The Pet Shop

Reviews 4

WA

Wally Medrano

I’d like to start off by saying that I’m a huge advocate when it comes to supporting local and small businesses. Now for the truth about The Pet Shop, the employees are very nice and do their jobs to the best of their abilities, so the issue isn’t really with them. I was new to the Salt water / reef tank hobby and I walked into The Pet shop with limited knowledge and they attempted to help me and sold me over priced fish, invertebrates, live rock, live coral and protein skimmer. I could deal with this, as I knew I was over paying but I thought I was over paying to help out a small, local business and for the “guarantee” that their fish were in a quarantine for at least 2 weeks so that they can insure their health. This “guarantee” is what really sold me on buying my overpriced fish from The Pet shop, however, this “guarantee” is nothing but a sham. The facts that I have to support this statement, after spending THOUSANDS of dollars at this establishment over the following months, I had an issue with my tank and I lost the majority population left in my tank except, a Yellow tang, Regal tang and Snow flake clown fish. I was told by the owner that they would buy the fish from me after the 2 week "quarantine" period and they were going to keep the fish in their back aquariums. I called back around a week and a half later, only to be told that my fish we already sold, debunking their “2 week quarantine” method and their reason for charging more for their fish. I wish this was the end of that situation, I was then told by the employee that the owner wouldn’t give me a penny more than $40 for all 3 fish, after they sold MY fish! This was without me agreeing to that joke of an offer, at that size the Regal was worth $60 so that means they sold it for at least $80, because they “quarantine” the fish. The owner refused to speak with my over the phone, or at least thats what the employee told me. Since this issue, I have since purchased a new complete set up at Aquarium arts and their prices are much more reasonable and they have a much larger selection. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR, GO TO AQUARIUM ARTS IN MESA FIRST! YOU’LL SEE A MASSIVE DIFFERENCE! I WISH THAT I WOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT AQUARIUM ARTS BEOFRE I MADE THIS MISTAKE.

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ED

ed maltby

The Pet Shop is a different type of pet store than what we are use to seeing. This business runs as though it were set up in America about 50 to 60 years ago where customer service is of highest priority second only to animal husbandry. The desire to keep, maintain, and most importantly support customers has been, from my perspective, a strong business model for this store. I frequent The Pet Shop on a weekly basis and employees as well as the owners never appear to be too busy to talk. There have been numerous times where my family and I have spent in excess of hours there just enjoying the environment. While I may come across as The Pet Shop paid spokesman, I do have a history where the owners as well as the staff has helped me with marine tank endeavors. I bought a 60 gallon pre-drilled tank, which the bottom broke out for an unknown reason. Although hindsight now alludes to an over tightened bulkhead due to my inexperience. Regardless of the reasons, The Pet Shop took the tank back, offered to send people to my house to facilitate in the returning of the old tank, and helped me set up a larger / more expensive tank, which is flourishing as we speak. In terms of prices, I feel that a consideration needs to be acknowledged. A two or three dollar mark-up in comparison to online wholesalers is trivial when one stops to think about what is being received. As soon as you buy anything from The Pet Shop you are included into a family of non-stop customer service. I can call at any time during business hours and know that who I am talking to will do everything in his or her power to be exact and consistent with proper animal care. If someone does not know something, then they are honest about it and will seek the right answer. If this costs a few extra dollars then I will pay gladly to shop at a location that holds ethics, patience, and knowledge at a high level to the we are shocked to find it can still exist in todays economy.

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OT

Otter Pops

Went in today to check the store out. Disappointed in quality. Fish tanks were so dark and dingy looking. The pigeon blood discus had peppering all over its face. This is caused by bad breeding, bad lighting, or stress. It lightens with improved conditions and significantly improves with good lighting. $60-$70 is too much for a non-perfect fish. Discus keepers and breeders consider peppered discus to have little value. The bearded dragon terrarium had a lot of poop. I only saw a few lizards so that amount of poop was a few days worth at least. That is unless you had a large amount in there and the just recently sold. In that case my bad. The aquatic plant aquariums were gross. I originally went in to check these out. They were full of algae and had terrible coloring. plants had brown spots all over. I rather order on line and take a risk. The prices are the same and Ill pay for shipping, which isnt that big of deal for quality product. Tarantulas were over priced. Your prices on some spiders are double what i have seen before. I know that some of them are larger and deserve a premium, but most of your spiders are not difficult to keep even if they take a long time to get that size.. I hate that you keep your betta in cups. The recommended size for a betta tank is 2.5 gallons at the absolute minimum. Some people might say 5 gallons is the min. I know you want to make money and not take up too much space, but your betta look stressed, have clamped fins, and their coloration is lacking. I didnt look at anything else because I was tight on time. I dont know anything about reptiles besides bearded dragons, mammal pets, or saltwater tanks so I have no comments and that. I also didnt look at equipment prices or what you have in stock. I would overall not recommend your shop to family or friends.

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JA

James T

I went to The Pet Shop on September 6th. I walked in thinking that this was just what I was looking for. The owner said hello and that is where it stopped. I looked around the store for almost 25 minutes and not one person asked me if I needed anything. I was one of 4 people in the whole store 2 being together. I was looking at the fish and the guy cleaning the tanks never even acknowledged me. He did however ask a couple that came in after me if they needed help with anything. I may not be as pretty as the girl was (being a guy) but it still would have been nice to see if I needed anything. The owner just sat up front talking to some guy about her website and some guy that was linking it to hers not knowing he was doing it blah blah blah. I walked past her 4 times and not once was I asked if I needed anything. I would like to give this store another try as it is one of the few stores around me that sells saltwater fish and Id like to try my hand at it. Update: 10.18.12 I came back to the store to give it a second try. At least this time they did acknowledged me when I walked in. It took about another ten minutes after that before someone asked me if I needed anything and there were 3 or 4 people working. Improvement . Their freshwater selection is pretty good but their saltwater section is in serious need of help. If you are looking to start a pico or nano reef their coral section is EXCELLENT! Here is to hoping that they keep improving and get more saltwater stock.

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