Pets At Home

[JoshuaA]

As for what you said about Danios previously James saying 3-4 weeks. I didn't even get that level of advice when I first started in this hobby I got told I could add 5 neons and then 5 guppies the next week even though the ammonia was 1ppm. I was none the wiser and didn't see it as a concern as nothing was out of the ordinary until all the guppies died and most of the neons did. Also can you please explain what the point of waiting 7 days is? It seems like the staff believe that is the cycle and after 7 days the tank is fine and then they can't understand why ammonia is showing up in the tank.

As i've said before, we can't tell new, excited hobbyists to leave a tank they have just spent their own money to wait 2 months with nothing in your tank... well we can, but they won't take it at all. The 7 day thing is silly really, but it's company policy. Not to have it always 7 but at least 7 days before adding fish. We can't have people walking out the store with a tank in one hand and two goldfish in the other.

Regarding the bigger fish, at the end of the day rather than have someone come back with it oversized... either don't stock it or don't sell it to someone who can't cope with it

We are not the only place that sell fish you know?

Pets At Home is worth just under £1 billion, so I don't think the brand image is being damaged too much.

James.

Well I actually asked a lot about of questions on the reasons why we needed to add the fish weekly etc and he held back on giving information out to me. He claimed it was to let them settle in. It was either he knew nothing or didn't want to "put me off" which is just disgusting that instead of helping a customer he actually put me in the position of a bunch of dead fish, a lot of wasted money and then expecting me to fork out on medications and a new filter. The service was atrocious, you can tell an excited hobbyist to take it easy, though P@H really seems to not bother and really seems to want to push for sales. So what is with the advice I was given by not just one but multiple staff members saying that I shouldn't do a water change because my ammonia is at 1ppm and that it might disturb the fish and that it would be safe to add some more fish?

Regarding the bigger fish.... Yes a lot of other stores sell them but a lot of other stores have ethics. P@H seem to not care and when most customers buying livestock are actually people who aren't too keyed up on anything to do with fish why would you sell such specialist and large fish? Knowing fine well it's going to end up coming back to you in a few months, in fact why don't they enquire about the tank and ensure it is going to be safe where it's going? Rather than laying it on another LFS.

I don't know if its like a tree hugging thing some of you guys are into or what. I also think Assaye, your manager sounds like an idiot if you were made to work like that. My manager cares, to an extent when it effects business.

It's pets before business until it affects the business.
It's business before pets until it affects the pets.

Im pretty much done with this thread, its not me who runs pets at home is it? If you are seriously concerned about the fish and animals alike, you would personally write to them and im sure they will take your letter with open arms.

James.

Tree Hugging what?

Business before pets? So in the end business is valued more and therefore we end up with a store full of dead and sick fish still selling them. Like I said before the livestock for the animals is a disgrace also. The rabbits are nearly all under aged, degus are kept in a small tank with about 40 of them. Gerbils are usually suffering from mental illnesses due to inbreeding. They don't seem to know squat about any of the small animals in fact, the most intelligent thing some of the staff come out with relating to the animals is
"Yeeh I know, there well cute aren't they". That's it, its utterly shocking they claim to be experts and don't deny it.

It can't be pets before profits when you are informed to sell fancy goldfish/ottos/plecs into such dire conditions. We saw 2 fancy goldfish the other day when I was buying a filter replacement and they were moved from a massive tank which had nothing in! to a small less than 10litre tank they didn't even have the room to move! When I went back to the next day to get a refund since my filter stuff was damaged I noticed one of them had already got swimbladder and was upside down at the top whilst the other was definitely on his way up there too. Are you not allowed to alter the fish or something durnig the day? There was a perfectly viable tank next to it with nothing in and the goldfish were moved into a smaller one and then perished. What kind of practice is this? If you had new stock coming in it is definitely business before pets then because you shouldn't order more in until you're ready. Same goes for the larger fish what the hell happens if you can't get one of those Black knife fish sold? Do you just leave it in the tank to get to 30cm and take up the tank or do you give to another pet store?

 

[james_fish]

Lets all jump on the Pets At Home hating bandwaggon because someone else dislikes them

 

[JoshuaA]

Lets all jump on the Pets At Home hating bandwaggon because someone else dislikes them

No one else new has joined here, we've all been here since the start of the topic. It appears you've got no leg to stand on anymore.

 

[ian]

To the Op, this is the reason I said "now move on" in my first post. We honestly cannot go on attacking p@h, we know some are good some are bad as in most lfs. We can't get personal, it's not James fault, I'm sure he does his best in his job. The only good thing to come out of this thread is to get two sides of the p@h story, one good and one bad. Like I said myself, if you go back through this thread. Some of the more experienced fish keepers don't mind p@h! Strange that ain't it???. Let me just ask this...how many people get questioned @ maidenheads?

 

[james_fish]

Lets all jump on the Pets At Home hating bandwaggon because someone else dislikes them

No one else new has joined here, we've all been here since the start of the topic. It appears you've got no leg to stand on anymore.

I think you'll find that this subject has been going on on this forum long before you joined, and long before I joined for that matter.

 

[Assaye]

James, you're avoiding the issue now. You said that P@H was good, I (and others) pointed out ways in which the company as a whole is hypocritcal, immoral and lacking in information and you've just said "if you don't like it, write to them". So either you do have a response to my worries and you don't care enough about the reputation of the company to try to convince me of the true good it does, or you don't have a decent response and have been reduced to telling us that w're like tree huggers.

Actually, yes, I am like a tree hugger. I'm a vegetarian and I care deeply about the environment and animals. Is that a bad or laughable thing?

It's pets before business until it affects the business - this is the problem. Good pet care does negatively affect the business and so customers are not told about sensible stocking guides, the price tags often have very low estimates of adult size, fish are crammed into tanks far to small for them, customers are not advised to try a fishless cycle or even a good fisn-in cycle because it might scare them off, etc. The business almost always comes before the pets, certainly before the aquatic pets. I'll admit that it is usually better for the small furries, if you ignore the fact that they come from pet mills that mass breed them.

As I said, if a company can't properly look after the animals it shouldn't be in the business of selling them.

FWIW, I have written to them. Several times. They fobbed me off and then ignored me.

 

[ian]

Did you write to trading standards? They do have to investigate every complaint ya know.

 

[jpeterson]

People are still going on abotu P@H?!?!?!

If you do not like it, do not use it! Simples
If you do like it, USE IT! Simples
If you see something that worries you contact someone who can do something about it. Like trading standards or the RSPCA. Who will then alert the authorities! Simples

Now move on and talk about fish!!!

 

[james_fish]

James, you're avoiding the issue now. You said that P@H was good, I (and others) pointed out ways in which the company as a whole is hypocritcal, immoral and lacking in information and you've just said "if you don't like it, write to them". So either you do have a response to my worries and you don't care enough about the reputation of the company to try to convince me of the true good it does, or you don't have a decent response and have been reduced to telling us that w're like tree huggers.

Actually, yes, I am like a tree hugger. I'm a vegetarian and I care deeply about the environment and animals. Is that a bad or laughable thing?

It's pets before business until it affects the business - this is the problem. Good pet care does negatively affect the business and so customers are not told about sensible stocking guides, the price tags often have very low estimates of adult size, fish are crammed into tanks far to small for them, customers are not advised to try a fishless cycle or even a good fisn-in cycle because it might scare them off, etc. The business almost always comes before the pets, certainly before the aquatic pets. I'll admit that it is usually better for the small furries, if you ignore the fact that they come from pet mills that mass breed them.

As I said, if a company can't properly look after the animals it shouldn't be in the business of selling them.

FWIW, I have written to them. Several times. They fobbed me off and then ignored me.

Do you really expect ME to change the company overnight? It's boring me now. Go hug a tree.

James.

 

[jpeterson]

When I bought a pregnant guinea pig from pets at home all i did was ring the main supplier to the store (burgess) and told them. They then threatened to stop supplying to them and pets at home soon got it sorted!

 

[Harlequins]

I can't believe this has got to page 5 and still going on without being locked....

well page 6 should i say

 

[james_fish]

I can't believe this has got to page 5 and still going on without being locked....

I must say it is getting a tad boring.

 

[jpeterson]

I can't believe this has got to page 5 and still going on without being locked....

well page 6 should i say

I agree! It is getting silly now. As i have said in many posts before. If you don't like them don't use them and don't slag them off in a forum. If you do like them use them! Simple to me

 

[fry_forever!]

I felt I could change the store from the inside and now I just feel sad that I allowed myself to take on the job in the first place.

A lot of us dream we can do things like that and that's not just about P@H, after all we are all just the "little guy/girl" in this world. We're rarely capable of making a significant impact on anything serious.

As for AceofSpades saying that these threads are unfair then I completely disagree. It is clearly apparent there are more than just a few odd stores which are keeping poor standards, for this to effect the public opinion negatively then it is perfectly acceptable.

What you are saying about LFS being awful is what we are saying here, we're all referring to our local P@H and it just happens to be a big store chain, if I knew of a store of similar atrocities I would be negatively reviewing them.

Once again, if you don't like the thread don't come here.

I agree. Honestly, I used to think I could change every pet store I went to, being the "inspiring 14 year old girl", but really, especially with chain pet stores, since there are so many locations, there's really nothing you can do. And it's fine if that's the only job you can get. I happen to volunteer at a pet store that has a new manager, who used to manage a chain pet store, and he's training his employees crap. But anyhow, seeing today at a different chain store, two guys throwing boxes that contained live fish... Ughh.. the best you can do is complain and hope that they will even give a notice. But usually, they don't care at all...
As for me, I'm actually probably going to have to get a job at a chain pet store, because all the fish stores by me are very far away, and they won't hire a young person. (Age means experience... True in some cases, but I'm not very old.)

 

[Assaye]

Did you write to trading standards? They do have to investigate every complaint ya know.

Yes, I have. I've not recieved a reply. I've also written to the RSPCA, OATA, my local MP, the local council, the store and company and the fish supplier. All achieved sweet F-A. It's not like this issue is over for me. I don't see talking directly to consumers and hobbyists as being mutually exclusive with writing angry letters and annoying people with phone calls.

James, you're avoiding the issue now. You said that P@H was good, I (and others) pointed out ways in which the company as a whole is hypocritcal, immoral and lacking in information and you've just said "if you don't like it, write to them". So either you do have a response to my worries and you don't care enough about the reputation of the company to try to convince me of the true good it does, or you don't have a decent response and have been reduced to telling us that w're like tree huggers.

Actually, yes, I am like a tree hugger. I'm a vegetarian and I care deeply about the environment and animals. Is that a bad or laughable thing?

It's pets before business until it affects the business - this is the problem. Good pet care does negatively affect the business and so customers are not told about sensible stocking guides, the price tags often have very low estimates of adult size, fish are crammed into tanks far to small for them, customers are not advised to try a fishless cycle or even a good fisn-in cycle because it might scare them off, etc. The business almost always comes before the pets, certainly before the aquatic pets. I'll admit that it is usually better for the small furries, if you ignore the fact that they come from pet mills that mass breed them.

As I said, if a company can't properly look after the animals it shouldn't be in the business of selling them.

FWIW, I have written to them. Several times. They fobbed me off and then ignored me.

Do you really expect ME to change the company overnight? It's boring me now. Go hug a tree.

James.

No, I don't expect you to change anything. I'm just interested in why you keep defending a company and then don't sem to have responses when we really get into the nitty gritty. You say P@H is a good company and you enjoy working there - I want to know why.

I can't believe this has got to page 5 and still going on without being locked....

I must say it is getting a tad boring.

I can't believe this has got to page 5 and still going on without being locked....

well page 6 should i say

I agree! It is getting silly now. As i have said in many posts before. If you don't like them don't use them and don't slag them off in a forum. If you do like them use them! Simple to me

I don't understand this attitude. Animals are dying because of this company and all you can say is that we're boring you with our concerns and that if we don't like it we should just toddle off and stop shopping there?