etsy Store

I've finally opened an Etsy store: Stealth Pooch Designs, which sells the pipecleaner dogs, horses, cats and other creatures that have featured on this blog, and will soon also feature Pip-inspired original artwork and prints.

To see the Stealth Pooch store click here.

Holiday Pip

A couple of Christmas photos. I'm so lucky to have a dog that humours me by letting me string a fairy light necklace and ribbons around her neck (at least for 2 minutes).

 

Increase in Virgin Blue's pet carriage fees

Today I wrote a letter to Virgin Blue complaining about the increase in pet carriage fees.  I'm not one to write complaint letters, preferring to comment on forums, talk to friends, or keep awake at night thinking about companies that have wronged me (okay, so maybe that last one's a joke).  However, I feel really strongly about Virgin's pet carriage fees, as it just seems completely unreasonable and money grabbing.  Pip's only 4kg for heaven's sake! $100 freight fee for a 4kg dog!!!!!

Here's a copy of the letter sent:

To whom it may concern,

I'm writing to you regarding the recent increase in pet carriage fees.  The recent increase from $55 to $100 per trip I feel is ridiculously overpriced and unwarranted.  I fly with Virgin every couple of months on average, and I've long been a proponent of your brand, service and reasonable prices, which is why I feel compelled to write to you about this matter. 

About once a year I take my 4kg dog, Pip, with me to Sydney from Hobart for a family Christmas, and due to the fact that Hobart is situated on a separate island to Australia, it's necessary for me to fly with her.  Since I started taking the dog in 2004, pet carriage fees have risen from $33 dollars for a 4 kg dog, to (now) $100 - a fairly steep rise considering human fares in this time have actually dropped.  The other local carrier that accepts dogs on their planes, Qantas, includes dogs as part of the check in allowance.  Given that Qantas has always been more expensive than Virgin with little difference in quality of the flight experience, my preference has always been to fly with Virgin, however, the recent rises in Virgin's pet carriage fees appears to make Qantas overall cheaper than Virgin Blue (plus there's the added bonus of earning Qantas frequent flyer points for the total amount).

In short, the recent increases in Pet carriage fees stinks of money grabbing on Virgin's behalf, and has affected my loyalty to the brand.  It doesn't take much petrol to transport a 4 kg dog, and I'm sure you've had more trouble with surfboards than with my placid pet.

Regards,

[Lucy]

 If anyone else feels similarly annoyed by this increase, Virgin's complaints and feedback page can be found here.  I'd encourage as many people to write in as possible so that Virgin understands that us animal peeps ain't happy.


update 22/01/10

Virgin eventually emailed me back in response to my complaint, and interestingly they say that they haven't put up their prices.  Me thinks something fishy is going on in the Hobart Virgin Freight department (passengers with pets have to pay Virgin Freight directly when they drop the pets off).  I'm going to investigate further....