Pretty Litter

16cats said:

 
UPDATE on Pretty Litter company/customer service.

Unfortunately, it looks like these people are scammers or totally inept at best. Instead of removing a $68 hold on my credit card, as promised, for an order I never placed, they actually went and put and a CHARGE on my credit card for $68.

This is an awful company to deal with. I've been trying to resolve this issue for days. They promise to return calls in 24 hours, but have never called me back, just sending an email yesterday promising to refund, follwed by a CHARGE on my card today.

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Wow. That's awful. I'm sorry that you are going through this. 

Did you call your credit card company to let them know that it is a fraudulent charge? If the Pretty Litter people will not resolve the matter, the credit card company should. 

Thanks Kat! I just filed a dispute online with the credit card company.

It's a shame the Pretty Litter order system is so messed up - it really is not a bad product. But the only way to get it is to order it directly from them by subscription - and then you are headed for some problems if you want to cancel.

I have to agree with the "scam" thing...although I think it's just more that they are unorganized, don't know what the heck they're doing and are NOT good business people.  I cancelled my account last month and just received a notification that they charged my card again just today.  I had a long exchange with someone there asking them to cancel my subscription so I will dispute this charge.  A few things to add, I couldn't access my account online because although they had no problem taking money from me, they say I don't have an account with them.  Second, when I tried calling their 800 number it would go directly into voicemail, and I never received a call back!  It took DAYS for them to get back to my emails, and although, (as I mentioned) asked them IN WRITING to cancel my subscription they still charged my card again.

The product is LAME!  The bag is TINY, so unless you have a super small litter box the one bag, (for one cat) doesn't do anything.  The shipping is sub-par, and basically just thrown into a USPS envelop type of package and when I opened my first shipment litter went everywhere. 

What a RIP OFF!  I'm completely upset about this and as I said will be disputing the charge later this afternoon.  DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!

I love this litter! Odor control is perfect, it totally absorbs the urine, and it also absorbs the moisture from solid waste, so you just scoop it out and flush it down the toilet. It doesn't clump, so you don't have to scrape concrete off the litter pan. And it's super lightweight. All my cats are using it perfectly. I would not go back to "regular" litter.

I would also contact the BBB to lodge a complaint. 

16cats said:

 
UPDATE on Pretty Litter company/customer service.

Unfortunately, it looks like these people are scammers or totally inept at best. Instead of removing a $68 hold on my credit card, as promised, for an order I never placed, they actually went and put and a CHARGE on my credit card for $68.

This is an awful company to deal with. I've been trying to resolve this issue for days. They promise to return calls in 24 hours, but have never called me back, just sending an email yesterday promising to refund, follwed by a CHARGE on my card today.

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I would also contact the Better Business Bureau to lodge a complaint! You can do it online and then other will be warned!

https://www.bbb.org/consumer-complaints/file-a-complaint/get-started

Thanks, Mandapotpie. I've been refunded and Pretty Litter rep sent me email assuring me my subscription has been cancelled, so I'm going to cut them some slack. They are a small company, and I think they are just having software problems, with not enough employees to deal with complaints. The product is OK, just expensive.

But if they charge me again, I'm going on the warpath, for sure!

I have been using it for a month now, and it is just okay. I just got the 2nd shipment and will be canceling it. I wanted to try it because it was advertised as less dust, less mess, and environmentally friendly. It is extremely dusty!!!! I don't even want to breath when I'm scooping. Also the mess is the same as my other litter; it gets tracked around the house just the same. I have 2 cats that share 1 large litter box, so I need 4 bags to fill it... that's $68 a month!!! Overall it's definitely not worth that price!!! The smell is pretty neutral and it covers the poo/pee smell pretty good until you scoop and the dust flies all over. The urine was absorbed pretty well. I hope this helps someone!

I've had the same experience with customer service .. I've been charged after being assured that my "subscription was cancelled" two months in a row now. Each time I reach out to express that the charge is unauthorized, I get an auto reply asking why I want to cancel my subscription and why I'm unhappy with the product (even though I've explained it thoroughly a few times). I also never recall authorizing recurring charges or signing up for a subscription, and there's no easy way to find those details or to opt-out of a "subscription." They also just got back to me telling me that they couldn't refund my latest charge until I rejected the latest shipment (since it already went out). I obviously fought that, because I'm not going to wait around at my house to intercept a package, just so I can get a refund for an unauthorized charge -- and they did issue a refund. I also get the feeling they are small and highly disorganized, on the business end, though and not a "scam."

That being said, if you don't mind the cost / poor customer service / unpredictable charges -- this is my honest review of the product (and why I cancelled): 

I used two bags in one medium box for my two large cats. And it worked great for the first two weeks. I loved not having to scoop anything but solids, and the color-changing thing was fun (? never thought I'd say that about kitty litter) and informative. The tracking is minimal too, or at least not as noticeable as clumping clay litter, since it's like a fine white sand.

It wasn't dust free, however, and in fact my asthmatic cat's coughing increased while using this vs arm & hammer lightweight (despite its claims that it's supposed to be good for feline asthma sufferers). 

However, after about two weeks, the box began to smell really strongly of urine, and I missed scooping for about two days. And when I did get in there to scoop / stir -- everything was dark blue! Which was obviously alarming. And the smell was overpowering.

After some investigation, the blue seemed to occur only after I let the litter sit for a day or two without scooping or stirring it up. It almost seemed like it had turned blue because of the volume of urine that was in there, in the same spot (as my kitties tend to go in the same place in the box). Once I stirred it all  up, the whole pan had a blue tint to it and the smell continued to be really strong. From that point on, even two days after I stirred it up really well (and continued to stir it up every time they went), the blue tint and smell did not dissipate.

I did observe both of them peeing in the box after that and the area that they peed on directly was a more normal olive green color. So, it could have been an anomaly in their urine that lasted for a day or two. But it seemed more like something went awry with the litter, because of the volume of urine in there concentrated in one spot (and not stirred around).

Again, these are just my results. But two cats going in a medium size box for over two weeks - at best, the smell is intense and at worst, the color-changing function seems to be off.

If I could afford to swap this litter out every 2 weeks, and their customer service was up to par, I would probably continue to use it. Swapping out the whole box often is just the reality of silica-based litters, from what I have found (most are non-clumping and recommend swapping out the box every 2-3 weeks). But can’t swing that at $40 / pan unfortunately!

StephEdwards said:

It wasn't dust free, however, and in fact my asthmatic cat's coughing increased while using this vs arm & hammer lightweight (despite its claims that it's supposed to be good for feline asthma sufferers). 

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...... by me, temporarily..... Alert for asthma sufferers, feline & human --- scented litters are terrible for asthmatics! I know this first-hand for myself and also my friend's pulmonary specialist told her the same thing. I have seen symptoms increase in cats/kittens who have suffered with URI, even some of the unscented litters contain enough trace fragrance to cause symptoms; I try to be outspoken about this issue because cats cannot speak out for themselves.

....back to the original thread - wow, I am so glad that others shared about the billing problems. That can be a real nightmare, especially for those on fixed incomes.

I tried Pretty Litter for a few days. Like a couple of previous posters mentioned, I found it very dusty when I was mixing the crystals. I couldn't see the particles flying around, but I had asthma as a child and something in the crystals really irritated the heck out of my throat and lungs. I left the fan on in the bathroom for about half an hour to circulate the air in my apartment a little bit.

The crystals took longer than I expected to "break down" (re: pee clumps). Maybe I had unrealistic expectations as it was my first time trying crystal based litter. I was happy to switch back to Arm & Hammer (double duty). A&H and Tidy Cats have been much better for me re: dust issues.

I didn't feel that Pretty Litter was worth the price because of the dust issues. Apart from that, the crystals changing color were very cool and worked efficiently (my cat was ok in terms of health). On their website, it is mentioned the Pretty Litter is cheaper than other brands of litter ($20/month versus $22+/month). I have one cat and I do not spend more than $20/month if I'm buying the commercial mainstream brands.

I have 4 bags of the stuff to try when the vet finally oks Tommy to get off paper litter following his surgery. Right now all four cats are on pellets.
We wanted Pretty Litter to keep an eye on Tommy's urinary problems but that is an awful lot of money when I usually spend about $20 a month on unscented Fresh Step. Good to hear about the dust I'll get my boyfriend to leave the room. He gets asthmatic.

This site/product is a total sham.

I have one indoor/outdoor cat. He spends most of his time outside actually so I figured a supply for 1 cat for 1 month should be plenty. It probably only lasted about two weeks, if that. None of his marks turned the litter any type of color, just clear, even though he had to be treated for tapeworms in this same month. But I couldn't even see where he urinated really.

I didn't notice a bad odor or that it really helped at all but my boyfriend told me he could smell it for a while. (Of course my boyfriend should have just cleaned out the box at that point!) But either way, our old litter smells much fresher.

I decided to cancel the subscription after the second charge and went to their website and it said I didn't have an account. I tried logging in with the email account where I received my order confirmation and it said my account still needed set up, but would only allow me to access my account AFTER I made another purchase.

I tried contacting them by phone but it continues to tell me agents are available.

I am going to contact my bank about it tomorrow and work on a refund from them instead. And cancel my card if I have to.

DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY.

As I was skimming the net in an attempt to see how others felt about Pretty Litter I came across this thread. Although I saw plenty post about the billing issues, I saw few reviews regarding the actual product, so I figured I would give my experiences with the product. As for the billing, I have not had any negative experiences, but I also have not tried canceling.

I have been using the litter for roughly 7 months now. When I first saw the ad for the product, I figured it was at least worth a shot as one of my 3 cats (as seen in my picture) is a beefy boy and we have been working on reducing his weight. I figured it was a good way to ensure everything was still operating properly, at least at a cursory level. It is important to note, this product comes with one HELL of a price tag. With three cats and three boxes, that $68.00 a month is pretty significant.

The first month supply we received, my lord, the dust was horrendous. I brought in two of my air purifiers to run for the first week because it was almost unbearable. I thought, for sure, that was going to be the deal breaker; however, to my surprise, it wasn't. My husband and I have gotten into a routine, where he has scoop duty in the morning, and I have the evening, and regardless of scooping twice a day or whether it is with clay, paper, or wood litter, by the end of the week, that litter has to go! Stinky box syndrome. Yet, that was not the case with with Pretty Litter.

In fact, the litter reasonably lasts a solid 3 weeks. The site claims 4, and this 1 week difference could be because my cats are fed a home made diet with a significant amount of water in it (hence more pee), but I would be reluctant to have 3 weeks worth of 'used' litter staying around for another 7 days out of sanitary principals. However, with the package deal I get, that $68.00 gets me 1 'free' bag, so technically I get 4 bags for that price tag (small victories I suppose). So, I toss part of each box and replace with the remaining bag, and that seems to do the trick until my next shipment comes.

Over the next several months I noticed they had changed their formula, because that extreme dust is almost non-existent now; however, it seems all my cats pee turns blue. When this first happened, I of course, went into total panic and all three were carted off to the vets for examination. All three had absolutely nothing wrong, and the vet was very pleased with Fatty's (yes, we are guilty of body shaming) weight reduction. Unfortunately, it has been that way ever since, and blue pee is now the accepted constant.

To answer someone else's question on here, the litter is considered non-clumping, but designed for absorption/evaporation. The customer should scoop the box regularly (as with any litter) to remove the solid waste, and also to ensure the wet litter is exposed to the air. Odor control is unlike any of those crystal litters you buy at the store that have minimal odor absorbency. Considering how much my cats pee, that's about the #1 reason why I will pay this price tag. I also use the Litter Genie for the waste, and I used to spend a lot of money for those little bags. Now, that I am only scooping solid waste, I haven't purchased them in months because there is soo much less product to fill.

The Pros: odor control, ease of scooping and absorption/evaporation, and longevity
The Cons: The price tag (its an ugly tag), it's still dusty (but more reasonable, at least for me), the health color whatever may or may not work

Well, I think that's about it for me and my review of it. Again, this is just my experience, I hope I also don't fall victim to the money issues, but so far everything has been pretty decent so far.

I saw this advertised on the Luuup Litter box website and was thinking about trying out both items. But of course I had some questions, mainly about the litter.

I have two cats, so by the website, two cats = two bags for 1 month. Now if you're suppose to have one litter box per cat, is this two bags for 1 litter box or 1 bag per litter box.

Also, and I'm not sure if I read this or not, does it stick to their fur?

I can't comment on the luup box, but you are correct, it's one bag per box. This should be plenty for your 2 cats. I have never experienced pretty litter sticking to any of my cats and I've been using it for a very long time, but I'm sure it's a possibility if the cat has long wirey hair.