I spent money to have my dogs microchipped and before I go further on this, let me give a small lecture here. Please do not rely only on one method of finding your dog. Don't rely on only a collar tag and don't rely on only microchipping. Be sure to do both.
It is obvious why tags are beneficial, of course. While on that, I highly recommend Boomerang Tags. Those are the most durable tags I've ever seen. I bought one for my dog years and years ago and while the color (I got plastic) may have dulled, the lettering is quite clear. That thing will last her entire life!
Oh and no, I get no money for saying that. I'm just a satisfied, repeat customer who have recommended them to everyone I know. Yes, they're more expensive, but honestly I've saved money because the other ones either turn or get dull and unreadable. These are lifetime tags, I kid you not. You'll change your numbers before this tags get dull.
More and more veterinary services are scanning dogs as new patients and checking microchips. This is good news for us because fewer dogs will be stolen. Also, how many of us have had a dog on a leash and the dog slipped their head right out of it? Now imagine your dog lost and someone trying to catch him and this happening. Now your dog is completely unidentifiable if you only relied on tags.
You see the problem here? Microchipping is absolutely required, in my opinion. But let us first discuss the services.
I went with HomeAgain. I went with it because my veterinarian used them, not because I had much choice which is too bad. On the one hand, HomeAgain is great because it provides a much needed service. That is its only quality.
I'm going to be frank. HomeAgain customer service SUCKS. They don't give a crap about any of you. They're happy to take your money and their basic service is beneficial, but don't EVER try to reach them for questions.
I got a notice that one of my dogs' service was running out. ??? I was led to believe that it was a lifetime service. I went to their Contact Us page and wrote to them, asking about it. Guess what their response was? Go ahead, guess.
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! So I wrote them again and complained that I had not heard from them, so I'm resending it. Then I sent it again and again. Ask me if they EVER contacted me back again. No. They never did. They would rather lose my money, then contact me to answer a few questions. Oh and yes, I checked the spam folder.
Now before any of you suggest I call them, why should I? They're the ones selling the service. They should try to call ME! I don't give a rats a** if they have a phone number on there. They had a contact us page and I used it. Don't offer it if you're going to ignore it.
Needless to say, I didn't renew. If they don't even care to answer my questions, what would happen if my dog were found and the one who found my dog emailed them instead? SERIOUSLY?! They would just ignore it and I'd never get my dog back? That's absurd!
In all fairness, I did a little research and found that Merck owns them. I notified them that I was posting this and offered them a chance to look into this problem. Whatever they respond with I'll be sure to post back here in an update. If you don't see an update, then they ignored that too.
So here is my advice on the subject: do the research behind other microchipping companies. Send them an email with questions and see who responds. Take note of how quick their response is too. Did it take hours, days or weeks? Or did you never hear back from them ever again, like I did and I was paid user at the time too! Feel free to review other companies in the comments, but no pressure there. I get a lot of emails instead, which is fine.
I'm going to post this on twitter too. I want everyone to know about it.
Good luck and give your dogs a hug for me!
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UPDATE! As promised, I said I would update this if I heard from Merck and I did. You can read about what happened here.
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