Viva la PetSmart

[Jason the Lost]

So one of their brainiac employees starts giving me the third degree when I asked to purchase some cories. Wanted to know how big the tank was an what I had in it. (It's a 55 gallon planted, WELL understocked with fish). Commendable that they "care" now, but I was instructed that because I had angels they would not give me a guarantee on the cats. Because the angels are 'semi-aggressive'. She was more than a bit condescending for a 18 yr old pet store employee.

I told her it wouldn't be a problem and bit my tongue before I asked her if I could get a guarantee then that her fish wouldst get mine sick since more than once I've had to treat ich after bringing a batch home from there. I also should have asked her if she recommends getting some snails to keep with my loaches since they both fall under the petsmart umbrella of community.

I wouldnt mind them making an effort to protect the fish if it wasn't such a thinly veiled attempt at escaping from guaranteeing their sickly fish.

 

[black hills tj]

I would have asked for a manager and had a little discussion about giving the facts. Petsmart opens here in 2 weeks

 

[Jason the Lost]

yeah...it was more of an after the fact stewing thing than anything else..at first I was just baffled by the questions...normally some carnie is working the fish reaching her freshly pierced arm into the dirty tank...so any kind of intelligent speech. ill informed or not threw me off guard.

The funny thing is they really circle the fish on the receipt and write no guarantee. I normally don't buy fish there, but went for some food and they had some healthy peppered cories I couldnt resist.

 

[Gillie]

The last time I went to Petsmart they had somehow gotten the tags for the Anubias and Amazon swords mix up and argued that they had to sell them at the price on the tank whether it was a mistake or not. I haven't gone back yet. That kind of ignorance really boggles the mind.

 

[black hills tj]

The last time I went to Petsmart they had somehow gotten the tags for the Anubias and Amazon swords mix up and argued that they had to sell them at the price on the tank whether it was a mistake or not. I haven't gone back yet. That kind of ignorance really boggles the mind.

Wow...I hope I don't run into troubles like that. They seem to have some interesting policies from what I've heard.

 

[Jason the Lost]

Theres a nice mom and pop LFS about 10 miles from me...but 10 miles in the west burbs of Chicago on any night of the week is a potential hour...so sometimes I take the easy way out and go the 5 minutes to petsmart.

 

[919]

Tell them you have a 1000 gal tank and it should not be a problem. It has always worked for me. They give you some interesting looks as they try to determine if you are pulling their leg.

Overall I am pretty impressed with my Petsmart, 90% of the time they have large quantities of quality healthy specimens. Give the kid a break it was probably their first job, and are just trying to follow the book. Also who cares if they guarantee their fish, most freshwater fish retail less than $15, if it doesn't make it just suck it up as a cost of the hobby.

 

[black hills tj]

Haha...most of my tropicals are less than 3 dollars. The most expensive were my gbr's at 10 bucks a piece. Compared to my other hobbies(Offroading in my Jeep, and mountain biking) that's pretty cheap.

 

[Marconis]

My Petsmart sells very nice fish. Both my bumblebee cichlids and a large number of my tropical fish were bought from them and are doing just great.

 

[theotheragentm]

Petsmart where I am has pretty good fish. They do have some wrong information on their tagging, but otherwise the people that are handling the fish do a pretty good job.

 

[Jason the Lost]

Tell them you have a 1000 gal tank and it should not be a problem. It has always worked for me. They give you some interesting looks as they try to determine if you are pulling their leg.

Overall I am pretty impressed with my Petsmart, 90% of the time they have large quantities of quality healthy specimens. Give the kid a break it was probably their first job, and are just trying to follow the book. Also who cares if they guarantee their fish, most freshwater fish retail less than $15, if it doesn't make it just suck it up as a cost of the hobby.

Thank you for missing the point almost entirely.

It has nothing do do with the gaurantee nor the money, but the reason they do it (which I'd bet has little to nothing to do with fish welfare and everything to do with corporate needing a half scientific excuse to avoid refunding their fish going belly up on a regular basis) and ill-informed logic to back it up.

If its the persons first job they should be a little more friendly and not talk down to someone twice their age about a $3 fish. I could have been an ignorant ass to her, but I didn't because the fish nor her were worth a scene or more than a half heated semi-humorous vent on a messageboard about the subject addressed.

 

[kennef]

nice thread here, and the original poster has fairly valid points made which i didnt miss.

what i also didnt miss was the post about mislabeled prices on plants. now i am all in for any deal that comes along, but to be honest, no retailer has an iron clad responsibility to honor typographical errors on pricing. Most do honor the priocing of course, because thats good customer service. However, there is a difference between a customer actually believing that the price is what its supposed to be, and a customer knowing the item is incorrectly marked as something its not, and then demanding the store honor the price. if you see what is clearly anubias marked with a tag that says Amazon Sword, and then see a tag that says Anubias, then you can't really pretend to not know what the plant is.

Sure, i'm gonna try and get the deal if they let me, but i'm not gonna have a tantrum if they apologize for the mistake and let me know why they cant do it.

 

[7Enigma]

I use our local PetSmart to window shop, buy emergency items, and give my daughter some fun animals to look at (birds, reptiles, etc.). I don't buy fish from them, and always bite my tongue when around an employee that is spouting bunk. The saying goes, "A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing", and I see that almost every trip to the place.

Fortunately our LFS which is a bit farther away, has well-maintained tanks and I have not been dissapointed yet with the livestock, even if a bit overpriced compared to PetSmart.

I've been slowly convicing myself to set up a dwarf puffer (DP) tank in my cube at work. I've done a lot of research all over the web and on forums and sure enough, these strictly freshwater only fish were labeled as advanced (fortunately) but also as requiring aqarium salt. I should have asked what to feed them, but would have either gotten a blank stare, or the wrong answer, either of which would have bugged me.

I love having both to choose from though...

 

[kennef]

i agree with you, for the most part about dwarf puffers; because they arent the common everyday fish. i will say this however. Of the 6 LFS in my area, at least 4 of them have more clueles employees than petsmart, but i see no one ever mentions these in a rant.

my petsmart employs an equal balance of experienced and clueless people in the fish area. the clueless ones have only the petsmart party line to give out, and the experienced ones have to temper their experience with the same party line. i agree its a crap shoot, as with any place you go. IMO, there isnt a lot of "knowledge" in the hobby, but there are plenty of "opinions".

cant sat where i am going with this, except to say my fish from petsmart live, and my LFS averages about 50%

 

[JustOneMore20]

So one of their brainiac employees starts giving me the third degree when I asked to purchase some cories. Wanted to know how big the tank was an what I had in it. (It's a 55 gallon planted, WELL understocked with fish). Commendable that they "care" now, but I was instructed that because I had angels they would not give me a guarantee on the cats. Because the angels are 'semi-aggressive'. She was more than a bit condescending for a 18 yr old pet store employee.

I told her it wouldn't be a problem and bit my tongue before I asked her if I could get a guarantee then that her fish wouldst get mine sick since more than once I've had to treat ich after bringing a batch home from there. I also should have asked her if she recommends getting some snails to keep with my loaches since they both fall under the petsmart umbrella of community.

I wouldnt mind them making an effort to protect the fish if it wasn't such a thinly veiled attempt at escaping from guaranteeing their sickly fish.

I can't believe they wouldn't give you the guarantee because you had angels. Thats crazy! I've had a few run ins with the local Petsmart employees about their "information". One day an employee was giving me the third degree about a Bolivian Ram because they are considered "semi-aggressive" and shouldn't be kept with my community fish. I simply told her that I have kept them before and they are peaceful cichlids that can be kept in communities. I'm not sure she ever believed me though. And they didn't say anything about the guarantee.

Another time, I bought 6 Harlequin rasboras and the guy tried to talk me into getting just 4. I wanted 6. He said I shouldn't add that many fish to a tank at one time. He had good reason and if I had been a newbie with a new tank, then it would have been excellent information, but I've kept fish for almost 4 years and my tank has been setup for a year and a half, so it was fine.

I believe that they teach their employees just enough to where they can help some people, but seem kind of annoying to those who actually know about fish keeping.

 

[Gillie]

The reason I was so ticked was if you are going to sell a product you should at least know something about it. This is the base reason for my dislike for chain stores , the total lack of care and the employment of the 'Aquarium Impaired'. Most mom & pop stores at least take the time to know what they are selling and know something about it. Instead of : Angels= no Corys, and an unbelievably long list of complaints about these places which I don't believe anybody could live long enough to hear them all.

 

[Hara]

Thank you for missing the point almost entirely.

No reason to be rude. Please refrain from being so.

 

[Jason the Lost]

Thank you for missing the point almost entirely.

No reason to be rude. Please refrain from being so.

Give the kid a break it was probably their first job, and are just trying to follow the book. Also who cares if they guarantee their fish, most freshwater fish retail less than $15, if it doesn't make it just suck it up as a cost of the hobby.

Wasn't attempting to be rude, just making an observation. Odd though that a jab at someone insinuating they're being petty when its obviously off base with the point of the post, which was clearly elaborated on is OK... Makes sense.

At no point did I make mention of the cost of the fish setting me back, it was clearly about my opinion of petsmarts sudden policy change.

 

[919]

Thank you for missing the point almost entirely.

No reason to be rude. Please refrain from being so.

Give the kid a break it was probably their first job, and are just trying to follow the book. Also who cares if they guarantee their fish, most freshwater fish retail less than $15, if it doesn't make it just suck it up as a cost of the hobby.

Wasn't attempting to be rude, just making an observation. Odd though that a jab at someone insinuating they're being petty when its obviously off base with the point of the post, which was clearly elaborated on is OK... Makes sense.

At no point did I make mention of the cost of the fish setting me back, it was clearly about my opinion of petsmarts sudden policy change.

Calm down, no one here or Petsmart is trying to insult you. Joke with the kids who are working their they will be easier to work with and more understanding, they may even give you a break from time to time. Chain stores don't employee experts don't expect to receive that kind of service their either. Just enjoy the quick easy access to low cost goods and services.

 

[kennef]

i think the fish guarantee at most pet shops is ridiculous, simply because of the conditions aattatched first, you need to bring in the body, with a water sample, so it can be tested and shown wether or not the tank conditions caused the issue, which is completely subjective in most cases. ammonia levels and PH are about the only thing they test for anyway, and cant argue that PH is going to kill a fish within their guarantee period. its simply an opportunity to discourage people from becoming serial returners.

Petsmart is a business that needs to make money to survive, just like any other, and they have to have some sort of guidelines as to what they can guarantee as it applies to livestock. those guidelines are fairly vague, i agree; and i am positive in the case cited here, were misinterperated by the associate.

Often we forget that when a representative of a company performs in a manner inconsistant with what we see as correct, we see the company and not the individual. when the individual performs in a manner superior to our expectations, however; how do we see the situation then?

just something to ponder while i am at work i guess...