PetSmart — Local services in Chesapeake

I bought my grand daughter her first guinea pig the first week of March 2017 for her 10th birthday. This was her first pet of her own, we have dogs but they are really the family pets. She was so excited to pick out her guinea pig. When we bought it we were told that if it got sick within the first 14 days, we could bring it back and they would take care of the vet expenses. The girl that we purchased it from seemed very knowledgeable and very helpful. Well after the first week, the guinea pig began squinting his eyes, which is a sign of an Upper Respiratory Infection. So my grand daughter and I immediately took him to PetSmart as we had been instructed to do. Two girls in the small animal department took a look at him and confirmed that he was sick. The vet @ the Banfield Clinic in the store could not see him that day, so they said that they would have to keep in over night and they had made him a 9am appointment for the next morning to be seen. My grand daughter got very upset and began to cry, she was immediately assured by the clerk that was helping us that if he had to stay for any period of time to be treated that we could come and visit him everyday if we wanted to and that we could call and check on him. They also said that they would call me the next morning to let me know what the vet found. His appointment was scheduled for 9am the next morning, I waited until 11am and had not heard anything so I called the store, only to find out that he had not been seen yet and again was told that they would call me. At 1 pm, I still had not heard anything, so I called again and this time I spoke to Meagan, who is one of the managers and she says that he still has not been seen. Long story short he was not seen until late that day, and then I was told that there had been a delay because the vet that sees the guinea pigs didn't even come in until 4pm that day. He in fact did have an Upper Respiratory Infection and had to stay there to be given antibiotics. I was told that he would have to stay at least 1 -2 weeks. At that time, I asked could I bring my grand daughter to see him as we had been told the day before. Meagan said that we would have to wait until he was done with the vet and that once he was back on the store side in the sick area we could come. She would let me know when it was okay to come. Shortly after that, I received a call from Meagan letting me know that she had checked to store policies and had found that we were not allowed to visit as had been promised, we had been misinformed. She said that she would have to speak to the staff about the error. Needless to say, my grand daughter was heartbroken that she could not go see her little pet. I was told that they would call me each day with an update on his condition, they never called me, I had to call everyday to get updates. After a week he was cleared by the vet to come home. The evening I went to pick him up, by myself, thank goodness my grand daughter was unable to go with me that evening, because they brought out the wrong guinea pig to me, when I said "this is not my guinea pig", the gentleman asked "what do you mean", "I mean this is not my guinea pig". Long story short, they had put my paperwork with someone else's guinea pig when they had called me earlier that day to pick ours up. He went back to the back and shortly came back with my guinea pig. I am so disappointed in this whole experience, I have 4 dogs, 2 birds, and now a guinea pig. I have always spent a lot of money in this PetSmart as it is close to my home, but I will NEVER go there again. Shame on the staff for misinforming a little girl about her pet and for breaking her heart. PetSmart at Chesapeake Square just lost my business and I will tell as many people as I can about this...

Usually I love this store and think they do a good job with my price matching and all but my last visit I had a younger cashier and tried to buy one of the engraving tags, which the price says $7.50 (I work retail myself and can check SKUs for accuracy) and it rang up $9. This is the second tag of the same kind I've bought from the store and this is the second time this has happened. It was the right product and engraving is included in the posted price. The last time the cashier saw/confirmed the price difference and changed it. This young man didnt even look at the price (right near register conveyer belt) told me it must be with tax (no) or must be for the engraving (again no) he didn't seem to be concerned at all so he kept scanning my other items. I asked him if I could speak to a manager, he points to a guy near the fish area and says there's one of them, but didn't call them over or use his communication system to alert the manager. So I walked over and asked for his assistance. The manager told him he needed to correct the price and someone needed to change the whole board because the prices were wrong. The cashier then went on to change the price of the wrong item (a higher priced item) and I said no thats not the item. I was honest and the manager caught this as well. I told the cashier it was the first item rang up. Finally it got straightened out but I felt like it was poor customer service. I have never had to alert a manger myself at the register. I don't think I have ever seen someone disregard an incorrect price like that as well. Basically ignore the complaint. There is no name on the receipt, no survey or anything. So maybe the receipt info will help. I hope I don't have an experience...

I generally like the company and the products. I do wish dog toys and chew things were not so expensive. Most of them were between $15-$25. I do like the clearance, usually a very good buy. This store in particular, near Chesapeake Square Mall, is usually fairly messy and it's difficult to find an employee when help is needed. I am surprised how many employers allow employees in a customer service field to be on their cell phones texting or whatever while they're working. However, the employees I have come into contact at that store have always been very polite and helpful... As helpful as they can be. Just thinking of a few times I've had questions and the few employees that only responded that they did not know. I would suggest they be coached on how to fulfill customer inquiries by letting the customer know that while they don't have the answer they would be happy to go speak to another employee(s) that may be able to help. Just trying to offer positive...