Petco visit vent

Wanted to buy two more glofish. Made mistake of going into Petco in Fairfax, VA. They had glofish, but one of them was dead. So was a fish in the tank below. And in another tank. Given that they don't specialize in fish, the percentage of tanks with a dead fish was staggering. On way out of store, I told the manager "We decided not to buy fish because there were too many dead fish." Him: "That's normal." Me: "No, it isn't. It's too risky, I do not know what the fish dies of, could have been a disease." Him: "If they had a disease, they would all be dead." Me: "No, they would not. You got these fish recently. Maybe the others are not dead yet. Anyway, we are not buying fish here." Him: "That's your choice. But you should not trust all you read." I am so mad and sad now.

 

yeah I always think it's better not to engage with uninformed and ignorant people. it's hard to just walk away saying nothing about the dead fish, and how they keep them, but it saves you frustration.

if you are really bothered, you should write the corporate part of the company, tellilng them of your experience.

 

That's so frustrating. I have to say the petco by me is actually really good. I see the same people every time I go in (for the past 2 years at least) and they have never given me bad info. However.....petsuppliesplus....I will never go back. That have steered me so wrong so many times. Its insane. But thankfully I have you guys now.

 

I Second AdoraDora

 

Jerilovesfrogs, Thanks for the idea of contacting corporate. I called them, and told them about my experience, and they verified which store it was, and they will call the manager there. I said that I did not get the employee's name (I actually thought this person was a manager, but in hindsight I do not know why I thought that, so I did not mention it), and that the point of my call is not to get an employee in trouble, but they should have a manager talk to all the staff at that store. I said that what I would have expected was the employee to say, "Thank you for informing me. I will go clean up the dead fish right away." Customer service of Petco told me that this will not happen again.

What I did not tell them is that this experience was so bad that I am not going to that store again. However, I hope that my call will alert them that they have a staff attitude issue there, and hopefully things will improve at that store for other customers.

 

That sucks I try to steer clear of petco/petsmart but I have to go to petco searching for decent java fern/java moss and can never find any my lfs only sells fish no plants which I find odd..

 

I found that if you go into our petsmart at a particular time (usually about 5), it's just before they've taken out all the fish that have died that day. I don't know what happened to the poor guys, but this petsmart had two of those giant goldfish (I forget the particular names, but think HUGE and round) who had been ripped to shreds by one thing or another- eyes missing, etc. And of course, they hadn't removed the fish from the tank yet. Really gruesome.

 

well no store can be 100% perfect all the time....no matter what kind it is. I actually wrote starbucks corporate and told them of an experience at my local store. they sent me like 2 coupons....and i've not experienced the issue again. so I do think the only way of making a difference is to use your voice =]

good job I hope your contacting them will make a difference

 

This is why I do not visit box stores and purchase almost everything online.
Which I know is not a viable situation for everyone.

 

I try to purchase most of my stuff online, but am a bit nervous about purchasing fish that way. Plus a couple of places I have looked at for specialty fish the shipping was like $60. The idea of not knowing for sure what it will look like and paying that much money just scares me.

 

$60 is a bit high unless it is a lot of fish delivered next day.
I just about always ship for less than 25$.
The folks here are usually a good source of fish/plants and usually post pictures of EXACTLY what you will be purchasing.

 

Purchasing online may mean that you just don't see the dead fish in their tank. I understand that no store is perfect, and dead fish happen. I am even willing to buy fish from a store that has dead fish in some tanks. I am not going to buy fish from a tank that had dead fish in the same tank. I am not going to buy from a store where the number of tanks that have dead fish is a large percentage of all tanks. What disturbed me the most though was the employee's attitude: (1) dead fish are not "normal" - yes, they happen, but they should not be the norm. (2) when I tell an employee about dead fish, I expect him to ideally say that he will remove them, or at least to thank me for informing him, but not to argue with me about it - that's bad customer service. If a store removed dead fish soon after they found out about them that hopefully reduces chances of infecting other fish with disease, and it shows they care.

 

I've purchased many fish from fishlore members and have always been incredibly satisfied. Far better quality than my local petco.

 

That's what scares me about box stores.

When I had all 200 tanks going here with 4000+ fish, I lost 1-2 fish a day.
I also had no central system, so all tanks were isolated.

The employee's attitude sadly, has become the norm.

 

They buy their fish for so cheap at the big pet stores, that they can lose the vast majority of their stock and still make a profit. It's just about the numbers.

 

While I would hope that the box stores have a good setup for caring for their animals, it's sadly up to the employees to do it right. Too many see it as just a job, like the one you talked to. Hope your call to corporate has a positive effect.
Overall this is why I do prefer the local small business, better overall experience with the fish and more knowledgable employees.

 

Purchasing online may mean that you just don't see the dead fish in their tank. I understand that no store is perfect, and dead fish happen. I am even willing to buy fish from a store that has dead fish in some tanks. I am not going to buy fish from a tank that had dead fish in the same tank. I am not going to buy from a store where the number of tanks that have dead fish is a large percentage of all tanks. What disturbed me the most though was the employee's attitude: (1) dead fish are not "normal" - yes, they happen, but they should not be the norm. (2) when I tell an employee about dead fish, I expect him to ideally say that he will remove them, or at least to thank me for informing him, but not to argue with me about it - that's bad customer service. If a store removed dead fish soon after they found out about them that hopefully reduces chances of infecting other fish with disease, and it shows they care.

a tank could have had 6 dead fish in it, 20 minutes before you walked in....and if the employees took them out, you'd never know. so really buying fish from anywhere, from anyone, from even the most perfect looking tanks don't guarantee yours will be healthy. that's why QT is important....so you reduce the risk of introducing something to the fish you already have. (I should take my own advise haha)

but yeah, the attitudes of employees bug me the most. they're just like, eh, ok...some dead fish...uh huh. no one should have that kind of attitude.