It is true that some of the info on the tags isn't correct. Some of us try to make customers aware of the correct info before buying, but not everyone wants to here it. Like the older gentleman who came in looking for tankmates for smaller angelfish. After several questions it turns out that he has a five gallon hex that he wants to put three angels in along with other tankmates. He asked about silver dollars and was told of their full size. His reply? "They don't have to get that big". So while some employees are only there for the paycheck, some take pride in their job and try to do the right thing. It also depends on how much support they get from upper management. Company policy is to refuse the sale of any pet that is going into substandard care, including fish. But if store management won't back them on this during customer complaints then it's go along or move along.
Stupid petsmart :p
- Thread starter dchaos52
- Start date
oh i know that, im not trying to flame petsmart or anything, i was just explaining the insolence of some of their employees
Agreed, I have worked with too many of those myself. Just a little touchy on the whole every Petsmart employee is a moron thing.
Trying to do the right thing at work is hard. I sell appliances for a living and run into that all the time. Primary example is someone who comes in looking for a front load washer, assuming they are the only great washers out there, mostly because they don't know that there are top-loading machines that are just as efficient. This isn't much of a problem most of the time, but if you put a front-loader into a trailer, it'll shake all to hell, and if it's a little old lady trying to get in and out of it, it can be a bit difficult. I try to tell these people, but then they buy the front loader and complain about the house shaking or it being hard to get into and want us to take it back no questions asked. Doing the right thing at work always bites me in the ass.
In the case of fish, it's a shame, but the original poster is accurate in that this happens far too often. I've only been part of this hobby for a year and a half, and when I got my first tank, this is what I was told. "Let it sit for a few days to get things ready for the fish, then come on in and we'll help you out."
I came back a few days later (I didn't even know what cycling was) and bought close to 30 juvenile fish of all varieties for my 29 gallon tank. What a nightmare. I almost gave up on fishkeeping entirely then. Nearly all the fish died. For nearly a year and a half, I had one of the survivors until I donated him to the store.
I think that's why a lot of stores don't bother telling people these things. They're probably hoping that some of the fish will come back since they will adopt any overgrown fish no questions asked, and then they turn around and resell them.
There is only one local fish store within 30 miles of my home that I'm aware of, and they only do saltwater. Mind you, it's great that they do it, but no local stores for freshwater at all. They're all common chains like Petco.
I do have to give my local Petco credit though. They do pretty well with their fish, and their staff members are surprisingly knowledgeable. The ones who aren't have always been more than willing to say "I really don't know. So and so is the expert with the fish." I'd rather someone tell me they don't know than just pretend and hope I buy something.
After all, if you buy too many fish because you weren't informed and get frustrated, you'll never buy any more.
I just wish I had more aquatic knowledge, because I'd love to open up a fish store... JUST fish. Do it right, you know? Problem is, I don't know nearly enough about the varieties of fish out there, and even though I'm convinced that I could do well at running a small business, there is a lot of overhead and utility costs to something like a fish store.
Then again, what business out there IS cheap to start off?
At least My competition would just be Petco and Petland. Petland was the one that screwed me originally by not giving me good advice. Sure, some could argue that I should know what I'm doing, but people go to pet stores not just to buy pets, but to get advice about buying what pets and why.
Hrmm... I love ferrets too. Maybe I'll open a Fish and Ferret store!
In the case of fish, it's a shame, but the original poster is accurate in that this happens far too often. I've only been part of this hobby for a year and a half, and when I got my first tank, this is what I was told. "Let it sit for a few days to get things ready for the fish, then come on in and we'll help you out."
I came back a few days later (I didn't even know what cycling was) and bought close to 30 juvenile fish of all varieties for my 29 gallon tank. What a nightmare. I almost gave up on fishkeeping entirely then. Nearly all the fish died. For nearly a year and a half, I had one of the survivors until I donated him to the store.
I think that's why a lot of stores don't bother telling people these things. They're probably hoping that some of the fish will come back since they will adopt any overgrown fish no questions asked, and then they turn around and resell them.
There is only one local fish store within 30 miles of my home that I'm aware of, and they only do saltwater. Mind you, it's great that they do it, but no local stores for freshwater at all. They're all common chains like Petco.
I do have to give my local Petco credit though. They do pretty well with their fish, and their staff members are surprisingly knowledgeable. The ones who aren't have always been more than willing to say "I really don't know. So and so is the expert with the fish." I'd rather someone tell me they don't know than just pretend and hope I buy something.
After all, if you buy too many fish because you weren't informed and get frustrated, you'll never buy any more.
I just wish I had more aquatic knowledge, because I'd love to open up a fish store... JUST fish. Do it right, you know? Problem is, I don't know nearly enough about the varieties of fish out there, and even though I'm convinced that I could do well at running a small business, there is a lot of overhead and utility costs to something like a fish store.
Then again, what business out there IS cheap to start off?
At least My competition would just be Petco and Petland. Petland was the one that screwed me originally by not giving me good advice. Sure, some could argue that I should know what I'm doing, but people go to pet stores not just to buy pets, but to get advice about buying what pets and why.
Hrmm... I love ferrets too. Maybe I'll open a Fish and Ferret store!
Makes me wonder which is "Stupid"
Paying petsmart prices for aquarium goods
Or the purchasing of fish for a tank they will eventually outgrow
Or even the worst thing is you obviously seem to know better, yet chose not to give any advise that could possibly remedy the sitsuation. Then come here and post your complaint
In regards to the uneducated mother and her son and the poor fish, you my friend made the stupiest move of all, by doing nothing.
i was at petsmart today buying a new filtration system for my new 75 gallon
Paying petsmart prices for aquarium goods
when i overheard one of the salesmen wrapping up a purchase of 7 balas in a 20 GALLON TANKthe boy and his mom were also buying a dragon goby and a pleco.. poor fish
Or the purchasing of fish for a tank they will eventually outgrow
Or even the worst thing is you obviously seem to know better, yet chose not to give any advise that could possibly remedy the sitsuation. Then come here and post your complaint
In regards to the uneducated mother and her son and the poor fish, you my friend made the stupiest move of all, by doing nothing.Bderick67;1084453; said:Makes me wonder which is "Stupid"
Paying petsmart prices for aquarium goods
Or the purchasing of fish for a tank they will eventually outgrow
Or even the worst thing is you obviously seem to know better, yet chose not to give any advise that could possibly remedy the sitsuation. Then come here and post your complaint
Disgruntled PetSmart employee... EVERYBODY RUN AND HIDE!!!!
Bderick67;1084453; said:Makes me wonder which is "Stupid"
Paying petsmart prices for aquarium goods
Or the purchasing of fish for a tank they will eventually outgrow
Or even the worst thing is you obviously seem to know better, yet chose not to give any advise that could possibly remedy the sitsuation. Then come here and post your complaint
In defense of the original poster I've gotten some really good deals price matching and such at Petsmart. MUCH better deals than I would have gotten buying somewhere else online or at my LFS.
And as far as going up to the person and trying to remedy the situation, I dunno about the original poster, but me and my husband have gone up to people trying to politely give them advice so many times it's ridiculous, and 99.9% of the time they either don't understand what we're saying, don't care, or think the employee knows better because they work at a pet store.
Because the thing is, if someone WANTS the information they go looking for it BEFORE they go to buy the fish. Most people want a tank full of fish to look at overnight, and until they kill that whole tank full of fish they aren't going to realize the pet store employee doesn't know wtf they're talking about.
This is actually pretty understandable considering if you're new to the hobby (which wasn't long ago for me) you don't know WHO to listen to even if you ARE looking for the correct information.
There's tons of articles on websites floating around that mention keeping
your pH at 7.0 ("and btw you can use pH up or pH down to accomplish this!"), only keeping an inch of fish per gallon in your tank, stocking compatable fish (with a list that is usually incorrect) and don't even so much as mention cycling your fish tank or doing adequate water changes, or warn you about the "fish grow to the size of their tank" myth.
So what are you to do when some stranger comes up to you telling you that the pet store employee who is SUPPOSED to be knowledgeable just told you a bunch of stuff that is WRONG and you should do it a different way?
That's why Petsmart should make sure their employees are more knowledgeable, but then again how do they do that? They can't make sure every employee at every store is a fishkeeping encyclopedia. A lot of people that do have a massive amount of fishkeeping advice aren't going to work for petsmart anyway, they're going to have better jobs which is why they have the money to put into the hobby in the first place.
And then you have all of the experienced fishkeepers that can't even agree with each other, so the new hobbyist is left confused even if they do find several people with experience.
I think it's an overload of information. The new fishkeeper doesn't know how to tell who knows what they're talking about, who doesn't know what they're talking about, and what information is just completely irrelevent to their level of fishkeeping(such as the pH thing).
100%
lol calm down bderick, honestly the filtration system did not cost "and outrageous price" as you stated.. and secondly its not my business to take away from the marts sales, i was just in there to buy a pump and get out, not to start a heated conversation with the under educated employee, plus, if they honestly wanted to buy fish they should have done SOME research first, even if i were to go up and tell them its not what they WANT to hear, so they wont heed my warning. It was just another one of those "Pretty fish tank, no work" buyers who dont know what they are getting in to. Its their fault if they dont study the fish they plan on purchasing, so calm down.. internet fights get you no were
Lucky I have no Petco/PetsMart near me.
But I do have a Pets Paradise whcih you will find in every shopping complex. So thats roughly 5-7 shopping centres near me (Within 30 miles). Now these people always have ity bitty pet stores that sell dogs/cats/fish/mice/birds/hermit crabs.
Thier fish selection is appauling, averaging 10-15 5 gallon tanks and 50% of them are stocked with goldfish. They have no knowledge and once I heard an employe selling four 1" mbunas for a bare 1 gallon bowl. Saying that they will not grow much at all and they just swim with no aggression. The customer was your typical redneck who thinks he's the top of the world. They were juiced up with steriods to bring out thier adult colours.
I said they grew well beyond 2.5" (Which is what the employe said) and he just laughed at me you said "I think a pet shop worker knows more than a runty kid". I however am 13 and 5' 11".
But I do have a Pets Paradise whcih you will find in every shopping complex. So thats roughly 5-7 shopping centres near me (Within 30 miles). Now these people always have ity bitty pet stores that sell dogs/cats/fish/mice/birds/hermit crabs.
Thier fish selection is appauling, averaging 10-15 5 gallon tanks and 50% of them are stocked with goldfish. They have no knowledge and once I heard an employe selling four 1" mbunas for a bare 1 gallon bowl. Saying that they will not grow much at all and they just swim with no aggression. The customer was your typical redneck who thinks he's the top of the world. They were juiced up with steriods to bring out thier adult colours.
I said they grew well beyond 2.5" (Which is what the employe said) and he just laughed at me you said "I think a pet shop worker knows more than a runty kid". I however am 13 and 5' 11".
