****Update: Since my original post, I have been contacted by the district manager at Petco. He apologized for the condition of the food and stated they are retraining employees on raw food inventory maintenance to ensure this type of problem doesn't occur again. He offered me a refund on my food in the form of a gift certificate. I previousy gave them two stars but will upgrade my rating to three stars due to how he handled the complaint. But with that being said, it is highly doubtful that I will buy raw frozen food from Petco again due to the experience and finding cheaper pricing elsewhere locally. But I will happily purchase other items from them, like rawhides.***
I purchase Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Small Bites SuperAntioxidant for my dogs.I used to purchase this product from Petco, but because of how their employees improperly store the food, I began purchasing it from Chewy.com. Specifically, the bags are allowed to defrost and are then refrozen. This causes the bites to meld into lumpy frozen masses when refrozen and causes freezer burn. Prior to purchasing from Chewy, I needed to take an ice pick to the food to get it to break apart. And if that failed to work, I had to use a hammer to beat them apart. And a good portion of the time none of these solutions worked either. While I did have a couple of problems with Chewy during the time I ordered the food from them, they were no where near as bad as Petco.
When Chewy.com recently stopped carrying frozen raw dog food with the exception of their own product, Tylees, I decided to give Petco another try, hoping my problems were isolated incidents. They were not. First, I went to the Olathe location and purchased four bags of the food. When I arrived home, as always, there were chunks in the bags that had melded together and the food was freezer burned. I could tell there was a little bit of a problem at the time of purchase but went ahead and purchased the product because I didn't have any other options at the time. I had to wait to special order it from a boutique store in Leawood, and they wouldn't get the food in for another week.
Next, I went to the Overland Park store. I was floored by the condition of the food. The remaining bags were set to expire in two months and they were frozen solid. If you looked at the food, you could see it clearly had freezer burn. So I looked for a store manager to complain to.
I spoke to Debbie in Overland Park and showed her the condition of the food and told her I refused to purchase the food due to improper storing. She acknowledged it wasn't stored properly and said it had been in the freezer section since she started at the location three months prior. She offered to special order bags for me, but I changed my mind after thinking it through, called the location back, and instructed the employee to tell Debbie to cancel the order. Believe it or not, the boutique in Leawood is cheaper and I don't have to worry about them failing to properly store the product. I just don't get how a manager fails to properly inspect refrigerated inventory like this on a regular basis in order to make sure the product's integrity is still intact. Doesn't make me feel comfortable purchasing products from Petco. Proper storage is extremely important when purchasing raw dog food due to health concerns, but it is also important when purchasing it for $30 for a 3.5 lb bag. I purchase four bags at a time, so I am sure you can understand how irritating it is to have $120-$140 in damaged product due to Petco's negligence.
I even went as far to complain to the area sales manager with Nature's Variety. The boutique in Leawood put me in touch with him. He said he wasn't surprised; they receive complaints about how Petco stores the food all the time. He said this is why he recommends buying raw dog food from boutiques that sell high volumes of the product, because they don't make these types of mistakes. read more