Category: | Pet Supply Store |
Address: | 4335 Bethelview Rd, Cumming, GA 30040, USA |
Phone: | +1 770-888-3130 |
Site: | ruckerpet.com |
Rating: | 4.6 |
Working: | 9AM–8PM 9AM–8PM 9AM–8PM 9AM–8PM 9AM–8PM 9AM–6PM 11AM–6PM |
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Dawn H Davis
During her senior year of high school, I have been thrilled to watch my daughter take on the rigorous, Rucker, 4-month, employee training. It is amazing how much information about animal nutrition these kids learn in the training program. It has been truly wonderful over the last 3 months hearing her stories about how she helped her customers with their pet health and nutrition problems. She knows many of her new customers by name and has been filled with pride that she could be of help in such an important way. Her goal has been to develop a career in nutrition and pet therapy. After studying every night for months and passing 2 of the Tucker training tests her confidence increased greatly! She has learned that she can pass difficult tests without any accommodations for her learning disability! What a fantastic learning experience and payoff for her hard work and dedication. However, she had no idea what additional lessons she was about to learn. Her motivation as an employee never once waned as she gladly followed detailed directions for chores. She also loved doing the store chores that the young managers neglected to do and left for her! She told me about it but never complained. She loved helping customers and in an effort to go beyond what Rucker expected of employees, she made sure she always asked her managers if there was anything ELSE she could possibly do. After 3 months, she received a phone call stating she was being let go because of customer complaints. But no further explanation. She was completely devastated. She called back her manager and politely and respectfully requested specific feedback that would help her learn from the experience. The young manager TEXTED her back with information that was false. The young manager began her text "Hey girl....." and began stating that, among other things, no one EVER saw her interact with a customer. How is it that possible? The manager also stated that she wasnt motivated. It was as if the young manager was describing a completely different person. Even IF all the managers statements were true, why wasnt any employee FEEDBACK provided for the allegations? Why after 3 months of dedicated hard work would someone do that to an employee out of the blue? My daughter would have taken ANY feedback graciously because she loved the job so much and wanted to do it well. She ASKED for feedback and received none. At this point we are so proud of her accomplishments, how she grew socially, and all of the business skills she acquired. She is naturally quiet and gained invaluable confidence approaching customers in an outgoing way. Today she took away her most important lesson from Rucker Pets - she learned to be RESILIENT when someone takes advantage of her. She learned to handle disappointment in authority figures that she admired and respected. She learned that local businesses should not only care about their customers, they should treat the community youths they employ FAIRLY. As a fellow Cumming small-business owner, I believe we have a great opportunity, if not a responsibility, to instill not only KNOWLEDGE in our youth we employ, but also set an example of CHARACTER for them. Our young, sweet girls who make the Rucker family money pushing their products are a JOY for customers to do business with. However, Rucker family treats our young girls as EXPENDABLE and not worth 5 minutes of constructive feedback. As a consequence, Rucker Pets is immediately losing many dedicated customers. Thank you, Rucker Pets, for EXCELLENT lessons learned.
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Kyle S
I only have experience with the Rucker Pet on Bethelview, so my experience is limited to this location. I will start off with the negatives as these far out way the pros in my experiences. To sum up, the two old ladies that work at this location; rude, unfriendly, impolite. EVERY time I have ever been to this location and come in to contact with these two women, it has been nothing but a negative experience for both my wife and myself. However, it seems like they are always friendly with folks in their same age category. We dont get addressed when we enter their store, are always given a short, unhelpful response the seldom times we ask questions, and are always displeased by the service these two specific older woman provide. I am not sure if it is because we are in our mid twenties, but I guarantee my age does not negate the fact that I purchase a $65 bag of dog food every three weeks. If you are a younger couple looking for quality service, help, and a friendly environment, do not expect it if you address either of these woman. Now the younger girls that are always at the front are ALWAYS helpful and sweet. The difference of social dynamic is so diverse that it strikes me as odd. How do so sweet and such grumpy people work together? Anyways, you get the point. The store offers solid products, that I support. They have friendly staff, other than those mentioned. 90 pound girls offer to carry my 30 pound dog food bag to my car. The environment is always clean, the store is laid out efficiently, and it is in a convenient location. The fund raisers they offer are for a good cause and I show up to them 9 times out of 10. If youre looking for products on par with what is offered at Rucker Pet, travel to Red Bandanna or Top Dogs Pet Boutique. Both are guaranteed to offer much better service, knowledge, and support if you have questions. The prices are about the same give or take a few bucks between the three. However, Top Dogs and Red Bandanna track your purchases via their system and once you spend "X" you get "X" off. This is in addition to the manufacturers buy 12 get 1 free. Final Point: The service by what I suspect to be the owners themselves is at the best, horrible. Be sure to only go in on a Saturday, when the young girls or guys are working, to be greeted by smiling faces and offered help or suggestions. Any other day will be a less than good experience. Good products, terrible service. When you dont monopolize a market, bad service always stumps the product.
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Kristen E
Like the previous reviewer, I have to comment on the incredible rudeness of *part* of the staff. My husband and I are both in our mid twenties as well, and something about that is apparently off-putting. No amount of friendliness can melt the ice in this womans heart- believe me I have tried. The prices are less than the other big chains around... but they arent so low that I will continue to shop here. At first, I thought maybe she/they are having a bad day. Who knows, right? Best to just be friendly. However, the next few visits proved the same- a feeling of being unwelcome from the second I walked in the door. Anyway, my point is that I would rather pay a couple dollars extra for cat and dog food at a large chain than feel so completely unwelcome and despised every time I walk through the door. We drop over $150 every 2-3 weeks on fancy pet food, the least she could do is be semi-pleasant. Its really not that hard to pretend to appreciate your customers! Customer service -- or rather customer tolerance(!) is of paramount importance, which is why I can not recommend shopping here, nor will I be returning. That being said, I will give a $100 to whoever can make this lady smile, the stipulation being you are under the age of 40.
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Nancy Lesperance
LOVE the dog wash here! They have all the supplies including shampoo, towels and dryer. The dog wash area is clean, and each washing station has its own room. The dog can walk up a ramp to get into the wash area. There are waterproof collars and clip on the wall to keep the dog in place while you wash. There are even plastic aprons to keep you dry while you wash. It is $15 to wash a large dog and $10 for a small dog. Now my back doesnt hurt after washing the dog and I dont have to clean the bathroom after washing her.