17 years helping British businesses
choose better software
About DaySmart Pet
DaySmart Pet provides easy-to-use software to revolutionize the way you manage your pet grooming, daycare, or boarding business.
I have the credit card processor through cardpointe integrated in 123 pet groom also and it has worked very smoothly and beat my bank merchant service pricing.
This is a source of frustration and we wish they would bring those functions back.
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Filter reviews (175)
Great but not exceptional
Comments: I have used a smart since 2013. Overall, I would give them an A minus. Customer service is phenomenal but sometimes you have to get to higher levels to get certain issues resolved. It should not be that way. Wait times are extremely long to speak to someone but that has improved lately.
Pros:
I love the reminder features that can automatically go out. Some of the reporting is also very helpful. I love being able to integrate my credit card system into the POS.
Cons:
I hate the fact that they are no longer going to add or modify features to the non-cloud base version.
We love DaySmart
Comments: We have had a great experience with Daysmart overall--it greatly improved booking efficiency in our salon and helped us eliminate double bookings and decrease the amount of missed appointments we were experiencing.
Pros:
We love how easy it is to use and find information on all of our clients!
Cons:
We would love a feature that would tell us our next available 1 hr apt, 2 hr, apt, and weekend appointment. It would make running our business even easier! We would also love a better wait list design--we often have a large waitlist and the set up of the current wait list function does not work for our set up.
Alternatives Considered: PetExec and Gingr
Reasons for Choosing DaySmart Pet: We actually used StoreVantage and it was terrible and would go down all the time, we would have to schedule appointments by hand and we had double bookings happen constantly. It didn't do enough things for us to help us run our salon.
Switched From: Othership
Reasons for Switching to DaySmart Pet: We talked with other people in our industry and everyone had a good experience with it and we liked the pricing.
GREAT PROGRAM
Comments: GREAT. VERY SATISFIED. WILL RECOMMEND TO ALL
Pros:
ONLINE APPOINTMENTS, PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING IS GREAT
Cons:
THAT WE CANT PRINT KENNEL GROOM CARDS WITH WHAT HAIRCUT THE PET WILL GET OR HAS GOTTEN IN THE PAST AND WITH THE OWNERS INFORMATION ALL ON ONE PAGE. THAT IS THE ONE KEY THING THAT IS MISSING
Horrible service
Comments: A nightmare! Can't wait to switch to a different company.
Pros:
None. Will never recommend them to anyone.
Cons:
No longer can call and talk to someone in support. Can only email. Literally had a pissed customer waiting for over 30 minutes to resolve my issue and never got the email back in time. Client walked out. I lost a valued client. It's horrible that you can't talk to anyone anymore.
Use it everyday!
Comments: I like DaySmart and really love that I have it on my phone and can check throughout the day! I have used other softwares but for a larger company this is great product!
Pros:
It’s easy to navigate and makes life so much easier with the reminders for clients! It’s pretty user friendly in that you can figure it out on your own. There are many different ways to schedule or maintain your day.
Cons:
It is a little hard to teach new people how to use because it has so many different ways to achieve what your trying to do.
Alternatives Considered: Square Payments
Reasons for Choosing DaySmart Pet: Just to try it
Switched From: PetDesk
Reasons for Switching to DaySmart Pet: The multiple uses like putting notes In clients profiles and scheduling on our phones
DaySmart Pet Software is Essential for Pet Grooming Salons
Comments: We used to use other software to schedule our appointments in our grooming salon, but found that there was a lot that we couldn’t do. Then we found DaySmart Pet and decided to try it. The software is perfect, it has everything we need. It integrates easily into our website, allows customers to book online on their own, sends appointments to us in a nice easy to see schedule, and sends reminders and pickup texts automatically. We are able to keep track of the pets easily and add or see any notes that may be relevant to the pet. I feel this has made us much more efficient! I would highly recommend to any salon.
Pros:
I like how easy it is to schedule appointments and communicate with our customers. I also like how much information I am able to collect about each client to see anytime needed.
Cons:
I would like to see more customization offered, such as the ability to personalize texts sent to customers.
Alternatives Considered: Pawfinity
Reasons for Choosing DaySmart Pet: There was a lot of features not offered or customized to the pet grooming industry.
Switched From: GoCanvas
Reasons for Switching to DaySmart Pet: It has all of the features we were looking for plus others we did not even think of. The price is very competitive as well.
Right now, I'm not impressed
Comments: meh. customer service is a hassle to get a hold of then they usually have to escalate the issue which takes time away from doing anything else. There isn't quick fixes and I can't count the number of times I've heard 'I don't know', or 'we can't do that'. It seems like easy/ straightforward things like reports should be easy to customize, they are not. If i want to get the vaccine information (expired vs near) I can either get a report for anyone with a future appointment or everyone who is ever been put into the computer this includes deceased and inactive animals. Then download into excel and go through one by one to sort out... why can't i just search for current daycare clients??? it makes no sense
Pros:
I wanted it for the text messaging feature, the schedule looks easy to follow and was looking forward to updates and eventually switching to cloud based
Cons:
cloud software is terrible, it has way too much extra information and doesn't have needed reports that already exist in the computer software. We use the app and the IPad alot but the program doesn't translate to the app. We cannot see or update vaccines on app ( this is very important) I cannot see or update messages or notes or balances. It would be nice if a note we put saying I don't know dog bites be careful actually showed up easily so we didn't have to go through 10 screens to see it. You can't have multiple screens opened at once so if someone is using the system they have to complete or exit out of what they are doing like creating a marketing email; then you can check someone out. Credit card issues like if you forget to press complete it times out and the charge wont go through. I have a 7-8 page list of features that don't work or don't make sense
Alternatives Considered: Gingr
Reasons for Choosing DaySmart Pet: i thought daysmart system would be better with integrated payments and maybe eventually going to the cloud. Also this system has text messaging which is nice
Reasons for Switching to DaySmart Pet: texting and "ease of use" other peoples recommendations
Good software but slow
Pros:
Daysmart has so much information about the pets available plus lots of reports.It is easy to see the schedule at a glance.It is easy to run payroll! It is easy to learn basic functions
Cons:
It is slow! It can be glitchyBooking would be better if you could set what times groomers perform certain services and then fill it in with appts. That would work well for online booking as well. Online booking does not work for more than one appt at a time. It is difficult to find settingsWhen using their cc it crashes all the time so we have to enter manually
Alternatives Considered: Ginger, MoeGo and Groomer.io
Reasons for Choosing DaySmart Pet: Previous did not have payroll, vaccinations or services by color
Reasons for Switching to DaySmart Pet: Seemed like it had the most functionality for ys
Great product
Comments: Awesome! It is so easy to use, book an appointment and easy to find settings if you need to adjust them. Also customer service has been amazing!
Pros:
Easy to use, great customer support & great pricing.
Cons:
Doesn't match to QuickBooks very good, its ugly and seems like the look is out dated. The portable card reader sucks, would be nice to have a different option. Confusing for customers to have a text number for your services that isn't your main number.
Alternatives Considered: Gingr
Reasons for Switching to DaySmart Pet: Cost was much more than DaySmart Pet. It also had high set up fees and complex set up.
Three Tails Review
Comments: We used PetDesk for over a year, they ended their grooming segment of their software and we were referred by our sales rep to try you all.
Pros:
It is specialized to the pet industry. I also like the marketing feature with the ready templates
Cons:
Just a few additional steps to send customers message their pet is ready and to schedule their appointments. There is no application for customers to have on their phone to request appointments
Alternatives Considered: Pawfinity, Gingr, Groomsoft and MoeGo
Reasons for Choosing DaySmart Pet: Our sales rep suggested it, plus the $20 3 month trial helped.
Switched From: PetDesk
Reasons for Switching to DaySmart Pet: Price and features
Not open to suggestions, user needs
Comments: It was poor, and the Card Pointe credit card services was a gigantic scam.
Pros:
The reports they had available were comprehensive.
Cons:
Customer service treats the customer like an idiot. They also don't care what you need as far as functionality goes. After 3 years of begging for certain functions and being told at some point it might be added we gave up.
Alternatives Considered: Pawfinity
Reasons for Choosing DaySmart Pet: We needed more functionality and more room for customers.
Switched From: ShakeYourTail
Reasons for Switching to DaySmart Pet: I was told it was the best. Unfortunately my experience wasn't the best.
Daysmart Pet
Comments: Not so great not really happy but feel stuck with it as I don’t want to roll over everything just yet.
Pros:
I like the reminder text but feel the upgrade package should give more than 1000 for free same as the basic package.
Cons:
There are too many buttons to push to get to one spot. Too many steps. outdated look. Very time consuming
Alternatives Considered: Barkley HQ and MoeGo
Reasons for Switching to DaySmart Pet: For the customer service reviews but anytime I had a problem it couldn’t be fixed. It’s like there is no openness to change some of the operating features.
Online booking is out dated
Comments: If it wasn't time consuming I would switch to another scheduling program. That is more user friendly, for my team, and my clients to book appointments. I have been looking for a new program for years. But I just don't have the time to move all my clients, and information to a new one.
Pros:
It's easy to use once you figure it out. Customer support I always have luck with them.
Cons:
It is way over priced. The online booking is VERY outdated. Along with the text message reminders. There should be an option for people to cancel or reschedule from their emails or text reminders. They really need to up date to more of a service like Booking or Timetap.
Alternatives Considered: Groomsoft
Reasons for Switching to DaySmart Pet: I used it before.
Headache, Waste of Money and Time
Comments: Disappointed, frustrating, stressful. Now have to switch to another company.... That will cost more time and money! On top of training for a new software. Not a happy customer and product user!
Pros:
Price, mobile and tablet friendly, pricing based on company size and features needed.
Cons:
Tech support is never able to resolve issues, app or direct web version always has glitches, lost weeks worth of inventory data I input months ago (inventory randomly disappeared) without explanation or reasoning. Email compaigns get "bugs" tech support will tell you to just make a new one. Not reliable product at all. Time spent dealing with 5 separate issues in 1 week is time wasted for clients and business. Lost sale today because I could not check out a retail CASH sale! Very frustrating to say the least.
Used to be a great program
Comments: It used to be a great program 5 years ago, but I can't really say the same anymore. I tried their cloud version recently, but that was a nightmare.
Pros:
This used to be such a great program, however, recently it has gone downhill tremendously. I'm not sure if it's change in management or something, but a lot has changed and it hasn't been positive changes. I am required to upgrade my version again or else they are going to stop supporting it, so I've been looking elsewhere.
Cons:
The remote access is always down. The support staff isn't very helpful. I have been paying for support for the past 3 years and they haven't really answered any of my questions. They are adding features, but they never seem to work. Also, I never know how much my bill is really going to be that month.
Life changer
Comments: Overall its been fairly user friendly and support has always been so quick and helpful
Pros:
Daysmart has been so great in our day to day use. We recently learned how to color coordinate appointments which has been so helpful especially with teaching new people the systems.
Cons:
I wish there was a way for clients to upload their vaccines and for them to request appointments/times with out actually booking them
The more I use the software the more I find it limiting
Comments: The groomer world is not very technical... so maybe it makes sense that the software architecture seems about 10 years behind what is currently being used in other industries.
Pros:
It's relatively bug free..................
Cons:
The software architecture is old - I pay for the pro which is a local install on a primary pc. The online access is not to a hosted solution, it connects back to the primary PC in the shop... for all functions. If you power done the PC to save energy the appointment reminders are not sent. Maybe look into AWS services to expand your capabilities. Online access with the pro version is designed for employee access, not the owner. I have limited functionality to perform business administration tasks... I have to go to the store to export reports to excel so I can finish the task remotely. Why would you do that? The owner pays for the software... Once an appointment reminder has been sent, if you move the appointment the confirmation indicator does not reset giving you a false report of a confirmation. I'm assuming this is not a bug but a failure in logic.
DaySmart Software Response
5 years ago
Thank you for your review Tim. Yes, you purchased a client/server architecture, which does function as you described (namely the server has to be on to be accessed). We also have thousands of customers on our cloud based systems, which function differently, and are run on AWS.
Everything you need!
Comments: It’s been very good, it’s very easy to use, I haven’t needed all the features but if someone did they have it all
Pros:
Program works really well. I’ve had this for way over 15 years. I like that it has up dates, it’s an all in one package! Customer service is spot on, I’m never disappointed,.
Cons:
I really done have any Cons for right now
Horrible customer service
Comments: My Spanish is great to the company try to steal from me and now I can’t access any of my clientele information because they don’t have the program anymore
Pros:
There are no pros the company won’t work with me. They won’t do anything about it after thousands of dollars spent they just want to keep my money and won’t help with the program all I’m trying to do is re-download Dan program.
Cons:
I like [SENSITIVE CONTENT] these guys are thieves downright thieves
Great Software for Groomers
Comments: Very good! Stop writing down appointments. This software is an easy transition.
Pros:
I love the ease of making appointments and the reminders that are sent out
Cons:
Sometimes It takes awhile to.connect to wifi and the sync feature has to be manually used
Easy to keep up with clients and requests
Comments: 123Pet Software gets the job done but can get extremely laggy even with a good computer and internet connection, but if you can look past that its a wonderful tool for any animal service business while not being overpriced.
Pros:
123Pet software is an absolute must for any animal related business, we currently use it at our dog grooming business and it has taken a huge load off of filing paper forms for every client, of which there are 900+. The software is easy to use and does a great job of keeping things organized.
Cons:
123Pet Software is constantly laggy and sometimes completely unresponsive which can be extremely annoying during the busiest part of the day when I have 5 clients trying to drop off their dogs for grooming and the system is not helping. Other than that huge issue I have no complains with the software.
DaySmart Software
Comments: I love DaySmart. I will never use another program.
Pros:
It’s very easy to use and customer service is amazing.
Cons:
It’s is on the more expensive side of programs.
Very user friendly
Pros:
It has all of the functionalitty we need to run a grooming and retail business simultaneously. My customers really appreciate the email reminders for their grooming appts.
Cons:
What I like least is not specific to the software. I am not hapy at this point of being locked into a relationship with one credit card processing company which charges higher percetages on transactions than others I have been approached by-
Great software
Comments: DaySmart customer service has always been amazing. Thanks [SENSITIVE CONTENT] for easy onboarding of the cloud! You guys are so helpful!
Pros:
I've been using DaySmart for over 15 years and it has always been a key ingredient to making my day smooth for clients and employees
Cons:
I'm still getting used to the cloud version but I like it better so far.
Best online booking yet!
Comments: I am able to have dogs scheduled worry free. With DaySmart Pet I don't have to worry about accidentally forgetting to put a dog on the schedule.
Pros:
I love that clients are able to schedule their pets on a day that is convenient for them. I love that I am to block days or times off that I need.
Cons:
I haven't found anything that I don't like yet. Everything is so easy to use.