Word of WARNING!

[Deleted]

Dont know if anybody saw watchdog tonight, but it was on about pets at home having dead and rotting fish in its tanks and also fish with finrot and cancerous growths on their bodies..... just incase anyone is thinking of going there for fish -DON'T!!!!!

[milliej]

Oh nice! Goodness me....thankfully I'm not a fishy person - hmm that doesn't sound right....but that's awful poor little unloved and uncared for fishes.

[OP]

The local Pets at Home seems understaffed. The staff that are about all look inexperienced and they probably don't realize there is more to the store than the checkout counter. There must be someone to check on the stock and welfare of the animals. So that person ought to be looking for a new job now that has been aired. If I saw that in the local store I would be writing to the head office pronto.
Thanks for the warning kellycarla.

[Shirls]

My local Pets at Home is useless too! The staff know nothing, and aren't even helpful if you ask them anything.

[samwiseg]

I think that we all agree here that Pets at Home is NOT the place for guaranteed, quality, pets, equipment or staff.

[ffiscool]

Mine is actually ok. And a vet on the premises. Although never thankfully needed him

[Billy's Dad]

My Grandson got a gorgeous Dwarf rabbit from our local store (Parkgate,Rotherham). Service was good and animal was health checked by on site vet,guess they were lucky.
I suspect problem with these places is they get too big and if management at certain stores is slack then standards drop.I personally wouldn't buy any animal from them,would rather use a specialist breeder who will have the required knowledge and advice to pass on to new owners.

[Budgies Retreat]

We've had a Roberovski hamster and two guineas from them, no issues whatsoever. My only negative review would be that there is a serious lack of decent bird products.

[Hezz]

Don't blame the staff for not being trained; blame the management. That is their job. I feel sorry for staff shoved onto the floor without being given the tools to do the job, in this case the tools being the appropriate knowledge to help the customers. Junior staff can only do so much and will have been told what it is they have to put their time into.

[OP]

The trouble is the top management are so far removed from the shop floor and usually have no customer skills themselves when it comes to very large chain stores.

[Shirls]

I think that all managers (in all aspects of work come to that)should be trained from the floor upwards, and regularly spend a day or two actually on the floor to experience and see where problems may lie. That includes offices, cleaners, hospital departments...... I had better stop there. I could rant on a bit!

[samwiseg]

I cant recall the name of the European football team but I am aware that they train their players to play in EVERY position i.e. defence, striker, goal etc etc so when it comes to playing as a team they understand and automatically know how the others will play in their positions. Its a marvellous training idea and think (as Shirls said) should be implemented within the workplace.

Perhaps then we could learn a lot about how everybody's job is done and perhaps become more patient and understanding as a result?

[Hezz]

Until you have been in those shoes, don't criticize those who are .....

Management is not always too far away; each store will have its own store manager, usually floor manager or deputy manager as well, if the store is large enough to employ a relative number of floor staff. It is these people's job to train those floor staff.

[OP]

That may have been the case a while ago, Hezz, but there has been that many cuts to middle management that it has come down to not quite experienced staff virtually running a place such as Pets at Home. I used to be quite loyal to my nearest Supermarket. Everytime I went there was this one well dressed person doing some job or another. One week he would be mopping the floor, another stacking shelves or rearranging the stock on the shelves. I always said Good Morning to this chap, but had no idea who he was. I asked him one day and lo and behold he was the General Manager of the store. Then there was a change, the store got kitted out and the General Manager was moved elsewhere. I spoke to his replacement the next time I went to the store. I got a reply that was fit for a vagabond that had just come off the street. That immediately got my back up. Now as the store had been completely rearranged as they do I was unable to find a particular item. As I was searching I came across this manager again and asked where I might find this item. Now I didn't expect him to take me by the hand and show me, I did expect at the least he give me a general direction, the reply I got was

' you need to find a person who is stocking the shelves.

The hair at the back of my neck was well and truly raised. My reply to this manager was

'you have just lost another customer to your store'.

I simply left the shopping trolley with the goods in it at his feet and left the store. Now any lower ranking manager(s) that are left these days tend to be young and inexperienced, which is most unfair on these young managers and the customers as a whole. Sorry for the rant, but that is my experience.

[sarah*glittergirl2212]

My local pets at home seems good, I got my little girl bunny spayed at the vets there, he was really patient with all my questions! The staff are friendly and the fish tanks look clean to me. Andrew bought his Siamese fighter fish from there and he has had it 14 months now with no problems. I know quality and service can vary from store to store so I suppose we are lucky.