It must be Pets-mart and not Pet-smart...

[Luke Jaywalker]

...because I wasted a half-hour in one trying to get some rare (around here) harlequin rasboras. First off, they only had one person working in the fish section and she freely admitted that she knew nothing about fish when I asked why teensy rasboras were being sold for $2.49 and labelled as extra large.

Her response was that since they CAN get up to 2", they're sold at a higher price since they can "become extra large." :duh:

I pointed out that they had small, medium, and extra large bala sharks being sold at different prices and asked why the rasboras weren't being sold at a price that reflected their size. Her response was that the bala sharks must be different species.

It was at that point that I went off looking for a manager or someone who actually knew something about the fish. I found a guy and he also wondered why the rasboras were being sold as extra large even though they weren't and went to go ask his manager if there was a lower price. The manager said they had to sell them at the price on the tanks and I left the store having lost 30 minutes of my life and fishless.

My local Walmart carries some fish and actually keeps them in good condition and the only LFS I know of specializes in cichlids and other half-dead fish in filthy tanks.

[Jericho]

That is great customer service :( I wish some people would just say they do not know instead of trying to justify the price. She already said she did not know about fish but tries to tell you that the same fish in diferent sizes must be different species...

[nursie]

Ah yes...this is the same place with the label on the pacu tank that says perfect for desktop aquariums :D

[FisheyLisa]

wow.
too bad there isn't a national headquarters who cares to complain to...ppl wonder why there is so much rage in the world. There is way too much ignorance and no way to for people who realize it to make a difference!! How frustrating.

[FreddytheFish]

Actually, $2.49 isn't a bad price for harlequins. I payed 3 bucks a fish for mine.

[aquariumhobyist]

of course it was a she.

[fishy man]

yea...it's always a women..

[wataugachicken]

i don't understand what the problem is. . . .my money is on the possibility that they were some strain of harlequins that gets larger than the usual type, which is why they are labelled as extra large. maybe they're defined as extra large as compated to other kinds of fish. maybe it's just a simple mistake. anyway, you don't pay for fish based on eventual size, you pay for them based on availability and supply/demand, as well as the money put into those fish. 2.50 is not bad at all for those rasboras.
the sharks are all different prices because the larger they are, the more money the breeder has to spend on growing them out, so the cost for the store is higher, therefore your cost is higher. time + effort = money. if you want to take the time and effort to grow them out yourself, buy the small ones. same with plecos - small ones at 2-3 inches are much cheaper than large 8+ inch ones.
do you expect a food sevice employee to know the cost of everything in a sandwich and be able to price it for you item by item to come up with the total actual cost of the sandwich? of course not. employees should be able to tell you about the fish - how to care for them, what to feed them, general stuff. they aren't in charge of pricing in any way, shape or form. do you think they go home at night with a stock list and print out those tank info tags on their computers? prices are set by overhead management, not in-store people, but headquarters.

if you feel the need to 'test' these people, ask them things that they are supposed to know about, like cycling, feeding, and algae or ich trouble. don't ask about something that they have absolutely no control over.

[Luke Jaywalker]

if you feel the need to 'test' these people, ask them things that they are supposed to know about, like cycling, feeding, and algae or ich trouble. don't ask about something that they have absolutely no control over.

1 - She practically started our conversation by admitting she knew nothing about fish.

2 - She thought that a species of fish that shows little variation through maturity was three different species because of the size.

Your food service analogy is poor because I'd expect a food service employee to realize that something's amiss if he or she is charging me for supersized fries and then giving me a small order. That's more comparable to my situation.

Ultimately, I checked my local Walmart (again, I'd normally never even think of buying fish from Walmart, but this one actually has their tanks and stock in good condition) and found rasboras for $1.66 each. Only 30 cents more than what I paid for my first few at the great store where I used to live.

[aquariumhobyist]

yea...it's always a women..
lol

[nursie]

yea...it's always a women..

I would not go there if I was you, boys!!! :devil:
I've seen plenty of inept male clerks at pet shops too.

[nomadofthehills]

...because I wasted a half-hour in one trying to get some rare (around here) harlequin rasboras. First off, they only had one person working in the fish section and she freely admitted that she knew nothing about fish when I asked why teensy rasboras were being sold for $2.49 and labelled as extra large.

Because we (Petsmart) order XL rasboras, and we get what we get.

Her response was that since they CAN get up to 2", they're sold at a higher price since they can "become extra large." :duh:

She said she doesn't know anything about fish, and was probably covering for the fish person. Why ask her when it clearly wasn't her department?

I pointed out that they had small, medium, and extra large bala sharks being sold at different prices and asked why the rasboras weren't being sold at a price that reflected their size. Her response was that the bala sharks must be different species.

She said she doesn't know anything about fish, and was probably covering for the fish person. Why ask her when it clearly wasn't her department?


It was at that point that I went off looking for a manager or someone who actually knew something about the fish. I found a guy and he also wondered why the rasboras were being sold as extra large even though they weren't and went to go ask his manager if there was a lower price. The manager said they had to sell them at the price on the tanks and I left the store having lost 30 minutes of my life and fishless.

This isn't a mom and pop store, a manager can't lower corporate prices. They grow quickly, mine were bought as .5" babies, and were full grown in under 6 months.



Please think before you bash a petstore...

[moby goby]

Luke:
Let me see if I've got this straight. You went into Petsmart (generally not a smart move), saw a fish you say is rare in your area, refused to pay a reasonable price for this "rare" fish, argued about fish with a clerk who readily admitted she knew little about fish, and wasted 30 minutes in the store before leaving with no fish...and you want us to think that they're not smart?! And if that's not bad enough, you then tell us you found this "rare" fish iin Walmart! Do you think it's smart to tell us how easily available this "rare" fish is in your area. But, hey, I'm glad you found some at a price you're willing to pay!

[nomadofthehills]

wow.
too bad there isn't a national headquarters who cares to complain to...ppl wonder why there is so much rage in the world. There is way too much ignorance and no way to for people who realize it to make a difference!! How frustrating.


There IS a national headquarters that you can complain too, but there was nothing to complain about imo...

[Luke Jaywalker]

Please think before you bash a petstore...

1 - You may order extra large rasboras, but that is not what you get, so don't try and pass the buck onto the consumer. Actually get rasboras that are extra large or charge people for what they're getting.

2 - Why ask her? Oh, I don't know, maybe because I thought she'd have some sort of common sense. First off, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the fish were being priced based on size and they were nowhere near "extra large" according to the maximum size label on the tank. Second, I didn't expect her to know everything about the prices, but she could have directed me to a manager or asked for assistance. That's just common sense if you're working in retail.

3 - Regarding the prices, you're saying that there are absolutely no prices for anything under extra large rasboras when you're clearly not receiving extra large rasboras to sell? I wasn't expecting the manager to cut me a deal, I was expecting him/her to be able to look up their prices for small or medium rasboras and charge me that. It's not that I didn't think before bashing the store, it's that I assumed you could buy small or medium rasboras there instead of buying "extra large" ones at a whopping 3cm. Now, go sic mobygoby for insulting your store...

mobygoby

1 - The fish is rare in my area because I now live in the middle of nowhere and the one petstore in the area specializes in cichlids in nasty tanks and Walmart has never had them in stock (when I've checked) until this week. They have been rare in the past two months that I've been living here.

2 - I "argued" with her to point out that what she was talking about made no sense and tried to get her to get me a manager or someone who would know something about the pricing.

3 - It took me 30 minutes because it took so long to find someone in the store who knew something about the fish and then hear back from the manager.

4 - I don't appreciate your insinuations that I'm not smart and they come across to me as both trolling for my reaction and subtle flaming. If you want to think I'm dumb for posting a little rant though, be my guest chief.

[Candycat21]

Okay first off, I work at a Petsmart, so let me enlighten you.
When ordering fish we go through and scan all the top 70 sellers and order the anmount we need, then we go back and scan the rest of the lables and order those.
We are not able to order SM, MD, LG Rasboras
. They have a set price and that is what we HAVE to sell them as. Even if the "XL Rasboras" come in and look like they should be MD that's too bad. That is what the breeder has sent to us so we have to sell them as that. They are in our system as "XL Rasboras" so there is no way on earth that we can suddenly sell them to you as a MD just because they don't fit your size requirements because we don't have any in our system under "MD Rasboras". The labels saying "sm, md, lg, xl" have nothing to do with the maximum size that the fish gets. It's all based on what the breeders have available. We can't all of a sudden make up a fish and plug it into our system just to please you.
Another thing...when it comes to animals, fish, reptiles, crickets, feeders....any live animal for that matter, their prices are as is. We have no power whatsoever to change that and if we do there would be serious consequences!!!
Changing prices and giving discounts on merchandise is allowed but live animals have a set price that is given to us based on the aggreements between corporate and the breeders we deal with.
If you don't see a label for the fish you're looking for other than the XL then that's all we have....for one they wouldn't be in the same tank.
Don't assume that because a store has a fish in one size that they'll have it in bigger or smaller sizes as well. Read the labels and that will tell you.
Another thing, when we order fish we don't have the ability to preview them before we order them...it's ignorance on your part by thinking that we can somehow see the fish first and saying
1 - You may order extra large rasboras, but that is not what you get, so don't try and pass the buck onto the consumer. Actually get rasboras that are extra large or charge people for what they're getting.

[Luke Jaywalker]

Another thing, when we order fish we don't have the ability to preview them before we order them...it's ignorance on your part by thinking that we can somehow see the fish first and saying

It's ignorance for me to think that you can see the fish after you've received them, realize the breeder's screwing you on the price, and improve quality control? Going back to the food service analogy...McDonald's isn't going to charge a customer the price of quarter pounder for a regular cheeseburger because their distributors sent them those instead of bigger patties, they'll tell the customer they don't have any and sell him or her a regular cheeseburger and then make the distributor pay for the mistake.

I was ignorant of Petsmart in regards to selling smaller than extra large rasboras, I'll admit that, but I don't see it as a good policy either for the customer or the store to accept stock that is supposed to be much larger than it is from breeders.

EDIT - I do wonder if you've read the thread, because I've addressed the issue about them changing the prices already. Short version - I wasn't expecting anyone to cut me a deal, but I was expecting someone who was actually competent (something the girl I was talking to was not) to look up the price for rasboras smaller than extra large.

[redwing191]

Since you met I employee who doesn't know a whole lot about fish you immediately start bashing the whole company? I also work at a Petsmart and you have to realize that the Specialty department isnt just fish, it includes reptiles, birds, and small animals as well. When I first started working there I just new fish but eventually learned alot about the other parts. The one person working probably wasnt hired for her fish intelligence. And the reason only one person was working was probably because the other was on their break. During the week at my store only 2 people work at the same time in the department. With the rasboras like someone said earlier, we get in what we get in. We cant send stuff back because we dont like it. If you had difficulty with customer service than thats specific to that store, not a corporate problem. You can call someone in corporate to help with that issue if its a constant problem, otherwise cut people some slack.

[Luke Jaywalker]

Since you met I employee who doesn't know a whole lot about fish you immediately start bashing the whole company?

God, you employees are really crawling out of the woodwork about this, aren't you? I find it really amusing since I recall reading many posts bashing Petsmart, Petco, Walmart, and anything that's not a LFS without this kind of reaction.

It was a funny little thread title, get over it, remove sticks from anuses and continue using the forums.

I wonder if there'd be all these Petsmart employee/defenders if I were ranting about how every tank except the one with just plants had one or more dead or dying fish...I saw that at that Petsmart the other night too, and out of the 3 Petsmarts I've been to in the NC/VA area in the past month, there were very few of what I'd call "healthy" tanks.

I'm also kind of curious if you guys have been pming each other or work at the same store to coordinate this concentration of upset Petsmart employees in this thread. 25% of the people participating in this thread are Petsmart employees and I'm willing to bet they're either having knee-jerk reactions to the first post (and especially thread title) and haven't read the remarks made against Petsmart by other posters, or are choosing to not comment on them because they're made by more...established members of the forums. In other words, is this because I have a low post count/am usually a lurker/etc?

[mattskims]

All the backlash has nothing to do with your low post count, and everything to do with that youre an idiot.

Other posts that spoke of Petsmart or other LFS dealt with an employee trying to act like they knew more than they actually did. Most iof those posts I have read included someone saying something to the effect of "I wish when people didn't know something, they would just admit it." Well in this case, the employee did. But of course that wasn't good enough for you. You felt the need to continue to pressure this girl knowing you knew more than she did and probaly sent her into panic mode and she was probaly just trying her best to get out of the situation because she knew she was in over her head. To me, it sounded like nothing more than you being a bully and being a the typical customer I see everyday in my retail job that thakes the phrase, "the customer is always right" over the line.

These Petsmart employees (I am not one BTW) are simply providing you with what you seemed to be looking for all along, an explanation of the pricing. Now you have it. If you don't like it, take your business elsewhere, thats the beauty of competition in the marketplace.

Oh yah, I forgot one of the most comon fish in the freshwater hobby are rare in your area. Well you obviously get online plenty to visit this forum, so while you are online next time visit an online fish vendor. I'm sure you can find as many of the rare harlequin rasboras as you want.

[Dangerdoll]

this thread is doomed to a sour twist with all this name calling. Luke, regardless of who you spoke to, you knew off hand this girl was not an informed fishkeeper as Matt points out, yet you persisted... to where maybe if she did want to learn some, depending on the girl..... maybe she doesn't anymore, most are teenagers and can be intimidated easily..... at best she at least wouldn't want to work the tanks anymore.... why learn now? Perhaps, you could have responded to her claim that she knew little if anything about fishkeeping by requesting a manager or someone more knowledgable yourself. Yes, Petsmarts in many areas may not be the best but there are some that do rather well. Sure, some may have their own opinion of the employees, but to outright group them into one and call them less than smart is not really fair. To call everyone in the store or who may be employed by the store an idiot is in sour taste but it is in just as much taste to throw the names back at Luke though. What's the problem with proving your point without the name-calling?

And in responde to the low-post respect issue, I find it unfounded. You get respect when you give it.

[mattskims]

Cooler heads will always prevail won't they. I just found myself becoming very frustrated with the post the more and more I read, therefore I wrote with a bit too much passion.

For the name-calling alone, I apologize Luke, it was indeed, as dangerdoll pointed out, in very poor taste.

[sumthin fishy]

To call everyone in the store or who may be employed by the store an idiot is in sour taste but it is in just as much taste to throw the names back at Luke though. What's the problem with proving your point without the name-calling?


If the petsmart emplayees will bear this /\ in mind, Can I ask an honnest question? It was said that the manager can't change the prices. I would think a manager would have the authority to find a mistake and deal with it. If you had a 1" bala in with the 5" balas, all marked at "large $4.99". Would the manager really not have any authority to recognize the error and fix it? I thought that was what managment was for. It seems this question was blown out of perportion by both sides of the discussion, but now I am really curious***ducks from being hit by flying petsmart aprons***
:shark:

[Luke Jaywalker]

If the petsmart emplayees will bear this /\ in mind, Can I ask an honnest question? It was said that the manager can't change the prices. I would think a manager would have the authority to find a mistake and deal with it. If you had a 1" bala in with the 5" balas, all marked at "large $4.99". Would the manager really not have any authority to recognize the error and fix it? I thought that was what managment was for. It seems this question was blown out of perportion by both sides of the discussion, but now I am really curious***ducks from being hit by flying petsmart aprons***
:shark:

That's pretty much what I was saying, and instead of getting rational responses, I'm ganged up on by rabid employees. According to the Petsmart employees in this thread, the manager doesn't have that authority because "they get what they get," and if what they get isn't what they ordered, then they'll just sell that to the customer anyway and pass the buck. I wouldn't play the *ducks* card either, because nobody should have to feel that way for their questions or opinions, even on the internet.

Dangerdoll - I show respect, but I don't return it to a group of thin-skinned people chewing me out because I didn't read their employee manuals or because they didn't bother to even read my responses. The thread title was the only place where it could even be construed as me calling all Petsmart employees "less than smart," and I have a pretty solid defense for that...

1 - It's a play on words that I thought was funny and expressed my frustration with the chain over what I saw (and still see) as a dumb policy as well as my aggravation at being unable to reason with someone. They shouldn't have such thin skins.

2 - Calling the company out on something stupid is not the same as calling all the employees stupid. Do I get bent out of shape if somebody says the public education system has problems? No, because I'm aware that there are problems and as long as nobody's bashing the teachers outright, I'm not offended. The case is the same here, I wasn't bashing all Petsmart employees, in fact, I pointed out that there was one there who tried to help me.

Regarding the girl, she was closer to my age (20s) and I wasn't hassling her or doing anything aggressive until I just got sick of trying to get a manager through beating around the bush with her and looked for one myself. All I was doing with her was trying to explain to her that something seemed wrong with the label on the tank because the fish were not the size indicated on the label.

EDIT - mattskims - My response to Dangerdoll (my interaction with the girl part) pretty much shows that when "u" assume, you make an "***" out of "u" and "me." I didn't bully the girl, and I certainly didn't call her names or get a nasty attitude with her.

[OrionGirl]

Isn't this pleasant?

Asked and answered, as they say in court. Move along.