I should have received my 15% discount coupon, but was never issued via email or by mail. I called today and it expired 2 days ago. Petco is very shady with their coupons. Buyer beware, they promise you coupons but do not send them out. I will be shopping elsewhere from now on.

Have a gift card, better use it fast, they will take your money $2. per. month. Don't ask to check your balance, with an attitude they tell you to call 800 #. This is what service has come to. Poor! Hidden damages on merchandise. Poor selection! Have taken my business to Petsmart, friendly, customer is respected, with a smile, thank you for shopping at Petsmart. We have both stores, guess the Petco won't be there long. Good for them, won't miss them at all. This was not always the case, they joined the scam card, poor service club.

My building is right in back of a Petco parking lot. Over the years my neighbors and I have complained about late night noise coming from theirs delivery trucks at 5Am or past 10Pm. They are never willing to be considerate, and often pass the blame to upper management. If they can legally get away with something they will. Recently, I looked out my kitchen window to find a new eye sore (see attached photo). They put up banners in the parking lot that face my building. The banners can not be seen by the public until they are in the Petco parking lot, so they are not bringing in business. When I brought that up to the Manager, she agreed with me, but would not take them down. Her regional manger wants them up. They care nothing about working with the community.

On 9/01/2009 I went to Petco in Sterling ( store number 1892). I purchased some bird treats for my birds. When I got it home and tried to feed to my flock, they all wouldn't touch it. I did have a strong odor about it. I looked on the back and it had expired about a week .

on 9/03/2009 I went to another store in Herndon Va to exchange my product. That ws fine. I went back to the area where they had the bird items and found my same product. I looked around a bit and noticed that there was a large container of Laubers that had expired 7/26/09. OMG. I looked around and found 5 more problems with expired stuff. I told the manager and she said that the stuff shouldn't be on there. I shared my concern that is that why those items are put on a managers special. She said no, the mangers specials are done well in advance and the date has nothing to do with that . If an item isn't moving then a sale would occure. She seemed a little bent out of shape.
I asked her was Petco wanting to make as much as they could no matter what quaility issues they were having . She told me she would personaly go back and take it off the shelves. Like a dummy, I believed them.

I called the survey line and didn't give them a glowing report card. I even had to state what the issue was ( I still have not heard back from that. I was so mad that I called the customer service line to voice my complaint. They did seem very concerned and wanted to get all the information and names and places and everything a good note taker should do. She called both stores and talked to them and about the food issue. She came back to say that both stores agreed with her to take everything off the floor that was not good. I got some excuses that if they took it off the shelf then there would be no product to put in it's place. I also got the answer that it may be a training issue as it might not be understood that birdfood does have expiration dates on foods and treats. The lady told both stores that I would be coming back to the stores to assure that my request was fulfilled. I ws told that with cats and dogs, they get e-mails and screen reminders to have certain foods rotated. I was told that since the bird food doesn't have a rep that goes to the store, the bird food it sent from the warehouse with a amount that is requested by( have no idea who). J ust because there are people out there that do not have a cat or dog.. why does it seem they are saying that population isn't as important to them as it doesn't bring in the revenue like the dogs do. Mind you the small animal area takes up about only a 1/4 to 1/8 of the store.

Yesterday I went back to the same place and this time I started in the Ferret isle. This is where my blood pressure started to rise and stayed that way for about 2 hrs. In those 2 hours I got a cart and pulled off the shelves 25 accounts of expired food or treats. There were ferret seed bars of some sort.. they had a manager special tag on it for .93 cents. Every one of them was expired with a date in July and Aug. It was like that in the rabbit section, the hamster area, mice food, pigg food.. etc... including some more items I found in the bird section( a new managers special) And sure enough there it was, the large conainer that had the july date on it still on the shelf.

I went up and very calmly explained what I was doing and that I took it upon myself to help them by taking it off the shelf. the guy was understanding, but he went off on a tangent that there were only two people in the store and that he had to stay in the front of the store of he would be fired. He also stated that Petco hired someone to go to several stores and do rotating and take product off the shelves if it was past date. He also said the best person to talk to was the GM for that store as he would be the only one who could do anything about my complaint. I got his name and number and called him today.

As soon as I got into my car last night I called the customer service line again and registered another complaint. Again, this woman seemed very good and concerned and she would get to the bottom of it. As I was talking to this lady she seemed to get a little terse with me and said it will be taken cared of. She did call the store and they told her the same thing about someone else who comes in to rotate the food. I was assured that this third party would be addressed as they were not doing there job. Is there anything else I can help you with tonight? ummm no... I thanked her for her time... knowing that it MIGHT be on deaf ears in the end


I called the GM today and explained the whole thing. He was not told by any of the employees about my complaint and I guess customer Service doesn't route calls to appropriate people. It ws the first time he had heard of it. He did tell me that they do get reminders about the cat food and dog food... and a rep from that brand would come in and rotate their product... hmmmmmm just a little different then what the guy told me.

I was understanding that Petco hired someone to do the checking of foods and taking expired stuff off of the shelves. If a rep is doing it, birds do not have reps nor do the small animals. The GM did say that he would go and make sure that there was nothing like that and it will not happen again. He did say that he probably shoud pay me for the two hours of work I did -- only in jest . He even said he would give me some free stuff gift card since I did take the time to take stuff off of the floor and bring it to his attention. I will go see him tomorrow so I can make a appearance.

I told him that the average consumer would think that if they are having trouble and do not check dates or the quality of the food... one might think that there are other parts of the small animal area might have issues-- like the live animals that are there. lizards, snakes, mice, parrots, ferrets and so forth that their care may not be as aggresive as it should be. The GM stated they are very wel ltaken cared of. Well I do know they have a bird that is for sale has gone to different stores because he is a bit aggressive.. I think she said 3-4 stores... no wonder they don't deal with change like that .. this is a baby too.

If a customer saw the same product that was expired and saw one of the small animals eating it... one might think they are eating outdated stuff.. they already have proven to me that they do not rotate items nor check so how could they say ..." oh now we don't do that "..;. how would you know people??????
Their prices are rather high as compared to the other stores. So the best way to get toys or things like that is if it is in the clearance section. none food items. In a pinch I go there for my back up food when I am waiting for my oganic stuff I order off line to come in.

I'm not sure what I will say to the GM, but if I have his word and I go in there and find one more thing.. that would tell me ... it's really all about the cash and nothing else.

Anolther thing I told them is that the bags had a lot of dust on them and that was a sign that they don't move foods. The GM stated that most of this clietel are for smaller birds rather then big ones.

If grocery stores are suppose to take things off the shelf if they are outdated to protect humans, why is it such a hard concept to do the same for animals.. that is what they are to do... take care of animals.. that is what the business they are in right?

Not being accoutable for leaving old food and treats on the shelf, I call this a passive aggressive abuse to the small animal community. They will act all concerned and as soon as you are out of site.. they go right back to putting manager specials on expired food. Hey, if those stores need to pare down, then do so... be proactive to know your shopers and your client base...

I will be back to share any updates. Though I am wondering if I made this a more public argument ( like the press ) would they want to cover the A holes, because to get a paycheck one just needs to spit out what corporate says...
But I think corporate is the main problem... they rake in tons of cash.. act so concerned and then call you a bad word once they get off the phone with you...

Hello, thank for calling Petco.. were the pets go... how can I help you?
Ummmm sure you can help me... stop selling your products and acting ignorant to fact that you are in the business to feed and care for anmials.
But so far the only thing I see is a cash cow that really doesn't want to go the extra mile to protect their name and the lives in which we g o to them to help us nourish our family memeber who happen to be our beloved pets.

I can't turn my back on what I think is right. Petco... Please have your stores in perfect working order. cuz I will come to your store and if I find something out dated.. it will go way beyond a GM... I assure you.

Dear Petco,

RE: Complaint - Falkor (Groomed 07/09/09 at Pasadena, CA Petco)

I went into your Petco today, the same one where I adopted/rescued my puppy Falkor. I called in a couple of times and spoke to one of your groomers Paula, who told me of this special deal you give puppies during their first groom at Petco. I was given instructions to bring my vaccination certificate, rabies certificate, and my Petco P.A.L.S. card. It would only cost $22 for the groom with an additional $11 for a haircut.

Falkor was an abandoned puppy that we rescued two and a half weeks ago. She was spayed eleven days ago. The vet told us that she would be fine for a bath and grooming 7-10 days after her spay, so today was the day we were going to get her groomed. We were excited to take her in for her first fresh haircut and groom.

My friend and I dropped her off at your store around 1 P.M. to Paula. She told me that she had a lot of dogs ahead of Falkor and that it would take awhile. I asked if it would be around 3:00, the time she was supposed to be done with work for the day. She informed me that she was off of work at 3:30 but she wasn't going to be done by that time due to her work load. She said she would call me when the grooming was done. That was understandable. So I went off, and decided at 4 P.M. after not hearing from anyone to return to your store and just wait in the grooming salon while reading a magazine or something.

When we walked in, I noticed fur on the ground that looked like Falkor's. "Maybe she is finished!", I thought. Paula confirmed my observation, printed out the paper I had to take to the register to pay for the services. I stood there, waiting for my puppy - but when she continued to clean, I asked "Do I have to pay for this first before I get my dog?" She was obviously tired, having worked longer than her shift. She confirmed that that was indeed what I have to do. (How was I supposed to know this? Obviously I got "Puppy's first groom" you would think this was my first time.)

I went to the register and paid for the groom, and then I awaited the store manager, Jessica, at the time so that I could get change to tip Paula for grooming our puppy. Jessica informed me that she had no change for a $20 at this time and that the groomer likely had change. I went back into the grooming salon.

Paula had my puppy in her hands. I didn't notice at first, until she showed me that she nicked my puppy in the nipple. Falkor was bleeding. I was in shock. I didn't know what to do or think. Paula informed me that she didn't know Falkor's nipples went up so high, she said that my puppy was afraid of the clippers and that she squirmed. She said Falkor didn't act like she was cut, she was going to bring Falkor next door to Vetco so that they can make sure she's okay. I couldn't process the information as fast as it was being given to me. I just nodded and followed her.

My puppy disappeared into Vetco. Paula and Jessica explained to me that the veterinarian was going to take care of her, I felt so helpless and though I'm not the type to get emotional in public, I couldn't help but to cry. I took my puppy in for her first groom and now I'm in a waiting room while she gets medical treatment? A few minutes passed, and Jessica refunded me for the groom. (Which I appreciate, and I also appreciate Petco covering the Vet fees - thank you but I think these gestures go without saying.) She said that Paula was the head groomer, and that she's very good. I looked at her baffled, gestured towards "Vetco" and expressed my disagreement saying 'apparently not.' A few more minutes passed, and they told me she wasn't going to get stitches. A few more minutes passed and I was asked to sign a form for the vet. They asked me to come back in on Sunday so they could make sure everything is healing okay.

After half an hour my puppy came out bandaged, I was handed antibiotics and pain killers. The veterinarian told me that she lost 1/3 the nipple that was cut. I was instructed to give her half of a pain killer tablet every 12 hours for 5 days, and one antibiotic tablet every 12 hours for 5 days but not when to start. Tonight? Tomorrow? While she was at the vet, did they give her one of each? I was too distraught to think to ask at the time, and by the time I got home and called the vet, they were closed. I called your store, which is attached to the vet, and they couldn't give me any after-hours number and informed me that no one in the store had any numbers for any of the Vetco staff. Don't you think this would be helpful information to have?

I understand that this was an accident and that small cuts might happen from time to time and that animal owners often act like over-protective parents. I don't disagree that this is unlike how I acted today. However, I don't appreciate that no one apologized to me. As one of the leading pet stores, I expect your employees to be sympathetic with all pet owners. Especially when something like this happens to first time puppy owners like me. You have to understand that if this is a occurrence that you see regularly, that doesn't mean it is one that I experience often, or in this case - ever before.

Since you offer "first time grooms" for puppies, I also expect your "head groomer" to have better experience in handling puppies who are frightened by the sound of clippers. Since she was working overtime, perhaps she was tired and not taking as much care by the time she groomed my puppy? I would have understood if the day was booked up and would have found another time to come in. Secondly, If your employees felt I was overreacting, perhaps they should be trained to try to comfort customers instead of trying to stifle their slight giggles in front of me. A little bit of sympathy and understanding would have gone a long way for me today.

My puppy was a rescue, who just had surgery eleven days ago. I don't know what she went through before we adopted her, but the last thing I want (and I imagine any pet owner feels the same) is my puppy to endure any more pain. I feel that since all this happened at the end of everyone's work day, no one really had the capacity to care about what my puppy or I was going through. And at the very least, I expect more customer service from a company that I've supported for years. (I've had a cat for a few years before adopting my puppy.)

Lastly, after all this, my puppy's haircut is vastly uneven.

You can say that I am thoroughly disappointed and that I will do my best to avoid supporting your company, and your store in particular.

Sincerely,
Celeste Tabora.