72 replies to this topic

[LunaAndSnowspark]

I got my hamsters from a non-chain petstore, it only has 2 locations in the same county. Anywho, they only sold hamsters, which is a bit good since the store is small and they wouldn't have much room for cages since the ones they used were aquedate. Is it bad they advertise products too much? Like, I  was shopping for some bedding and when an employee came around they said "CareFresh is a good brand." and when I was getting food a different one said "Have you tried Oxbow? It's a very high quality food, hamsters love it."

[MandysHamsters]

I got my hamsters from a non-chain petstore, it only has 2 locations in the same county. Anywho, they only sold hamsters, which is a bit good since the store is small and they wouldn't have much room for cages since the ones they used were aquedate. Is it bad they advertise products too much? Like, I  was shopping for some bedding and when an employee came around they said "CareFresh is a good brand." and when I was getting food a different one said "Have you tried Oxbow? It's a very high quality food, hamsters love it."

 

I had a similar experience at local pet stores. In my experience a lot of smaller pet stores work on "commission" per se on certain products. It could be much worse than Carefresh and Oxbow. When we bought Bijou at a local pet store chain, the workers MADE us buy a bag of Kaytee Fiesta Max. They said if we didn't, we couldn't have any sort of return policy or an adoption form. They kept stressing how "IT'S THE BEST FOOD EVER". O_O (Luckily, I knew better at the time lol). Even worse, they had about 30 hamsters to a freaking tank, fighting galore. Campbell's and Winter White's mixed... ok, that's enough lol. Needless to say we didn't go back.

 

But when we bought Cocoa it was a much better experience and I loved the pet store. When we dealt with the manager, we had no advertising, but the regular workers did seem to be advertising the Ovo products and Carefresh... I'm assuming they got some sort of incentive for selling certain products.

[nebit]

It might be different in different areas, but I know of no petstores in my area, small or large, that have their employees work on comission. There are various reasons for pushing certain products. I'm guessing the Kaytee thing was store policy. In my store, you had to prove (theoretically at least) that you had adequate housing for the pet you were buying. A hamster in a kritterkeeper, wasn't going to fly for instance.

 

When I worked in a petstore, I most certainly DID steer customers towards certain products and away from others. It was NOT because I got any sort of comission ( I didn't). It was out of genuine desire to see owners set up with the best possible products for their pets. What I steered them towards might vary with my reading of the customer Ie, a customer looking at bargain brands, I might gently steer towards a similarly priced, but better quality product, a customer who seemed concerned about "the very best" I would steer towards whatever top of the line product seemed to best fit her needs.

 

I would almost certainly have reccomended carefresh and oxbow flat out. Why? Because they're top of the line products, that perform their jobs well, and offer the best for the customers pet, and I can feel confident they offer benefits the customer will appreciate as well (carefresh for instance, while there are cheaper beddings, is safer, and has excellent absorbency and odor control compared to the other brands in the store) Very often I'd steer customers towards products I'd have personal experience with. I never wanted to send a customer home with a shoddy product.

 

I find it interesting how people say "I wish the worker would have told me "this is a good food" or "this bedding is safer" and yet when they DO make these suggestions people suspect they have ulterior motives. Petstore workers are nearly always animal lovers, just like you and me.

[Tofuthehammy]

Great job jordyn. I got my hamster from a local petstore but it is a great petstore so my hammy is very healthy.

[omega59]

Hi, thank you for the guidelines.

[avrilxoxo]

I completely agree with Jordan you definitely need to be careful at a pet store. 

[bighammyfan]

hi im new and im getting my first hamster soon. ive owned many fish and a bunny. i went to the pet store to see what hamsters they had and to see if they where healthy, and i saw that they're eyes where closed. im pretty sure they were awake but just to make sure if they dont have some kind of infection or something. thx also some cute unique male hamster names would help thx!

[Hamster26]

fantastic post my pet smart answers yes to almost every of the qustions

[((HammiesRMyLife))]

Nice topic! Really helps!

[SiliKate]

Goodness, my local petco breaks almost every rule in the book! They have dwarf hybrids they call "sunfires" and when I asked what breed they REALLY were, the "small animal expert" said she didn't know! The Syrians were labeled as Teddy Bears, the betas were all laying at the bottom, the fish water was cloudy, etc.

[HamsterHuey]

Great post. I am very lucky to have a good Petsmart near me. It is always very clean, and the tanks/cages that the animals are kept in are also always clean. I've never seen a sick, dead, or dying animal at this store, or heard of it happening at this store (that doesn't mean it doesn't happen, as I'm sure that animals have passed on whilst at the store for something). The employees are almost always willing to help and there is even one employee who walks around the store with his iguana(?...not sure if that's what kind of reptile it is or not) on his shoulder. Sweetest little guy, too! Also, there are none of those open cages where people can just grab an animal whenever they want. You always have to ask an employee before holding an animal, and they are always there to supervise you and the animal.

 

I know that a lot of Petsmarts are not at all like this, and I know that I am lucky (and proud) to have such a nice one near me. There is also a Petco near me, and I must say that I am not impressed with that particular one...Not as nice as our Petsmart, is all I can say.

 

***After saying all of this, I'm not for mills or ANYTHING like that, and I KNOW for a fact that chain pet stores INCLUDING Petsmart need some serious changes. However, out of all the chain (and family owned) pet stores near me that I've seen, this particular Petsmart is clearly the best.***

My petsmart's great too. Although some things it looks like they put whatever they found into a cage (nothing dangerous, just weirdly oversized), mostly the animals seem to be in okay sized cages with their needs fulfilled. I didn't even realize there were pet stores where you could just walk in and grab an animal... I guess I got lucky with the ones around me.

My Petco treats their hamsters well, but I would never buy any other type of animal from them except maybe a rat or guinea pig. They always have Bettas on display with dead ones among them, and their birds look bored and sometimes sick. Their reptiles are also in pretty tiny cages.

In both places I found wonderful employees who knew what they were talking about and weren't afraid to steer me away from store recommended brands. There were more helpful employees in Petsmart, and more clueless employees in Petco, but overall the pet stores near me are pretty good.

 

 

I hate those "small animal experts". Find the employee who actually spends time with the hamsters and cleans their cages. You'll get a much better experience.

Edited by HamsterHuey, 15 January 2014 - 01:15 AM.

[tealtiger24]

Great post!

[TheKaebean]

I went into a pet store last month in which I saw, as I was wandering through it, one of the rabbits loose and hopping around... and no one had even noticed.    I did a double take when I first saw him.

 And the poor mice - goodness I felt sorry for them - there were just too many in a single aquarium. Maybe they were there for snake food, but they still deserve a decent little life 

[Amethyst ♥]

I get most of my hamsters from a local petstore (It has multiple locations throughout my country but it's not a huge chain store like petco and such) and there are two locations close to me. One is a little bit closer. The care for the hamsters there is terrible. The cages are extremely small, non of the hamsters have a wheel (does not fit!), some don't even have a hidey, they are usually kept with 3 at a time (the dwarfs, not the syrians) the people just don't care about those animals and thy are sometimes kinda mean. BUT the other location that is a little further away has WAY better hamster care! The cages are twice the size of the other store and they all have a wheel, they know when the hamsters are born and they get their hamster from good breeders only, they are really friendly and they just take overall better care of the animals. They also have a huge rabbit that is allowed to walk through the store I only get my hamsters there. (Or somewhere else just kinda depends)

[Amethyst ♥]

Woops! Double posted because of stupid wifi... sorry!!

Edited by FluffyHammy14, 05 August 2014 - 12:19 PM.