Pah Replies

[Kribster]

OK people, im back!!

Thanks to everyone who commented on variouse PAH stores around the country, the points have been noted & i have mailed head office about it.

Just a quick reminder tho...

We are a pet store that do fish ON THE SIDE - we are not a dedicated fish store (although i think we now do have some somewhere...)
We cannot euthanise fish
We do not have any quarrantine tanks
WE HAVE A WARRENTY - 10 days to 2 weeks is the norm, dependant on the manager on duty.
We do try - for the 250+ stores we now have, it only takes 1 or 2 bad ones, or even for a single store to have a bad day, and suddenly everyone hates PAH
I am trying to organise a fish book for the staff - name, description, picture & tank requirements for each fish.

We do a fish check every hour - remover dead fish, move sick ones to a hospital tank (if we have one)

Oh and 5teady - we run a collumn of tanks off one filter, heater etc so that it is easy to move fish if a tank is broken or has someting wrong with it.
we simply isolate the tank & move the fish, no tank shock, no worries.

 

[BigC]

I am trying to organise a fish book for the staff - name, description, picture & tank requirements for each fish

Thats a step in the right direction.
Fishkeepers, ordinary commoner garden fishkeepers (not aquarists who join clubs and seek out forums to further their knowledge) will use PAH. This alone will generate thousands of pounds of revenue for PAH. Therefore, that said, I believe PAH owes their customers some higher level of expertise. I have been to my local in Belfast and to be quite honest all you get is a snotty nose kid with a vacant expression when asked the most simpleist question. This I believe is not good enough to merit anyone returning to buy livestock. I'm not just picking on PAH here there are others but PAH seems to get it rough because its considered a supermarket with no care or knowledge about anything that is living.
Regards
BigC

 

[chesterscot]

no offence but what do the staff at pets at home learn about any of the livestock they sell? Do they do any kind of short courses or training because i not only buy fish related items but stuff for the dogs and birds and the staff at my local store no little if anything about either

 

[Kribster]

We get step by step training - we are generally paired up with someone on our shift for a few weeks/months, to help them along, but we get training on each SPECIES, not just animal - you get diff' types of rabbit etc - how to keep them, what sort of thing they are compatible with, how much space they need etc.

Unfortunatly most of our stores cannot sell birds now, coz of the avian flu...

Fish - general training at first - how to set a tank up, what sort of fish to start with, what things will eat everything, what is ok with just about everything that doesn't eat them (neon tetras are popular)
I am lucky, as i have personal experience with keeping fish, and have several aquarium encyclopedias at home, which are a lot easier than the internet, but we are encouraged to talk to knowlegable customers, other staff, or read the books - so long as we dont damage them

 

[tenohfive]

Its lovely to see an effort being made, but ultimately this is retail you're talking about. Where you pay peanuts, and often get (big surprise) monkeys.

Its a fantastic sentiment and I hope it pays off. In the meantime, I'd recommend giving advice to customers of "do your own research" because they'll often end up places like this, and thus not be dependant on an employee with variable levels of knowledge.