Horrible Experiene at Petsmart

So I've just got home from getting my darling little betta boy a couple of things for his new home.

I went to our local Petsmart to get an API ammonia test kit, got there and they didn't have any in stock, didn't know when they would get any in and told me to just buy some test strips, they were all the same anyway

So I went to the other store here in town and got it then went back to Petsmart to redeem a $5 survey voucher that I got for participating in their phone survey, figured I'd just buy an airstone (which happened to be under $5). Turned out that it was a big deal that I wanted something under $5!

The till couldn't process it, and to cut a long story short the girl had to get another lady to help who had to get the manager to do it - well, she was just so snide with me, told me to go and spend more money, rolled her eyes at me when I said I didn't need anything else. So I decided to leave and then she yelled at me while I was walking out the door "it's just math" and they all started laughing about it.

I won't be going back there but the whole thing has left me feeling pretty low.

Just wanted to vent to people who understand the shortcomings of chain LFS

And all the poor betta babies in the cups in that horrible blue liquid - some have been there now for 2 weeks

 

That sounds like an awful experience, don't they realize half the reason people shop at places is the service they are provided! If I were you I would call their corporate headquarters and lodge a complaint. There's definitely no need for that kind of rudeness.

 

honestly get that lady's name and write a letter to corp with signitures. not only could we stop the fish abuse, but we could get that woman in trouble. voices, even small ones can conquer all

 

It is bad enough when a company has a bad employee, and I've had enough experience in managing hotels and restaurants to know that sometimes this cannot be avoided. But when the attitude includes the entire staff it is a sign of a much bigger problem in the management of the business. I personally haven't had that bad of experience Petco/Petsmart around here (except for their general ignorance about what they are selling). But the proper thing to do in this situation is to write a letter to the corporation and boycott the store. I have often been tempted to start a webpage dedicated to highlighting all my bad experiences with various companies, as well as a few exceptionally good experiences, and including a link in every email I send and my listings on eBay. Currently I am having an serious issue with FedEx. I have been trying to get them to reimburse me for a lost insured package ($220.00) for about 6 months now. I've been getting the worst run-around.

 

That petsmart sounds just like the petco back in my home town. Those stores are reason enough to shop online.. just the way they treat customers, not to mention the fish abuse.

 

I can totally believe it, I hate big LFS's.
OK, here's a good one. There's a Petco near here that's selling "Moss-balls" Now there is such a thing as a Moss-ball or Algae-ball; it's a wild looking ball of moss that just sort of sits there or floats around. Marine Warehouse in Tampa sells real ones and I plan on getting one soon. Anyway, so I see these things at Petco and I'm thinking it doesn't look quite right, and I decided to blow the couple dollars just to prove a point.
I paid for it, went into the parking lot and tore it apart and sure enough I was right...

It was Java moss tied around a styrofoam ball!!!!!!

I went right back in and tore into the manager pretty bad. I almost got myself banned, but that doesn't matter, I'll definitly never go back there again.

 

I can't believe how rude they were! I would definitely write them, or shoot them off an e-mail. You might be surprised at the response you get from upper management.
Employees tend to forget it is OUR patronage that keeps them working.
I'm never shy about reporting shoddy service or products.

 

So sorry that you were treated so rudely. Its a shame.. but a sad fact on our society as a whole. Not just these chain stores you are taking about, but everywhere.. our grocery stores.. convenience stores.. gas stations.. laundry mats.. fellow customers in stores... its an epidemic.
Respect for others seem to be disappearing .... and those employee's sure need a life lesson. I would also write the corporation, not the local store, as they will only defend their employee anyway. But the Corp head quarters will be more quick to listen.. if anything, you will at least feel empowered that you did something about it.
don't let them get you down...

 

that's truly despicable, I understand them not being able to do the under 5 dollar thing, that kinda stuff just happens. But for the employees to laugh at you as you leave, that is ridiculous, I hope everyone in that store gets fired. I hope you never have to experience that ever again.

 

That's sad. I can understand that the till won't accept the $5, but I can't understand them not saying "alright, here's what we're going to do to fix this." When I worked in fast food, our company had a rule that any employee, from cashier on up, could fix $10 worth of a problem without getting a manager, no matter what it was. This included giving a customer a meal if all they had was a credit card (before we accepted credit cards).

One more reason to avoid the big chain stores. Sure, you'll have rude people at an LFS, but it's more likely that the owner will do something about it, since you aren't just a few bucks coming in, you're a customer, you're the paycheck.

 

Hi, thanks to everyone for their support.

I ended up writing an email to the customer support section of the Petsmart website so hopefully maybe something will come of that. Here in Alberta there are not enough people to fill in all the customer service positions which is why you kinda get that "I don't care cause I'm not going to lose my job anyway" attitude (which is definitely not to say that all customer service workers are like that here! - I guess it's just people, some good, some not)

And yes I understand that they couldn't accept the voucher because of the negative balance that would come up on the tills computer - what really got to me was that nobody wanted to offer any alternatives.

It wasn't until I got come that I thought "oh I could have just gone and got another bottle of freezedried worms for my little boy", then the airstone and the worms would have been just over the $5

Plus I left the voucher there (just wanted to get out I guess) so I don't even have that anymore (not that I want to go back in there again anyway!)

 

And yes I understand that they couldn't accept the voucher because of the negative balance that would come up on the tills computer - what really got to me was that nobody wanted to offer any alternatives.

Exactly what I'm getting at. Too many people are allowing the computer to become the final word, forgetting that they are humans, capable of problem-solving. I've been told at a fast food place that has almost the entire setup automated that I couldn't get a glass of water with my combo rather than soda because there wasn't a button for it. When I asked "can't you just ring up Coke and make a water?" they said "No, you can ask the person at the next window to do that." This has happened repeatedly. I've run into similar issues at other restaurants, as well.

Hope everything goes well with the message to customer service. I know that I've had issues with PetSmart's customer service department in the past, but I may have gotten in touch with a particularly crabby person or something.

 

I used to be an assistant GM of a Best Western, when the main office got a complaint, they MADE the individual hotel deal with it, and scores were kept concerning numbers and types of complaints. There was always the real possibility that the individual hotel could lose their franchise. Any good corporation has some similar system in place.

 

Too much of the time, the big box store crowds the smaller store out of business. Often they do it by reducing the number and quality of staff, hiring people cheap, who are totally helpless without the machines to tell them what to do. Then, when they're "the only game in town", they really don't care if they satisfy the customer or not and their employees fall right in line with that "policy".

But as CoBettaCouple says, it's that much more reason to go online - we actually have more places than ever to shop!

 

Dear Seagullnz,
if you knew how many times I was insulted by nasty sales people! I can laugh right now but sometimes I had to leave stores in tears... Believe in karma. Those people will sooner or later be treated the same way they treated you.

 

LOL.. That is SO like Petco! The one in my home town double-charges regularly and owes us a 10 gallon tank. They're the only game in town and they act like it.

I can totally believe it, I hate big LFS's.
OK, here's a good one. There's a Petco near here that's selling "Moss-balls" Now there is such a thing as a Moss-ball or Algae-ball; it's a wild looking ball of moss that just sort of sits there or floats around. Marine Warehouse in Tampa sells real ones and I plan on getting one soon. Anyway, so I see these things at Petco and I'm thinking it doesn't look quite right, and I decided to blow the couple dollars just to prove a point.
I paid for it, went into the parking lot and tore it apart and sure enough I was right...

It was Java moss tied around a styrofoam ball!!!!!!

I went right back in and tore into the manager pretty bad. I almost got myself banned, but that doesn't matter, I'll definitly never go back there again.

 

Here's an update,
I just had a phone call from the Manager at Petsmart apologising profusly.
She had received the email I wrote from Head Office (my guess is that my email went to somewhere in the US then to Canada Head Office then to the local Petsmart).

She told me that yes that was her 2IC that acted that way and that she would be speaking to her about it, offered me a $10 (instead of the $5 voucher). I thanked her but told her that I would not be coming back in.

Goodbye Petsmart Red Deer Alberta

 

Yea, good for you!

 

to everyone else who is running into this problem, may be running into this problem or sees fish abuse?

call the better business bearu (BBB) I learned the best way to hit a mistreating store, is through their pocketbooks, and trust me, the higher ups will notice, mayhaps even wal-mart? also! if that does not work, tip off a newspaper, nothing hurts worse then negitive attention in anyway (but make sure your claims are founded!

seagullnz, if I had some way to meet you, I would give you a hug and shake your hand. if more people had the courage to report and such, things would be easier for all animals and for the people too! but I acknowledge that this is not ever an easy fight, but maybe your story will give others hope, last hoorah! *maybe got a little too excited* ()

 

Awwww, thanks!

You know I feel much better for standing my ground

And I love Seattle, I have good friends there and have visited a few times,
beautiful city on the sea

 

Lily, take the voucher! You deserve it! I am sure you can find a couple of useful items for $10. Boycott the store AFTER using the voucher!

 

Lily, take the voucher! You deserve it! I am sure you can find a couple of useful items for $10. Boycott the store AFTER using the voucher!

yeah get it ands rescue another betta >:3