Pet Express — Local services in Braintree

I should start by saying my reason for only giving this place 4 stars is my aversion to mall pet stores in general. I am a huge proponent of going the rescue route when looking to add a new furry member to your family. That being said, when my kids and I are at the mall, they never fail to wear me down with pleas to go visit the puppies. This trip was no exception. When we stepped into the store I was strangely amused to see this young female associate using a black screen on the wall (I'm assuming out of order) as a pseudo mirror to dance and sing along to a song playing on the store's stereo. My 13 y/o daughter immediately started oohing and aahing at the ample collection of purebred puppies roughhousing with each other. I was surprised when the young associate snapped out of her trance like performance and placed herself next to me and began to quickly run down a list of the breeds of dogs they carry and associated facts. I was afraid she thought we were there to buy a dog, which we were not, but she didn't push the issue perhaps because she was able to read my expression. My daughter selected a pup to visit with and the associate whose name I unfortunately forget immediately disappeared to the area behind the glass holding pens and reemerged holding the pup skillfully in her arms. Once we did the usual hand sanitizing and rundown of the rules, we went into one of the visiting pens with the puppy who was extremely sweet and rambunctious. He jumped into my lap and began licking my face like I was an ice cream and giving my nose small but mildly painful little nips. The associate immediately saw this and went on to describe the puppy's personality to a tee. My daughter went into her usual routine of how we simply must have this puppy as if it were a matter of the dogs survival. My son was, gratefully to me, not jumping on the bandwagon. Rather he just laughed good naturedly as the puppy tasted him with the same zeal he had with me. Meanwhile the associate continued to chat with us and demonstrating a remarkable charm and understanding of the dynamic at work between father and daughter and son. In short, she didn't work against me to try and make a sale based on fatherly guilt. When I thought I couldn't be more impressed with this young woman another associate about the same age as the girl attending to our visit joined the conversation. Their knowledge and clear affection for the animals in the store impressed me even more! I found myself truly enjoying the visit with the puppy and the two staff members. Now what they were unaware of is that my children's mother and I are in the midst of a rather difficult divorce and it means the world to me that my time with them be as positive and uplifting as possible. These two employees allowed me that in a sweet and charming manner. That kind of public interaction simply can't be trained. You either have it or you don't. It's a very difficult skillset to learn if you don't possess it naturally. To sum up my experience is to tip my hat to the two sweet and funny kids who left my children and I with a happy lasting memory of a great evening together. They are definitely worth my taking the time out on a Sunday afternoon to share with my fellow consumers. The owners of this store hopefully appreciate...

On 10/3/2020 I inquired about purchasing a Pomeranian pup. I was “assisted” by a female employee by the name of Donna. I was close to buying a dog from here, but I ended up getting a refund & I’m gonna tell you why. I applied for financing to help with payments for the dog I wanted and I was approved so i decided to go along and proceeded with buying the dog. I had been pre-approved for $1100 with 12 months to pay $350. When I asked about costs and down payments Donna verbally stated that I needed to pay $500 as a down payment, $350 monthly. She then scheduled a date on 10/9/2020 to pick up the dog as well as an additional $350 to start my monthly financing to pick up this dog. When I arrived another employee who was at the front - male - by the name of Zach told me at first to pay around $3k in full and I was confused because Donna told me something else! I told him I was financing this pup. He then made changes in the computer system which number one, didn’t show my name up under financing. Luckily, I had taken a picture of my pre-approval & the monthly amount I was approved for. It seems like Donna forgot about our interaction from last week and even asked if I was approved knowing very well this woman helped me apply for it, STEP BY STEP! She even saw the message saying I was pre-approved for the amount given. In which she did paperwork and also put me in the system to pick up the dog! Once Zach made the changes, the new total is now 2k. Donna was standing there the whole time watching and listening to our conversation. I even looked to her and asked her if she remembered what she said to me - numbers wise. Donna confirms with a head nod and then walks away knowing very well this woman is in trouble! Regardless of Donnas confirmation head nod, Zach said I would still have to pay that 2k plus my monthly payments that would start next month. He had a whole attitude about it (he was very rude!) and even insulted my intelligence by questioning me if I even knew what financing was. Zach did however offered me a refund BUT he was having a whole fit about it. He was aggressively typing on the keyboard and pulling out paper. Due to Zachs poor customer service and addition to Donnas poor knowledge/misinformation I walked away with a refund. If I could rate this place a zero it...

I bought a puppy…called the store mentioning that the puppy wasn’t pooping as directed and the puppy was not crate trained as mentioned at the time of purchase. That got me concerned. I was asked if I took him to vet but I couldn’t get one scheduled that’s within the 7 day return policy for 50% refund. They suggested that I could return if I wanted. With the concern puppy not pooping and running out of time to qualify for a 50% refund, I decided to return the puppy before my kids returned from school. Once they returned from school, I realized I made a big mistake. I called the store manager (Anna) and the store owner (John) and explained that my family is devastated by my poor decision and I begged to sell the puppy back to me. They both explained the store policy and told me that store policy doesn’t allow returning the dog back to the person who returned the dog once because they want to minimize the psychological stress that the puppy has to go through. I asked him to explain how that minimizes stress if they plan to sell him again to a different person for a full price. I don’t believe they care about the puppy at all or the customers; I think they just want to maximize their profit. They called me several times if I was bringing the puppy back but I didn’t realize that they just want to make money. They never mentioned anything about their policy that once I returned I cannot get him again. Just thought I share my experience for others. All I wanted is to have Tom back so a father can correct his mistake and bring him back to my 2 kids. I am so sad to see Tom is already posted for sale on their website just like John said over phone that he will sell it to someone else but not me. I ask what point he’s trying to make here by not...