FAQs
What is Pet Guide?
The Pet Guide website went online in 2007 after being available in book form since 2004.Pet Guide is a free service for New Zealand pet owners and allows users to access all the information they need regarding pet services, products and businesses in one handy place. To enhance the information we invite all users to review businesses and products they have used.
We are frequently consulted by users who ask us to recommend products, services like boarding kennels and catteries, pet minders and day care. We are often asked where people can stay with their pets, or where the local vet is situated.
Questions like these prompted us to make drastic changes in 2011 to the original Pet Guide directory to include user reviews and to give the site a better sense of community. Who is better to advise the pet-owning people of New Zealand than owners of pets themselves?
How does the points and donation system work?
Pet Guide users earn points by writing reviews, upgrading their listings and generally participating in the community. These points are allocated to the animal charity which the user has chosen when opening their account.Every three months Pet Guide donates a portion of the total advertising income. This is distributed to the charities proportionate to the amount of points they have earned. So the more you participate, the more points for your charity and the larger the donation it will receive.
I don’t have a specific charity or cause to support, so do you have an emergency fund?
Yes, Pet Guide runs an emergency fund specifically for extraordinary events like natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods; or an emergency situation that has occurred where an animal or a group needs special support. You can choose to have your points donated to the emergency fund for one-off events instead of a specific charity.The charity I support isn’t in your list.
If you know a charity which isn’t in our list, please let us know by using our contact form. The only criteria for having a charity listed are:- The charity must be for the benefit of animals.
- It must be a registered charity.
What is Snap Happy?
Snap Happy is where we add a bit of spice to the usual photo-sharing aspects of sites like Pet Guide. Users upload a photo of their pet and Snap Happy randomly matches it with another photo from the same group and the pairings are shown to community visitors. Visitors can vote for their favourite picture by simply clicking on the photo and comment on the pictures. Watch out for regular Snap Happy photo competitions.How did my business information end up on Pet Guide?
Pretty much the same way your business is listed in any directory ... the information is gathered from public records by members of our staff. Sometimes information is added by our users who will frequently correct the information we have or let us know about a new business that has opened. If your information is incorrect, please claim your listing by clicking on.What can Pet Guide do for my business?
There are a lot of things Pet Guide can do for your business. Click here to see all the reasons why you should have a full listing for your business on Pet Guide.I know a pet business/product which isn’t on your website.
Please send us the details of the business and we’ll make certain to add it to the directory. You can use this contact form.Who provides the reviews?
Pet Guide users just like you write the reviews. And because we care about our pets as much as you do, the reviews are invaluable when you're making decisions about pet care, services and products, and pet-friendly locations.I believe a negative review left about my business is false, so what can I do? We realise that a negative review is disturbing for most businesses but for Pet Guide to be of any value to consumers we cannot simply remove reviews that businesses believe to be unwarranted. Also, we do not become involved in any dispute between a business and its customer.
Here are some things you can do to remedy a poor review:
- Both you and your customers are entitled to a point of view so if a poor review comes from someone with whom you have done business your best remedy is your right of reply to the review. Obviously a public slanging match is distasteful for everyone but a considered reply to a critic will most often place your business in good stead with site users. Often in these cases, other customers will come to your support.
- If you believe a reviewer was NOT a customer of yours please report that by using our contact form. We will remove the review and ask the reviewer to provide evidence that they used your business by way of an invoice, receipt, statement, etc. The review will not be reinstated until we have this proof. You will be informed if the review is reinstated.
- We will at times exercise our editorial rights and remove any review we consider defamatory or irrelevant to the service provided. If you feel you have a review which falls within these criteria please contact us immediately.
- As per our Terms of Service, Pet Guide will not become involved in any dispute between a business and its customer.
What is PayPal?
Pet Guide uses PayPal to process credit card payments. PayPal is used worldwide by more than 94 million people and businesses. We have personally used it for more than 10 years and highly recommend the service.You do not have to have a PayPal account to pay us using PayPal, and you do not have to sign up for an account with PayPal to use its service for making credit card payments. It does not cost you anything to make a payment through PayPal.
Pet Guide does not see or store your credit card details.
You can learn all about PayPal here: https://www.paypal.com