Pets At Home

[OohFeeshy]

recommending common goldfish over fancys for tanks.

Not sure if it's the same everywhere, but in the Pompey one they've recently put signs up on the silly children's tanks saying 'not suitable for fantails, OK for minnows or one small goldfish'... Hrm... Some interesting logic there.

 

[shelaghfishface]

i have found my pets@home staff to be nice, tho not knowledgeable, as i guess the training would cost money,and the amount of diffrent faces i see in there from time to time it just wouldnt be cost effective, its not the staff that are useless, its the store, its their job to ensure they can do the job properly, cant imagine why anyone would go in and ask for advice on keeping fish anyway, as its only a small part of the bissines ( spelling lol)..and people from here that go in and ask are just taking the piss, you do your reaserch, then you go in full of knowledge ,you buy the fish and you look after it end of,anything after that is up to you, if it was an lfs then it would be diffrent, but they are a genral store, so have limited general knowledge
i bought a ball that you put a hamster inside years ago,and i did just that,put it inside to excersise, walked out of the room for some reason or other and came into find my (then) toddler kicking the ball!!! i couldnt blame them beacuse they couldnt tell me it wouldnt be suited in my home, i should have thought about that in the first place- the hamster was fine by the way

ps, i dont buy fish from there,for one reason, i prefer my lfs, i did get some platys not long ago out of a horrible tank at acorn pets store, but thats another story

shelagh xxx

 

[ryanp15]

Pets at Home is a large scale pet supplies buisness, so it's main aim is to make money really. There are probably so many problems with a lot of the stores becasue of the way they are run to make a profit, and the high staff turnover. I don't think you should get ratty with the employees, many of them are just there to make themselves a living. Young people see the shop as a way to make money, and becasue it is a large buisness they are attraced to it, similar to Tesco where it would be expected you get a decent wage and a good working environment. It just isn't possible for everyone in the shop to have a good knowlede of fishkeeping, the shops are a general pet store after all.

I do not agree with the way that many fish are kept in shops like these and personally buy from a small independant shop. The independant shops have more knowledgeable staff becasue they are run by people with an interest in fish, and normally the people working there stay longer, gaining more knowledge.

My nearest store in Great Yarmouth probably aren't the best, they sold an ill hamster to my auntie which died 2 days later. So more experienced people know this and just shouldn't shop there. Pets at Home have found the gap in the market for beginners, there's everything they would need to buy under one roof at a decent price. It's not the employees fault as they're only doing their job. All I can suggest for PAH is that they make sure they educate each new employee correctly, it's really the only thing they can do!

 

[Hawkins]

i went to one today - and stupidly bought fish. i have a feeling it will wipe out my tank.

i saw someone taking a tank and a bag full of fish (I WANTED TO PUNCH THE 10 YEAR OLD SELLING THE FISH! IDIOT!!!!)

oh and they took a siamese fighting fish, some neons and a catfish of some kind. probably the PAH Disease kind.

idiots i hate them!!

when i bought my fish the jerk didnt even ask or tell anything

 

[andywg]

i saw someone taking a tank and a bag full of fish (I WANTED TO PUNCH THE 10 YEAR OLD SELLING THE FISH! IDIOT!!!!)

I hate the attitude some people take on this.

Did you speak to the person taking a tank and a bag of fish? Did you ask them whether they already have a tank? I have often left my lfs with a bag of fish and a tank. The tank can be fully set up and cloned within an hour if it is not going to have a sump. Then you put in mature media (or put the fish you have bought in an already running tank) and everything is fine.

oh and they took a siamese fighting fish, some neons and a catfish of some kind. probably the PAH Disease kind.

Wow, a betta, some neons and a type of catfish (doesn't exactly narrow it down, what with the Order Siluriformes having in the order of 36 families and 3,023 species at the moment). Hardly the worst mix of fish ever, and that assumes that the fish are all going in the same tank.

idiots i hate them!!

You hate someone because they bought a tank and some fish from a pet shop? That's a bit harsh. By the same token, would you despise someone who bought petrol AND engine oil from a Shell garage?

when i bought my fish the jerk didnt even ask or tell anything

Poor old fish store staff. If they don't ask questions they are jerks, if they do offer advice that is not exactly the same as someone has read on the internet the person tries to act smart and then posts on a thread like this. In my mind, the silent assistant is best, until they are asked a question at which point I would expect advice to be offered.

 

[shelaghfishface]

i went to one today - and stupidly bought fish. i have a feeling it will wipe out my tank.

i saw someone taking a tank and a bag full of fish (I WANTED TO PUNCH THE 10 YEAR OLD SELLING THE FISH! IDIOT!!!!)

oh and they took a siamese fighting fish, some neons and a catfish of some kind. probably the PAH Disease kind.

idiots i hate them!!

when i bought my fish the jerk didnt even ask or tell anything

dont assume!!, , and if you are worried then why have you put it in your tank??? Q tanks are for a reason, all of those fish i have in one of my tanks, and they get along fine ( tho plec rather than catfish)
why on earth would you have felt like punching him?? couldnt you have engaged in friendley converstaion with the new owner " oh m8,love your choices~are these your first fish/tank?" .......think if i was in there spending that much money ,i would have been only to glad to tell you what my plans were ( if you were friendly)
there is one girl at my local and she sold me my first bag of gravel for my first tank, and whenever i go in she always asks, how many tanks have you got now?? what are you doing now then?? they dont go out of there way to get bad feedback~so give them a break

shelaghxxx

 

[Paul_MTS]

i went to one today - and stupidly bought fish. i have a feeling it will wipe out my tank.

i saw someone taking a tank and a bag full of fish (I WANTED TO PUNCH THE 10 YEAR OLD SELLING THE FISH! IDIOT!!!!)

oh and they took a siamese fighting fish, some neons and a catfish of some kind. probably the PAH Disease kind.

idiots i hate them!!

when i bought my fish the jerk didnt even ask or tell anything

Your sir are an idiot!

Firstly you don't buy a fish if your not happy with it. You have all the time in the world to examine the stock in the tank before you buy one.

Whoop de dooooo! As others have said you don't have a clue what the situation was. And most places dealing with animals won't employ under 16 and in a few cases under 18's.

URGH!! I hate that... " some kind of catfish" yeh.... that really helps to make a correct judgment.

I work in a fish shop, in fact I'm the manager of the fish house. My policy is if they don't ask questions they don't get answers. I point out the obvious warnings.

If staff were to quiz every single customer on there tank before selling a fish we'd be there all day and night.

 

[aquanovice]

You simply can't 'defend' P@H. Your pet shop shop which you said was small is obviously easier to maintain and it sounds like you do a great job!
But not all P@H stores have dedicated emolyees like you- its a shame.
I found in the bigger stores they tend to not really care about good advice just a 'sell them anything and get the money' sort of attitude!
P@H employees are genrally there because they love all animals and the head bosses might not be fanatic about gods creatures either they are simply just there to make a living and make alot of money ----Which they do!

 

[shelaghfishface]

You simply can't 'defend' P@H. Your pet shop shop which you said was small is obviously easier to maintain and it sounds like you do a great job!
But not all P@H stores have dedicated emolyees like you- its a shame.
I found in the bigger stores they tend to not really care about good advice just a 'sell them anything and get the money' sort of attitude!
P@H employees are genrally there because they love all animals and the head bosses might not be fanatic about gods creatures either they are simply just there to make a living and make alot of money ----Which they do!

right so they money grabbing cos they take 10% of the profits right ?? no they are simply uneducated in fishkeeping, and no one is defeding pets at home, i was defending the young lad who was close to smack in the gob, just for doing his job, which is ultimatley a sales person!

 

[Scotty001]

I'm lucky in that my local P@H is a good store, if i ask a question and one of the younger staff arnt too sure about the answer to a question they will ask some one who is more knowledgeable and at my local there are a few that do know their stuff.

Ive even had a case where the girl didn't know the answer to a species that i had spotted and hadn't done any research on as had only then seen it in the tank (paradise fish) i asked her about how big it gets, how much space it needs, do i need more than 1 / 6+, aggressiveness, water parameters, would it get on with my current stock etc etc for the fish which she said " to be honest i cant answer all of those"

there was no one else at the time she could get as was a busy day so what did she do..... said hold on a second, went over to the book shelf of books they sell picked up 3 diff books came back to me and said lets have a look what they have in here on them.

her manager did walk past and asked why she had taken the wrapper off one of the books and was thumbing her way through it, when she told him i had asked these questions and she didn't just want to "guess" he simply said if you cant find what you need or have any other probs come give me a shout. He knew the answers I'm guessing but didn't take over strait away and tell me the answers to what i had asked but gave the sales person the opportunity to learn something new too and offered more assistance if needed,

To me thats a good store and manager as some managers may have seen that as "well you've tor the wrapper, we cant sell that book now. needless to say that the fish wouldn't have suited my tank and now i and the sales girl know for the future.


from what i have heard too (not sure how true) but new legislation or proactive use of current legislation will soon allow fish stores to refuse the sale of a fish without a sample of tank water the fish is going into, knowing the size & current inhabitants of the tank (if too small or in compatible stock saying No you cant but this fish) and if needs be ask to see a photo of the tank (I'm guessing for those customers that say yeah its massive i can fit anything in it)

my local P@H have said if this does come in it will be great as they have some back up to say no you cant have that fish because of.............rather than now you could just walk in and when asked, say yeah Ive had the tank x months and its massive. then try taking away tonnes of fish and kill any cycling by they have done if they have even done a cycle at that time.

also some "sales" driven managers hat hound for more sales the better never mind what or who your selling to, sales staff can say i didn't sell them that fish because of ............. but I'm guessing if its a real hard sales driven manager they will say why didn't you sell them a bigger tank and the fish lol
.

 

[rabbut]

The legislation is already there to refuse sale without water samples, inappropriate existing tank mates e.t.c. The animal welfare act already covers it. It's words to the effect that if you buy or sell an animal into conditions that are inappropriate to it's requirements, you are committing an animal cruelty offence. I personaly have refused many sales in the 19/20 months I've worked in aquatics retail, on these grounds. One that stands out most was a gentleman whom was trying to buy 5 bettas. As usual alarm bells were set ringging in my ears, on the following conversation insued;

me; are they going into the same tank?

customer; yes

me; you do realise that they will fight, usualy to the death when put together don't you?

customer; yes, thats cand of the idea

me; I can't sell you any then I'm afraid

customer; why?

me; because it would be selling you fish that aren't compatible, and I'm not allowed to do that

customer; just give me the dam fish

me; lets re-phrase that a bit shall we. Under the animal welfare act, it is a criminal offence to knowingly sell or buy any fish, that will then be placed into conditions will caurse harm, suffering or distress to that animal. Putting Bettas together will lead to all three, therefore I'm formaly refusing you sale of those fish

customer; ok, here, £10 to say you didn't know that. What do you say?

me; I think you'd better leave before I get a chance to call the police

customer; this is an f*?!ing shop, you sell fish. What a rediculus place when they don't let you buy what they sell (loudly and walking away)


Some people are unbeliable......anyhow, the legislation is already there, and I have personaly had to use it before. In this instant things went OK, but when some of my colegues have used it in the past, they have been subjected to violent assaults from customers. Just because the legislation is there doesn't mean that it is always used. Some of my colegues are afraid to use it after some previous incidents that they have been involved in as a result of the use of the existing act. The problem isn't always shop staff...
Better training and awareness has to be used realy to avoid issues, and the shop has to give their employees support when they use the legislation as some nutters do not take being told no very well With training, P@H would probibly be a good store, but in places like that training is not practical with the complex subject of fish, due to high staff turn-over buy the time staff have finished training, they would probibly have handed in their notice

All the best
Rabbut

 

[andywg]

You simply can't 'defend' P@H.

I can, and I will, which I will come onto in a second.

Your pet shop shop which you said was small is obviously easier to maintain and it sounds like you do a great job!

Small is by no means easier to maintain as small often means fewer staff doing more tasks and not having the back up of larger regular sales allowing more money through the door.

But not all P@H stores have dedicated emolyees like you- its a shame.

So we can't defend a brand because you believe that some are worse than others.

I found in the bigger stores they tend to not really care about good advice just a 'sell them anything and get the money' sort of attitude!

Just out of interest, how many of the "bigger" (however that is defined) stores have you visited? They have over 200 stores across the UK. To even claim to have some sort of reliable n number for your sample I would expect to see 20 stores visited. Also, as can be seen in this thread, many people are prejudiced against P@H, in fact, one thing you may notice if you stick around is that many people are prejudiced against almost all lfs because they don't tell exactly the same advice as the person chooses to believe from the internet. I am by no means claiming you are, but it would be far from uncommon for someone to walk in with the attitude "I bet I know more than these people...hey look at that, the internet says that is wrong, I am so right".

P@H employees are genrally there because they love all animals and the head bosses might not be fanatic about gods creatures either they are simply just there to make a living and make alot of money ----Which they do!

And just why do they make money? Because they give the mass customer what they want.

I went into the newly refurbed P@H just nearby me in Southend. I went in as they are selling marines now and my wife saw some frogfish in there. Both of us were chatting to a staff member who said she can't sell or touch the marine fish as she hasn't done a course on them. The tropical and coldwater side is more open for any member of staff to sell, but they have signs up with the fish names (common and scientific) the max size and a traffic light guide system. All in all a very responsible way of doing it.

I could have moaned about how they had frogfish in with lions and the frogfish had the wrong names on them, but I am not unrealistic. I am yet to see any store be 100% accurate on naming these fish (I know I am still not 100% sure on one of them, despite a frogfish ichthyologist looking at it, and she works under THE expert on frogfish, Ted Pietsch).

By no means was the store perfect, but then none will be. In the scheme of things, I can think of far, far worse independent stores I have visited. If this is the way P@H is progressing then very good things are in the offing on the aquatic side of the business.

 

[geo7x]

Ooh I wondered how long it would be until people started having a whinge about p@h

I don't understand why anti-p@h people keep going into the shop, when they know full well that it's bad, just so they can have a moan at the staff. Unless you carry out a proper investigation on the place and gather hard evidence then they are not going to take any notice of you. If you go calling the staff idiots then you are just going to get laughed at and kicked out.

It's also rather hypocritical to say stuff like "I hate p@h I wished they would close down. I would never buy fish from there but I buy their food and equipments cos it's dead cheap". If you are against something that much then you wouldn't fund it at all. Otherwise you're as bad as anyone else who puts money into them.

In no way am I defending p@h, infact I don't really have much of an opinion on the store. It is proven there are good ones and with so many stores they are an easy target for people who like to moan.

As for the stores that really are bad, what do you expect from a company that has hundreds of shops and also has to look after every other type of small pet? With such a large number of shops there are bound to be dodgy ones.

 

[tibby25731]

I've never been a huge P&H fan, but it is my nearest fish shop and so handy for essentials like food. I always take a peek at the fish, can't help myself. my local store (Ashton under Lyne) seems to have improved lately and the tanks seem better maintained. However, last visit I did see a dead betta in a tank, ripped to shreds... he had been with neon tetras I had already decided to buy a beautiful guppy I had seen, so as the sales lad was bagging him up, I did ask casually whose daft idea it had been to put a betta in with tetras? He said that they always kept them with tetras, so I told him that tetras are nippy and can kill a betta. He seemed genuinely surpirsed and said he would let his boss know that they weren't compatible, and asked me what fish they should keep them with... so I told him, keep them alone, or with corys/otos. He really seemed to take this advice to heart and I will see next time I visit if this advice has been heeded! In my opinion, if they are willing to learn from their mistakes, then that is good.

 

[seanyt66]

The Carlisle P@H is spot on, great selection of healthy fish and dry good and by far the best selection of plants in the area! I really cant fault them.

Sean