Petland Bolingbrook — Attraction in Bolingbrook

Wow what an amazing swing back-and-forth of a bad experience to good experience to I hated experience. I recently attended the Aquashella show in Niles. Which was awesome by the way. One of the vendors that was there was Aquarium Adventure. I stopped and spoke with them and told them how much I liked their store at Golf and Roselle. They then suggested I check out their Bolingbrook store. That’s where my story begins. We were in the Bolingbrook area and decided to check out the store. We walked in the store that seemed clean it had an open style floor plan. I went into the aquarium livestock section and was very disappointed. The displays were dirty, dark and there were many skinny and unhealthy looking fish in the tanks. I was there with my wife and daughter and they were visiting with the small animals on the other side of the store like ferrets, hamsters, guinea pigs etc. I didn’t find anything even considering buying and on our way out of the store my daughter asked if she could play with the puppy. I happily granted her request because we already have two dogs and there was no chance we were going home with a dog. We ended up visiting with three dogs and to my surprise I absolutely fell in love with this amazingly cute Yorky. The staff that helped us with the dogs are fantastic very supportive and not pushy for the sale at all. Sow my wife and I went back-and-forth deciding whether we should buy this dog or not. Which was very very expensive. We had almost driven away from the store and decided to go back in one last time. We spoke with our sales person and asked to figure out a way to lower the price of the dog. She brought it to her manager who came to talk with us. They did lower the price of the dog and I also asked for an extra bag of food and a dog carrier/bag. He seemed reluctant but I was given the impression that we had come to an agreement and that I would get my requests. So I didn’t know because I’ve never purchased a dog. I’ve always rescued them but buying a dog it’s a lot like buying a car. There are agreements to sign paperwork to fill out and then of course you have to pay. So as we prepare to pay they ring up the pet carrier bag and I informed them that the manager had approved to include the bag. Doing their job they went to approve it with the manager who went on break so via text message and then later a phone call he said no and told us he would give us 20% off the bag he had previously agreed to give to us. This really frustrated me and took me from a very happy place to being very frustrated and even angry. So overall the experience was a negative one. The fish section of the store was neglected the young sales staff was very enjoyable and courteous. The puppy area was clean and well-maintained and then over a $48 bag the manager had me leave angered and frustrated. I will not go back to that store. Not only is it close to an hour away from my home but if you can’t count on the manager to be straight with you I certainly won’t count on the rest...

I came here about a month ago to add another rat baby to my family. I already purchased two boys from the Batavia location in November. I had called the day before to confirm if they had any male dumbo rats available and the woman on the phone had to double check but confirmed that there were. So I went in and one beautiful brown and big-eared baby caught my eye immediately. I asked an employee to see that one ONLY if it was a boy. I saw her take it out but it took her so long to bring it out. After quite a few minutes, she finally brought it out and said she "thinks" it's a boy. I was already holding the baby and became frustrated because I didn't want to bond with this baby if it wasn't a boy or else I could not bring it home. I explained to her that I already have two boys who are NOT neutered and don't want to accidentally bring home a girl and have babies. She took the baby back and after another few minutes, she said that the manager confirmed it was a boy. I was still very hesitant and asked to go in a room with the "male" to play for a bit while I called my boyfriend to discuss the issue. I will admit, we were fairly new to the whole rat parents role but we know what males look like. But the employees insisted that "since it was so young, it was still hard to tell." I already fell in love with this baby, so I bought "him."

As the weeks went by, my boyfriend and I were becoming more and more skeptical of the baby's sex as his testicles were NOWHERE to be seen. Finally after a lot of intensive research and conversations with other rat owners via a Facebook group, we confirmed that our "boy" was indeed a girl. We were deviated because we could not keep her as we didn't have any room for a separate cage. I did NOT want to return her so I gave her to a friend of mine who previously owned rats. It has been only two days since she left our family and I am extremely devastated and heart broken.

I am extremely disappointed with my experience at this location and I will most likely...

I have been coming to Petland for several years for both pets and pet supplies, and I always enjoy coming here. There's a good variety between fish, birds, rodents, reptiles, and more. Good variety in toys and foods, too. I enjoy the fact that I am able to interact with the animals here before I buy, giving me a chance to get an idea of their personality, instead of simply picking one out from behind a glass wall like at other pet stores without having any idea what the animal will be like. I've gotten several parakeets from here as well as a bunny, and I loved all of them.

My complaints of the place, however, are as follows. First, the place is too expensive, ESPECIALLY for dogs and cats. I'm sorry, but a puppy should never cost $4000, especially one from a place that's basically just a glorified puppy mill. Even $1500 is pushing it. I understand it's a business, but that's just flat-out price gouging.

Second, I have some concerns for the health of the animals. While most of the time they look fine, there have been instances I've noticed. I purchased a parakeet once, a sweet little blue and white baby I named Casper, who must have been sick when he was sold to me, who passed away only two days later. Conveniently, receipts say returns on animals are only valid for a day, or at least mine did. They must know some animals are ill, but don't want to spend money on caring for them, when they can just get yours for buying them and cut out any possibilities on refunds when it dies by giving such a short return period. The puppies are kept in very small cages, sometimes with several in a single cage. Bird and rodent cages are very expensive, too. A 20" tall cage here would cost around $200, where there's a 39" cage on Amazon that costs only $57.

While I do love Petland, I do wish they would actually price fairly and take better care of their animals. Or better yet, stop...