Petco — Local services in Gastonia

I use to love this store it was my go to for the last year. Since all the locally owned pet shops have sadly disappeared. But for the last five months or so I have had horrible experience after horrible experience there. They got in a whole bunch of new staff and for the lack of a better word they are the shittest at customer service I have ever had to deal with. You get better customer service at a Wal-Mart than this place. Every time I go in there no one wants to help you and God forbid if you pull teeth long enough with them to do their job it about kills them. They just want to stand around the registers and talk among themselves. So I guess it's time for my last and final story about this Petco to explain why I'm never going back to it. I went into Petco to get some crickets for my reptiles and scorpion because Petsmart was sadly out. The biggest mistake was walking through the doors of this place. Instantly I was met by three employees staring me down clearly dreading to fact they might have to work. Also as a side note it was only me and one other customer in the store at the time. So to my surprise after looking around a mintue to get some other supplies one of the employees actually walked over to the reptile section. So I flagged him down and asked if they had crickets. He told me they were running low. That's when I told him I needed a 150 or whatever he had left in the large crickets, and that I also needed 20 pin head crickets. He literally grudgingly sighed and went to go get my crickets. Because that was the biggest burden I could ever ask for. After taking for ever to get the pin heads he told me the rest would be at the registers. I get up to the registers he had haphazardly tossed the pin heads in the sun and was to busy gossiping to another employee and never got my other crickets up. That's when the only other customer in the whole store asked the man for crickets. That by the way I already staked claim on. He happily got hers and sent her on her way while I'm still waiting there for the crickets I already requested. Pissed off at this point since I have been in there waiting for at least 15mins. on some stinking bugs. And they had enough time to help anybody else but me. This is literally the first time I left stuff on the counter and left pissed off from a store. I'm generally a patent nice person in stores since I work in retail as well and know it can suck a lot of the time. But there are some things that are just inexcusable. That is the last time I go into this store until they actually get good...

It was the worst grooming and store experience I’ve had. The manager is rude and aggressive. The pics are of my 8 month old puppy after a 4 hour grooming session. I received a message about 3.5 hours in telling me the groomer was just going to do a quick face, feet, and Fanny groom because my pup was becoming anxious. After that long I couldn't blame him! He had to go potty as soon as we got outside. He wasn’t dry. He was still damp in his ears and “arm pits” and feet. Very little was done to his feet… if anything.

The one picture is where the groomer took a huge chunk of hair out of his ear…and NO it wasn’t a mat. I was charged initially for 1. A full groom of a long haired dog, 2. A face, feet and Fanny groom (which he wouldn't have needed if he had gotten the full groom) 3. An essentials package (that’s the works nail grinding (nail trim is part of full groom but grinding makes the nails smooth (he definitely didn’t get that, a special balm for the paw pads, and teeth brushing and special shampoo and conditioner and spritz) 4. A 5.00 charge for products (for normal shampoo etc.) O they were charging me over and over for services that my pup did not receive. Then the manager went off on me hen I called back later to very politely and calmly tried to voice my concerns and disappointment. The groomer didn’t even come out to tell me what she had or had not done. My guess is that she gave him a bath, stuck him in a cage with a fan and then came back after she groomed another dog and my pup was already stressed from sitting in a cage wet for 3-4 hours in a strange place. That’s just my opinion. What I do know is that the manager is off...

I mainly go there for my aquarium supplies since the other big chain store down the highway seems to have gone downhill in my opinion with the live fish selection and knowledge. The employees are always friendly and I used to be a regular however the only issue I have is “Walkers” aka loss prevention. Granted I understand why stores have them but please be more discreet. I spotted the “employee” the second I got out of my truck. They followed me into the store and track me throughout my experience in the store acting like a customer. This individual followed me for over an hour throughout the store and kept watching me. I spend quite some time watching the fish to ensure they are as healthy as possible before I make a purchase. During this time the “associate” measured the same tank with a tape measure 4 times and never spoke to me when I spoke to them. After I purchased what I wanted the “customer” walked out in front of me and sat in their vehicle and never left. Please understand I am a honest person but please focus attention where it is needed as in the treat bar up front with no employees at the registers and not focusing on a person that is looking for an aquarium and supplies. I do not have the energy to try and steal a 75 gallon aquarium and a canister filter. I literally needed a flat cart to take my items to my vehicle after waiting for someone to come to the register to ring me up. Chock it up to a rookie loss prevention employee but that was awkward and annoying however I did wave at the associate as I left with a truck bed full of purchased items. Petco please don’t make it so obvious and awkward...