Pets At Home. Knowledgeable ?

[Happy]

Hi all.
I have a Pets At Home near to where I live (Reading Berks) Could anyone give me any feedback on these guys 'as a company' with regard to the general quality health and condition of their stock and care. To shop there or not to shop there ?

 

[5teady_2012]

Hi all.
I have a Pets At Home near to where I live (Reading Berks) Could anyone give me any feedback on these guys 'as a company' with regard to the general quality health and condition of their stock and care. To shop there or not to shop there ?

My honest and sincere opinion on most of the ones i have been to is.........

THey are garbage, the one near me is a disgrace, tanks are bad, fish are always in bad condition...

Infact what i will do is go video with my mobile phone some of the female bettas they got in yesterday...

I went in for some stuff for the dog and cat and had a look at the fish while i was in there and i was horrified at what i saw as usual.. the bettas was on their last legs, loads of guppies was dead (and t#the woman was still selling out of that tank) mollies haggered, tank full of neons and only about 20/possible 50 was alive....

They suck. and thier info is bad.

 

[geo7x]

Overall P@H stores are not considered to be very good at all, however some are better than others and there are a few half decent ones.

Just go in, look at the condition of the fish, see if there are many dead ones, see how accurate info is, and see what you think.

 

[aaronnorth]

Look at previous posts at bottom of this page, that will give you your answer!

 

[Colin_T]

it comes down to the workers not so much the store. Good knowledgable workers will have healthy fish and offer good advice.
Ask the people working there if they keep fish and what they keep. If they don't keep fish that pretty much sums it up.

 

[aquila]

Generally you shouldn't touch them with a bargepole. Despite a recent revamp of the store near me (and at many others around the country by the sounds of things) the quality of fish is still very low and the knowledge of the staff is poor.

I applied for a job there a few years ago, obviously wanting to work on the fish section, and they offered me a job... but I'd have to work for 12 months on the tills and the small mammal section to 'increase my knowledge' before I would be considered to work with the fish. Eh?!

 

[5teady_2012]

but I'd have to work for 12 months on the tills and the small mammal section to 'increase my knowledge' before I would be considered to work with the fish. Eh?!

whats tills and that got to do with fish goes to show how bloody stupid they are...

 

[Happy]

but I'd have to work for 12 months on the tills and the small mammal section to 'increase my knowledge' before I would be considered to work with the fish. Eh?!

whats tills and that got to do with fish goes to show how bloody stupid they are...

Thanks everyone
I don't think i'll even bother going to have a look. Maidenhead Aquaitics is only a few miles away, and I believe they're much better.

 

[PRW1988]

Everybody has their own opinions, go in to the store, test them with some basic fish knowledge and decide for yourself wether or not the P@H you're going to is a good one or not.

 

[*blacksnapemoor*]

hi happy where do you live?

 

[Truck]

dont buy fish from a chain store they are rubbish not looked after properly

 

[littlest]

If you have a choice between Maidenhead Aquatics and Pets at Home, definately go to Maidenhead Aquatics. I'm very impressed by my local one. I wouldn't want to go back to my local Pets at Home though, really is a disgrace.
Obviously stores do vary though, and a lot depends on staff. Whichever LFS you go to, I would advise you not to rely on the advice staff give you without doing some of your own research to back it up. So if they tell you a certain fish will be fine in a ten gallon, go away and research yourself (or ask on here) before you buy the fish.

I'd always trust the expert members on here over staff at an lfs, as the members here aren't trying to sell me anything!

 

[aaronnorth]

dont buy fish from a chain store they are rubbish not looked after properly

Maidenhead aquatics is a chain store and they're not rubbish, my local maidenhead is amazing, very clean, and i have only ever seen a few dead fish since i've been going, P@H there is a dead or more in every tank at the sheffield branch.

 

[bronzecat]

dont buy fish from a chain store they are rubbish not looked after properly

My local maidenhead and bow aquatics are chains and they are pretty good stores!

As for P@H, as i've said before, there are some bad and there are some good. My local one is as good as any of the lfs i have. Maybe the staff are not as knowledgeable but P@H are putting a training scheme into being.

I have seen worse conditions in one of my lfs, that i no longer frequent, and this IMO is far worse cus it was an independant lfs and should know better.

Dont tarnish all cus you've had a bad experience somewhere!

 

[Truck]

im mean like chainstores that have hundreds of stores not about 10