PetSmart — Local services in La Quinta

Update July 2021: My wife and I have been coming here a lot more frequently for pet supplies. This morning, my wife wanted a hamster, so we got a roborovski hamster from this location.

We drove straight home, but after we brought the hamster home, the hamster had what appeared to be a stroke considering its behaviour and died after an hour. We suspected either stress or the 10 minute drive and the 10 AM heat got to her, although the latter was hardly an issue at that time of day.

We brought the hamster back to this Petsmart, and the cashier was very nice and understanding. However, an employee, presumably a pet groomer from what we could gather, came out and started inquiring about the cause of death. She seemed hell-bent on looking for our fault in it. She said she wasn't sure if it was a heat stroke or if the hamster was attacked by another hamster (which we don't have), although we feel like the lack of wounds should've made it obvious it wasn't the latter. She then went on mention how there have been no issues with their hamsters lately, which is when I pointed out that they have a hamster with a craniofacial abnormality/hydrocephalus for sale at the moment.

She said she doubted this because the hamsters are checked twice a day to see if anything is wrong with them, but after she took a look, she acknowledged there was an issue with the hamster. She asks another employee who put the hydro hamster in, and the employee thought the hamster had "some sort of Down's Syndrome, but is otherwise fine".

Going back to the original issue, the pet groomer lady goes on to say that our hamster has now "definitely" died of heat stroke because "the hamster was hot" (for clarification, the hamster's body was cold up until after it died, only becoming hot once we drove down in the afternoon to Petsmart.

We mentioned we recently brought home a leopard gecko is similar heat to which she replied, and I'm not paraphrasing here: "Leopard geckos are desert animals and hamsters aren't and are from somewhere fresher". I assumed it was common knowledge that hamsters are desert rodents, but evidently, not to Petsmart pet groomers.

I'm unsure of why she came to us to inquire about the hamster's death as she was not involved in the refund process nor did she appear to be a caretaker for hamsters. I can only conclude that she was curious and decided to get involved, which I find to be very inappropriate given the circumstances. My wife and I care about all of our pets and, despite the short time we had this hamster, we were saddened by what happened.

This, along with some other recent experiences at this Petsmart, have put my wife and I off of going back to this Petsmart in the future...

I just want to say that I am the person that always intends to leave a review and is too busy to follow through! However, sometimes people that are just Outstanding and go above and beyond with their job that the least I could do was share what an awesome person he is!! I’ve been to MANY Petsmarts cause I live in 29 Palms and only have a Petco and they are not my preference. I’ve never had a bad experience in any but like any store if you have questions the answers are very short, vague, with a I don’t want to be bothered kind of feeling. To start Aaron is very admirably humble! He was the hardest working person in the store and yet somehow I was surprised and yet not to learn that he is the store manager when I asked who the manager was to make sure his boss new what an outstanding job he was doing. This the reason why I will finally write this well deserved review! My dog has been through some trauma that veterinarians evade and don’t engage conversation with me about even when I had questions. It was refreshingly just matter of fact, no judgements, and straight to the solution! He is SO extremely knowledgeable! I was very impressed! Cheery, upbeat, knowledgeable, and out of the way helpful as can be! Not in a rush (or so he made it seem), thorough and not rushed like your being a bother just trying to get a question answered as they are running around, can’t be bothered to even halfway answer. I hope this place is smart enough to see how fortunate they are and value and advance him quickly! Because if they don’t it won’t be any time at all before someone doesn’t snatch him up realizing his potential and value. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK AARON!! I can’t thank you enough for all you info and knowledge. I’m so used to going and buying the wrong thing 3 different times cause I can never get any help, than treated practically like a criminal when and if I even bother to return or exchange them! You set the bar pretty high and I thank you to now know what it’s like to actually be treated and valued as a customer! Sorry this is so long and it may seem like I’m exaggerating so let me reassure you that is incorrect! I also have a son his age so again I hope someone who can truly acknowledge his efforts will read this! Thank you Aaron, that was unthinkable abuse that needed to be shared to get the right help for my baby and you’ll never know I can’t thank you enough just for being you!!...

This PetSmart helped someone commit fraud and steal from me. I worked for PetSmart for almost a decade. I know the policies. I’m appalled at this store’s inaction and that they would assist in a crime with no remorse.

My PetSmart account was hacked yesterday and an online order pickup was placed at this store. When I noticed, I changed my password and called immediately to ask that they cancel the order. A nice man on the phone told me he would make a note and cancel it as soon as it came in (it had been about 20 minutes since the email). I got another email about an hour later saying that the order was ready for pick up so obviously they didn’t cancel it. I called to ask them to cancel it and while I was on a long hold, the person came in and took the order! Less than 1 minute after I got the “your order has been picked up” email the store employee on the phone was saying there was nothing they could do. I asked how this could happen as obviously I was in a different state and the person that picked up the order did not have my ID or order email. She said “I don’t know.” I asked if they confirmed the identity of the person that picked up the order as I was on the phone with them now and the person that picked up the order left less than a minute ago. She said “no.” Great! Amazing. She refused to help, was not sympathetic, and told me to call the corporate support line.

I called the support line and Kayla was extremely helpful and kind. She tried to call the store herself as she said it was their policy to check IDs for the orders and that it was the responsibility of the store to issue me a refund. The store refused to speak to their own support people!! She was not able to get anywhere with them. What is even happening at this store?

Either way, this review is only getting 2 stars for Kayla. Thank you for wiping my account, noticing that the fraudulent person was in the account shopping again AS WE WERE ON THE PHONE TOGETHER (they’re unable to kick anyone out of accounts so even if you change a password, if they’re already logged in they’ll stay in), and for being so...