Complaint Review: Petco - Tucson Arizona

I am a current employee of Petco and I would like to say that we do care for our animals very well. Of course we can't cuddle every hamster daily, but they do always have clean habitats, water and food, along with whatever housing and toys are appropriate for them. And whenever possible, we do check on the health of every single animal in the store. The scenario about the store manager refusing to take the ferret to the vet is not only completely false, but completely unreasonable, for the following reasons: 1. IF you consider the situation from a purely financial standpoint, a ferret costs 150 dollars - since Petco vets are contracted and do so much business with us, they can offer lower costs to us than to average customers. Obviously a store isnt going to risk losing 150 dollars (which is probably closer to 300 once the customer buys everything needed for the ferret) by not going to the vet. EVERY SINGLE SICK ANIMAL is tended to and taken to the vet as soon as symptoms arise. Sometimes this requires us to go to the vet 4 or 5 times a week, no matter what the cost, because we care about their welfare. 2. If the author was seriously concerned about the welfare of the animals, there are four or five numbers posted in the break rooms to call. Instead of posting on the internet, the complainer should have been on the phone. 3. I simply dont find it believable that ANYONE, even the most heartless of store managers, would ever watch an animal suffer and die and do nothing. If you were told it wasnt your responsibility, it is probably because you were not certified through Petco provided training to care for the animals, and there are reasons that not just anyone gets to work in the wellness room. If Petco functioned like this, wouldnt it be expected that thousands of news stories played every night reporting it?

I am a former Employee of Petco, Inc. My former position was Team Lead (manager on Duty). FYI: I am not disgruntled :-) I have to say that I understand both sides of this story. On one hand you have inadequate care for animals, that has (probably) resulted in the death of an animal. On the other hand, you have the policies of Petco, which include all of the policies mentioned by others before in this thread (hourly checks, training, bedding removal, cleaning, "wellness" area, etc.) I believe that the largest obstacle for employees is the lack of funding stores get to properly staff themselves. I remember many times when the entire store only had two employees on the clock. It makes it impossible to properly open the store (one person is opening the registers and counting the safe whole the other is opening all the animals). Mind you, that this had to be done in an hour! Then once open, how is an associate supposed to check on the animals hourly? One person is at the register, and one is helping customers in the store. Petco has a wonderful policy in theory, but in practice, they lack the proper staffing to implement it.

"To further state and update you on the previous matter at hand, while keeping it as brief as possible, the ferret (nor other animals) while I remained employed with Petco, was ever taken to the vet (nor any mention of it). The manager was investigated (I wrote and called the District and Regional Managers and filed formal complaints on this matter with both of them) and terminated. This person no longer works for Petco." Maybe I misunderstood, feel free to correct me, but wasn't the complaint about the manager and their stupid decisions the reason this post on ripoff? And this person was fired when corporate Petco found out about them? What's the problem then? I'm seeing an uneducated manager allowing their animal care in the Wellness room to go to crap, and then when they finally get reported (reports on the "Animal Hotline" can be anonymous, by the way), they get investigated and fired. Which is exactly what should have happened. It is unfortunate that they weren't fired earlier, but it certainly seems like Petco did the right thing. Like I said, maybe I misread that. As an aside, I've also worked at both Petsmart and Petco, as have several old friends and colleagues. The stores are almost exactly the same. Their animal care is almost identical, even down to the size of many of the cages and the bedding used (depending on your store, of course). The thing that drove me the craziest about Petsmart, actually, was the use of Banfield to treat instore animals instead of an outside vet... but I dislike Banfield anyway. :P

The truth is you can't judge a tree by a few bad apples. I'm not only an Ex Petsmart Employee but I'm also an Ex Petco employee! I'm a vivid environmentalist, I'm working on a degree in marine Biology, and I give a d**n about those sick $1 mice. I think it's funny that the Petsmart employee is quick on the draw to push her store in the winning circle. That's not such a bad thing...Dedicated employees care. I must give this employee credit there. I saw just as many animals/fish die at Petsmart as did Petco. At both stores if they got sick animals delivered then were taken in back for treatment. At both stores the animals were feed and watered twice a day. If the animals required medication and we were out it got pulled off the shelves. However, At Petsmart we never once took an animal to the vet...we always cared for them until they were sent back to the supplier. I'm sure not all the stores did the same. I was too inexperienced to know what to do at the time...I just did as told and I'm sure if I would have said something it would have been taken care of. I was an animal specialist at Petco. I did not know everything about birds, reptiles, small animals and fish...but then again who knows everything? I still have a lot to learn about fish and I'm a master diver with a associate's degree in marine biology. Truthfully as a new employee I learned from customers who were dedicated enough to teach me. By telling me about there animals and how they cared for them I learned a lot of what I know today. I even learn from the few a**holes that don't have people skills. At Petco we had training videos and I always encourage employees to learn more on there own just as Brianna did. No one is going to know everything...If I didn't know I went out of my way to get the answer and get back to you. Petco opened up down the street about two years later and I got offered a raise and a better job. I was a new manager trying to go to school but I learned a lot on how Petco is supposed to run business. I never set the mark on what they set as a standard for animal care, instead I always tried to exceeded it. I can honestly say that any animal I knew I could take care of I did just that. If I had any doubt it went to the vet whether it was a $1 mouse or a $10,000 bird (Not that we had any that expensive). We had a local vet down the street and I made pretty good friends with him and he thought me a lot at the same time. I always considered the vet trip a training course rather than the store losing money. Hiring anyone that is not a kid is hard when you pay minimum wage. No adult who has a lot of experience with animals wants to work for 6.50 and hour. About 98% of the applications were just crap. Sometime the people who think they know a lot are the ones who know the least. Brianna was 100% in the right. I'm sure if she could go back she would have acted different. A lot of times as a new employee you would rather keep your job and our trying not to piss off your manager. I know from experience! My employees never once worked for me...they like my customers worked with me ensure that the animals came first. Customer comments are a key to improving any business and play a big part in making a business successful. Their are a lot of people that work for these companies that do care about what they do and do not need to be there. Petco sets a mark and it is the managers/employees job to set them. As an ex manager if these present managers are not doing their jobs than they can go work somewhere where animals are not at risk. Most of these cases are just examples of bad management. The animals always come first no matter what! *For current Pet store employees* If your customer is going to buy any animal it is your responsibility to make sure they are capable of caring for it. Always make sure the customer has done the research and knows what they are getting into.

just so everybody knows, yes i work at petsmat, the largest pet corporation, im not writing this out of ignorance. For two months i job shadowed at Petco, by the time i quit i wanted to die. Its BS that that company cares about animal, thats why its "Petco where pets are profit" whenever feeder mice were sick the policy was not to bring it to the vet because "they were not worth enough money" even guinea pigs. i saw soo many dead fish from their crappy filters. by the way, PETsMART uses ultra violet sterilization in all our filters, hence rarely ever a single diseas and if our animals our sick we have an in store vet to take care of it, every animal is worth it but not at petco. i then dicided to leave petco and here i am now with a wonderfull job at petsmart, sure we get sick animals sometimes, just like hospitals and humans, but we use all our expenses to care for them.

I think both of u r rude and should learn some manners because neither of you 2 experienced what happened to brianna and you should not critisize unless you know what happened. there are some good petcos and some bad petcos. and (not to be rude) brianna u should have bought the animal and took it to the vet yourself.

O.k. Maybe there are some PETCO's out there that don't have best staff, but how can you say that from your one bad experience at the one store you dealt with that every PETCO is bad? My store is an excellant store with one of the highest ratings in animal care, customer service and pretty much everything. We have a great staff who goes the extra mile for the animals. The animals always come first here. And as far as the chameleon most of the time when we recieve our animals from the vendors they are baby's that cannot be sexed until they are more mature. I know that my store has recieved chameleons and they have been mostly females, but we let the customer know that before they buy them. Most of them have males and are looking for females to reproduce. I want to apologize to you for your horrible experience at whatever PETCO you were at. Your experience and your animals experience would have never been like that at the Walker PETCO. I wish that we could clone my associates so they could work at every PETCO. Please don't judge every PETCO because of your bad experience at one store. I don't know how far you are from Grand Rapids, but you should check out our store and maybe you would reconsider.

In several different states, people are purchasing sick animals from Petco stores, taking them directly to a vet, documenting everything and then reporting the store to their local law enforcement agencies. Not all agencies are willing to help, but at least it is a start. My family boycotts Petco because of their lack of concern for the animals. And, for the record, Petco is not the only store selling animals that show such a lack of concern for living creatures.

Petco doesnt care that much for their animals, they employ kids that don't care about the animals welfare, don't know a thing about them, and get paid next to nothing. And for the so called animals they do carry: I bought a chameleon from there, and basically nursed it back to health. I specifically asked if the chameleon was male, and of course they said yes, and also said they do not carry females because of their ability to get egg-bound. Well on closer examination, and after reading up on it, I had a FEMALE chameleon. By then, there was no way I was even considering taking her back to that place anyway. Oh and I can show pictures, and a reciept! And to the person who started this post: thank you for caring, and thank you for wanting to be knowledgable in your job. And I'm sorry that you had to work with a bunch of morons that didn't care.

First of all, to the last two people who wrote rebuttals: You both assume things and don't even have all the facts. I wrote an update to this report but for some reason it was moved or removed. I have other rebuttals on other complaints, one where all of the rebuttals were removed and a "Rip off Report" final comment posted on the heated argument that had ensued via the rebuttals (I had no involvement). To further state and update you on the previous matter at hand, while keeping it as brief as possible, the ferret (nor other animals) while I remained employed with Petco, was ever taken to the vet (nor any mention of it). The manager was investigated (I wrote and called the District and Regional Managers and filed formal complaints on this matter with both of them) and terminated. This person no longer works for Petco. I remained employed with Petco for a few months after the complaint was filed, I had not been informed by the manager that the investigation was being performed until it had been resolved. The store manager did not act appropriately, and left an untrained person to care for an animal they had never had to deal with before. I was the caregiver of small animals and the District manager and Regional manager both recognized this both verbally (one over the phone, the other in person) and formally (two letters addressing the investigation, outcome, apologies, etc.) I was never fired from Petco. I put in my resignation (two weeks) because I was offered a higher paying position with a different company. I was also attending and finishing up my college degree and needed to devote more time to my homework and classes. I'm sorry to have made you so angry but I was very honest in the events that had occurred. I do apologize for not checking up on this report to make sure that my update was well-read so that you could have the necessary facts. Again, this is just a summary of what followed after I posted this report. Please, assuming can be very insulting.

First of all, to the last two people who wrote rebuttals: You both assume things and don't even have all the facts. I wrote an update to this report but for some reason it was moved or removed. I have other rebuttals on other complaints, one where all of the rebuttals were removed and a "Rip off Report" final comment posted on the heated argument that had ensued via the rebuttals (I had no involvement). To further state and update you on the previous matter at hand, while keeping it as brief as possible, the ferret (nor other animals) while I remained employed with Petco, was ever taken to the vet (nor any mention of it). The manager was investigated (I wrote and called the District and Regional Managers and filed formal complaints on this matter with both of them) and terminated. This person no longer works for Petco. I remained employed with Petco for a few months after the complaint was filed, I had not been informed by the manager that the investigation was being performed until it had been resolved. The store manager did not act appropriately, and left an untrained person to care for an animal they had never had to deal with before. I was the caregiver of small animals and the District manager and Regional manager both recognized this both verbally (one over the phone, the other in person) and formally (two letters addressing the investigation, outcome, apologies, etc.) I was never fired from Petco. I put in my resignation (two weeks) because I was offered a higher paying position with a different company. I was also attending and finishing up my college degree and needed to devote more time to my homework and classes. I'm sorry to have made you so angry but I was very honest in the events that had occurred. I do apologize for not checking up on this report to make sure that my update was well-read so that you could have the necessary facts. Again, this is just a summary of what followed after I posted this report. Please, assuming can be very insulting.

First of all, to the last two people who wrote rebuttals: You both assume things and don't even have all the facts. I wrote an update to this report but for some reason it was moved or removed. I have other rebuttals on other complaints, one where all of the rebuttals were removed and a "Rip off Report" final comment posted on the heated argument that had ensued via the rebuttals (I had no involvement). To further state and update you on the previous matter at hand, while keeping it as brief as possible, the ferret (nor other animals) while I remained employed with Petco, was ever taken to the vet (nor any mention of it). The manager was investigated (I wrote and called the District and Regional Managers and filed formal complaints on this matter with both of them) and terminated. This person no longer works for Petco. I remained employed with Petco for a few months after the complaint was filed, I had not been informed by the manager that the investigation was being performed until it had been resolved. The store manager did not act appropriately, and left an untrained person to care for an animal they had never had to deal with before. I was the caregiver of small animals and the District manager and Regional manager both recognized this both verbally (one over the phone, the other in person) and formally (two letters addressing the investigation, outcome, apologies, etc.) I was never fired from Petco. I put in my resignation (two weeks) because I was offered a higher paying position with a different company. I was also attending and finishing up my college degree and needed to devote more time to my homework and classes. I'm sorry to have made you so angry but I was very honest in the events that had occurred. I do apologize for not checking up on this report to make sure that my update was well-read so that you could have the necessary facts. Again, this is just a summary of what followed after I posted this report. Please, assuming can be very insulting.

I am also appalled at what the supposed ex PETCO associate has to write. I have been employed with PETCO for a year and a half and animals always come first here. I have taken several $.99 cent mice to the vet. It doesn't matter how much the animal costs or how costly the vet bill is all it matters is that the animal is healthy and happy. Every associate at my store goes above and beyond excellent animal care. Our animals cages are cleaned out twice a week every week. They have fresh food and water twice a day as well. They get fresh fruits and veggies(for the ones that can have them) At the Walker PETCO we have serious animal lovers who put the animals before anything. Our local vets office is Woodland Veterinary Clinic. The whole vets office closed there office for three hours one morning to come visit our store and see what sets us apart from all the other pet stores in Grand Rapids. The commented us on our excellant animal care and hour love for the animals. We in turn had associates from another store work at our store while our associates visited the vets office to ask questions and get familiar with the proceedures and things they do. The are one of the higer end vets offices in Grand Rapids who specialize in Small animals, Reptiles, Birds, and others. Every customer is told about our 15 day guarantee on our animals and that if they notice ANYTHING different about the animal to bring the animal back to our store and we will take immediate vet care if necessary. If a customer comes in on Sunday and has an animal that needs vet attention then we take the animal to the emergency vets office. That is not cheap. PETCO doesn't care about the cost of vet bills they care about the animal and money isn't a issue. We have had geckos that have had to have surgery that have been over $600 dollars. The animals are not to be sold after they have been injured unless it is a customers animal. We find good homes for the animals and people adopt them out. PETCO is not all about the money they are all about the animals.

I have worked for Petco in NJ for 2 years now and I am appalled at this obviously disgruntled ex-employee's story. I have witnesses Petco send many small animals to the Vet. for the smallest, most insignificant "health issues" costing Petco a small fortune for each animal. I am an advocate for adoption and strongly disagree with the sales of any animal being as there are so many in the world up for adoption however, because of the tremendously wonderful care of the animals sold at Petco, I do not have any problems with the store. I worked at one store for 1 1/2 years, then recently transferred to another and I can honestly say that both of these, as well as other Petco stores in NJ that I have visited have been the cleanest and most professional "Pet stores" that I have ever seen. The 1st priority of any employee in Petco is to care for all of the animals that are there and also to help customers that have purchased animals from that store to ensure the well being of those animals before, during and after the animals go to their new home. The above mentioned "ex-employee," had they cared so much, should have called PETA or the Petco Hotline for assistance and maybe that little ferret would be alive today.So, that person has only themselves to blame for allowing that incident to occur, if indeed it even happened at all. As an animal lover myself, I would not wait until after I was FIRED from a store to complain about the so-called care of the animals within that store and if I were to ever witness any mistreatment or "abuse" I would definately take matters into my own hands immediately, no matter what !!! I walk around the Petco where I work, everyday and all of our animals are clean, well-fed and have plenty of fresh water. Any and all employees are required to ensure that they are in the best of health at all times and anyone who does'nt is relieved of their duties. The ex-employee that wrote that STORY is a pathetic coward because if indeed the "manager" of that store did act in the manner he/she described, they should have been reported. There are plenty of higher-ups around, walking in and out each and every day overseeing the store that there is absolutely no excuse for "BRIANNA" to have allowed the alleged ferret to supposedly die and for that "manager" to have gone on with no reprecutions for his/her actions or lack of.

Check out PETA.com They've had qualms with Petco for a long time. Maybe,your experience could be filed & be of use to stop this cruelty.