Pets At Home Policies

[tenohfive]

honestly, i just think so many people have been really down on PAH and other similar places for not knowing, they've obviously taken some steps to change this and improve on things, OK it may not be the perfect solution, they may not all be instant experts, but at least it's a step in the right direction and I'd much rather that they refused to sell me something because the believed it was the right thing to do (irrespective of weather that decision is correct or not) than to just not care at all.

sometimes it's a bit damned if you do, damned if you don't on this forum.

Seconded.

 

[jelliebean]

honestly, i just think so many people have been really down on PAH and other similar places for not knowing, they've obviously taken some steps to change this and improve on things, OK it may not be the perfect solution, they may not all be instant experts, but at least it's a step in the right direction and I'd much rather that they refused to sell me something because the believed it was the right thing to do (irrespective of weather that decision is correct or not) than to just not care at all.

sometimes it's a bit damned if you do, damned if you don't on this forum.

Seconded.

I agree also, but when you have over 30 years experience keeping tropical fish and then have a sales person that has only had a few weeks training tell you, you dont know what you are talking about..thats when it really p###es me off!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you just have to be pragmatic about it, put yourself in their shoes, they have no way of knowing what experience you have, they just have to treat everyone the same.

 

[RedeyesUK]

Personally, I'd like to see rules such as this applied more rigourously at all P@H stores (and in fact, a lot of other LFS) - with the one caveat that, if you disagree, there should be someone around that does know what they're talking about and can make a proper decision.

But we are talking about advice and opinions. One's opinion is not always the right one, despite what one might think.

Of course - don't get me wrong here, I'm not suggesting I (or anyone else) know everything there is to know on the subject. Far from it!
What I meant was it would be good if there was someone around that knew what they were doing that could use their discretion to overrule the policies.
Say, for example, you'd just set up a new tank, but put a filter in from an old, cycled tank. You then go to buy some fish for it.
The guy on the floor refuses to sell you anything because you have a new tank. You then speak to the expert, explain the situation, and if he's happy, he'll allow you to have the fish. If he's still not happy, then fair enough, you walk away sans fish.

You can see this sort of thing in most retail sectors - I used to work in IT, and had a hobby of going into PC World and asking their clueless staff about complex stuff, just to hear their answers. I got some right howlers from there!

Gosh, I bet you felt really cool doing that as well! I expect those staff felt really bad that some uber nerd came in and proved that they are only working in PC World as a stop gap to get some money for more interesting pursuits. How strange you accept that people cannot be trained to be experts, and then try and make fun of people at their work for not being the experts.

I think there is a great forum for people who like to do this sort of thing at www.getalife.com

Again, you've misunderstood (although I can see why) - this was just a private little hobby of mine when I had too much time to spare. I had the good manners not to berate them for it, and kept my opinions to myself. As far as they knew, I asked for advice, they gave it, and there it ended.

Having said that, it used to annoy me when they'd blatantly make stuff up and pretend like they knew what they were talking about, when a simple 'I'm afraid I don't know' would have served much better.

I do know what it's like to be in that situation - I've had a few jobs in the past when some (if not most) customers have known more about my job than I have, at least to start with. It's not pleasant, and people taking the pee is not appreciated. However, a bit of friendly advice from customers can be a good thing sometimes.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Let's face it, their guppies aren't likely to be top-notch to start with, and add to that recent transport and assorted other stress, experience probably shows that guppies + new(ish) tank = refund, and that's no good for business. It's a bit of a made-up number, but probably about right if you allow for, say, a few weeks set up empty 'cycling' and then a few weeks fishless cycling, and a few more weeks of it working properly.

 

[tenohfive]

I've just been to my local P@H (Hemel Hempstead) to see about getting some dwarf gourami's. They looked to be in reasonable shape, no losses since they arrived on Monday but they weren't the most shining examples of dwarf gourami's I've ever seen.

That said they weren't bad, and I asked about buying them. The manager said that he wants to keep hold of them as they look abit sunken eyed, and wanted to wait and see how they got on before he'd sell any. I have to say, I hadn't noticed (but am new to gourami's.) I was impressed with their attitude though, more than happy to give me a call when they were ready for sale but not willing to sell here and now.

I'm certainly going to consider them in future, though I've got all my fish from two MA places so far with a good survival rate.

 

[fakekerby]

My local PAT had 9, yes NINE, dead fish floating about in one of their tanks today!

and they keep Betta's in tiny little tanks, which seems really cruel, especially seeing the state of the Bettas (their fins look horrible!)