# Surprising PetCo Experience



## LiveHumanSkeleton (Jun 25, 2010)

I just wanted to share with everyone something I witnessed today after visiting my local PetCo. 

I'm near the fish tanks as this customer is telling the teenage employee to catch him two plecos. The employee doesn't hesitate to ask, "how big is the tank you plan to put them in?" The customer in a straight-faced manner says, "a 10 gallon." This is where it gets interesting. 

The employee patiently informs the customer that he couldn't possibly keep two plecos in a 10 gallon due to their large growth potential, and at the most he might get by with one temporarily. He adds that the single pleco would quickly deplete whatever algae available to him and would require supplemental feedings at night with algae wafers. He then asks the customer just how much algae does the tank actually have. The customer's answer: "I haven't set it up yet." 

It is at this point that the employee recognizes the customer as being woefully misinformed about the most basic concepts of fish keeping and lets him down easily, "Sir, I can't sell you these fish. You are going to ensure them a very unnecessary death."


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

they used to do that at my petsmart but not anymore... whatever gets money :/ well atleast it shows that some employees care. i wouldn't mind working for walmart, petsmart, or petco in their fish section to advise people... i frequently go there and here people going like wooh pretty fish! lets get some tiger barbs, platies, cichilds, etc. and i was like ughh... good luck with that but i always hesitate to say anything because the workers might get angry. i also heard the other day the employees trying to get this couple to buy plants. they were like putting in plants is beneficial blah blah and then the couple were like so just keep the tank light on? and they were like err... yeah.


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## TLe041 (Mar 20, 2010)

Kudos to the employee, but unless his manager shares the same ethos (doubtful since most retail managers are driven by profit margins), I don't think he'll keep that job for long if he keeps refusing sales to a lot of customers.

Didn't Petco recently extend their live fish guarantee to 30 days? Maybe there's an increased attention to the animal's well-beings because of this?


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## Franco (Jun 25, 2010)

I saved a guys butt at Petco a while back by telling this lady the 5 pictus catfish she wanted to buy would get far too big for her 10 gallon tank. He told me afterward that they aren't allowed to tell people what fish they shouldn't buy anymore and that because they require a water sample to refund dead fish, that eliminates them having to give more fish to people who don't have cycled tanks. He gave me some baby tears on the house!
The chain stores need to get their crap straightened out so that people keep buying fish and equipment, not just stuff for an initial setup, have their fish die, and then throw the tank in the garage.

If the manager heard him tell the customer that, he'd probably get yelled at.

The Petcos around here have 14 day guarantees and the Petsmarts have 30 day. All the LFS have 48 hours.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

If you don't want to read someting negative and realistic please do not read the following post.

It sounds to me that the teenage employee is just feeling free to say whatever he/she wants. Also he/she is most likely getting a revenge for being paid minimum wage - by being honest with some customers and leading them to not spend money.

If you have worked in retail and if you have been paid min. wage you will know what I mean.

Somehow I doubt that the local store manager gathered everybody together and told them "Starting today we will make sure that all our animals end up in good hands and a great environment."

Unfortunatelly we will all agree that the last sarcastic sentence is the reality of the aquarium hobby.

And the "huge" 14 or 30 day guarantees are just another sales trick. How many people will actually bring the dead fish to the store? Very few, if any. And how much do you think it costs the store to replace your dead cardinal? Very little - think "less than 10% of what I paid for it".

I will stop here. Nothing will change anyway.

--Nikolay


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

SOOO... how did that topic on controversy on fish go? (directed at niko)
well of course not! why should they care about the fish they sell? its not their fish, they get paid anyways...
do you think that its good to give advice to people who are going to be making stupid mistakes? or should i just let it go?
and fyi... i exchange all the dead fish from petsmart(but i don't anymore because none of them die on me)... i just put them in a baggie and freeze them. though i do occasionally find out that a frozen body disappeared in the freezer o_o


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## dachewitt (Feb 28, 2010)

That Petco employee sounds like an educated, responsible fishkeeper. What he should have done, is tell the customer to return the 10 gal. tank that is not set up for a tank large enough to accommodate the plecos and give him sources, ie. this site, for learning about aquariums and cycling the tank (preferably fishless-cycling). That would be a win-win situation for the fish and the pet store!

Debbie in MD


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## joshvito (Apr 6, 2009)

I worked at a Petco, and we were encouraged by our manager to to ask questions about the customers tanks.

How big is the tank? What other animals are in the tank? How long has it been set up? We were even told to not sell too may fish to customers with one tank at any given time, to prevent crashes.

I would imagine each Petco/Petsmart is different. My GM was an avid fish keeper.


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## mfgann (Nov 10, 2010)

So far my experience at my local Petsmart has been pretty good. Most people working the fish tanks are fishkeepers and seem to care. They did have a few gaps in their knowledge IMHO, but overall pretty good. 

I did have one guy I had to practically drag the info out of him because I could tell he was holding back what he knew. I didn't know jack about red-claw crabs, and my 5 yo wanted one. I asked him if it would be okay, and got a little waffling. Red flags went up.

The local petco seems abysmal in comparison. Dirty tanks with some dead fish in them and staff looking to make sales. No thanks.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

The Petco in Mansfield has a great fish manager. I've been in there several times and heard him talk to customers. I've heard him refuse to sell fish to people. He says he's been the fish manager for a long time and they loose many less fish since he's been caring for their tanks. He's a nice guy. 

There are other Petcos I have been in that I would never buy fish from. I'm sure it varies from store to store.


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## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

It definitely varies, I worked at a PetCo for a while, and my GM was a total moron/nutjob. He didn't care about ANY of the animals. I had a a couple assistant managers who knew what they were doing, but you still get over-rided by company policies, and by the ineptitude of most of the other employees there. I requested that we stop carrying Iridescent sharks based on the fact that maybe 1 customer in 1000 had the right kind of tank for them, and got totally blown off. You work with what you've got, but the over-riding company policy is still BS, and I imagine the 14 day extension to 30 is more to cover there asses since so many fish were dying in peoples homes, even in good setups. Because petco can't handle ordering fish correctly, they cram as many as possible into a bag to save on shipping. Of course this is gonna stress out and kill fish. Hence the 30 days, to stave off customer complaining.


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## Csl (Dec 16, 2010)

Let me begin by saying the petco associate who said "He told me afterward that they aren't allowed to tell people what fish they shouldn't buy" is ill informed or under bad management. Petco employees are allowed to refuse any sale of any animal if they feel the purchaser is not going to provide a safe, appropriate home. Also, The 30 day fish guarantee? a lot of people do bring them back, not a sales trick.
And although the manager did not say we are going to make sure the animals get great homes that morning, ensuring the animals go home with caring parents who provide proper housing is a big part of petco's policy, and the minimum wage revenge thing? they don't get paid much, but I assure you it's well over minimum wage. 

As for store conditions? It really does vary a great deal from store to store, and thats with alot of retailers. I have two petsmart's within 20 minutes of eachother one is fantastic the other is, well, not so much. like wise with the two petco's near me, a little farther apart ( about an hour ) but same situation.


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## Csl (Dec 16, 2010)

" Because petco can't handle ordering fish correctly, they cram as many as possible into a bag to save on shipping."


Petco does not package and ship the fish. Petco does not breed fish to ship. It's usualy sunpet or another vendor, totally third party though.


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## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

Csl said:


> Petco does not package and ship the fish. Petco does not breed fish to ship. It's usualy sunpet or another vendor, totally third party though.


Obviously. But they have the ability to order proper species of fish, and the petco itself has the ability to specify to sunpet or whoever it is how they want the fish packaged. Any LFS can do the same thing. They can specify how many fish per bag, bag size, etc. I know we do this at my LFS, and I know we used to do it when I worked a privately owned pet store. Employees don't have much say in the grand scheme of thing however, its the GM and up at PetCo. I used to do some of the fish and reptile ordering at our local PetCo, I'm aware of the situation.


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## schg (Dec 22, 2010)

TarantulaGuy said:


> Obviously. But they have the ability to order proper species of fish, and the petco itself has the ability to specify to sunpet or whoever it is how they want the fish packaged. Any LFS can do the same thing. They can specify how many fish per bag, bag size, etc. I know we do this at my LFS, and I know we used to do it when I worked a privately owned pet store. Employees don't have much say in the grand scheme of thing however, its the GM and up at PetCo. I used to do some of the fish and reptile ordering at our local PetCo, I'm aware of the situation.


I hate to get involved, but I guess I must now...

If this may have been the case before, it is not anymore. All ordering is done through the different vendors (Segrest Farms, Sunpet, Quality Marine, ORA, etc.) but we have ZERO ability to ask for anything other than what type of fish, and how many EOQ (a preset number of fish you HAVE to order of each type). But although I may not be able to control how they are packaged, I have yet to be disappointed in the packaging I have received from any of my orders (been doing ordering for 2 years from Segrest and Quality Marine).

Yes I work at Petco, I have been in the hobby since I was 16, and am now 22. I have done reefs for the past 3 years, have bred clownfish, etc. At all 3 of the stores I have worked at, I have been encouraged (not just allowed) to not only question and educate customers about specific aquarium conditions and species requirements, but also deny sales AND mark receipts stating they may not refund the fish (if a customer happens to go above the store and talk to corporate regarding a denied sale, we are sometimes forced to sell the animal anyway). Every Petco varies as far as quality, but honestly I feel this is the same with any LFS. Most of the problems you see in Petcos start at the corporate level, as the policies and procedures they use are VERY flawed, but many times you will find employees who know what they are doing.

I hate to defend the company, as they really have treated me and my other employees very unfairly, but I also take pride in the estimated 60 hours of maintenance I put into a 32 hour work week. And also remember that in a bad economy, some people who have the knowledge and skills to work in an environment that is more compatible with their abilities, are forced to work in conditions less than suitable for them. I used to make 3x what I make now, but my life choices has steered me in this direction, and I will NOT let the low amount of money I make affect animals lives in any way.


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

I worked at petco for a bit in college. I left do to company policys.

I could only order fish according to a plan-a-gram. I had no say what so ever in how tanks were set up or maintaned. which is funny as I had just spent the last 3 years working for a company that was building, installing and maintaining high end aquariums... 

The company was doing so much biz in vegas they relocated down there, I was not able to at that time.

At that time we had 1 fish vendor... they sucked. 

whats funny is I made that petco a mint. Litterly had ever store in the area call me up to ask questions. even had the district manger go to bat for me to change some things. When he failed, I gave my 2 weeks notice.

You know its not like I was looking for big changes, small stuff like letting me plumb in drain lines so that it was a matter of opening valves and walking away to do water changes instead of a python...


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## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

schg said:


> I hate to get involved, but I guess I must now...
> 
> If this may have been the case before, it is not anymore. All ordering is done through the different vendors (Segrest Farms, Sunpet, Quality Marine, ORA, etc.) but we have ZERO ability to ask for anything other than what type of fish, and how many EOQ (a preset number of fish you HAVE to order of each type). But although I may not be able to control how they are packaged, I have yet to be disappointed in the packaging I have received from any of my orders (been doing ordering for 2 years from Segrest and Quality Marine).


By saying petco has the ability to specify number of fish per bag, etc, I mean corporate petco, not
your local one specifically. Choosing to get 50 neon tetras in a small bag, you're going to get die off. And ordering in Iridescent Sharks is one of the things I fought to get changed. As is housing leopard geckos and bearded dragons on sand (I emailed corp. several times, and got the same lame response every time) But its cost effective, packaging is expensive and petco doesn't want to put up the change to do it. I had an extremely bad experience working at PetCo, as did everyone else I worked with. We had some very smart employees working there, hindered by stupid corporate rules. It all boils down to this though, PetCo should not carry live animals. They get them un-ethically, they don't hire enough well trained people to take care of them, and the corporate policy is such that "corporate knows best" no matter what evidence smacks them in the face to say otherwise.


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## JazzyP (Feb 6, 2011)

niko said:


> If you don't want to read someting negative and realistic please do not read the following post.
> 
> *It sounds to me that the teenage employee is just feeling free to say whatever he/she wants. Also he/she is most likely getting a revenge for being paid minimum wage - by being honest with some customers and leading them to not spend money.*
> 
> ...


You are right: That's pretty cynical. There are a lot of woefully uneducated employees working at "big box" pet stores, hell, at LOTS of pet stores, and I think your eagerness to assume that one who knows at least SOMETHING about keeping fish alive is speaking up just to get revenge is pretty sad. It might just be that this young man has not only integrity, but a supervisor who realizes that an informed customer is far more likely to become a regular than one whose first tank was a disaster just because someone wanted to make a quick sale.


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## itsjustme1966 (Feb 22, 2011)

Hello,

I am a LFS supervisor employee here in Ontario.
first and formost, LFS and LPS employees come and go, they are a dime a dozen so the Boss tells me. I see it everyday, Resumes come in daily and atleast 25 or more a week depending on the time of yr. Why, Pet stores will hire the young and the young soon quit, or are let go, or head off to collage or back to school..etc..

Now, with that in mind it is tough to find "just the right one" to work and is at the very least interested in animals as "we" all are, and here being "fish" and the hobby itself.

So I look after the tanks mostly, with the part time staff in the evenings doing some of the easier work on them.
We are not just a fish store so I am also a pet nutritionalist as well. I do ordering for all supplies for the store including the fish...Ive tryed numerous companies for fish and most rob each other so to speak. Neons will come from the same source.
This time of yr is terrible for shipping of fish..so I tend to stay away from Clown loaches, cardinals, small angels, ID sharks..etc..
its dam hard to sell a good quality fish when you dont get them that way. Hmmm, dont know, would the boss set up hospital tanks? no room and what store would have for so many tanks..I do have 2 tanks tho..
Now to the selling of the fish..I have put up signs in the fish area asking for customers to please ask questions if you have any regarding fish and set ups..etc..." We are here to help you with your tank setup, please let us know what you have as tank size so we can better assist you on your purchase"
I have never netted a fish before asking just what the tank is sized at, how long its been setup.etc...
If I was to get into telling you of the stories of what some customers have actually told me, this thread would go 20 pages from here..honestly.
Someone wants a goldfish, well most times its get sold.. WE are in the business to sell, but there are fine lines for that when it comes to the other fish.
So the customer is educated somewhat..if you can hold his or her attention long enough..some couldnt care less..Its very hard when you are a fish hobbyist yourself and ppl will just buy the large angel or the pearl gouramis when the tank has only been running for 4 days...sad..
Oh then theres the customers that come in and you ask them "what size tank so you have"? "oh its hugh..100gal atleast" oh I say.. so its about this size, bit bigger, as I point to one.." oh no its ummm this size as they point to the 10gals..lol..
or I ask, so the tanks been running? cycling? what stage is it at now? " Oh long time now, well over a week " they say..lol....oh I reply..." oh well I did add that stuff?? ( they call it) that should be enough?..right ?( love this part) I get real picky then.. " oh i say" enough for what? are you saying the tank is now cycled? yes she says..that stuff does that no?... Oh honestly..
Alot of times I will be able to get the customer to buy what is needed for the tank prior to adding fish and they come back week or so later with water..
Well anyway...I refuse fish purchase alot..and I try everyday to educate ppl on the hobby ,but they are not interested in the actual hobby they just want a tank with fish swimming in it..they are the ones that dont get the 2 day..yes 2 day guarantee. I mark the reciept and my staff is all trained this way..but we do have mishaps..
NO refunds on fish.. only replacements, with the FISH and the RECIEPT no acceptions. and I will request water sample..as to inform the customer again that water quality is everthing to a fish.
I usually dont have to many problems, but they have occured. 
its a tough sales to be in, let me tell you...for the odd rough customer that day there are 10 more regular customers that are in the hobby that make it all worth while..
As I must remember it is a business and money is to be made, myself and most try our best to satisfy the customer..
"fish keeping" the deaths, the disease we try to medicate, as we have all been through ourselves, comes trial and error...it is a learning process, 30 yrs and Im still learning things about it..and what of the fish I see in that LFS that I purchase, I myself could end up killing it with just shipping alone to my house, what does that make me then?? I know the "rules" the percautions needed to take. Should we all just leave the hobby and all these wonderful fish could stay where they would rather be free.
Also what of the poor Danios that avid hobbists use to cycle tanks or minnows? what a contridiction on my part as I stand there telling the customer not to buy the angel yet as it may die within a week or so when parameters rise due to cycling?..but hey buy these fish they will help..some may die off but ..blaa blaa blaa...do water changes, test 6 days in a row to ensure ..blaa blaa..

Id say just stay away from the stores that dont have employees that keep what they sell..so to speak..
like a hairdresser...would you pay good money to have her do your hair when hers looks like she just woke up?..no.. I wouldnt.. play the part, be the part. looking, acting and being knowledgeable, will get you repect and returns from the customer for future sales.


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