Pets At Home Visit

[J4MES]

well i was passing by p@h in bradford so I thought i would stop by,

I looked at the fish and was quite surprised!

1. most of the fish were alive/undeseased

2. they had a nice selection of fish

3. they had some gorgeous red guppys!! I was like omg i gotta have some of those!! (didn' buy any though)

so at this point i was quite happy, i looked up at one of the higher tanks and to my shock there were 2 male fighters. They didn't seem to be fighting just flaring. I was dissapointed. I bought my guinea pig food and left.

P@H let me down this time, i was impressed with there livestock until that find.

J4MES

 

[timmystood]

Seems to be quite a common occurance this one!
The local pets at home to me is really good.... until you talk to staff!

 

[Ant]

Well, when i went into my local pets at home (Boldmere) i thought i would quiz them (pretending to not know about fish).
I was pointing at different fish and say "Can these go with angel fish", the only answer i could get for every time i asked this question,
"Theres 3 types of fish, we use the traffic light system, Green for good fish, Orange for may fin-nip and Red for species",
The worst advice ever, the assistant didnt have a clue about the fish, obviously he was just trained on the traffic lights system!

 

[mark.w.jones]

To expect Pet at Home to have an expert on every type of animal they sell is a tad unreasonable I think. Should responsibility not rest with the people going in to the shop to have done their research before hand. I don't walk into Curry's and expect to find some who works there to be an expert on everything I could possibly hope to buy. With the internet around its much easier to be well informed as a customer and I think you neeed to be more proactive rather than relying on generally disinterested employees who are just after your money.

Also, if I wanted the best advice on buying a Porche, I wouldn't go to a huge car lot that sold loads of different makes of car. I'd go to a Porche garage. It stands to reason that they'll have a much better idea of what they're talking about. So surely you need to do the same when buying fish.

Just my opinion of course

 

[demonmagus]

the P@H here is alright for quality of fish (some do have whitespot though) but there is no such thing as advice (or correct advice) and tbh they are quite expensive compared to another fish only shop I know, so I don't really buy stuff from there - might pick up a small tank though

 

[Teri]

Just wondered, why does everyone seem to have a bad opinion of pets at home? I've only shopped there once, on a sunday when my regular lfs was closed, and i needed something for whitespot fast. I wouldn't want to shop there, as this sort of shop is having a really negative impact on the smaller pet shops, but the fish looked well cared for,and in reasonably sized tanks, and I heard them refusing to sell a tank and some goldfish at the same time, they said they wouldn't sell any fish for at least 48 hrs, to give people a chance to set the tank up separately, and they had lots of info about cycling, etc.

 

[J4MES]

The only problem teri is that the staff don't know anything about the fish.

J4MES

 

[Teri]

Oh......

 

[my fat fish]

tell me about it.... i had 2 reyurn a betta my sister brought from ther so they were happy to take it back for store credit but they went to realease the fish strait away into the tank without climatising it but what is more it was in a tank of neons i had 2 say sommat but they wernt to happy about me telling them

 

[Ant]

Thank you

 

[AndreaC]

Just wondered, why does everyone seem to have a bad opinion of pets at home? I've only shopped there once, on a sunday when my regular lfs was closed, and i needed something for whitespot fast. I wouldn't want to shop there, as this sort of shop is having a really negative impact on the smaller pet shops, but the fish looked well cared for,and in reasonably sized tanks, and I heard them refusing to sell a tank and some goldfish at the same time, they said they wouldn't sell any fish for at least 48 hrs, to give people a chance to set the tank up separately, and they had lots of info about cycling, etc.

This is something I hear alot and not only on fish forums!!

TBH my opinion on Pets @ Home are there very good. Well the one in Nottingham is. They have always had healthy fish, never seen a dead one in a tank yet. They have been placed in tanks where there compatable with other fish. The tanks are wel set up and clean. They test there waters. And most important they know about fish! Every time ive been in they have gone out there way to help me and at times spent over an hour with me (bless em lol) They have never gave out wrong advice to me and once I saw a woman buy a little tank and then went to choose the fish. The sales assistant refused to sell the fish to them there and then and explained she needed to cycle the tank and how to do it. She also said the tank size she had was to small for goldfish and she would be better getting a heater and having smaller fish like tetras and guppies. She told her all the correct info and I was impressed.

I also found there cheaper then anywhere else.

Maybe its just the Nottingham store??

tell me about it.... i had 2 reyurn a betta my sister brought from ther so they were happy to take it back for store credit but they went to realease the fish strait away into the tank without climatising it but what is more it was in a tank of neons i had 2 say sommat but they wernt to happy about me telling them

I have a male fighter in with neons? No problem at all.

 

[modaz]

i think it comes down to the usual pay structure of the employees, if i was gunna get a job with the all round knowledge on fish then i would expect to be paid well, these big companys dont pay well and are usually full of part timers who dont give a damn about the job just the money. so its expected to get a staff member who should be on the till but covering the fish section instead, because of being short staffed

 

[tashasonya]

basically i dont think any of you understand at all! i work at pets at home im currently training i have an extended diploma in animal management and am very knowledgeble on all pets and reptiles but not so much fish. at the end of teh day i dont know why u think that everyone who works at pets at home av to be experts in every subject well thats not the case! all employees have their strong n weak points in all departments, to work at pets at home is very intense training and how can u say that we dont give a #41#### about our jobs at all, we cant exactly be in it 4 the money can we wen its an average minimum wage job! i think u should keep your opinions to yourself because u dont understand in the slightest! n yer u myt no a lot abowt fish but dya know all about dogs, cats, hamsters, rabbits and all other animals n could answer any question i ask u? i bet the answers no so thats to prove my point that its impossible to know everyhting about everything so next tym dnt be so quik to judge!

 

[StandbySetting]

Old thread - not everyone was slating pets at home, some stores are good some bad, a forum is not the place for such discussions however.

 

[leviethan]

basically i dont think any of you understand at all! i work at pets at home im currently training i have an extended diploma in animal management and am very knowledgeble on all pets and reptiles but not so much fish. at the end of teh day i dont know why u think that everyone who works at pets at home av to be experts in every subject well thats not the case! all employees have their strong n weak points in all departments, to work at pets at home is very intense training and how can u say that we dont give a #41#### about our jobs at all, we cant exactly be in it 4 the money can we wen its an average minimum wage job! i think u should keep your opinions to yourself because u dont understand in the slightest! n yer u myt no a lot abowt fish but dya know all about dogs, cats, hamsters, rabbits and all other animals n could answer any question i ask u? i bet the answers no so thats to prove my point that its impossible to know everyhting about everything so next tym dnt be so quik to judge!

hey, just wanted to know, where you did you do your animal management diploma... was wondering if we went to same place