I've been going to the Petco in Tampa for years, but recently moved to St. Pete and decided to try this store for location convenience.
I recently got a puppy and have been taking her to Puppy Play Group at the Tampa location, but it's a long drive with a puppy, so I called this store last weekend to see if they had a play group going.
Its the best place to get information about your pet and the best place to get your pet supplies.
My recommendation: Save yourself a headache and hire a real dog trainer, if you're looking for one. Also, avoid this store if you are looking for decent service. With the exception of the first gentleman that greeted me at the door, they all seem to be dodging their job.
I absolutely hate this store for numerous reasons. I was looking to adopt some rats as I've been wanting some for a few years. I went to this particular store as the other stores I went to didn't have any. When I arrived here, I fell in love with a couple of female brown hooded rats. I asked if I could touch them and the guy working in pet care told me that it was against their policy in case they bit me. I asked him how much the rats are handled and he told me that he doesn't handle them at all, which is not good as not handling them could make them fearful of people and more prone to biting. The guy picked one of them up by the tail and told me that they weren't special and were nothing more than feeder rats. They've turned out to be super sweet, though one of them is shy due to the awful care that they got. When I bought them I bought one of the Silent Spinner wheels which I highly encourage people not to buy as returning them is next to impossible. I lost my receipt after returning a bag of food and the cashier, another worker plus the manager were extremely rude. The manager refused to look up the receipt and implied that I bought it at another store. He let me trade it for a different wheel of the same kind which fell apart after a day. I went back again and a different manager looked up the receipt and found it, but only gave me store credit. I don't recommend going to this store at all if you're an animal lover or expect decent customer service.
Sense I had been told play group started at 12, I arrive around 11:45 to fill out paperwork. An older woman with long, grey hair in pig tails (I regret not getting her name) informed me that there were no other puppies, and that they couldn't have a play group with only one puppy. This immediately put me off, but I decided to walk around the store and wait until 12 to see if other puppies would arrive. As I was walking around, the same woman directed me to a man at the register and told me to "go talk to [him]". I don't remember his name, but apparently he had some role in puppy play groups. I asked her what she wanted me to talk to him about, sense I didn't have any questions, and she told me to talk to him about the play group. I didn't have any questions, though, so I just kept walking my puppy through the store. This man eventually approached me and told reiterated what the other woman had told me, that there were no other puppies here, but also included that the pen hadn't "been cleaned in time." I'm not sure if that was an attempt at an excuse for cancelling play group, but I was confused by why he felt the need to tell me that. I asked if it happened often that there were no puppies for the play group, because there were always plenty of puppies who stayed after puppy training at the Tampa store to play with, and more that came just to play. He informed me that he "advertises" for the play groups, but it does happen often that there are no puppies.
Love the staff. Always made sure I was doing right by my lizard, or any of my pets.
Today, I went early (as instructed on the phone, to fill out her registration form). I was greeted at the door and directed to the training pen when I asked where play group was.
Love it! Great customer service and sales staff is #1.
As I made my way back toward the door, the original gentleman I spoke to offhandedly said "There's a puppy for playgroup!" so I headed back over to the pen to see a family and their puppy waiting in the pen. I was confused, at first, why this family had been welcomed into the pen to wait, while they hadn't let me in and tried to dismiss me right out the door. Either way, I was happy that my trip hadn't been wasted, and walked back to the older woman who was talking to the family in the play pen. She looked at me like she wasn't expecting to see me, and asked me if I'd spoken to the man she had pointed out to me, earlier. When I said "not really" she was very confused. I inquired about coming into the pen for play group, when she told me "This is puppy training class, now. Do you want to sign up?" which kind of baffled me, because WHY would I sign up for training classes with a trainer who I didn't know, and who also almost explicitly wrote me off not even 10 minutes prior? I told her no, and she continued to inform me that "Well, play group is from 12:00 to 12:30, and training starts at 12:30, so play group was over now." When I informed her that it was 12:04, she said "Sorry, I didn't know the time." which I find to be a strange excuse from someone who had just informed me of time frames. At this point, I was fed up at having made a trip out here specifically to try out this play group, so I told her "Never mind, I'll just keep going to Tampa." I don't know if she sensed the frustration in my tone, or what, but she suddenly started to scramble and told me to "Wait" as she flailed her arms around trying to gesture to someone. I don't know what she planned to do, but I ended up just leaving the store.
This particular store has absolutely terrible communication and customer service skills.
Petco Animal Supplies is a US Store based in Pinellas Park, Florida. Petco Animal Supplies is located at 7050 US Hwy 19 N, Pinellas Park, FL 33781, USA.
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