Never again will I recommed PETCO to anyone. We have always had our dog grommed at PETCO (10 yrs plus). I called to make an appointment and was told by a very RUDE person that they did not take animals 14 yrs plus. I first went there and had a wonderful groomer and then she quite after 10 yrs. and now a very rude person answers the phone and tells me this. After reading some of the horrors of PETCO, I feel I have been lucky for 10 yrs. I found someone else who went out of their way to groom our dog. PETCO GOOMING IS BAD BAD BAD, RUDE RUDE. NEVER START WITH THEM.

I have been an employee of Petco in Mountain Home, AR since they opened in March 2009. Everything about this job, company, and their corporate is a joke. They do not care about ANYTHING other than making a buck for themselves. They are morally unethical, and in my opinion, just plain evil. I have complained to management with no response, and I have complained to corporate with no response or results for quite some time. They have fired a few employees for BS reasons, and I am just waiting for it to happen to me...especially after logging all of these complaints for the whole world wide web to see.

Below are 3 different emails that I have sent to the corporate offices in California so that they could take action against the people creating problems at the store and for the company. Still nothing has been done. I hope I do get fired, but they don't pay unemployment either...even when they are wrong and have no justified reason for it.


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5/30/10:

To whom it may concern,

I am contacting you to report unethical, unprofessional, and illegal behavior by the General Manager of Petco store #1520 in Mountain Home, AR. The items that are listed below have been cause for major concern amongst all employees at the store since it opened in March 2009. The employees would like to see these situations handled internally before having to involve any governing agencies.

The primary concern of illegal activity that is currently and/or has taken place in the past is the altering of employee’s time punches to reduce used labor to stay in budget. This has taken place many times without the employee’s knowledge.

The following are some of the unprofessional and unethical concerns that employees have noticed and brought to the General Manager’s attention without any course of action being taken.

· Uses threats and intimidation with all of staff members. He has threatened to fire any employee that contacts the Petco hotline.

· Refuses to do a 2 week schedule despite the many requests from the District Manager also. All employees have also requested this over the course of time since the store opened so that they can plan time with their families and to plan child care, etc. When employees ask this of him, his response is negative and always something to the effect that “they should be happy they have a job at all”. He also rarely has a 1 week schedule done on time. For the entire month of May 2010, he makes the schedule late on Fridays for the following week so that employees have only approximately 36 hours notice of what their next week’s schedule will be.

· Refuses to close the store despite the fact that the District Manager has also told him that he needs to do it a minimum of 1 day a week.

· Puts everything else in the store above animal care.

· Harasses employees by phone on days off and while not scheduled to work. He will call some employees dozens of times a day and leave threatening, harassing, angry, and foul language messages on the employee’s phone if they do not answer, even when the employee has explained their plans to him and that they will be unable to answer.

· Refuses to support or participate in the Associate of the Month program. Most employees that have received this honor many months ago have never received the benefits from this award either.

· Refuses to participate in any store events. He has not participated in a single one, and verbally announces that he will never do any of them.

· Refuses to take responsibility as a General Manager. He places undue blame on subordinates and will not help others by saying that it is not his job.

· Rarely works all of the hours that a salaried employee should when labor is crunched under 100%.

· Takes every holiday off (with the only exception of Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day in 2010), and does not allow other managers to “take turns” as he states that he will.

The General Manager has also been told frequently that the dog food pallets are stacked too high, and are in possible violation of OSHA standards.

Because of previous threats and intimidation tactics about retaliation against any employee that contacts Petco or the hotline, I am afraid to disclose my name to you in fear of losing my job. If these situations are not handled internally within the company, my next course of action will be to hand over the documentation and information to a governing agency regarding the illegal activity.

Please contact me through this email address if you need any further information.

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9/3/10:

To whom it may concern,

I am a current employee of Petco store 1520 in Mountain Home, AR. I have emailed you before regarding ethics issues with the general manager at the store, but no action has been taken.

I am writing you today to state my complete displeasure and ethic opinion at the way management has handled the latest incident at the store which caused Wesley Nesbitt to lose his job.

I was forced to make a statement about this incident even though I did not witness a thing. I know that a full investigation was not done otherwise it would have ended differently. I do not believe that Wesley should be held responsible for anything that occurred since he was not the one to feed the animal to the snake. I have also looked up the company's policy and no where does it say anything about feeding a snake or any pet that is NOT Petco's property.

I believe that this was a total rip on Wesley's character. He was the only helpful, knowledgeable employee that this store had besides myself in my opinion and in the customer's opinion. I love to help customers but I must admit that I do not know everything that I should about the animals. Wesley is the only employee to take time to explain and teach things to customers and fellow employees. I know that he also discovered solutions to many recurring problems with equipment and loss of livestock and received absolutely no credit for it even though it changed the way the company operates certain things at all stores.

The part that I am the most upset about though other than bashing Wesley's character and morals is that the people that should have gotten in trouble for this and other incidences did not even receive a slap on the wrist. Nothing has been done to the person that admitted feeding the snake and most importantly, nothing has been done about the serious issues that I have addressed to you months ago about the general manager.

I believe that since you got rid of your only decent and knowledgeable employee, you should just clear all other employees out and start fresh. 5-6 other employees, including myself, feel constantly harassed and on guard, and our jobs are a nightmare since Wesley has been gone. I do not enjoy working for Petco at all and I do not plan on staying there much longer. Everyone is refusing to work with everyone else so it is just a bunch of bad moods getting together and trying work with people they despise.

I have once again been threatened with retaliation if I contacted corporate or discussed this with any other employees. We were also all told that we are not allowed to have any kind of contact with Wesley outside of work in person, by phone, or on social networking sites or we could lose our jobs also. It is absolutely ridiculous that you continue to employee power driven people that threaten to fire over contacting a former co-worker or corporate about genuine concerns for the store...they probably think Wesley wrote the first email to corporate instead of me and that's why you fired him...there is no other reason. I will probably get fired for contacting you again, and if I do, I hope that you can do a full investigation and take appropriate actions this time.

We were also told that we are not allowed to tell customers what happened to Wesley. This is not easy to do since he basically has a fan club of loyal customers who only shopped here because of him. Word spreads fast, and at least 20 of his customers have already told me that they will not shop here anymore. It was a very hasty, non-economical, and wrong decision that corporate made to fire him. Now your left over employees can really see how much Wesley did and how little other employees are doing. We have already had a major livestock die off, lost customers, and employees refusing to do the jobs that only Wesley would do.

This is my only safe way to contact corporate to state my opinion since I will be fired if I am found out. I truly believe that you need to diligently search for new knowledgeable employees who can run a store. I don't even care about losing my job as I stated that I probably won't be there much longer. I would just like to see justice done and the appropriate actions served.

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10/11/10:

I feel the need to contact you at corporate once again about ethics and conduct problems at store 1520 in Mtn. Home. My last message gave some insight into what has happened and been happening since Wesley Nesbitt was let go as an employee.

The store is a mess now with no one doing their jobs. Several of us have reported to Derek that others not doing their job or partaking in illegal activity at work, but nothing has been done. Derek is showing extreme favortism towards the Assistant Manager, Laurie Wicker, and letting her get away with things that would surely get us fired. She has been caught altering her hours so that she is getting paid for time that she did not work. Derek is aware of this also, but he has not reported it. Laurie has also reimbursed herself for running deposits to the bank, but Derek will not acknowledge that any other employee that runs the deposit should be reimbursed also. The bank is not very close to the store - about a 14-15 minute drive each way, and the only person that has ever received mileage or gas money is Laurie. Derek gets on to the CAS's if we can't complete all of our duties in the few hours that we work, but he says nothing about Laurie sitting in the office and not getting anything done or making sure that the others are working.

Laurie also continues to bash Wesley's name even though he is not there. She came in last week, gloating that she had seen Wesley and that he is not doing well, he is not getting unemployment from Petco, and at her delight in his suffering. I have heard her tell Wesley's customers that she got him fired and that he won't be getting unemployment. She is describing him as an all-around bad person, which everyone knows is not true. Laurie moved here from AZ, and Wesley lived here all his life, so I can only hope that they know Wesley's true character and don't believe the things she is saying. I can't imagine that it would okay for her to bad-mouth an ex-employee to customers, but Derek has been standing right there when she has done and said nothing to her. I am put in a very awkward position because customers are asking me what really happened, why she is sharing this info with them, why someone like Laurie is still employed with Petco and Wes isn't, and most importantly, why the person that supposedly violated the company policy did not get into any trouble. I just have to tell them that I am not at liberty to discuss it, and I have told them to contact corporate Petco directly to complain, but I don't know if anyone has.

I can not contact you by phone and give away my identity because I am sure that I will lose my job also. At this point, I would almost welcome it if it wasn't so tough to find another job. If you are unable to do a true investigation of these matters until you are able to dig up all of the dirt, please at least contact someone about the theft and non-reimbursement at the store, and that should get the ball rolling.

I do not feel that I can work in this environment where I feel constantly threatened and the managers are very condescending to all of the employees, which in turn, makes it a very hostile working environment. If things can not be investigated and settled quickly, I will begin to contact the labor board, better business bureau, and a lawyer if necessary. All employees deserve to be treated equally, and former employees do not deserve to be slandered.

I have called numerous people in the corporate offices, pet hotline, BBB, peta, even emailed 2 news channels. And Petco is still not doing anything about it.I am feeling helpless.These snakes (the ball pythons) are covered in mites and no one has done anything about it. I quit because my GM would not let me clean the reptile section, he said I had to shock dog toys or dog food instead of cleaning the snakes which I offered to do.When I told him well what about at Petco animals always come first, and then he cut me off in mid sentence and said well if you dont like our policy you can leave, so I quit right then and there. I never quit a job before.I am not going to sit back while these poor snakes are dying.They are not feed properly either. Their cages never have been cleaned.The entire reptile section is infested with mites and no one cares but me.Maybe because a lot of people hate snakes, but they are beautiful creatures that are misunderstood.Me being a huge snake lover, this makes me insanely mad. I am going to keep emailing and calling everyone I can about this. Please help them . Like i said. I will NOT stop until this is fixed.

And, When i recently went in to get my last check, the GM told me i over reacted, and that no snakes had mites, they were" little black dots"..yeah, little black dots.hes obviously covering his own ass because other employees told me he knows i reported him.The store also smells HORRIBLE because no one wants to clean the ferret cage.

Also, other employees told me they NEVER cleaned the snakes, so the GM lied to me.I HATE PETCO.they should not be allowed to sell animals.they sell animals knowing those animals are sick.This has to stop.A vet doesnt even come in there to check on the animals.They dont even call the vet when an animal is sick.The back room, the "wellness" room, is fully stocked with sick neglected animals.All they care about is dog food, since dog food is 50% of their sales.Screw petco.Animals DO NOT come first.

I went into the E. Virginia Beach, VA to purchase some outfits for my 3 dogs. I found a clearance rack marked 75% off. The sign was balanced between the center of the 4 way rack and you were unable to read any writing below the 75% due to the fact it was covered. There weren't very many outfits on it but found 3. I also found other things in the store. I went to the checkout and they had a dog trainer ringing the register which was new on it. One outfit ring the correct price and the other 2 did not. She stated oh these are 75% off too but I am not sure how to fix it, let me ask someone. Another employee came and told her she would have to have the manager to do it. At this point, I was waiting 10 minutes. The manager comes to the register and the cashier informed her of the problem. She never even looks at me and states oh those aren't listed on the sign and walks away in the direction of the rack. The cashier says oh she is going to check on it. She passes the rack without stopping and heads to the back of the store. I and the cashier stood there for 5 minutes. The cashier states she doesn't know what happens and calls the manager back. As the manager approaches she said "What is the problem?" with all I can say is a snotty voice and a bob of the head. The cashier says what did you find out. "About WHAT" store manager says. "The outfits?" cashier responds. "I SAID they aren't listed on the sign!!" The cashier starts to point at the rack "But they are all on that rack." " I said they aren't LISTED!!" The manager finally turns to me and said "DO YOU WANT THESE OR NOT, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?" I have to say I fell back on my heals and with wide shocked eyes said "Yes, but I would like them for the 75% off, you can't see what is written on the sign. It's covered." The manager with a bob of the head and a flip of her voice "I am NOT doing it" At this point, I believe I was done. I asked her for her for the manager she said she was the manager. I asked her for her district manager's information. She informed me that they don't give out the district manager's name or number and does not give out the corporate headquarters number. After asking her 5x she finally said they had a customer care line I could make a complaint on. I asked for it. She went in the back, came back out with a business card and throw. Let me restate that THROW it on the corner in front of me and said "GOOD LUCK".

Now at this point, while in the store, I called the number. It clearly is a India Call Center. No one could speak English well. The man was trying to be nice, but informed me he didn't have any numbers but the store number and I could call and make a complaint to the same store manager I just dealt with or he could leave a message with the direct manager and it would take 48 hrs before he could get back to me. He couldn't give out thecorporate headquarters number or give me the name of whom would be calling me. I even ask for his boss. She was nice but same story. I ask if she could just call him and tell him to call me. They had no phone numbers they just send emails.

This is the worst customer service I have ever dealt with. I shop Petsmart all the time because of their service. I have had complaints about small stuff and it is always resolved or an apology. I spend about 500 a month on food and supplies for my 6 animals. I thought I would give Petco a try. NEVER AGAIN. I will stay with Petsmart.

Shoppers BEWARE!!!

On July 26th our pet fish "Dorthy" that we had for 5 months died. My three year old daughter was devastated as you can imagine. So we had a little funeral for her and we went to Petco to purchase another fish. My daughter picked out a Betta Crowntail Male. She was so excited about the red and blue colors on the tale. Anyway, they next morning I noticed that the fish had died sometime during the night. I did not want my daughter to know that it had died so I quickly put it in a zip lock bag and drove over to Petco. I was told I needed to talk to the manager in the fish department "Shaun" . I explained to him what happened and showed him my receipt. He took one look at it and said that the girl the day before had rung me up wrong. She under charged me. She only charged me $3.99 and it should have been rung up at $6.99. He said since that happened he would not be able to replace it with a crowntail fish. He said he would replace it with a cheaper fish but not a crowntail fish. I explained to him I needed the exact same kind and color so my daughter would not notice. He was very rude to me and not sympathetic to my daughters feelings. He said I could pay the difference for a crowntail fish. It was a $3 dollar difference. After several minuts of begging him to replace my fish he just walked away from me. I told me I would not be shopping here anymore and his response was "that's fine!" He did not care about my business or my daughters feelings. It's a big deal to a 3 year old losing a pet. I was so upset. I have never had such bad customer service in my life. I had to hurry and get home so I had to pay the $3 difference so I could have the same fish. I was not happy. My mom, also shops at Petco and she said she will be taking her business elsewhere. She couldn't believe a PETCO employee acted that way. So Petco lost our business over $3. Not good business.