HOMEWOOD, Ala. (WBRC) – Homewood Police are investigating after some upset pet owners spoke to 6 On Your Side Investigates last month saying they paid for dog grooming services they never received.
Since our first investigation, we’ve heard from at least a dozen more people who shared similar experiences about dealing with Asher Jace. Police tell us more potential victims have come forward to them as well.
Harrison Irons has two Bernedoodles that are full of energy. For several years, he’s been getting his dogs groomed by Asher Jace who worked and owned dog grooming businesses in the Birmingham metro. Irons has been a loyal customer.
“For my preference of haircut, he always did a great job with my dogs,” Irons said.
Over the past year, Irons says Asher offered pre-paid dog grooming packages to his loyal customers, so Irons bought several of them. He was also asked to donate money for cancer treatments for Asher and his dog.
Irons spent thousands of dollars.
“I’m happy to help. At this point, I didn’t know anything was up. I racked up about $4,000 in prepaid packages. I wasn’t going to pay for a haircut for probably several years to come and then after I purchased all of those, he went dark,” Irons said.
Irons showed us receipts where he paid Asher through Venmo. He said his dogs only received a couple of haircuts. Irons said Asher kept giving excuses and cancelled appointments.
“He‘d always have some kind of excuse saying, ’my house burned down,’ or ‘my car broke down,’ or ‘I’m sick or in the hospital and I can‘t get to work on time.’ There were several occasions where we were on the way and he had to cancel,” Irons said.
Irons eventually stopped hearing from Asher and he’s not alone.
“I have three dogs and one of them is highly anxious and he always did really well with Asher so that was great,” Gennifer Allen told us in September.
In late September, several people reached out to 6 On Your Side Investigates who say they too paid Asher for dog grooming services they never received. Some spent hundreds even thousands of dollars. They also received the same messages asking for donations to Asher and his dog’s cancer treatments.
They tell us Asher kept cancelling appointments as well then the women received more messages saying, due to Asher’s health issues, the dog grooming business in Homewood was closing temporarily. It never reopened and the women haven’t heard from Asher since.
“It’s scary knowing that he could be out and could potentially be doing it to other people. A thousand dollars is a lot of money and who knows what he’s saying to these clients,” Allen said.
We’ve also learned that Asher, whose legal name is Ashley Page, was pulled over in late September for allegedly speeding in South Carolina and eventually charged with driving without a license. The police report also says Page had “several non-extraditable warrants from Alabama”.
We’ve tried multiple times to get Asher’s side of things, but haven’t heard back yet.
Allen and others have also shared their story with Homewood Police. The department is now investigating the case.
Irons offers this advice for people looking for a dog groomer.
“Just talk to people and go by and visit the grooming place, check out the back that’s what I’ve had to do. I want to make sure that there’s not anything suspicious going on back there. That’s where your dog’s going to be for a full day. You want to make sure your loved creature is taken care of and, so far, that advice has been good for me going forward,” Irons said.
You can also check out Google reviews on businesses and you may want to think twice about paying for dog grooming services upfront until you’ve done your homework on the business.
A few dog groomers have reached out to us offering free grooming services to people impacted.
Fluffy Friends in Gardendale and Ruff Paws Pet Care are offering the services Nov. 10 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on November 17 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 219 Filedstown Road in Gardendale.
The dog groomers are requiring proof of purchases on packages that were unused and all shot records must be up to date.
For more information, contact 205-285-9255.
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