P@h On Watchdog Next Week

[Electric Warrior]

Jeez the report is absolutely ridiculous!! I dont even like P@H and in fact, I work for 'the other side'....

But that report is embarrassing! Not for Pets @ Home but for the idots featured on it.

Its a shame, they made it look like all those dead fish were in one shop which they quite clearly werent! One fish dying now and then happens, it just does! Whether in a shop or at home, whether itssick or someones horrible child has been smacking the glass.

They *complete* went off on one with the fluffy animals to a point of being ridiculous. Young syrian hamsters are absolutely fine while they are babies. Its ridiculous... thats like saying you cant grow on a batch of baby cichlids in a tank, just because as adults they would properly batter each other!

Baby rabbits dropping dead.... well i hate to say it... but who is to say the woman didnt keep them calm and quiet? Young rabbits are incredibly susceptable to gut problems made worse by stress and unfortunately it does happen....

I sold someone a fish that quite promptly died the other day... water was fine... cant guarantee they took the fish right home, that it didnt get shaken or that the kept the tank dark for an hour or so... cant be sure they even acclimatised it.. all i could do was replace the fish... thats what pets at home did with the rabbits...

And to have a speaker on their point out white spot on a goldfish that quite clearly didnt have white spot but more likely lymphcystis if it had anything at all more than a nick on its fin.

Baaaahhhh i am so dissapointed by the whole thing, expected something other than misinformation and serious exaggerations.

Oh and for all you 'haters'... if you found yourself nodding and agreeing... bear in mind that most LFS and MA all have systems, not individual tanks atc so they are slating that system... they dont consider that there just wouldnt be fish shops otherwise because doing daily water changes on 200+ tanks is just impossible! Stocking wouldnt be possible, deads would be higher and mistakes more common.

Just bear in mind that anyone 'attacking' pets at home over the ridiculous thing this programme has brought up is 'attacking' their favourite fish shops too because this *will* have knock on effects.

All I know is that I have two MA near me that I use to buy my fish, and the few P@H I have been into (in England mainly) are far inferior to the MA shops, in terms of stock, quality, and health of the fish. I am sure that there are some decent P@H, and some crap MA, but I would much rather buy livestock from a places that specialises in fish. I don't hate P@H, I will go there to buy supplies for my dog sometimes, but livestock is a different story.

 

[phocoena]

Its a shame, they made it look like all those dead fish were in one shop which they quite clearly werent! One fish dying now and then happens, it just does! Whether in a shop or at home, whether itssick or someones horrible child has been smacking the glass.

They mentioned that it wasn't one store - something like "7 out of 8 shops we visited had dead fish"

 

[MBOU]

They did mention it... briefly, its more the way they filmed it that i objected to. Sensationalism. Panning from tank with dead fish to another tank with dead fish. They couldnt outright lie but they can sure be misleading.

Im not saying they dont have a *lot* of issues they need to fix and maybe this will be the kick up the butt that they needed... but ahh well...

While I have had serious issues personally with the place, their customer service has never been anything but helpful. Not knowledgeable... but we cant have everything! They went right out of their way to help me every time. And when i made a complaint, it was dealth with right away.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Its a shame, they made it look like all those dead fish were in one shop which they quite clearly werent! One fish dying now and then happens, it just does! Whether in a shop or at home, whether itssick or someones horrible child has been smacking the glass.

They mentioned that it wasn't one store - something like "7 out of 8 shops we visited had dead fish"

7 out of 8 petstore, whether they are chain or local stores, will have dead fish.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I've bought several fish in the past there and all were fine but one... but that one caused me a load of heartache and work trying to save my other fishies afterwards. Haven't gone back since but I still don't blame then entire chain for that one moment.

And to be honest, I see more dead fish in the tanks of another chain I feel takes better care of their fish than I do when I go to Pets at Home.

 

[star4]

All fish shops get dead fish, its just how it is. Shops have to keep fish in crowded conditions, why? because customers want to see a large choice of fish!!! Over stocking is preached on this forum daily about the dangers and health risks, yet shops do not have the luxury of having just 6 guppies to a 20l tank for show, cutomers want choice!

It is down to bone idol staff, period! it is their job to check the tanks for sick fish and remove them, this is not being done, most likely they are on their phones updating their FB page or something rather than doing their job.

 

[Tom.Messenger]

I've been to quite a few Pets at Home and they are generally ok. Some are better than others depending on who is staffing them at the time. Sometimes the fish tanks are a bit iffy, but the cute and furries all seem fine, and they give you free vet care for a few months after you buy them.

The stores are welcoming and easy to navigate, everything is generally laid out nicely, and the staff are approachable and helpful. I know a girl who worked for them for several years and they have to do an awful lot for their minimum wage. She worked for stores all over as they let her transfer wherever she wanted to move, but quit in the end as she had enough of the workload. She was animal crazy and wouldnt have worked there if she thought the company was callously mistreating animals as a matter of policy.

As others have said they have the adoption centres, and people may not be aware that they also get a lot of unwanted animals dumped on their doorsteps overnight; often these are animals they don't even sell (parrots, cats and dogs etc); but the staff still spend time ringing round finding places to take them.

The company does try to sell fish correctly with the little interview they give you when you buy something. I wouldn't go there for advice unless its a particular assistant I know is knowledgeable (there are some) I've been told, and heard people being told, complete nonsense when buying fish; but if they only employed people with zoology degrees I couldn't afford to shop there anyway.

Its high volume low margin retail, and predominantly the (mostly young) staff are under pressure to hit store targets so I think you have to be a bit understanding. As a parent I like it, as I can take my little kid there. He can see all the cute animals and fishies, get over excited about it all and we still get smiles rather than scowls from the staff.

I know that things get overlooked at Pets at Home, and in general I try to only buy dry goods from there but overall I think they're more good than bad. A lot of people will start off keeping fish by going there to coo over the hamsters and walking out with an aquarium and some fish, which is good for the hobby. Most of us will then seek out more knowledgeable /reliable smaller places when we get more into it, which is good for those other shops, and good for fish.

If I cast my mind back 15 years ago or so and think of what many pet shops in the UK used to be like, pre Pets at Home and pre internet.Some were fine, but seriousy, many were cramped godawful places full of sick diseased animals crammed into little cages with empty water bottles. Thank god most of them have gone bust. Pets at Home is partly to thank for that.

That's probably the most balanced and fair review I've seen online - most people just blindly hate, overlooking anything good. As an employee, I was ready to agree with Watchdog last night as there are things I have mentioned to them that, to me, don't make sense (mainly fish-related as that's my area). However, most of the issues raised by Watchdog seem to be either one-offs, or they actually seem to have bad information. I didn't think much of their expert, who apparently doesn't understand how commercial fish systems work. I'd invite them to investigate the majority of independent fish shops in the country with the same type of scrutiny. As a company, Pets at Home know what they are doing and the training system is very good - find me another aquatic store with the same level of staff training and development. The issues raised by Watchdog fall down to the employees of a particular store, not the company itself. As I've said, there are things I would do differently when it comes down to the fish systems to make things easier or more efficient, but again it is often down to the employees in charge, not the company's policies.

As a customer, it does seem that cute and furries do take priority over fish, and I believe that's due to having few 'actual' fishkeepers employed. Also as I've mentioned earlier, there are things I would like to see done different, but I have no major issues with the systems or most of the policies employed, for housing the species they do. With some common sense, maintenance gets done perfectly well.

If I had Watchdog's power to destroy sales, I think I could probably pick holes in and take down pretty much any company. When you look for anomalies or one-off occurrences like in a lot of their arguments, you can many anyone look bad. Also, the complaint about the Dwarf Frogs being kept with 'small fish' like Mollies - what's that all about? How on earth is a Dwarf Frog any danger to an adult Molly? They are not the 'small fish' as quoted to avoid in the label.

Tom

 

[fluttermoth]

So, the consensus is: some shops are good and some shops are not so good, whether it's a big chain or an independently owned one.

I honestly think this thread has run it's course and, due to the possible legal implications, I'm closing it now.