This is one of two big name pet stores. The other one is not much better, but this place took the cake today. I called to ask if they have the metal nuts and bolts for the pet crate. A guy answered and I said "I'm flying my DOG to Hawaii and I need metal nuts and bolts for the airline crate as the ones that came with it that I bought from the other place did not carry them, it only came with the plastic ones."
Well, he proceeded to tell me he flew his dog from New York to Lawton and had no problems. I said I just wanted to know if he carried the metal nuts and bolts. He kept asking me what did I mean? The ones they had unlatched and snapped shut. I said I had a pet airline crate that I had to put together and put the top part of the crate onto the bottom part and needed metal nuts and bolts, not the plastic ones. He kept asking if it was the type that latches together or unclipped. I said no, all I wanted to know, yes or no, was if they carried the metal parts. I said they usually come in a travel kit that has the water dishes, the airline-approved metal nuts and bolts and a "LIVE ANIMAL" sign in it. He said I wasn't listening to him. He said he listened to me "7 TIMES" and that I needed to listen to him. He proceeded to ask me again if it was the type that you can unclip or unsnap. I asked him "do you know what a nut and bolt is???" He said yes, but he wasn't sure what I was asking him for. I asked him to get another associate as CLEARLY, he didn't understand what I was asking. WTFREAK?
I finally got so exasperated I said never mind and hung up on him. I had to drive from the other pet store (who by the way, told me that they carried airline-approved metal parts, so I drove all the way over there and when I got there, she said she thought the plastic ones that came with the crate were airline approved since on the crate it said "airline approved"). Sigh...I told her the crate was airline approved, but I had flown my dog here from Hawaii and know they require METAL ones or the airlines will not take your dog. She apologized and said she didn't know that. She said she never had a problem with it.
Back to Petco...so I drove there and walked in and went to the crate section and found the very travel kit I was asking the guy for. It includes a piddle pad, the airline-approved nuts and bolts, water dishes to clip onto the crate and LIVE ANIMAL signs.
I went to the front and asked the cashier if there was a guy working there. She said yes, but he was with another customer. I explained what happened and she totally understood what I was asking for the first time I explained it to her. She said "not to excuse his behavior, but he's brand new." I said brand new or not, you don't speak that way to a customer. He walked over to ask my cashier something. I said "I just spoke to you on the phone. Here is what I was asking you about the whole time" and showed him the parts and I said "It is in the travel kit that I told you to look for." He said he didn't know I had a dog (when I CLEARLY stated I was flying my DOG to Hawaii in a crate.) Then he says, I thought you meant kennel. I said I never once said KENNEL, (If supposedly you listened to me 7 TIMES, you would have caught that in every mention, I said CRATE, not KENNEL. He pointed to the wire kennels that you cage your dog in at night. WHO FLIES THEIR DOG IN A WIRE KENNEL???
Probably best to shop online at Amazon folks. They don't give you lip back and they deliver within a day or two right to your door. read more