Animal House

Reviews 4

SO

Sophia Ellen Jadzak

I just had the worst experience I have ever had at a store, especially a pet store. I know in the pet business, as with any business, you have to walk a fine line between taking care of your customers, while still being able to keep a profit. However, many thriving business models understand taking care of your customers, often insures keeping a profit. Animal House completely lacks this knowledge, which perhaps explains their ever rising prices and excess stock. I purchased an Antilles Pink Toe (caribena versicolor) spiderling from Dale only a week ago, on August 31st. The spider, he assured, was a vicious eater, despite the several dead crickets in the deli container he had placed the spider in. I had done months of research prior to owning my first spider, and noticed the spider was looking off color and wobbly. I had a feeling something was wrong. But I ignored it, because I was so excited, and I was a long time customer of the store and I frequently came in to buy fish and mice. I spent $70 on this baby spider, which Dale said he did not accept returns on. I had this knowledge, and took the spider home. I had large enclosure set up, with substrate, proper arboreal conditions, a temp and humidity gauge, mister, food and tongs. I kept it in the deli container, though, because I didnt want to loose track of a sling. I offered the spider small pre killed crickets every three days and changed out old paper towels for humidity and cleanliness. The spider never once ate. It did not web. I was worried, but I wanted baby blue to live. I came home one day to see a massive hole in the spiders head. It was clearly dead, with a massive worm crawling out of its body. I was horrified, disgusted and sad. I called Robin at Animal House, and explained the situation. She said not to worry, that "Dale is a fair man" and that I was "in good hands". Dale called me the next day. He tersely stated that they do not do returns or exchanges. Dale accused me of lying, saying that it was obviously a maggot from a fly. I was feeling very sad at this point, and trying not sound too upset, I explained that I had him in the original enclosure, and he would know that there was no way a fly could have gotten in. He said it was probably from leftover crickets. I explained the spider never ate, and I cleaned all debris from the tank that was uneaten day of. Dale finally said "hes never heard of parasitism before", but parasites "werent his fault", to which I replied that I do not blame them whatsoever. I did asked if I should bring in the container, but he didnt want to see the worm. He said he was busy and was not going to be in the store for much longer. He said not to bother brining it in. I never once asked for a refund from Dale. But, "being in good hands", I was hoping for perhaps $35 store credit, half of what I purchased, to get a new spider. I asked if maybe I could do an exchange for an older spider? He said no. I held it together enough to ask if I could maybe get 50% off of an older spider. He said he would be "losing profit". Dale had the audacity to try to sell me a new spiderling C. versicolor, for $90, but I could get $10 off. I politely said no thank you, have a good day, got off the phone- feeling upset and taken advantage of. Animal House has lost my business. I love the staff at the local PetCo, so they really would be a better choice. That, and their iron-clad return policy, for mistakes that are theirs or yours. I even returned shrimp that have jumped out of my tank and died, with no receipt, and they kindly comforted me when I was sad and happily gave me new shrimp. They are so understanding and sweet and professional. Also, generally cheaper than Animal House, can you believe it. So, overall, let me caution you: Animal House lost my business, and certainly does not deserve yours. The only thing this store can guarantee its customers is a burnt bridge if you ever go to them for help. Dont for a moment believe you are in good hands- you are not.

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A

A Private User

I have been a customer for three years now. I go in each week to buy live insects to feed to my animals, and talk with the workers about my animals if anything unusual is happening. I started buying crickets and super-worms here after realizing that many of the ones at Pet Town were dead and stinky. These crickets and super worms are gut loaded in the store. If you pay for 25 you get 25 alive fat healthy worms. I commented on this once and they replied "we feed our animals those too, so we want them to be as good for them as possible." I have seen the many of the animals have been kept in great health for the last three years, no one buys them but they seem very happy. For example, no new box turtles have come into the store (except a baby one of them had). The turtles are all energetic with no signs of the bone diseases that are common to turtles. The isles of the store are narrow and there is not much open space, and it could use a little help from the "hoarders" show...but as far as animal care this is the best shop I have ever encountered.

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SE

Sean Gargan

So I just visited this store for the first time today to stock up my newest tank. At first it looked like a weird place, a converted old house with minuscule amounts of room and things EVERYWHERE! But I found my way to the freshwater fish section and nothing else mattered. There where tones of tanks lining the walls with all sorts of fish. They all looked to be fairly healthy and nearly every tank also has a variety of plants and wood. The prices where good to average, For 30 some odd dollars I got a nice small piece of wood, 3 different live plants, and 4 neon tetras. Very good prices. The Galaxy Rasboras where standard price at about $10 each. While (I presume) the owner bagged my fish and plants I was chatting with him and had a very nice conversation just about fish stuff in general, something I usually dont get at other stores because of a lack of knowledge. Definitely a great store, the only reason I didnt give 5 stars is because it is a bit cluttered and could use a good organization other then that though fantastic.

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KI

Kiri the Unicorn

Ive had some misfortune with buying fish from the chain retailer near my workplace. Twice Ive brought home healthy-seeming animals, only to see them slowly go downhill. Not so with Animal House; I feel I can count on them to supply healthy stock. Additionally, all the staff have been helpful and knowledgeable, they carry a wider variety of species than any chain store, and they stock specialty items and equipment that cant be found elsewhere in town. The bad news, such as it is: the store is crowded, a bit dark, and kinda grimy. Id love to see them operating out of a larger & newer space. Their prices can be high for particular items, but I know that a mom-and-pop store cant buy in the kind of volume that the chains can. My recommendation: go to a chain store if you really need to save a few bucks on tanks and common items, but go to Animal House for your fish and everything else.

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