I will start at the beginning on 4/16/12. I went into PETCO Poughkeepsie, NY next to Shop Rite to get a few fish to add to my tank, which was already established with some fish from another store. Those fish were in the tank for about two weeks and fine. So I go into PETCO and their "usual fish guy" called out sick. So I got a guy who was just, "tossed over here". I go ahead and buy five fishes for my tank. There were two other customers there who knew about fish and they also help me not get any "aggressive fish" that would eat my other fish. I get the five fish and get home and everything seems fine.
I look at my receipt because I always hold onto receipts. I was charged for six fishes. The sixth was an Oscar Tiger, the wrong fish. If you have anything smaller then this fish will eat anything that fits in its mouth. I wait one day because I couldn't make it in the same day for the return. When I get up in the morning, one of the fish, the Opaline Gourami, is acting weird. Anyone who owns fish know when they are going to die, they swim funny kind of drift in the water, etc.
So I return the Opaline Gourami and tell them about the fish I was charged for that I never got, I get that return as well. Ok so here's where the issues begin. Every two days after this, one of the fish I got from PETCO died. They test my water and the eater had a slight ammonia level, not enough to kill the fish according the "regular fish guy". This is what he told me every time I return a fish and I get my refund in cash. So three of the five fish I bought from PETCO were dead.
On 4/25/12, I wake up in the morning and the Bamboo Shrimp is dead at the bottom. I have no clue how long it was dead in there, I bring it in to return it and the same fish guy was there and some girl associate. He has the girl test my water while he go to other customers. She test my water with a PH strip then dumps it out and seconds later says my ammonia levels are too high and it killed the shrimp. So she calls a manager over who give me a long "spiel" about PH levels and don't change my water, blah, blah. So I leave. Luckily, in my car, I had a water bottle full of the tank water and bring it to the "regular fish guy" to test. He test it from the second sample I bought in and said it hasn't enough ammonia to kill the shrimp but they are very delicate and shouldn't have been put in your tank in the first place. Remember how I said they had some random employee there who didn't know jack about fish.
I also forgot to mention when I went to my car for the second water sample, I go back in and the girl that tested the water before saw me and ran off. So the same manager comes and gets different info from the fish guy then he agrees the return with nothing else said.
Finally, I go to the cash register with the receipt that was approve for the fish return and the associate up there said, "I can't get cash back for the returned fish because it was a credit card." I told her every time she said Credit Card, it was a Debit Card. I got cash back on the four other fish returns I did and didn't know what the problem was this time. She calls for that same manager that said I couldn't get a return for the fish. Then 5 minutes later said I can return it. I had to show her how to do a cash back return.
In conclusion, I will not be returning to PETCO anywhere. There is a pet store in the lot across the street by Bob's and Ashley furniture I will be returning to, which somehow all the fish I got from there are all alive and well. On top of that, the light for the tank I bought is short and the stand is missing two cross beams it needs from the tank. They wouldn't take it back so I can get at least 10% off on it. So of the things I bought from PETCO, 95% of them have had some issue; from dead fish, to getting money back to faulty parts and to missing parts in products. All I have to say is beware and save your receipts.
