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Shock P@H know stuff!

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lovelygirl

lovelygirl

Adult Guinea Pig
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Was in p@h as needed to pick up bits and bobs, as as usual wandered past guinea pig "farm" as i call it.

1) one person was there wanting to buy a sow to go with a neutered male, only been neutered two weeks and they told him that they needed to wait atleast 4 and preferably 6 weeks for him to be sterile and if they put a baby girl in with him now she would probably get pregnant and die. The guy said there boar was lonely and the person at p@h said they could have the baby girl but she must be kept separated from the boar for at least 2 weeks and preferably a month! Could not believe my ears

2) Somebody wanted to buy a single girl piggy and they told the woman that the piggy will be lonely on its own and that they really need company, and they won't see normal piggy behaviour if they keep a single pig!

Now i know i should not have been ear wigging but i did nearly faint in shock
 
well, if i go to pets shops, friends and family, hate me, because if i see anyone wanting to buy an animal i tell them about the different forums i;m on, and how there are loads of rescue animals that need homes.

My daughters ok with me doing it, but my oh keeps telling me i will get banned from the shops! Love them to try it, i'd be straight to the local papers!
 
Do not normally go if at all possible, but the shock was that they were giving out accurate information!
 
My 2 girls were from P@H and I honestly couldn't fault them. I don't like it when people put the shop down because my local one is brilliant. I don't shop there now as I don't buy from anywhere that sells pets but they were always giving out the correct information. The animals always had reachable water, food, hay and vegetables.
 
Thats good but they are still bad for the fact they still sell commerical junk just because it makes profit and some is not good for the animals intended (i.e. running balls for guinea pigs, tiny cages, salt licks, vit c drops etc) and they still sell animals from cheap breeders. Not to mention 90% of their stores are clueless.
 
It is good to hear that they are starting to clean up their act; my local one hasn't been bad for some time now, actually!

I agree about the junk, and even more so about the still too small cages labelled for guinea pigs.

Why don't you write a letter and say how glad you were about what you overheard? After all, nobody likes to hear only complaints; and I can well imagine that the staff have obviously got some info to brace for the G-Force factor! It is good to see that p@h are trying to handle the increased demand responsibly. How well this is enforced is still down to each shop; and there are differences.
 
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i just thought it was nice to give them a thumbs up when they do something well, i might just send them an email
 
lovelygirl said:
i just thought it was nice to give them a thumbs up when they do something well, i might just send them an email
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I think that's a good idea, I'm sure the local staff will be chuffed to bits that someone's noticed they're making an effort, and it won't do head office any harm to note that people appreciate improved welfare standard - you catch more flies with honey ;)
 
i have to say my local P@H were excellent. Even if they did get the sex wrong for one of my sows

they reacted to the situation and were very helpful finding a solution

i now have more than i intednded to have but to be honest - now i want more

any more will come from rescue now i know there is such a thing
 
I got at response!

Thid is what i sent.....

To whom it may concern, I was recently in your store at the Eastgate Centre, Bristol. I was looking at the guinea pigs, which i would love to see in a bigger cage. I overheard a few conversations between a member of staff and the public 1) one person was there wanting to buy a sow to go with a neutered male, only been neutered two weeks and they told him that they needed to wait atleast 4 and preferably 6 weeks for him to be sterile and if they put a baby girl in with him now she would probably get pregnant and die. The guy said there boar was lonely and the person at p@h said they could have the baby girl but she must be kept separated from the boar for at least 2 weeks and preferably a month! Could not believe my ears 2) Somebody wanted to buy a single girl piggy and they told the woman that the piggy will be lonely on its own and that they really need company, and they won't see normal piggy behaviour if they keep a single pig! i was nicely surprised how informed the staff were and keeping the best interests of the guinea pigs rather than just shifting stock. A week or two before i went in and they had run out of water and mentioned it to the staff and the water was topped up within 5 minutes. It would please me greatly if you tried to encourage the minimum cage size for two guinea pigs as 2ft by 4ft. send my compliments to the staff, Eleanor

This is the response i received!

Dear Eleanor

Thank you very much for your email in relation to the advice you heard our store colleagues provide to customers in relation to purchasing guinea pigs. All our store colleagues receive ongoing training in relation to the pets but many of them also have pets themselves. We have a strict pets before profit policy and it is nice to hear that our colleagues at Bristol are implementing this.

We do care passionately about animal welfare and for the pets in our care and if a customer notices any concerns in relation to their welfare it should be addressed immediately like you witnessed.

I have passed on your comments regarding the cages to our Pet Team to look into.

Thank you again for taking the time and trouble to make us aware of this we really do appreciate it.

Kind Regards

Gemma


Gemma Weaver

Customer Service Advisor
Pets at Home Ltd
Epsom Avenue, Stanley Green Trading Estate,
Handforth, Cheshire, SK9 3RN
Telephone: 0800 328 4204
Fax: 0161 485 4846

maybe if enough people raise their voices then maybe we will be heard and even if we only change of pet chain it would be a great step in the right direction
 
Also if anyone can send me all and any relevant website addresses about cage sizes for guinea pigs i plan on sending them an email back!
 
Good result!

Well done for going to the trouble of writing. I've never been into our local PAH, more because of the location than anything else, I do my shopping online mostly! But it's good to think they are trying to respond to customer feedback.

(I know it always makes my day when I'm forwarded a customer email from customer services about something I've done well, and I'm not even in a customer facing role!)
 
Some of the P@H staff in Bristol are pretty good. I used to use the Abbeywood one alot and a guy refused to sell a woman a Nero 3 for 2 piggies and insisted a Nero 4 or no piggies. I am terrible for earwigging when I'm in there. Lol!
 
amy104 said:
Some of the P@H staff in Bristol are pretty good. I used to use the Abbeywood one alot and a guy refused to sell a woman a Nero 3 for 2 piggies and insisted a Nero 4 or no piggies. I am terrible for earwigging when I'm in there. Lol!
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Now that's brilliant! Good for them. My local one has just been refurbished and is great lately - they ALWAYS have food, hay, water and veggies plus they have loads and loads of room.

There is another fairly close by on the other hand that I sometimes go to and the last few times they didn't have any hay or veggies or food and i have complained twice and waited until it's been done before i go. Wish they were consistent but at least they are getting better.

Well done for passing on positive comments.
 
at least i am not the only ear wigger when it comes to p@h i just think that if enough people pass on the knowledge by sending them emails something might happen for the good of all piggies being bought there
 
There is a very nice woman who works there - assistant manager I think - who is recommended by a local animal charity. I have met her and she is very knowledgeable.

She is also in charge of the rehoming section and carefully selects who she rehomes to.

It is good to know that someone like her can pass on her knowledge to the other staff.
 
got to say i have found them very helpful.
the staff we spoke to were knowledgeable about a lot of things. they talked to us about the cages -even quite large seeming cages were too small.we went a few times over the past couple of weeks to do research and they were great.

i bought my gps from yesterday and before they would let me take them home, we had to go through a health check-they showed us what to look for, how to hold them, all sorts.the woman was so pleasant and answered lots of questions. she advised me that they would get BIG when they are a older and told me i would have to keep a careful eye on their accomodation and get bigger when they got bigger

they had everything we needed hay, food, dishes, cleaning stuff, all sorts. and the animals they had were in big clean enclosures-no horrid little cages

and they had an adoption section too
 
After hearing so much about PAH I made a special trip there to have a look for myself as I'd never been in there before.

The animal section was clean, there was food and water in all the cages. The guinea pig cages on sale were too small for a pair of piggies, but I suppose I expected that.

All in all it seemed fine, but I was unnerved by the industrial scale of it all. I guess I don't think about shopping for a pet in the same way I'd do my weekly food shop, but it felt a bit like going into Sainsburys or something!

I left feeling a bit old and out of my element really, but I guess I'm not their target audience.
 
Rocky's story

Hello I'm new to this forum and have only posted once before however reading this thread I had to tell you about my (poor) experience with my local P@H. I adopted a male 4 year old piggie from them, no probs so far, who I recently lost following dental problems. 8...I have 2 other piggies just under a year old and had adopted 2 x minipigs from someone who didn't want them and then happened to be in the local store for some supplies. I saw a very small piggie hunched up, breathing heavily with scabby eyes and nose. The piggies also had very little hay. I told the staff he didn't look well and when I went back a few hours later he was still in the same position. Being daft I bought him straight away and they had him vet checked at their instore vets. He was in there mere seconds and pronounce healthy and a boy - well at least they got one thing right!
As it was bank holiday weekend and my vet was closed I had little choice but to book him in to their in store vets as an emergency. The vet said he had a respiratory infection and was underweight. I then informed her that I had just bought him in store and after looking embarrassed she said that the shop would pay for his treatment, some Baytril.
I took him to my own trusted vets the next day who agreed with the diagnosis and gave me some syringe feed which I shovelled down his neck for the next couple of days. He estimated that the piggie who I have called Rocky (v feisty little guy!) was max of 7-8 weeks old.
Since then he has fully recovered and has doubled in weight in 3 weeks and is lovely - even though I had to invest in another cage and completely rearrange my living room:).
Moan over, thank you.
 
i think we as a guinea pig community need to praise them when they are good and tell them when they are bad writing to head office each and every time.

I-love-pigs - have you written to head office and if so what was their response?

The one in bristol is quite good, but there needs to be people around to keep them on their toes!
 
I am drafting an email to their head office but I have been a bit busy with all the new piggies!:(|) I don't think the manager of the store was best pleased as he had to authorise payment of my vets fees and he was the one I had originally told that Rocky wasn't looking well so he remembered me!
I will def complain and am in the store fairly often with my gang of pets so will be keeping them on their toes in future.
 
I am sure they recognise me and know i will walk round all the pens looking at water bottles and food, and i don't always buy anything i just feel better if i have been in the area to pop in and check, drives boyfriend mad!
 
My hubby always txts me after one of my visits to see if there are any new additions to the family cos he knows what I'm like! rolleyes
 
The lad who sold me our pigs said that people always comment on the green water in the bottles but it's a vitamin supliment they add that turns the water green. I know this isn't always the case but some cases can be put down to that, so it's worth bareing that in mind. I have the supliment and it does turn the water green.
 
the one i bought danny and dodger from refuse to sell single females.

they are not kept in cages but in a really big enclosure

the water/food etc was spotless

i can only go by the ones i have seen but up here-they are great
 
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