Pet Smart

[dragons1222]

i know it can be pretty bad lol

what i hate is i am 19 and work in a petsore and i try to help people tae better care of their animals

but i think b/c i am young people dont always want to listen grrr

it is like you have to have 50 yrs of experience to know anything
when i know more than all the people i work with and probably most of the people that walk into the store

so it make me upset when people just blow me off :evil:

another thing i HATE is when some one is a vey or works at a vet office they think they know everything

a lady came in to the store yesterday and was saying that her son was wanting a reptile and i started asking her some questions

and she(rudely) said"i am a vet, so i think i got it covered!"
lie just b/c she is a vet she knows everything grr

 

[Shakey90]

haha ya customers in any job can be ignorant. I know that too well. Thinkin bout doin a career in somethin like you are actually but more on the zoo-ology side.

 

[andras]

i agree completely. when i got my first beardie i was told to buy this and that from a major pet store. all of the things i got now sit in my closet, nearly filling my spare tank. in my case i don't think the bad info was malicious, just uneducated. through this site and others for a cross reference, i like to think i have the right set up. the people posting on this site may have years of experience raising beardies. the guy that just graduated high school that works at petco doesn't have a clue. he just tells me what he thinks (or his boss told him to sell) is right. i don't support buying pets from these chains. however, when i have learned about a critter i plan to get i might buy supplies from them if they've got the best price.

 

[munchkins9802]

Hi! I did not buy my beardie there but I have found our Petsmart to be quite knowledgeable. They made sure I was NOT getting the sand and recommended the reptile carpet. Even apologized for not having a UVB light in stock (I bought one there today), Their crickets were a bit big today, so I will go and get some more tomorrow morning at the place that I got him from. They say he at 6-7" long and 6-8 weeks old should be eating about 1/4" crickets.

 

[boxers]

"they are doing as told whether it be right or wrong, and unless they are told otherwise they truly believe they are giving the correct information."

I agreed with that statement completely.
I was ranting about inadequacies of our beardie's care, and a fellow pet care worker of mine looked SO upset and asked me why i would say such a thing.

I'm also irritated with people complaining about petsmart associates, because the responsibility is not all ours.
it is corporate who orders us around, and it is the pet owners who should be reading up on what they plan to take into their homes.

I constantly tell customers that our UVB bulbs are garbage, and to order MegaRays online or else go to Petco for Repti Sun 10.0s (NOT Repti Glo, underline three times). And to not use wood shavings for small animals, use the Care Fresh instead. And to not put goldfish in bowls because they get too huge and filthy. Etc. Etc.

If every associate would read up on the things they work around, they would give out better information.
But customers shouldn't completely rely on us to know everything. They can read the same things we can.

 

[nosey08]

PetSmart doesnt take pride in their animals, thats the bottom line. I was at a PetSmart to day and I was amaized to see that a beardie was not doing well. They had the set up way too high and there was no water in the water dish. I bought my beardie from Petco and it is striving and doing good. PetSmart's employees dont have the knowledge that it takes to take care of their animals and they are lazy about it. Bottom line is I dont trust PetSmart. I was going to buy a guinia pig from them but it was pregnant and they wouldnt take the baby when it was ready to leave its mom so I ended up not getting it. Their crickets are dead, and they just leave them there. I have gotten numerous dead crickets and they didnt do anything when I wanted to return them. That right there is a waist of money. Also at Petco they have people that are knowledgeable and they have had that pet before. I know 2 people that have bd and they work at Petco. So Calbear, no offense but I have had bad experience with PetSmart, and all I go there for is their crickets.

 

[munchkins9802]

That is interesting because your experience at PetSmart is my PETCO experience and i won't even go to PETCO for crickets anymore. Their customer service stinks when it does exist, no knowledgeable people.
At OUR Petsmart, they take pride in their animals. There ar 3 people in reptiles and aquatics that are very knowledgeable and everything people are telling me here is exactly what those 3 told me. The one day, someone didnt know and said let me go get someone who can help you
Julianne

 

[dave741]

how much do you think a 16yr old girl in highschool making $6 per hour should know ? they are a suply store , if you ask anything other than ( how much is this ? ) your a fool . allmost every big city has a " real " pet store with ppl that know there stuff , + you have grate places like this for help . all im sayin is its your job to become a expert :study: :study: :study: , dont ask some kid at a store to teach you . i just joined today and would like to thank all the grate ppl on this forum that share the things they took years to learn , with newbes like me .

 

[nosey08]

That is interesting because your experience at PetSmart is my PETCO experience and i won't even go to PETCO for crickets anymore. Their customer service stinks when it does exist, no knowledgeable people.
At OUR Petsmart, they take pride in their animals. There ar 3 people in reptiles and aquatics that are very knowledgeable and everything people are telling me here is exactly what those 3 told me. The one day, someone didnt know and said let me go get someone who can help you
Julianne

I have no idea where you live but the people at the PetSmart where I live may be alot different. I have had a great deal of luck at Petco, and the manager and two of the assistant managers are personal friends of mine. I am sorry that you had a bad experience with Petco, but its one person's opinion where they want to shop. By the way, where do you live? Maybe they should teach the people here to be wayy knowledgeable

 

[munchkins9802]

We live in Eastern PA. And my Petco experience--it has been the same way every single time i have gone there. However, my dad doesn't have the problem but he isn't feeding exotic animals, and is only looking for refillable kitty litter.
Sorry your PetSmart isn't so "smart" . I will got to my petsmart or pets plus before ever returning to Petco again (I go maybe once every 4 yrs and the experience is the same each and every time)
Julianne

 

[sunkist]

I think everyone needs to remember that each store / each chain is only as good as the people in it. I have some Petsmarts I will never step foot in again, and some that I believe what they tell me because they actually care. Sooo bad mouthing a chain store isn't the best thing to do, neither is pitting one against another one. Each individaul store is different. Yes they may have the same "rules" but it doesn't mean they all follow them.

Sooo everyone... take a breath and remember we each all have our own experiences and our own stores we prefer. That includes indepedents, petsmarts and petcos. Where I live the independent stores were the worst experience for me.

 

[boxers]

how much do you think a 16yr old girl in highschool making $6 per hour should know ? they are a suply store , if you ask anything other than ( how much is this ? ) your a fool .

that seemed a little harsh; at petsmart, the age requirement is 17.5 and we start at $8.50.
granted, a lot of employees don't care to do research on the animals they are working with, that much is true.
i just find it a bit bothersome when people make huge generalizations, like, "everyone who works at petsmart is lazy and doesn't know anything about anything." i've worked there for over a year (though i'm looking for a different job now). i am confident that the information i give out is correct and focusing on the pet's needs, not making a sale for my store. if i feel that someone will not care for an animal properly, i am able to deny them a sale, and i have done so several times.
we're not all a bunch of whippersnappers looking for easy cash :?

 

[dragonphoenix36]

As with anything, i guess it's a matter of personal opinion. I've gone to Petco and Petsmart to find toys and treats for my German Shepherd and they have been fine. He is a power chewer and has gone through..I can't even count how many kongs, and he has severe allergies, and they helped me find treats that didn't exacerbate his allergies.
As far as my choice to purchase a Bearded Dragon from either one..I didn't/wouldn't. The one at Petco was ashen grey and looked sick, and the ones at Petsmart..they had three what seemed to be babies in a tank, and the other two were chewing on the dead one.
James and I both decided to take some time and do our homework and research..so while I was out one day looking for a 40 gallon breeder tank to start out with..I found a local (to us) pet store that would special order tanks if they didn't have them in stock..so I went to check him out..and there was Sakura. She was small, but alert and bright eyed. She was cream and brown colored, not grey and ashen. She actually cocked her head to check me out..and while I was looking at her, Charlie fed her and she DOVE for those crickets. Not only did I know she was the one for us, but without a doubt.. she was healthy.
This is (what I feel) is a shame about larger pet stores. They either won't or can't take care of the animals appropriately and everyone suffers for it.

 

[fishmaster0]

We got out or Rico from petSmart on 1/1/09 and I have to say the kid was very nice and the girl helping him was nice to but almost everything they sold us or told us was not correct. I ended up re buying a new cage and hew lights and new temp. gauges. But these guys are not trained right that is why. I was there yesterday picking up some crickets and calcium and the girl there yesterday was extremely knowledgeable but she also said she has had beardies for a long time so she did know first hand what to do.

 

[supertrisha]

I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I have two great petstores locally and both of them are very knowledgable and care about their animals. One store, in fact, realized that they could not provide the level of care for their reps/amphibians and stopped carrying them. I was sad, but proud as well that they realized they could not provide what was needed.