P@h On Watchdog Next Week

[Nightstar99]

I've been to quite a few Pets at Home and they are generally ok. Some are better than others depending on who is staffing them at the time. Sometimes the fish tanks are a bit iffy, but the cute and furries all seem fine, and they give you free vet care for a few months after you buy them.

The stores are welcoming and easy to navigate, everything is generally laid out nicely, and the staff are approachable and helpful. I know a girl who worked for them for several years and they have to do an awful lot for their minimum wage. She worked for stores all over as they let her transfer wherever she wanted to move, but quit in the end as she had enough of the workload. She was animal crazy and wouldnt have worked there if she thought the company was callously mistreating animals as a matter of policy.

As others have said they have the adoption centres, and people may not be aware that they also get a lot of unwanted animals dumped on their doorsteps overnight; often these are animals they don't even sell (parrots, cats and dogs etc); but the staff still spend time ringing round finding places to take them.

The company does try to sell fish correctly with the little interview they give you when you buy something. I wouldn't go there for advice unless its a particular assistant I know is knowledgeable (there are some) I've been told, and heard people being told, complete nonsense when buying fish; but if they only employed people with zoology degrees I couldn't afford to shop there anyway.

Its high volume low margin retail, and predominantly the (mostly young) staff are under pressure to hit store targets so I think you have to be a bit understanding. As a parent I like it, as I can take my little kid there. He can see all the cute animals and fishies, get over excited about it all and we still get smiles rather than scowls from the staff.

I know that things get overlooked at Pets at Home, and in general I try to only buy dry goods from there but overall I think they're more good than bad. A lot of people will start off keeping fish by going there to coo over the hamsters and walking out with an aquarium and some fish, which is good for the hobby. Most of us will then seek out more knowledgeable /reliable smaller places when we get more into it, which is good for those other shops, and good for fish.

If I cast my mind back 15 years ago or so and think of what many pet shops in the UK used to be like, pre Pets at Home and pre internet.Some were fine, but seriousy, many were cramped godawful places full of sick diseased animals crammed into little cages with empty water bottles. Thank god most of them have gone bust. Pets at Home is partly to thank for that.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I've heard horror stories about Petco & Petsmart, but I frequent many of their stores in my travels and I've only found knowledgeable salespeople and fairly clean tanks. So I guess it all comes down to the individual location and/or the salespeople in a particular store. You can't believe that any of these stores would purposely kill their stock, that wouldn't benefit them now would it?

I love my petco and petsmart

 

[Ruskull]

I've heard horror stories about Petco & Petsmart, but I frequent many of their stores in my travels and I've only found knowledgeable salespeople and fairly clean tanks. So I guess it all comes down to the individual location and/or the salespeople in a particular store. You can't believe that any of these stores would purposely kill their stock, that wouldn't benefit them now would it?

I love my petco and petsmart

I know, they have $1 sales on Black Skirt Tetras, Neons, etc. I bought my Honey G there for $2.77 !!!

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I've heard horror stories about Petco & Petsmart, but I frequent many of their stores in my travels and I've only found knowledgeable salespeople and fairly clean tanks. So I guess it all comes down to the individual location and/or the salespeople in a particular store. You can't believe that any of these stores would purposely kill their stock, that wouldn't benefit them now would it?

I love my petco and petsmart

I know, they have $1 sales on Black Skirt Tetras, Neons, etc. I bought my Honey G there for $2.77 !!!

I got both pair of my rams from them and they are doing great. Very seldom have I bought fish from them that died. I would sya their snails aren't the best.

 

[bmonki]

i've had mixed views on p@h fish dept. we stocked mil tank from there (apart from all the endlers which were already in there) and 80% of those fish were fine. whenn we bought our tank we got 5 'sucking loaches' from there which all died withi two days. they did refund us but our water quality was poor so that could have been the reason... they did go through the form with us beforehand but didnt really seem to understand what the form was getting at and whenn i said the tank had bee set up 4 days they didnt bat an eyelid in selling us the fish. i was naiive and so were they lol

 

[SandraNewbie]

I have quite detailed experience of 4 different locations of P@H with Rodents, Birds, Reptiles and Fish.

For the most part they're pretty good. However, they aren't supposed to tell you that "they don't know" or "you can buy something better elsewhere", so you do get a lot of bad advice.
The actual animal care is pretty good when they've got at least one staff member who is knowledgable in each area of pets they stock.
I saw one store become very lax around their degus and chinchilla when their resident expert left, but regular customers quickly picked up on it and re-educated the staff.

As far as fish goes, I've seen fish kept at the wrong temperature/salinity, I've seen tiger barbs kept 3 to a tank, but I've also seen fantastic dilligence too, in the treatment of sick fish, the selling of compatible fish etc.

At the one I use most, they won't sell you a fish without testing your water sample for Ammonia, Nitrites and pH.

It's a mixed bag, with some horror stories and a lot of dilligent people trying their best.

 

[Electric Warrior]

I have been in several P@H, and when I lived in the States, Petco & Petsmart. The problem with these shops, I have found, is that there is not much consistency. Some of them seem/look great, and the staff can be wonderful, while others are a shambles. I was just in a certain P@H in Yorkshire this weekend, because I do use it to get stuff for my dog occasionally, but the fish in there were pretty awful; lots of floaters being eaten, etc. Having said that, I would never buy any fish from there anyways, just as I would never buy fish from Walmart in America, nor even a Petco. When I used to, I would almost always end up with whitespot in my tank, if I was lucky it was only whitespot. I have bought all of my current stock from the local MA, which seems much cleaner, better staff, etc., and not had one single problem with a fish.

 

[DaveStu]

The Pets at Home in Northampton is great, particularly the aquarium section. When I bought my Danios there the lady asked me loads of questions about my tank conditions, size, stocking before letting me take them which i thought was a nice touch. Any specialist FS I've bought from have never asked any questions at all.

 

[mrcvs]

As a vet student and as a part time worker at a pets at home I was curious to see what was on watchdog and this forum caught my eye... Id quite like to put a few things to rest here. We are actively told to admit when we don't know and answer instead of blagging it and giving wrong information. Every store has piles of books out back for colleagues to consult if they don't know and I'm happy to point customers to places that have exactly what they're looking for if I don't sell it. Also, we have to take a customers word for it if they tell us they have a suitable environment for fish etc but are permitted to refuse animal sales if we think they are lying with support from head office.

I'm certainly not saying everyone in every store knows everything or always gets it right but I personally work there as I have a passion for pets and want to help others who do too. It'll be interesting to watch the report and see what it says. With the amount of fish we stock it is inevitable the some fish will die occasionally on the shop floor sadly but we try to help people and their pets and are passionate about pets.

Sorry for the "haters" out there I hope you're hatred is based on fact and experience and not hearsay. If it is based on experience I am sorry you had a bad experience... Not all of us are Muppets I promise =P

 

[Nightstar99]

Just watched the programme. The stores they showed seemed worse than the ones I've been to.

 

[Qwatch]

Anyone else watch it?

 

[Ruskull]

Just watched the programme. The stores they showed seemed worse than the ones I've been to.

That's called "sensationalism." These programs themselves are just picking out the very worst stuff to put on the program to attract more viewers.

 

[WILDER]

As a vet student and as a part time worker at a pets at home I was curious to see what was on watchdog and this forum caught my eye... Id quite like to put a few things to rest here. We are actively told to admit when we don't know and answer instead of blagging it and giving wrong information. Every store has piles of books out back for colleagues to consult if they don't know and I'm happy to point customers to places that have exactly what they're looking for if I don't sell it. Also, we have to take a customers word for it if they tell us they have a suitable environment for fish etc but are permitted to refuse animal sales if we think they are lying with support from head office.

I'm certainly not saying everyone in every store knows everything or always gets it right but I personally work there as I have a passion for pets and want to help others who do too. It'll be interesting to watch the report and see what it says. With the amount of fish we stock it is inevitable the some fish will die occasionally on the shop floor sadly but we try to help people and their pets and are passionate about pets.

Sorry for the "haters" out there I hope you're hatred is based on fact and experience and not hearsay. If it is based on experience I am sorry you had a bad experience... Not all of us are Muppets I promise =P


Nice post. Well Done.

 

[MBOU]

Jeez the report is absolutely ridiculous!! I dont even like P@H and in fact, I work for 'the other side'....

But that report is embarrassing! Not for Pets @ Home but for the idots featured on it.

Its a shame, they made it look like all those dead fish were in one shop which they quite clearly werent! One fish dying now and then happens, it just does! Whether in a shop or at home, whether itssick or someones horrible child has been smacking the glass.

They *complete* went off on one with the fluffy animals to a point of being ridiculous. Young syrian hamsters are absolutely fine while they are babies. Its ridiculous... thats like saying you cant grow on a batch of baby cichlids in a tank, just because as adults they would properly batter each other!

Baby rabbits dropping dead.... well i hate to say it... but who is to say the woman didnt keep them calm and quiet? Young rabbits are incredibly susceptable to gut problems made worse by stress and unfortunately it does happen....

I sold someone a fish that quite promptly died the other day... water was fine... cant guarantee they took the fish right home, that it didnt get shaken or that the kept the tank dark for an hour or so... cant be sure they even acclimatised it.. all i could do was replace the fish... thats what pets at home did with the rabbits...

And to have a speaker on their point out white spot on a goldfish that quite clearly didnt have white spot but more likely lymphcystis if it had anything at all more than a nick on its fin.

Baaaahhhh i am so dissapointed by the whole thing, expected something other than misinformation and serious exaggerations.

Oh and for all you 'haters'... if you found yourself nodding and agreeing... bear in mind that most LFS and MA all have systems, not individual tanks atc so they are slating that system... they dont consider that there just wouldnt be fish shops otherwise because doing daily water changes on 200+ tanks is just impossible! Stocking wouldnt be possible, deads would be higher and mistakes more common.

Just bear in mind that anyone 'attacking' pets at home over the ridiculous thing this programme has brought up is 'attacking' their favourite fish shops too because this *will* have knock on effects.

 

[Dazzer87]

Not great in my area, fish are ok in some stores, plants are terrible and algae infested in all of the ones Ive been to. Used to get rats from my local P@h till I decided to buy a 4th rat and it was carrying something and killed all three of my existing rats after a week of introducing it. took it back staff couldn't give a **** tried to make a joke about the situation. signed paperwork the rat was back on sale in the adoption area the next day... never been back since