PetSmart is horrible!

[cdog]

It is really awful how people treat theses animals, and those "starter" kits they sell with the tiny cages and excesories, I wouldn't even put a finch in one of their "cockatiel" cages.

 

[MikeyTN]

Petsmart only cares if you know how to sell not how much animal experience you've got. At least that what tge manager said to me when I was asking about the pay.

 

[roxynoodle]

My local one doesn't have any birds. I don't remember seeing anything other than fish actually. I've only been in it once though to buy some amazon sized toys for Pete the day after I got him. I bought some there and at Pet Supplies Plus, which are just down the street from each other. As it turned out, Pete was scared half out of his mind by toys so I needn't have hurried.

 

[luvmytooo]

Most of these types of stores hire people who dont have a clue for some reason.
There was a woman who was asked for help picking out what was needed for the goldfish she just bought. Well, the woman proceeded to help pick out a tank , filter etc...and the manager of the store interupted her a said that the goldfish dont need a filter He actually argued with her in front of the customer. Well , she didnt give in , she told the customer if she planned on keeping them alive that she purchase the filter setup. I over heard a manager talking to a customer when I was in there visiting my friend that it's "normal" for a puppy to throw up !!
My husband has been a breeder for well over 20 years now and i been a vet tech for over 10 years , know damn well that isnt true for gosh sakes !!
There are few knowledgable people that work there and the ones that are quit soon after witnessing what happened to this poor lizard.

I wish they would have some sort of educational class that potential employees must pass in order to be hired. It should be mandatory !!
I laughed in a kids face when he argued with me about the age of a parakeet there.
I told him it was a female and he ranted it was a male . I felt like slapping this jerk , but I just laughed in his face and walked away. The poor woman that wanted the parakeet walked away as well.
I felt like telling this kid that if he doesnt have a clue , just say so , dont bullsh** your way through it ! But , unfortunately most of the kids dont give a hoot and the ones that do dont last long at all in these stores.

 

[mandolynn]

Yay! A complain about PetSmart fest! I know all too well how ignorant most of the workers are there, since I was the Lead in one for # years. My store manager encouraged ignorance, because you could sell more pets if you didn't tell them all the care they need. I got written up because I refused to sell a Chinchilla to a customer who insisted it would go in the same cage as her ferret, after i spent an hour explaining chins care and why there is no way you could have one with a ferret, or any other animal. Aaaargh! They sold the chin anyway, it died and we lost $ giving the customer a refund. At least when i was at my store, i tried to educate associates and customers, now that store is insane! I was just there getting food for everyone. The lead now didn't even know what hand feeding a baby bird was. She thought it means feeding them treats out of your hand! Birds are the worst area of the store because they don't train well, the birds aren't tame(even handfed babies), and the store's bird supplier is horrible! The company's policies are getting increasingly harmful to the Pets well being, and it shows in all their store pets. My store used to be the exception, now its like almost all.other petsmart/petcos ive seen.

 

[Enjru]

!!!

It's nasty business practices like these that gets members of the public to support extremist groups like PETA, and then it's the responsible pet keepers like us who get hurt when the crazy PETA publicity stunts impact on us.

EXTRA DOUBLE GrGRrR!!!

 

[Wulfgeist]

Yeah I tried talking alot of people out of purchases. I love the ones that would come to pick out fish with a one gallon fish tank in their shopping cart for the toddler in the child seat. I *always* tried to sell up on fish tanks, not for the sales but for the well being of the fish. I would have stubborn people get a little tank and start picking out all these fish..I try to tell them they can't even put one fish like they want in there, it's tropical, it needs a heater for a steady, warm temperature. "That's ok, I'll just leave the light on" :headwall:

 

[roxynoodle]

I think you all have just confirmed that I should not ever work in one.

I had someone get threatening with me because I wouldn't sell her a horse. There is just no way I could deal with idiots all day.

And people think being a high school teacher is hard. I found that the majority of them respected me though, and did listen to what I had to say. But, I didn't have to worry about innocent animals as a teacher. I would not be surprised if vets beat their heads against the wall even more than teachers.

 

[cdog]

That same store I was talking about, I saw the "vet" walk out and she was only mabey 22, way too young to be a real vet. I cant imagine all the animals that die in the stores because of not having a real vet. All the birds there are shivering because it is way too cold in the store. And I had to go there to pick up some handfeeding formula, because I ran out before the one I ordered came, and one of the tubs I picked up was opened and used, I told the employee and he shrugged and put it back on the shelf! I always look at the fish when I go to point out the dead ones and the "fish expert" just said it was sleeping. I have never nor will I ever buy a pet from a chain pet store.

 

[luvmytooo]

Oh they do Roxy , they do :/

 

[mandolynn]

No one ever wants to go shopping with me anywhere they sell pets or supplies because i will help the customer. If i see them walking out with a goldfish, or worse yet a spotted puffer(they are brackish not saltwater) I tell them the truth, it cant survive in those conditions. Most people have me help them, but some are not so reasonable. Most of my customers at petsmart listened and followed all my advice. I was always asked for, even though i trained my staff and had them reading on their shift so they'd be educated. I have lots of owners ive ran into and they all say they cant go there anymore. Some lost all their fish, or their conure, or chameleon because of the advice an employee convinced them was correct. The problem with stores like that is no one knows anything. My DM would come and stay an extra day so he could follow me around and learn, at least hr tried though. The store manager almost killed a baby sun by using nutralyte instead of handfeeding formula. I walked in the room and stopped him, but the bird had a severe chemical crop burn that took months to recover from. I do miss it though. Just because i got to help people find that perfect pet and make sure they had a good experience becoming a pet owner. I love helping people and pets, and still go with my friends or family to pet stores to give them advice.

 

[cdog]

The only reason I want to work at PetSmart is because I could possibley save an animals life. I'm sure I could teach the employees tones of stuff. It's just sad that a 15 year old can out smart them. It should be a crime to let people who don't know anything about animals, to work with them let alone be responsible for another beings life.

 

[mandolynn]

But that's who they want! Ignorant people. That's how i felt too cdog, and i did save many many animals' lives, and made a difference in people's lives as well. But, it was difficult and i was blocked at every turn. Not all chain pet store workers are clueless, sometimes a good ones slips through. When you are 18(this is a petsmart requirement), you might feel different though. By working there, you are also supporting the corporation, maybe try a local pet store instead. Ive wanted to open my own for awhile, but theres too many others to compete with where i live. Even if most of them should be shut down, the average person doesn't know how to tell when an animal is ill, or if the employees are making things up as they go along.

 

[cdog]

Yeah I wanted to work at a pet store that was right down the street from me but sadly it closed down. They were so nice, gave my dog a treat every time I came down. They took all their puppies on walks daily, took all the reptiles out for handling, never any dead fish, all the birds were healthy, they even had a real certified vet vaccinate your pet when you bought it.

 

[Enjru]

I remember when I used to keep Discus, I went into one of these chain-style pet shops and asked for Seachem's Acid Buffer. They didn't have any of the Seachem Acid Buffer, so they tried to sell me Seachem's Discus Buffer instead. I said, "No, Seachem Discus Buffer uses phosphates." They tried to deny it, so I showed it to them on the label. Then, they said, "Oh, phosphates are good for your fish." I told them, "No, phosphates are bad because they promote algal bloom and will make the tank water go green and everything will get smothered in black hair algae." They tried to insist that phosphates were good for water quality, so I picked up a water quality test kit from their shelf and showed them the color chart where it clearly shows the less phosphates in your water, the better.

 

[Sadie]

Oh yes i love how they act like experts! We were In a petsmart a few months ago trying to kill some time and there was a 50 gallon display tank with about 4 baby pythons in it. One was upside down in the water...
So my husband goes up to the manager and mentions he has a dead snake in the water. The man stood there and fought with him for about 10 minutes about how he just tended to the snakes and he was clearly soaking and we had no idea what we were talking about! So after we walked away (we were spying) he looked around for us then walked up to check the tank. I loved the look on his face while he was removing that poor "soaking" snake from the tank...
We of course did a grin walk by and he just shrugged.....jerk

 

[Sulphiria]

We dont have a petsmart near us, but we do have petco and pet supermarket. The petco here seems to hire employees who care, thank goodness. They know what they are talking about and care about the animals. Ive never seen more than budgies there. The cages are always clean and the fish guy who works there is great, its too bad their prices can be so high. Pet supermarketisnt terrible either, although their fish never look really healthy :-( what bothers me most is when they get pet birds in and kids stand there and smack the cages, and just torture the poor things. Makes me want to smack the parent.