navyscuba

So I wrote to Petsmart last night about my recent visit to them. The following is the response from them and right below it is my email. Lets see what comes out of this.

Dear Angel,

Thank you for your e-mail and for bringing this to our attention. I
have taken the liberty of entering a customer complaint on your behalf.
Your complaint will be addressed by a member of our Management Team
within seven business days, and you can expect a reply at that time.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or frustration this may
have caused you, and we appreciate the opportunity you have given us to
set the matter right.

Sincerely,

Tabitha
PetSmart Customer Care



Original Message Follows:
------------------------

Comments:

On my last few visits to this store I have found that they are very few
employees that know about fish keeping and the ones that know for one or
other reason they work there for a few months and they are gone. Anyway
went there to find dead fish all over the tanks. information tags on the
fish that are wrong. For example: a Common pleco reads that they require
a 20 gal tank another one a clown loach minimum tank 20 gal. Come on
people a common pleco in about a year will be around 7" that thing can
barely turn around in that tank same goes to the loach. Employees when
they talk to a customer they tell them "yeap you can buy the tank and
set it up and in 2hrs put your fish in" Are you kidding me? It don't
matter how many products you put on your tank to create a biological
filter the fish you put there will be dying in a matter of hrs one by
one. Then you take the fish back and of course need a water sample which
is going to show an ammonia spike because there is no beneficial
bacteria to process the ammonia. You should change your name to
PETDUMMIES.You have somewhere ok prices but the customer service SUCKS.
All you guys do is lying to people to get their money and that is just
plain wrong. If you need someone to educate your employees about a
nitrogen cycle and how to set up an aquarium the right way I know plenty
of volunteers across the U.S. that are very happy on doing so. I'm
personally a fish breeder for African Cichlids, Angelfish, Corycats, and
few others and this kind of things aggravate me to the point that I
don't plan on setting a foot on your stores. In the other hand some of
your stores like the brand new one on the St. Johns Town Center is one
of the newest stores and the tanks are very well kept. Other that the
feeder tank had a few dead fish everything was kinda ok. I'm hoping this
don't stay here and your management can actually do their JOB RIGHT.

Jaysee

Looks like a generic response....

navyscuba

I know We'll see how they take care of the issue.

nater

I wonder how many times a day they get your same basic email from people? They will probably send you another generic response within 7 business days, this time with a coupon.

haedra

I'm not trying to rain on your parade, and I appreciate that your heart was in the right place; but the way you expressed yourself you can not hope to expect either much to change, or expect a more personalized response from the company.

It is imperative when you voice a complaint of any sort, to any company to conduct yourself in a professional manner. If you do not do that, you risk your voice going unheard. No company wants any of their customers complaining. But they will take more seriously those that are performed in a courteous, professional manner; and all the better if you provide definitive sources of research for your claims.

endlessecho74

Haedra makes a good point. I'm glad you took the time to contact them, though. I'm sure the more people who talk to the company about the misinformation their info tags & employees provide, the more likely they are to make changes.

PS - It doesn't surprise me in the least that the one in the St. John's Town Center shows better care. They'd have to look good to stay in business there. lol

navyscuba

What do you mean about the one in St. Johns? They are about 20 minutes from each other.

Meenu

I agree with Haedra. By insulting them (Petdummies, really??), you've turned a good email into a rant that they are likely to ignore. I don't think a letter like that one is likely to bring about change.

navyscuba

I understand what you mean I was really mad could not keep it straight.

Jaysee

Petdummies - I didn't get that far! It's very funny though

haedra

Can I offer some advice?

Start over. Express your "disappointment" and not anger. Disappointment is a much more powerful incentive to change for a company, than base anger can be. Anger will get lost amidst any and all other complaints they might have (as EVERY company will have).

Explain to them that you are disappointed in what their employees are suggesting to their customers, not only because you care for the fish involved; but also because these same customers will end up with heavy hearts when their fish won't survive due to the information given them.

Make a point to mention, however subtle, that giving proper information can only result in repeat business for them. Repeat business from loyal customers and the associated word of mouth is much more powerful to them financially than any other.

And finally, be sure to cite appropriately correct information that you give them on fish care. While it might be likely that positions in upper management and corporate already know and have access to this information, the mere fact that you can back up your claims will make them take you more seriously.

And snail mail it to the appropriate parties. This might still be the age of the internet, but for professional purposes I still hold to the ideals of taking your time to print a properly worded, and formatted, printed letter.

Good luck.

AwNuts

Hedra is correct. The grammar in your email was really bad which made your email look very weak. When writing to any business you always want a strong and clear structure. By doing so, you will catch the attention of the reader and show that you are a concern customer seeking results if possible.

I would also recommend that you start over on your customer complaint.

P.S. Try not to insult the company nor its employees as your complaint will be tossed with no resolution.

Best of luck.

Jaysee

I am a customer service professional, and would agree that complaints with insults are immediately dismissed without considderation.

navyscuba

Well if the take the complaint they can take it for what is worth. I'm not writing to them again or visit another store. I won't support some store like that. That is my final decision.

scatty

Disagree. I dealt with customer complaints for years at one of the largest food production companies in this country. We took EVERY complaint seriously regardless of grammar, spelling or whether or not the letter was emotive. At the end of the day, an unhappy customer is an unhappy customer, and any company who dismisses a complaint based on these issues should not be in business. I understand that a professionally penned complaint may help scare the company into thinking you may be prepared to take further action, but we never assumed that poor grammar or emotiveness suggested that the consumer wouldn't pursue the issue. Just my opinion
And Navy? Good for you - it's an issue worth pursuing, I hope you get some satisfactory result. And may I suggest that if you don't, that you complain further? Maybe a petition or something will get their attention.

bolivianbaby

Good for you, Navy! Economically, experienced fishkeepers spend the most money. Notifying them about poor conditions and incorrect information being posted regarding tank sizes was a great idea! They have to realize that they need experienced fishkeepers to shop in their stores. They should also realize that experienced fishkeepers "talk amongst ourselves" regarding good stores to shop at. By losing one customer, they can lose many many more.

It would be a wise decision if they understood that.

scatty

Here here
(or is it hear hear?)

bolivianbaby

I don't know We'd have to ask the pilgrims

scatty

navyscuba

You know is funny when I see post here on the forum about fish stores that don't meet the requirements that we use around here and people complain about it here, but they don't take any action to see if the stores do anything to improve the way they do things. Then when someone actually do something about it gets criticized by the way was done. Who cares at the moment how it was done the important thing is that someone tried to get the word out. I didn't curse a nobody. I didn't insulted no one. I you feel like you need a tuxedo to do a speech you are wrong. If someone is actually is willing to listen to you they hear what you have to say no matter if your clothes are torn apart. Excuse me if I made you feel wrong. BTW customer service was my old job(15 years on retail stores and Seafood Restaurant) until I joint the military.

scatty

bolivianbaby

I'm one of the ones who only fuss at the store level. However, I have a great deal of respect for those who are willing to go to corporate level to correct these type situations.

navyscuba

Thanks Scatty.
Thanks Marie I know you won't act like that to me.

haedra

As I said in my initial response, I knew your heart was in the right place. I applaud that you took a stand, no matter what form it took.

My goal was to help you get results, ones that you would actually desire, in the form of change at the store level; and avoid the bone being thrown toward you in the form of a "coupon" as I saw mentioned in a reply.

I am sorry if it did not seem that way.

djorna

As A new fish owner I had the same problem they basically told me once my water was conditioned and my temp was right add fish. If it was not for the help from the members of this site I would have a toxic haven for fish. I have learned so much in the last week for example water perimeters, cycling aquariums, water changes filter bacteria ect.

navyscuba

I understand everyones point of view and if I need to do it again I will till the problem is fixed.
Djorna I'm glad you found the answers to all your questions and if anything you have doubts or questions about to hesitate on massaging me or many of the good helpers here. Good Luck.

djorna

Thank you

sirdarksol

There isn't much in this thread that I disagree with.
I do agree that the wording of complaints matters greatly. No matter how much a customer relations team claims that they take every complaint with an equal amount of seriousness, the better stated a complaint is, the more seriously it will be taken. Not only have I been in customer relations, I have been in places where I've heard from upper management about this complaints, and the wording of them does matter.

I also agree that navyscuba took a huge step in actually contacting them, and I agree with the question "how many of you have actually done so?" I am really curious about this question.
However, I also agree that nobody here was attacking navyscuba. They wanted to help get better results.

navyscuba

I do somehow agree with the wording of it. I'm not perfect with english and I let my emotions drive me to the result of it. Thanks for your support Sirdarksol. If any of you need to make a complaint on Petsmart just look on their website on their customer service section. I found it quick.
Thanks again and Good Luck.

sirdarksol

No problem. It is easy to find. I've filed complaints with both Petsmart and Petco regarding bettas in the past.