Petworld

Reviews 3

JU

Julie Langston

I cant review this store from a customers perspective, but I can as a former employee. He hired me knowing that I had no experience w/fish. I applied because I’ve had many years of retail experience & am not afraid to take on a new market. I was very honest w/him about this; I didnt want to be hired under false pretenses. I expected training & I made this clear. He hired me, sent me home w/homework that equated to looking up certain fish compatibility & ph levels & scheduled me for the following day. Day 1, he showed me how to clean the tanks, feed the fish, turn on the lights, ring up people. After about 30 minutes, he left. I was the only employee for 3-4 hours straight. Thankfully, no one came in. Day 2, however, we were not that lucky. Again, I am alone. Every person that walked in through those doors had a question I was not equipped to answer - not a single one about compatibility or ph levels, ironically enough. I have never given such inept service in my life! It was embarrassing & I felt sorry for the customers who had to endure dealing w/me. He had given me his number to call or text in case I had questions. I did so without hesitation; I blew up his phone relentlessly. It took him almost 1 hour to get back w/me, annoyed to have been bothered. How can you best serve your customers if the owner is the only person who knows the return policy/has the authority to enact it & he cannot be reached? How do you make things right by that person standing in front of you, waiting for an hour just to find out if they can make an exchange? Or, explain the fact that youre having to Google basic information for a customer who is firing very specific, situational questions @ you & expecting the person who is representing a quite expensive specialty shop, to know their product? Even if he only pays minimum wage, how do you let this person, who foolishly trusted you, walk away not being certain if you just sentenced their pricey exotic fish to an accidental & unnecessary death? Day 3, a guy literally calls me a dumbass because I couldnt answer his basic questions. I cant blame him. I understand his frustration. Who wants to pay that much & have questionable information from the Internet regurgitated @ you? I felt set up to fail & the people loosing out the most were the customers. Retail should be better than that. There were other employees that relieved me @ the end of my shift & they knew their stuff better than I; they had been there longer, had more experience, were willing to train. He even encouraged them to train me - yet he never scheduled us overlapping by more than 5 minutes. I dont work off the clock, nor should I or his other employees be expected to. Still, they would come in a few minutes early to help me w/out clocking in. What little bit I was able to learn was done that way. Thats not legal. During our next brief encounter @ the store, I asked for some on the clock training. He was understandably stressed about low sales & used that as a reason to delay my request. Knowledgeable employees are -crucial- to sales. A good employee who knows their stuff can make a store & one who is ill trained can break it. Unsurprising, my experience being left alone w/keys to his store after knowing him less than 24 hrs was shared by every other employee that I met, including the 1 that recommend the job to me. They seemed to view this process of trial by fire w/a small degree of humor. I lasted 4 days before I politely addressed him via text about further training, asking if, during my next shift, -he- had plans to remain in the store & get me started w/the skills I need to answer the most common questions & concerns, which I currently could not. I can see not having the payroll to allow another employee to do this, but could he? Prior to this, I never have had to beg to be trained; I did over the course of my next 2 days off. He never returned my calls/texts & he never paid me. Yay.

BE

Benjamin Goodpaster

(Keep in mind all the "Google user " comments are fake reviews by the owner of the store ) Im very new to owning fish besides having a couple of betas that lived for a few years when I was younger. When coming to this store I believe the assistant was helpful and nice. When speaking to the owner with my very very limited knowledge of fish I said Im interested in getting a bottom feeder such as the Cory Catfish. He immediately said "thats not a bottom feeder" and just gave me the stink eye. He gave off a rude impression as if I was just another kid trying to buy fish that wont care in another month when the reality is Ive been interested in this for a while and within the last weekend have decided to begin researching and gaining knowledge. Its not necessarily the fact that he gave me a ride impression and literally gave me anxiety its the fact that he discouraged me and made me feel stupid in front of my girlfriend and brother. The point is that the Cory Catfish is a friendly scavenger (aka bottom feeder ) native to South African rivers. I might be just another stupid kid walking into a fish shop not knowing all the information but the fact is he told my brother he can get a 50 gallon tank with all its necessities such as heater, lights, filter for $800 when my brother has found more than a multiple amount of 50 gallons for $150-$300 it just makes me think that this guy has a run down shop thats dusty and smelly and wants to make quick grand off a stupid kid. I dont have the wisdom and knowledge of this man but dont discourage someone that really is interested in taking the first step of starting this hobby. I may be a little dramatic but he discouraged me and and made me drench sweat because I get bad anxiety and he made me feel stupid. Not good customer service

SC

Scott Catoe

I see some pretty silly reviews out there. I started in this hobby about 5 years ago. Darren helped me out tremendously. He taught me a ton, but I was willing to listen and learn. I asked questions, but didnt argue. A big part of what a responsible fish store owner should do is to teach their customers what they need to know to be successful. Theres nothing more frustrating than setting up a tank and watching everything die or having a bad combination of fish that end up killing each other. Petworld is one of only about 3 places in the entire metroplex that I trust to get healthy fish. I dont mind paying more for a healthy animal at a fish store than I would for a dying animal at Walmart or Petsmart. About a year ago, I called him on a Sunday night because my filter failed. He brought me a filter to use until he could get mine fixed. Heres the thing, though- Im not a maintenance customer. Im just a customer that bought my filter from him. He didnt warranty the equipment, he just took care of a customer on a Sunday night. As far as the racism thing... thats just stupid.

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