(this is an email that my BF and I composed in complaint to the treatment of animals and mis-direction given to customers by a chain pet store in my area, we'll let you know if they respond and post the reply if we recieve one.)
Hello there,
Before I begin I need to let you know that his email is not directed at the person reading it, or anyone specific in the company besides the person who is in charge of running the store in Saint John, New Brunswick. I do not know how often these stores are visited by regional managers or if they are giving notice, but either way I feel something needs to be done about this sad excuse for a pet store. I think the easiest way to do this is for me to simply make a numerical list of my complaints about this store:
1. I do not think I have ever gone into this store and not found at least 10 dead fish located in the various aquariums, I know with so many fish it would be hard to be on top of this, but honestly, a walk around once every two hours would surely be enough to keep the dead fish levels from getting this high.
2. On several occasions I have purchased fish from this location and gotten them home only to have sicknesses take over my tank that I have had to come out of pocket to remedy.
3. The way they house the betta's they have for sale is appalling. While it is true that bettas do not require a full tank setup, keeping them in tiny plastic cups they can barely turn around is is just disgusting. As an amateur hobbyist even I know that a betta requires a minimum of 5 gallons, a water temperature of close to 80 degrees, and a filtration system of some kind to keep them happy and healthy. As one of the larger pet stores in operation I am sure someone at the company knows this and knows that these fish are being horribly abused, and this goes to show that your company cares much more about making a quick buck than caring for or selling healthy fish. The smaller stores in the city are able to properly house their bettas until sold, so there is absolutely NO reason a store of this size should not be able to properly house these fish.
4. They have one tank set up that is supposed to be a brackish tank though it has a cichlid, clown loaches, and red eye puffers located in it. None of which are brackish fish. Secondly, the real brackish fish that are kept in the tank are not suitable to be kept together in the same salinity level. This is plain and simple animal abuse.
5. My girlfriend unknowingly purchased two of these red eye puffers, and checked with and had confirmed by the employee on duty that they were brackish fish, to put into our brackish tank. We brought them home and after doing some research on them found out that they are absolutely not brackish fish but instead freshwater fish, so we again had to come out of our own pockets to buy a new tank to keep these fish in to correct your companies slack mistakes. Unfortunately it was too late as one of the puffers ended up dying.
6. After moving these puffers into a proper tank we again went down to get some actual brackish puffers, we seen there were some green spotted puffers at the location and purchased two of them. We got them home and properly acclimated to our brackish tank and a few days later noticed one of them had gill flukes. So once again, we had to come out of our pockets to medicate a sick fish this store sold us. Treatment seems to be going well but only time will tell as this is contagious sickness and will likely infect our whole tank.
We have talked these issues over and agreed that yes, this location usually has a better selection than our locally owned fish stores, and usually much better prices, however due to the costs of correcting all the mistakes and issues caused by this store we have decided it makes no sense to continue shopping there as it is costing us much more money in the long run. Not to mention we no longer feel morally right supporting a store that shows so little care for the pets that they sell and make their living from. This store is plain and simple taking advantage of and abusing the animals they sell and also misinforming the customers on how to properly house and care for the fish that they sell.
Until things turn around not only at my local **** ********* as well as the other locations which I am sure operate the same way, I will never be returning nor spending another dollar to support animal cruelty. Also, it is probably high hoping, but I think it would be nice and also very responsible if the company would send us a check to reimburse us for the aquarium we were forced to purchase to correct your mistake, as well as the medications we have had to purchase to treat the infected fish you sell. In total we estimate this stores slackness has cost us close to $80 over and above the price of the fish.
Thank you, and I look eagerly forward to hearing a response.
Hello there,
Before I begin I need to let you know that his email is not directed at the person reading it, or anyone specific in the company besides the person who is in charge of running the store in Saint John, New Brunswick. I do not know how often these stores are visited by regional managers or if they are giving notice, but either way I feel something needs to be done about this sad excuse for a pet store. I think the easiest way to do this is for me to simply make a numerical list of my complaints about this store:
1. I do not think I have ever gone into this store and not found at least 10 dead fish located in the various aquariums, I know with so many fish it would be hard to be on top of this, but honestly, a walk around once every two hours would surely be enough to keep the dead fish levels from getting this high.
2. On several occasions I have purchased fish from this location and gotten them home only to have sicknesses take over my tank that I have had to come out of pocket to remedy.
3. The way they house the betta's they have for sale is appalling. While it is true that bettas do not require a full tank setup, keeping them in tiny plastic cups they can barely turn around is is just disgusting. As an amateur hobbyist even I know that a betta requires a minimum of 5 gallons, a water temperature of close to 80 degrees, and a filtration system of some kind to keep them happy and healthy. As one of the larger pet stores in operation I am sure someone at the company knows this and knows that these fish are being horribly abused, and this goes to show that your company cares much more about making a quick buck than caring for or selling healthy fish. The smaller stores in the city are able to properly house their bettas until sold, so there is absolutely NO reason a store of this size should not be able to properly house these fish.
4. They have one tank set up that is supposed to be a brackish tank though it has a cichlid, clown loaches, and red eye puffers located in it. None of which are brackish fish. Secondly, the real brackish fish that are kept in the tank are not suitable to be kept together in the same salinity level. This is plain and simple animal abuse.
5. My girlfriend unknowingly purchased two of these red eye puffers, and checked with and had confirmed by the employee on duty that they were brackish fish, to put into our brackish tank. We brought them home and after doing some research on them found out that they are absolutely not brackish fish but instead freshwater fish, so we again had to come out of our own pockets to buy a new tank to keep these fish in to correct your companies slack mistakes. Unfortunately it was too late as one of the puffers ended up dying.
6. After moving these puffers into a proper tank we again went down to get some actual brackish puffers, we seen there were some green spotted puffers at the location and purchased two of them. We got them home and properly acclimated to our brackish tank and a few days later noticed one of them had gill flukes. So once again, we had to come out of our pockets to medicate a sick fish this store sold us. Treatment seems to be going well but only time will tell as this is contagious sickness and will likely infect our whole tank.
We have talked these issues over and agreed that yes, this location usually has a better selection than our locally owned fish stores, and usually much better prices, however due to the costs of correcting all the mistakes and issues caused by this store we have decided it makes no sense to continue shopping there as it is costing us much more money in the long run. Not to mention we no longer feel morally right supporting a store that shows so little care for the pets that they sell and make their living from. This store is plain and simple taking advantage of and abusing the animals they sell and also misinforming the customers on how to properly house and care for the fish that they sell.
Until things turn around not only at my local **** ********* as well as the other locations which I am sure operate the same way, I will never be returning nor spending another dollar to support animal cruelty. Also, it is probably high hoping, but I think it would be nice and also very responsible if the company would send us a check to reimburse us for the aquarium we were forced to purchase to correct your mistake, as well as the medications we have had to purchase to treat the infected fish you sell. In total we estimate this stores slackness has cost us close to $80 over and above the price of the fish.
Thank you, and I look eagerly forward to hearing a response.
