Pets At Home.

[*pete*]

Long story short.......  Three year old wild Guppy colony fine... added some Cherry shrimp two years ago.
 
I have a second Guppy colony with no shrimp.
 
The Second colony are more active and vibrant and constantly picking/feeding on algae.
 
Decided to eradicate the shrimps without a strip down or chemicals by adding a group of dwarf Botias. 
 
My favoured lfs is a good hour drive.
 
Dropped in to local PAH for frozen artemia and Daphnia.
 
Clocked a group of Spotted dwarf Botia .
 
After being given the third degree and giving a short history of my fishkeeping by a very polite and charming young assistant he produced an Ipad for my name address telephone number and email  amongst other personal details!!!
 
I politely said no thank you... I would just like to buy the Botia.
 
He could not sell them to me !!!
 
No problem, I will visit said favoured lfs tomorrow.
 
Young man in question was very polite and apologetic.
 
Thoughts please.
 
 
 
 

 

[gmc1]

I honestly don't know who trains these people.the person at the top has no obvious knowledge of real fishkeeping.i feel sorry for the assistants as they are only doing what they are told and it's wrong.

 

[Baccus]

Did the sales person say why they wanted your details? Some chainstores around where I live want your post code for their records on where shoppers are coming from, and potentially if more catalogues need to be sent into that area. Me having some fun I just give them any old area code from other parts of Australia.
 
If the person honestly wanted alot of private details and gave no assurances what they where wanted for and that the details would not be handed out to third parties I would have just given them some made up info, because unless they asked for other ID such as a drivers licence how are they ever going to know what you tell them isnt the truth?
 
The only other reason I can think that a shop may want your personal details apart from marketing reasons is if they where running a club/membership where you gain points for rewards for every $ spent in the store.

 

[Akasha72]

this is standard for buying fish at p@h. They've done it to me too when I wanted to rescue 3 oto's being poisoned in an ammonia infested tank (I could actually smell it!) 
I gave them the details and then filled in their 'fish for opinions' questionaire that was emailed to me later in the week and basicly told them they shouldn't be allowed to keep fish in those conditions.
Nothing has changed either. I bought 2 very young angelfish from them last year and both had Hexamita and infected my tank with it too - my own fault for not quaranteening but even so ...
 
I would never buy fish from there again. I will buy food and meds if I have to but that is all. 

 

[Ch4rlie]

My local Pets at Home have recently started doing this.
 
No bad thing in my opinion. This shows a step in right direction rather than doing nothing at all and selling anything to anyone regardless.
 
It was recently I spoke to a staff member there whom I find creditable and knows her stuff, she refuses to sell goldfish to folks who are buying a starter 20l tank with some kit and generally trying to coax them to doing something akin to cycling the tank first and getting a betta or something instead.
 
I wish her luck in educating the masses who go into that chain store looking for bala sharks or common plecos.
 
They're certainly not perfect but seems they are trying somewhat.
 
Not all chain stores and staff are the same, so be sure not to tar them all with the same brush.

 

[Akasha72]

fair point there ch4rlie. I think us Brits have a habit if tarring them all with the same brush. For a while my local store had a guy in the fish department that knew his stuff and when ever I was in we'd end up chatting for ages about fish and tanks. He was very knowledgable. Sadly the men in power decided to move him to another store and now the fish department is going downhill again. It's sad to see...
 
It's worth noting I rescued the oto's before the knowledgable young guy arrived ... whilst he was there the fish improved BUT - and this is a big but - all their tanks are filtered by a sump system. I go in on a weekly basis for dog food and I regularily see a sign on one or two tanks saying 'fish under treatment - not for sale'. They don't seem to understand that if one tank is infected with something every other tank is infected due to their filtration system but they carry on selling the fish regardless

 

[*pete*]

Thanks for your replies...
 
The assistant came across as well trained and knew his subject.
 
I ticked all the right boxes when he asked about my fishkeeping history (his face was a picture when I told him over 40yrs in the hobby!) and would be pleased to sell me the fish.
 
He did assure me my details were for the company records only and no third parties.
 
I said I would be happy to give my name and email but no more, but he needed all the details to go ahead with the sale.
 
As he was so polite and apologetic I did buy the frozen food.

 

[noobgamers]

I honestly don't know who trains these people.the person at the top has no obvious knowledge of real fishkeeping.i feel sorry for the assistants as they are only doing what they are told and it's wrong.

such a true point i get annoyed a the assistants for it but really its the person in charge that has no knowledge of fishkeeping

My local Pets at Home have recently started doing this.
 
No bad thing in my opinion. This shows a step in right direction rather than doing nothing at all and selling anything to anyone regardless.
 
It was recently I spoke to a staff member there whom I find creditable and knows her stuff, she refuses to sell goldfish to folks who are buying a starter 20l tank with some kit and generally trying to coax them to doing something akin to cycling the tank first and getting a betta or something instead.
 
I wish her luck in educating the masses who go into that chain store looking for bala sharks or common plecos.
 
They're certainly not perfect but seems they are trying somewhat.
 
Not all chain stores and staff are the same, so be sure not to tar them all with the same brush.

to be honest i have no idea why they sell a 20l acrylic box with no filter or equipment of any sort and then encourage you to buy a 20cm ornamental goldfish which are renound for being susceptible to problems oh and they sell these to people who have no idea about all the problems theyre going to run into. but its nice to see someone finally refusing to sell fish to people that wont be able to care for them in the long term

 

[ellena]

I recently overheard a dreadful conversation in my lfs where a family with screaming kids wanted to set up a tank. The guy was trying to explain what they needed and the dad was astounded to find he'd need to change the water, and shouted so at the top of his voice while we all studiously ignored him :")
They had no idea what temp to have the water or anything and yet they walked out with fish. P@H are no model to go by and they take it too far, but at least it weeds out people like that. Any seasoned fish keeper knows what they want to hear

 

[betta fish]

I would not be worried about giving PAH my details as they are such a large company. I have done as bought fish from them many times and have not had an issue, they just ask for my postcode now and all my details come up.
I don't receive anything untoward in the post just my VIP vouchers that I signed up for, you really have nothing to worry about 

 

[iliveinazoo]

Well done to you, I would also have walked.  They don't need to know the information and they have no right to demand it and I guess the assistant was of the same frame of mind and why he stayed reasonable and apologetic.