Helga's Pet Grooming Plus

We have being going to Helga’s for 4 years. Not sure what happened with the one star reviews. As stated in one of those reviews, Helga’s is always busy. That is because they do an outstanding job for outstanding prices. If the customers who left one star reviews were unhappy with the services that they received, they should have said something at the time. Helga’s would have made it right or probably not charged them at all. \r \r Mike, Helga, and their crew are top notch. They truly care for all of the dogs that they groom. Our 9 year old Lab had patches of hair falling out with itchy skin when we moved here to San Antonio 4 years ago due to new found San Antonio allergies. The vet was charging us for visits and steroids. They also told us that we could try medicated baths. We took him to Helga’s, and they knew just what to do. We’ve taken him there every week since for his medicated bath, which is very reasonably priced for all of the work that they do. His coat looks better than ever, no vet steroids needed. He also loves to go to Helga’s. We say, “You want to go to the groomer?” and he gets very excited and runs to the door to leave.\r We recently adopted a foster dog that we had taken in from Animal Care Services in San Antonio. He had large, deep gashes on his legs and was matted, dirty, and very scared. Helga’s groomed him for free and even helped to clean out his wounds. Helga’s will groom a shelter or city dog or cat for free within 6 weeks of adoption. These are people that truly care about animals. Our new dog came out looking wonderful. Both dogs now happily go for regular baths nearly every week. \r \r Helga herself took my husband on a tour of the facility, showing him everything and explaining how they completely sanitize everything, even the temporary holding crates, every night before they close. She said they do that to make sure that animals don’t catch anything from each other, such as conditions like mange. She said that she would feel awful if something like that happened. Like I said, these people really care about your animals this way. Ask about the sanitary procedures at other groomers. You will find them to be very variable.\r \r Helga’s is one of the best independent businesses we’ve ever found. Please give them a try. You will be happy. If you are not happy, tell them. They will make it right.\r more

Overcharged!!!! I arrived with my dog at 8:15am and my pet was not ready until 4:30pm. I was never called to let me know he was ready or a call that they were going to charge me more because my little 9 pound poodle had to much hair and they had to work harder. Nonsense, they just wanted to price gauge. Helga and her son were both rude and unprofessional. And in all honesty the grooming on my dog was amateur. more

I would like to share a great experience I had at Helga's Pet Grooming Plus.\r I just went to get my little angel Ruby’s nails cut and the gentleman helping me there was fantastic. My poor pup had previously received her nail trimming from Petco due to Helga’s being closed and it was an overall bad experience. The woman was rough and spoke harshly at my baby. I have decided since then against returning to Petco. \r Anyways, I explained this to the gentleman working at Helga’s to warn him she might be somewhat skittish thanks to Petco. The gentleman and the young lady who took care of Ruby were calm, soothing and were absolute angels to Ruby. I will never again go anywhere else. These two people went above and beyond and I could not ask for anything more in a groomer. more

Helga's is THE best place in San Antonio. They took great care of my 3 month old puppy and made me feel so comfortable with leaving him there for his first haircut. They did EXACTLY what I asked them to do and my pup looked cuter than ever. Everyone there is so kind and good with animals. I am moving to Houston in a few days and one of the things I am going to miss most about SA is Helga's! I never want to take my puppy anywhere else! :( more

I TOTALY love this place! took my new pet Ace to them a few weeks ago and they did an amaizing job! Ace was clean, happy and looked awesome! Today I took him in again to get his nails trimed and his face touched up and it was FREE! TOTALY COOL! more

I would definitely recommend this place and I am pretty particular about my Poodle. I really like that you can make an appointment anytime of the day or drop off with out an appointment by 3 instead of just early in the morning. Place is clean and the pets seem to be well cared for A+++ more

We took our newly adopted pet into Helga's and was surprised to see that their staff was willing to stay past business hours to care for our newly adopted pet.. When I logged on to write this review i was surprised that there was another review with such negative comments. Yet we had nothing but great service and re pore with the staff. After a long talk with Helga we found that two of her sons work on site and another now manages the business. I would definitely recommend Helga's more

I absolutely recommend Helga's without reservation. She does a great job on both my dogs, one of which is a 70 Lab. My dogs are never afraid to go there, which always speaks volumes to me. It's never a problem getting them in, and they are always well bathed. She's a big believer in TLC . I know that they also do boarding, which I've never needed, but I wouldn't hesitate to use her. She, and their staff are magnificent! more

Martec, more

DO NOT USE! We adopted a toy poodle from ACS and received a free grooming from Helga's. I dropped her off at 8:00am on Wednesday morning and she wasn't done until 5:00pm. They did say they would be fitting her in between their scheduled appointments, but really? That would have been understandable, however her nails were not cut, she smelled just as she did before I took her in so I take it no bath was given, her face did not appear to be washed because her tear stains were still very obvious, and her haircut was horrible. I am extremely disappointed. It is wonderful that they are giving a free grooming to adopted pets, but this IS NOT WORTH IT. Save the time and worry - do not use. (ACS is incredible though and this rating is all about Helga's, not ACS - please adopt from them!) more

I took my three dogs in, two for grooming, one just for a bath at 9:30 am. I didn't get them back until nearly 7:30 pm (nearly 10 hours!!). They said they tried to call at 7 pm, but nothing came up on my cell phone from them at all and I was carrying it on me. One of the dogs still smells although they did a good job grooming them but it was much more expensive for the dog (10 lbs) who just had the bath than listed on their website, $9, and then charged me $28 for him. They said he was ""difficult,"" and tried to bite them, which I told them he might try, but since they ended up bathing him I don't know how difficult he could have been. I even offered to come get him and they said no. They charged me $48 each for my other two dogs although they were standard grooming and no problem at all according to them, so why wasn't I only charged $38 for each of them. When I asked about the higher charge, Helga informed me they like to take their time with each animal. Quite frankly I feel like I was overcharged because they overbooked for the day and my dogs were last in and last out and they had to stay past closing time to groom them. I won't be going back to them. more

We were clients of Helga's Pet Grooming for over 10 years and unfortunatelly were unable to convince her and her staff to move with us to our new home town. Helga took care of our two bichons throughout this time, and they were treated as they were her dogs. She and her staff have great experience with pet grooming and it shows. I had yet to find another groomer so skilled and wonderful like the team at Helga's. We miss her very much. more

I dropped off my bischon at 8:30 this morning. It is now 5:30 p.m. and he wasn't done when I got there 30 minutes ago! Unbelievable! HE WAS THERE FOR 9 FREAKING HOURS!!! What could the employees be doing to take this long? Then the lady had the nerve to say, ""Well, you should've bathe him first before you dropped him off this morning."" ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS???!!! The last time I checked, this is a freaking pet grooming place! Why in the hell would I bathe my pet when it is your freaking job to make him look and smell good??? I was beyond livid showing up there after 9 hours and my poor puppy was not done!!! My dog did not have a single mat, so there's no way that this was the cause of the delay, but the poor staffing and laziness of the staff were the reasons why I was so mad!!! They don't do appointments, and since my dog has been there since 8:30, why in the hell do they not know what ""first come, first serve"" means? For all of you looking for a pet grooming place, run away from helga's. They're a serious waste of your time and money, service is extremely poor, and quality of performance is way substandard. I REPEAT, DO NOT TAKE YOUR DOG TO HELGA'S! more

Took my dog to be groomed and wanted a trim. Cons: See Headline more