Petco Petco humilated my friend! Watertown New York

Since you area Petco employee. I would like to suggest that the book ___________ for Dummies be sold with every new pet, unless the purchaser already is an experienced owner of such pet. I am a ferret owner and have been appalled by people buying ferrets and feeding them cheap cat or dog food. I have a ferret owner friend who rescues ferrets andshe recently rescued one that had been fed only hamster food. It's a wonder the ferret lived.  But I am very pleasedwith Petco, products, services and employees.

Got ye point,she always has vacant cages and they vary in size,she is always called upon to foster birds when they are babies but mostly they are Grey Parrots or McCaws and the parakeets that she returned she already had the cage set up and ready for her new birds,I saw the birds she had purchased and they were sickly when she bought them but did not know at the time of purchase,this Petco is known for selling sick animals,I had purchased 2 rats from there and both died within  a couple of days,every time I went in there in the fish section there were many dead fish but i will no longer buy from them,I had even applied there 4 times but not for the $,I had wanted to take photos of the dead animals and then I planned on exposing them just like I have Petsmart with their puppy mill puppies,hope this answered ye question.

I'm not trying to upset you. This is all I'm trying to say... I work in a Petco in South Florida, not in your area and so it's possible we may do things a little different down here.

 If a person is a "responsible pet owner" then they would be giving an animal what it needs.  If a person cannot afford a bird cage but can a hamster cage, don't buy a bird.

 Does that make any sense? So many times I see customers wanting to buy a new pet but wont want to spend the money on things needed to take care of it. That is when I refuse selling an animal. I want to make sure it's going to be well taken care of in it's new environment. But when I do tell them I'm unable to sell them the animal they want, I don't yell it at them or get on the loud speaker and announce to the store "These people want to buy a bird and I wont sell them one. hahahaha!" I show them what they need to get and when they can (financially) to come and see me.

 As far as you guys rescuing animals off the streets and feeding strays, I commend you! I wish everyone was able to do that. But that isn't the topic here, buying new animals is.

 I also understand that your friend brought back the first bird just to exchange for another. There's nothing wrong with that. This is why Petco gives a customer 15 days to bring an animal back. Then I believe you said that she went back again just to buy another bird, so the she'd only have 2. Correct? This is where I questioned what size cage she had.

 I had this exact situation happen with a customer a few months ago. The only difference was.. This woman brought her first bird into the store when she was buying her second. No problem there. But, she had the Parakeet living in a hamster cage and wanted to put another one with it.

 Do you see what I'm trying to say?

So she has bought several birds and they all were sick?  So why did she keep going back?  That doesn't make sense.  I bought a ferret from a place once and he had a prolapsed rectum.  I took him back and the guy got mad, but I never shopped there again. 

So it doesn't make sense to me that if she kept buying birds there and they were sick she would keep going back.  Plus don't you have vets there to check out your birds?  She should have done that as well instead of just returning the poor bird.  Imagine the stress the bird suffers being transported to a new place for a few days then transported back to it's original place.  No wonder they stopped the sale, and I applaud them for doing so.  May I suggest you tell your friend either grow up and make up your mind or don't bother with pets. 

First off,how dare some of ye say she may have a problem,she has like myself been a rescuer and foster for animals,she like myself also volunteers every day at her local shelter,the birds she had purchased there were sick,she would have them a couple days and take them back because she did not want them to die on her,she has had yrs of experience with birds,she has 2 McCaws and a Grey parrot,she is a good handler of birds and also we both are strong animal advocates and activists,animals are our lives,they are wot we fight for,Jefferson Co. is the worse county for animal neglect,every winter her and I go out and we feed the strays and in fact are trying to get a TNR program in this town,so don't sit behind ye monitors and slag someone ye do not even know,tis one thing I hate about the internet,people insult others without provocation without even knowing the person,tis all I got to say!

Why would ye do that especially if these people are responsible pet owners?

And why embarrass the customer,like I said in my earlier post I would not take being rude to,she had every right to bring back the bird and to turn customers away just because is wrong,why not tell me wot ye look like and ye name so as I can talk to ye in person,or does that not appeal to ye?

 I just wanted to share the point of view from a current employee of Petco.

  First, let me just say, I don't know the exact words that were said to your friend and I'm sorry that she was embarrassed. I hope those weren't the employee's intentions.

 When we are hired, we go through strict training on all the animals we sell. Since a bird is the topic here, I will elaborate on that. Ok, before a bird is taken out for a customer to buy, two important questions are asked:

- what other pets do you have at home?

- what size cage do you already have? (if this isn't their first bird) 

  Most of the time they'll be buying a cage that same day. Unless, in your friends case, she already owned one. Now, when people buy their first bird, they'll get the size that can only house that one bird, right? If a customer wants more than one bird, they will need a larger cage. No exceptions. This is about the time when people get mad at me.

 If they aren't willing to buy the proper supplies needed to take care of any animal, we wont sell it. Petco doesn't care about "losing the sale". Trust me. Petco would rather have customers go out and adopt an animal before buying it from them.    

They don't pay their employs i have been their for 2 years and their was 2 times they did not pay me for going to work

I don't know how she was humiliated o.O

In response to the rude loudmouth speculating about the woman's sanity, you really should keep silent if you don't know what you are talking about. Its a living thing, not a freaking bag of socks. You can't just take it home and have it work. There are NUMEROUS things that would make a bird unsuitable as a pet. It is better to return it then just open a window and call it even, which MANY people do. Birds are not a one size fits all and the species aren't uniform in temperament/needs, if Petco isn't prepared to deal with unsuitable matches then uh, THEY SHOULDN'T SELL BIRDS!!!! If you are going to sell/own living things you obligate yourself to the animals best interest. The woman did exactly that by returning the bird, and mayhap Petco did by not allowing her to purchase a second animal, I have no way of forming an opinion without actual information.

Only one bird is returned. A while later she buys another bird and returns to find a friend for the bird and is refused because of a return that happened prior. Which is indeed ridiculous.
While I don't doubt she felt humiliated I do think we need some examples of what was said because a simple no isn't a humiliating comment but a beratement in front of others would be.

I WOULD BE VERY SUSPICIOUS IF SOMEBODY KEPT BUYING BIRDS AND RETURNING THEM. I WOULD SUSPECT THEY HAD A PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEM OR SOMETHING AND FURTHERMORE, I WOULD REFER THEM TO THE SPCA FOR INVESTIGATION AS TO WHY NONE OF THESE BIRDS "WORKED OUT" .

I DON'T THINK WE ARE GETTING THE FULL STORY HERE.

WHY DIDNT THE BIRDS "work out"?

I SURE WOULDN'T SELL HER ANOTHER BIRD AND I WOULD TAKE HER IMAGE FROM A SURVEILLANCE CAMERA AND TELL ALL OF MY EMPLOYEES NOT TO SELL HER ANOTHER BIRD EITHER.

MAYBE SHE SHOULD CONSIDER NOT BUYING A PET AT ALL AND CONCENTRATE MORE ON HER OWN PROBLEMS BEFORE SHE TRIES TO TAKE CARE AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR SOMETHING ELSE.

I DO NOT WORK FOR PETSMART. I VERY RARELY SHOP THERE. I HAVE NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER IN THE PLACE.

I DO NOT SEE A RIP OFF HERE WHATSOEVER.

I DO SEE A LADY WHO SEEMS TO ME TO NEED SOME SORT OF HELP -- NOT A PET.

I WOULD BE VERY SUSPICIOUS IF SOMEBODY KEPT BUYING BIRDS AND RETURNING THEM. I WOULD SUSPECT THEY HAD A PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEM OR SOMETHING AND FURTHERMORE, I WOULD REFER THEM TO THE SPCA FOR INVESTIGATION AS TO WHY NONE OF THESE BIRDS "WORKED OUT" .

I DON'T THINK WE ARE GETTING THE FULL STORY HERE.

WHY DIDNT THE BIRDS "work out"?

I SURE WOULDN'T SELL HER ANOTHER BIRD AND I WOULD TAKE HER IMAGE FROM A SURVEILLANCE CAMERA AND TELL ALL OF MY EMPLOYEES NOT TO SELL HER ANOTHER BIRD EITHER.

MAYBE SHE SHOULD CONSIDER NOT BUYING A PET AT ALL AND CONCENTRATE MORE ON HER OWN PROBLEMS BEFORE SHE TRIES TO TAKE CARE AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR SOMETHING ELSE.

I DO NOT WORK FOR PETSMART. I VERY RARELY SHOP THERE. I HAVE NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER IN THE PLACE.

I DO NOT SEE A RIP OFF HERE WHATSOEVER.

I DO SEE A LADY WHO SEEMS TO ME TO NEED SOME SORT OF HELP -- NOT A PET.

I WOULD BE VERY SUSPICIOUS IF SOMEBODY KEPT BUYING BIRDS AND RETURNING THEM. I WOULD SUSPECT THEY HAD A PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEM OR SOMETHING AND FURTHERMORE, I WOULD REFER THEM TO THE SPCA FOR INVESTIGATION AS TO WHY NONE OF THESE BIRDS "WORKED OUT" .

I DON'T THINK WE ARE GETTING THE FULL STORY HERE.

WHY DIDNT THE BIRDS "work out"?

I SURE WOULDN'T SELL HER ANOTHER BIRD AND I WOULD TAKE HER IMAGE FROM A SURVEILLANCE CAMERA AND TELL ALL OF MY EMPLOYEES NOT TO SELL HER ANOTHER BIRD EITHER.

MAYBE SHE SHOULD CONSIDER NOT BUYING A PET AT ALL AND CONCENTRATE MORE ON HER OWN PROBLEMS BEFORE SHE TRIES TO TAKE CARE AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR SOMETHING ELSE.

I DO NOT WORK FOR PETSMART. I VERY RARELY SHOP THERE. I HAVE NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER IN THE PLACE.

I DO NOT SEE A RIP OFF HERE WHATSOEVER.

I DO SEE A LADY WHO SEEMS TO ME TO NEED SOME SORT OF HELP -- NOT A PET.

While I am not a fan of pet-co, and haven't run into to many of their emplyees that were particularly knowledgable, how did they humiliate her? I would not want to continue to place animals with someone whom did not appear to take the responsibility seriously either. Your freind needs to thouroghly educate herself on birds, their care and requirements in general, and which species suits her the best before making a purchase, and then deciding it's not for her, if she hasn't done so. Also, was there something wrong with the animals she returned? There seems to be alot missing here.