Petsmart caring too much????

[SteveR]

Very true matt, well said.

 

[JoeyCraig3]

it just seems silly to me that there is no one over the age of 19 working at the local pets at home shop over here ??
its like they are hiring kids for cheap labour ! but this is exactly what happens when you put a 16 to 19 yearold in a position of slight power ! they will use it and if you try and make a point to them they think that because they work there they are more knowlegable than yourself and cut you off completely rufusing to sell altogather !!

i agree steverothery the whole chain is geared towards parents buying the kids a pet but why advertise such a wide variety of exotic fish ??
its not like a 5yr old is going to care weather it gets a goldfish or a malawi cichlid ?
its just a pet fish to a child !!

it also amazes me the ammount of sick dying and dead fish that remain in the tanks of my local store ! it just seems like the employees cant be botherd

true...but im 17 so i wouldnt say that all teenagers are like this....everywhere ive worked ive always worked with adults and they sometimes treat me like im stupid just because im young...so it goes both ways

 

[synodontisjack]

true...but im 17 so i wouldnt say that all teenagers are like this....everywhere ive worked ive always worked with adults and they sometimes treat me like im stupid just because im young...so it goes both ways

I agree, like here in england they made it illegal for under 16s to buy live animals but there are alot of under 16 hobbyists who know tons more than many of the ignorant adults who go in to buy an oscar fotr their 10 gallon

 

[Will Hayward]

I work in a privately owned store and I have customers who come in and after a while of chatting they will comment on how I have a lot of information to offer. I'm always stumped when they do this... I am a salesman. A salesman is expected to know the in and outs of his product, and so I put much time into researching fish that come in and products. If I was a car salesman, you wouldn't make the same comment". However it also takes time to learn and research in a hobby that is so vast, and so I'll be the first one to admit that I don't know anything about something if I really don't. Although I'm limited by budget, I do attempt to gain first hand experience with the animals too.

The fish have a health guarantee. Being eaten or killed or bullied in your tank is not covered by that. I cannot account for one individual fish's personality in your tank, the variables are too great. If you have given me information about you tank, I will let you know if there is elevated chance of risk.

Unfortunately, for all the dedication I make to the fish, I am still subject to the average low wages.

 

[Bogwoodbruce]

In england we have pets at home and maidenhead aquatics are the 2 big chain stores, maidenhead is great and ive never been to a bad store but pets at home the people know nothing when they ask you to fill out the form they are only familiar with the fish they sell and the common names so if you want to buy a goldfish to live with an oscar then they wont sell it to you but if you buy a goldfish to live with astronotus ocellatus then its fine cos they dont know what it is.

ha its too true lol ! im in the uk too!
sod pets at home it should be something like mc donalds do fish as all their employees are fed the same BS just to be able to sell fish !!
they dont care about them so of course they dont know anything about them !

woo! More members who hate Pets at home as much as me.

 

[matt123]

true...but im 17 so i wouldnt say that all teenagers are like this....everywhere ive worked ive always worked with adults and they sometimes treat me like im stupid just because im young...so it goes both ways

definately ! im only 23 myself !
i was aiming it specificly at my local store, saying that they could do with employing people that know what they are talking about and not just employing broke students for minimum wage !!

 

[matt123]

woo! More members who hate Pets at home as much as me.

absolutely ! just hate the big comercial store thats only after masses of money trying to say that they are your local friendly fish retailer!
what a load of b******s !

 

[yoitsfrankk]

agreed i went to petco yesterday and noticed every tank had ick and asked the manager what cure was he using, he looked at he like i was speaking Chinese. Then after a minute he says ick cures are over on the self.

 

[frnchjeep]

Maybe he doesnt shop there? I certainly don't since I get into arguements with know it all staff. Since becoming more of a "pro keeper" I have noticed pets at home or petsmart in the USA/canada is catered towards mums and dads buying a goldfish for a kid, not my tastes - the filters they stock SUCK, yet they are always moaning about how important filtration is, they sell not one cannister filter. Mince!

Uhm, I'm pretty sure that if you don't like it, you wouldn't shop there. Especailly if the fish are "peppered with ich" like you say.

It's PetSmart policy to ask what they're buying for, and its better to get an idea of what customers are shopping for, rather than sell them an arrowana for a 10 gallon (for example), then having it die, then mad customers. Maybe the employee was new? Usually newbies learn what goes together, and until they're there for a while, they don't know what all goes together.

Just calm down. What if someone sold you a fish that would have killed all your other fish? You'd be here berating the store that didn't bother to ask.

1. I'm calm.

2. I don't shop there for fish. I have before, but I learned quick. I have a lot of pets, and the chain stores are a great sorce of crickets, mealworms, bird and cat food, etc. Every time I am there, I walk by the tanks, and yes, more often than not, there are fish that are covered in ich. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think I would buy any pet from a chain store(anymore). I have found that (generally) people that know about and like fish work at a LFS. Most chain store employees are just there for employment.

3. I don't worry about buying a fish that might kill another of my fish because every fish I buy is well researched BEFORE I buy it. I don't think that it is the store's responsibility. I get irritated when they try to police animals that desperatly need to get out of the store's tanks tanks. I get even more irritated when I hear them give advise or deny a sale based off info that is flat out wrong. This hypothetical "newbie" that you are talking about shouldn't be giving out advise on something that he/she knows nothing about.

4. I think that it is fine that they ask. Most everyone that sells fish does. If it sounds like a combo thet wont work, they can recomend against trying it. If they find out that they are going into an uncycled tank, they can deny the sale. However denying a sale beacuse the card on the wall says it won't work is rediculous.

 

[frnchjeep]

I work in a privately owned store and I have customers who come in and after a while of chatting they will comment on how I have a lot of information to offer. I'm always stumped when they do this... I am a salesman. A salesman is expected to know the in and outs of his product, and so I put much time into researching fish that come in and products. If I was a car salesman, you wouldn't make the same comment". However it also takes time to learn and research in a hobby that is so vast, and so I'll be the first one to admit that I don't know anything about something if I really don't. Although I'm limited by budget, I do attempt to gain first hand experience with the animals too.

The fish have a health guarantee. Being eaten or killed or bullied in your tank is not covered by that. I cannot account for one individual fish's personality in your tank, the variables are too great. If you have given me information about you tank, I will let you know if there is elevated chance of risk.

Unfortunately, for all the dedication I make to the fish, I am still subject to the average low wages.

Thats what I'm getting at.