Pets at Home are shit. It’s official.

[PetsatHomeareShit]

Pets At Home Kingston Park (and probably everywhere) clearly bully their staff into reaching data harvesting targets.
For sweet FA in return, ime. St least Tesco and M&S give incentives.

The last time I was in there the cashier asked me for my date of birth. I mean, they’re not happy with the data that they already have - by getting you to sign up for the fucking app, which in itself was done under pressure. They want a bit more information every time you go in. Next time it would have been blood group, I’m sure.

I’ve successfully avoided them for about a year, but was collecting something from Curry’s next door so thought I’d quickly pick up a little item that I needed. Boy did I regret it.

Closing time, everybody wants go home, including me.

I’m standing with the item in my left hand and my card, visible, resting on the desk, in my right hand.
We’ve communicated with a quick smile & eye contact.

Cashier says, in a tone of voice that makes it sound compulsory:

Can I have your loyalty card please?

Me: No thanks. I don’t bother.

(I’m studiously looking down at the card machine.)

Cashier: Is there any particular reason why?

Me: Not really, I just don’t like it. (Still looking down. Clearly I want to pay and go.)

Cashier: Oh really, why not? (He still hasn’t put the transaction through. I’m held to random.)

I’m starting to get pissed off now. Here we go Again, I think.

Me: I’m fine, honestly. I just don’t think it’s worth it.
(Still not making eye contact with him, still waiting for him to put my transaction through on the card machine, still waiting to pay and Be Released.)

Him (Mansplaining tone of voice fucking dripping with condescension): Did you realise that every time you use the app, charities receive a donation?

Me: I like to be aware of which charities I’m giving to, thanks

Looking at you, M&S and your history with Mermaids

Him: (offended, closing his eyes and tilting his head back, I’ll-have-you-know tone of voice) ALL of our charities are legitimate animal charities, etc etc

Me: I’m starting to feel really bullied now. You need to inform the people who are putting you under pressure to do this, that you are in turn making customers feel under pressure.

Him (regrettable tone of voice, shaking head) It’s not bullying.

What I wanted to say, and will say now, if you’ll allow me, is FUCK OFF. Leave me alone. I ran in here quickly to buy one item and you’ve harassed me to the point you’re making my heart race.

What I did do, after I’d paid and taken one step away from the desk, was get him to return the item and reimburse me. It was the only think I could think of to protest. I didn’t desperately need it. I can get it online.

Pets at Home: Shove your pet food. There are many, many ways to buy pet food these days, including having it delivered to one’s door.

You REALLY, seriously, need to re-think this policy of harassment.

Crikey. That does sound like high pressure. Most people would be irritated. Good on you for taking control of the situation

Agree OP, after a recent experience with them I am shopping elsewhere. Local independents may be a little bit more but not much and have a much better customer service experience and a wider more interesting range of products.

What a pointless thing you did returning it.

I don’t think I’ve been in there since 2019, when I was asked to add an extra amount to the total to “buy a homeless dog Christmas dinner”. I declined and the customers at the next til started kicking off at me at how mean I must be to want a homeless dog to starve.

i don’t tend to respond to give to random requests for charity money. I like to check the charities I give to and also gift aid to, which isn’t an option when the company adds a random amount to your total.

It was all quite bizarre and I’ve been put off the place ever since

@AmyDuPlantierNot really. I wasted some of his time, as he’d wasted mine. I didn’t really need it tonight, I just happened to be next door.

I’ll get it elsewhere.

How odd. I go in, I buy cat food, I leave.

Any shop that asks if I want a loyalty card gets the same answer: “no thanks, I’m fine.” Have never had any issues anywhere.

Jeez @SheepShankersthat takes the biscuit. It’s the moral/emotional blackmail. It doesn’t give you the feel-good factor.

I hate shops who do this type of thing. Our local petrol station have this on their card machine, you have to decline a 25p donation before you pay.

They seem to have closed their old loyalty scheme and were trying to get me to download an app. No I don’t want another random app hoovering up my data. I now buy what I need on Amazon so they’ve lost a customer in me.

It’s not as if Tesco, etc, haven’t done the research and found out what makes people willingly hand their data over. They make it worthwhile. I kept letting them scan their precious app and it was positively annoying seeing all the ways they found of avoiding giving me a discount.

I’ve had this happen about four times in Pets At Home (different stores). Am never going back.

It was closing time so likely you kept more than one staff member back unpaid for your tantrum, which will have literally no impact on the fact that they force staff to push loyalty cards. It was a dick move pulled on someone who had no choice but to serve you.

@Pastlastthat’s my plan. Bye bye Pets At Home.

@AmyDuPlantier nope. Already been guilt tripped once tonight. He created the delay All.By.Himself.

I’m not in the habit of throwing tantrums by the way. Please don’t use infantilising language.

I’m guessing you work at Pets At Home. They are shit.

I don’t work there no. But my husband works in retail and is knackered by this week and behaviour like this is just bullshit.

Also, he had no choice but to serve me, but he could have pulled out of the harassment at any time.

This has happened to me many times in that shop. I am UNFAILINGLY pleasant and polite to people who work in shops. Why would I not be?

Can I have your loyalty card please?
Me: No thanks. I don’t bother.
Cashier: Is there any particular reason why?
Me: Not really, I just don’t like it.

I'm sorry OP but you are kind of opening them up to ask you why there, and as soon as they asked why you again offered up an opinion for why you don't want one.. the underlined parts were completely unnecessary and just unnecessarily carried the conversation on?

"Have you got a loyalty card"
"no, I haven't got one".
"Would you like to sign up for one?"
"No thank you"
then in the slightest off chance they were to persist, just stand there in silence or say "I said no".

In fairness I've been in quite a lot of pet's at home in various places across the country and they never ask for my loyalty card, they ask if I have one, I sometimes say yes, I sometimes so no (if in a rush) the conversation never goes any further than that! I'm not saying you didn't come across a pushy staff member but if this sort of thing has infuriated you that much then you need to deal with it in a more assertive way. A lot of shops try to peddle loyalty cards, it shouldn't cause that much drama.

I’m sure your husband knows when to stop harassing people. I have seen people being rude to staff and I promise you I’m not one of them. I just don’t have that attitude.

That's harassment. I suppose you could have asked for his full name because you intended to put in a complaint.

Many years ago I worked at a vet practice in Bristol. A nice lady who ran a rodent rescue from her house and was also worked part time for Pets at Home brought a guinea pig in. She had been on her break at work and heard scratching noises coming from a box in the corner of the staff room. Her manager informed her there was a guinea pig in there that was ‘on its way out’. She took a look and the guinea pig couldn’t stand, it was falling over and ending up on its back if it tried to get up. The lady brought it to the vets, it had a nasty ear infection. Very easy to treat, not life threatening with appropriate veterinary care, and the guinea pig was fine within a few days. The manager at Pets at Home had left it in a bare cardboard box, with no food or water, failed to have it checked by a vet, self diagnosed that it was dying, left it to suffer and could not recognise the symptoms of an ear infection. I’m sorry I have gone off piste but if I hear negativity about Pets at Home I always think of this and wonder how a senior member of staff could have been this incompetent and poorly trained.

@sandyhappypeopleyes but we all present differently, we all have our comfort zones etc. You must emanate “don’t mess with me” whereas I don’t. Honestly I feel as though I’ve tried everything in that shop and they just won’t let up.

I knew someone would say that I shouldn’t have said “I don’t bother” but I feel so uncomfortable just saying “no thanks”. I kept looking at the card machine to signal “No” but it still didn’t work.

@justasking111thanks but I wouldn’t complain because I realise that he is under pressure. I just think that they should change their policy. It’s awful.

I know for a fact the staff are stressed because the last time I was in there, the young girl behind the counter was looking at me with big puppy dog eyes, telling me she would be taken out the back for a telling off because she hadn’t met her targets for the month if I didn’t give her my DoB. I felt so sorry for her that I gave in. I’ve had enough now though.

I hate this asking for a donation at the till thing. Superdrug you have to press green yes or red no to charity donation before you pay!
But I do like Pets at Home, they are always helpful and pleasant, and I always just say no to the app as it's is a bit rubbish, and they never give many vouchers or discounts away.
It was worth it when I first signed up when we got a puppy as got a big discount when we stocked up on new puppy gear / food etc.

@JH0404Oh that is utterly horrible to read. I really, really hate to think of an animal slowly suffering like that. And unnecessarily so.

I think they are all about the profit, sadly. Aggressively so. I’m done with them.

I understand what you are saying, everyone's different, but you are making life so much harder for yourself by offering additional information, which then (unfortunately) invites a response, it doesn't matter what you emanate, it was what you said that was the problem.

You are literally opening a conversation about it at that point.

"No, thank you" doesn't invite a response, and if a person does respond to try harder to sell you something, you only have to say no again, it can all be said very friendly and amicably, no is a complete sentence, they can't MAKE you do something you don't want to.

I'm not sure you have a problem saying no, you seem to have a problem with them asking you in the first place, which is why you answered in an combative way, loads of shops either want your details or to get you to sign up to a loyalty scheme.. it's not a personal attack, just say no and they drop it, easy!

Corporate stores are disgusting. They collect your data and then sell it on, making a tidy sum in the process. The supermarkets penalise shoppers who don't have a storecard by charging them extra. The storecard price is actually the rrp. Two tier pricing as well as data harvesting.