I've always gone here with my kids, so we can get the things they need for their animals. Overall, we love this store. The 2 stars I deducted from this is based on an isolated situation. It's a big one, but for us, not big enough to say we wouldn't recommend the store altogether.
We went in for my daughter's birthday gift. She's been asking for a guinea pig, and we thought her 7th birthday would be over the top if we finally allowed it.
We walked by all the guinea pigs and saw two in the same enclosure together. A worker walked over and asked if we needed help, so I explained the situation. We are going to be first time guinea pig owners, that's what I thought was important for the worker to know.
So, as we are standing in front the two guinea pigs.. she tells us that they're "bonded" guinea pigs and cannot be adopted separately. My daughter fell in love with only one of them, but I absolutely loved the other. So, she explained that they're brother guinea pigs and for no reason, can they be separated. I went for it!
A couple months later, as I'm cleaning their cage, I notice two itty bitty babies in the cage. I leapt up and immediately call my husband over. Together, we lift their hut, and sure enough I've got two babies in there!!
The next day, after work, I go to Petco and address this situation to the workers. There were two younger workers there, whom I do see often, but they weren't the ones who sold me the Guinea pigs so I didn't think it right to yell at them. I told them, a worker told me they were two bonded brothers. I've found out the hard way, they're definitely a boy and a girl.
The male worker pulls his phone out and GOOGLES things about baby guinea pigs and their care. Does not involve or inquire with a manager at all. I listen to his advice and thank him for the info.
I leave the store without any addressing of WTF to do with a mom and dad and two babies. Or what PETCO would do, considering this isn't what they advertised when I bought the "bonded brothers" who weren't that at all. No offer to take in the babies, no offer to fix the mother, no offer to HUGELY discount a cage to separate males and females. Nothing. They gave me some Google info and expected I'd just waltz out the store happy to have 4 guinea pigs instead of 2.
Luckily for this store, my two babies fell in love with the little Guinea pigs. We kept them, and have had to make huge purchases on Amazon to accumulate all the requirements to house these guinea pigs. No one from Petco ever reached back out to me, which means those workers never told a manager anything about this mishap.
I am disappointed til today that this happened and nobody from Petco ever reached out to donate, discount, or at least apologize!
Like I said, at the time, we were first time Guinea Pig owners.
The male and female had two sets of twins. The first set, we did the best we could and had to wait awhile to have the money to buy another huge cage. Which in the meantime, the mother got pregnant again. Sooooo, we bought 2 "bonded brothers" and now have 6 total guinea pigs. Stressful, at first, and I didn't know anything about telling a male and female apart.
So, to keep it from being an even longer review, I'll just say.. I had to learn everything myself. I've successfully separated male from female and have bought enormous cages for my pigs. They're all heathy, happy, and well taken care of. I just wish it didn't end up like this to begin with.
I wish we got what we paid for and not any hidden secrets.
Thankfully, we are now basically pros at guinea pigs and the stress of baby making has passed. No more baby making here (no thanks to Petco).
It's a huge mess up on their behalf, BUT other than selling me a husband and wife baby making pair of guinea pigs, the store has always been great!
We buy almost all of our pet supplies here. & even though I'm still disappointed and annoyed with Petco, they are otherwise pretty good to us!
Sorry for the long review. read more