Working for Petco.......
- Thread starter DCOWBOYS
- Start date
bolivianbaby;4675084; said:
OP- Good on ya mate!
The business model, of just make a sale, doesn't make sense. If the fish live and the customer is happy they will need to come back over and over and over for food and maintenance items. That is where most of the profit comes from anyway and it gets them back for that impulse buy on a new tank and stock.
Couldn't have paid enought to alleviate banging your head against a wall. I work in a small LFS and they were truly scared when the "Big boxes" came in. Now they are happy.....people may buy tanks and supplies there cheaper....but knowledge and selection of fish keep them happily in business. Me personally, I have benefitted from people buying 55 gallons set ups a Petco...they whole affair becomes a dismal failure and i buy the complete setup for $100. 4 times!
i actually work at a petco down the street from my house as the "aquatic specialist" for the past 5 months and never have been yelled at once for turning down sales. I always age verify and ask about the customers tanks before making the sale. So i guess is boils down to the district manager and the underlings.
I had a lady wanting to buy a pleco for her restarted 40 gallon. i told her she didnt need a pleco just yet. she insisted and pointed to the smallest pleco in the tank. i went to grab a bag and asked if she was planning to keep it with cichlids like she did before. she said yes and i told her that the pleco would last a couple house before it would be killed. i recommended the larger plecos and she said ok but changed her mind back to the smaller one. i tried to talk her out of it, explaining that even the smallest cichlid in the store is capable of killing her pleco. she frustratingly said never mind and stormed away. I walked away with a smile.
one of the managers later asked me if i denied a lady and i explained my story. we laughed about it together.
I had a lady wanting to buy a pleco for her restarted 40 gallon. i told her she didnt need a pleco just yet. she insisted and pointed to the smallest pleco in the tank. i went to grab a bag and asked if she was planning to keep it with cichlids like she did before. she said yes and i told her that the pleco would last a couple house before it would be killed. i recommended the larger plecos and she said ok but changed her mind back to the smaller one. i tried to talk her out of it, explaining that even the smallest cichlid in the store is capable of killing her pleco. she frustratingly said never mind and stormed away. I walked away with a smile.
one of the managers later asked me if i denied a lady and i explained my story. we laughed about it together.
petco sucks petsmart is ehh mine not that bad petsmart i mean my petco sucks almost half of their fish is dead and the half is ich carrier
I'm glad you steered the customers in the right direction and told them facts rather than just saying "no".
Working in a LFS myself, it gets rough trying to steer customers in the right direction. Many times, a customer is not leaving without something totally incompatible with their setup.
I don't think it's a company policy though to sell fish at any costs. A petco by me, will recommend their saltwater customers to our store, and their employees seem pretty knowledgeable. I talked to their reptile guy before about fish and was totally floored by the fact that he knew more about fish than most fish keepers.
What kind of cichlids were they? I have never heard of a kind of cichlid that usually kills plecos in hours. I've seen them mixed with crazy things at work including a hyper aggressive pair of foot long Jags in a 65 as well as large flowerhorns. Many of my customers that mix them with Africans and fail, usually have them together for at least a couple of days. And even in that situation, it works out.
Plus, a pleco that is eaten by a fish, is far less worse than a pleco with ruptured internal organs from severe stunting.
Working in a LFS myself, it gets rough trying to steer customers in the right direction. Many times, a customer is not leaving without something totally incompatible with their setup.
I don't think it's a company policy though to sell fish at any costs. A petco by me, will recommend their saltwater customers to our store, and their employees seem pretty knowledgeable. I talked to their reptile guy before about fish and was totally floored by the fact that he knew more about fish than most fish keepers.
WeeNe858;4772197; said:
What kind of cichlids were they? I have never heard of a kind of cichlid that usually kills plecos in hours. I've seen them mixed with crazy things at work including a hyper aggressive pair of foot long Jags in a 65 as well as large flowerhorns. Many of my customers that mix them with Africans and fail, usually have them together for at least a couple of days. And even in that situation, it works out.
Plus, a pleco that is eaten by a fish, is far less worse than a pleco with ruptured internal organs from severe stunting.
Huh, must be basically every other chain pet store sucks because both the PetCo and PetsMart near me at home are great.
I've gone in those stores on many an occasion and played the part of the clueless buyer just to see if I got a correct response, and they set me on the right course, so props to those two stores near me.
Of course then, it seems that they only train their fish section employees on proper fish care; I heard an employee from a different department who ended up bagging fish just because the store was really busy tell a customer the old incorrect "inch per gallon" rule. 
Luckily, an employee from the fish department corrected that statement, so I didn't have to try to explain to the customer that they were told incorrect information.
I've gone in those stores on many an occasion and played the part of the clueless buyer just to see if I got a correct response, and they set me on the right course, so props to those two stores near me.
Of course then, it seems that they only train their fish section employees on proper fish care; I heard an employee from a different department who ended up bagging fish just because the store was really busy tell a customer the old incorrect "inch per gallon" rule. Luckily, an employee from the fish department corrected that statement, so I didn't have to try to explain to the customer that they were told incorrect information.