Pet Store Refuses Service

The biggest advantage of having my own blog is the ability to share with my readers the good, bad and ugly things of life. For the past month, we have been contemplating to buy my son, Alex, a real puppy of his own. And since he looks so darn cute with one of those toy voice-activated puppies we bought him, a family pet seem like a good idea. We were actively hunting down pet stores for a puppy, but if we stumbled on a puppy we liked, we were definitely going to pick it up there and then.

Here’s where it gets interesting…

Last weekend, my family and I were doing some July 4th shopping at the Topanga mall in Canoga Park, CA. Just as about we were to leave the mall, we noticed a pet store called Just Paws Pets. Of course we got excited and walked in to take a look at the cute puppies. A freaking cute Shih Tzu caught our eyes and we got more excited about the prospect of bringing this pup home with us the same evening!! I mean, you should have seen Alex jump up and down, in his cute 2-year-old voice, saying “puppeee puppyyyy” - however he pronounces it.

I asked my wife to talk to one of the store clerks to bring the puppy out. I thought this was a very normal, simple and reasonable request, considering we were going to purchase the puppy. To my shock, my wife came back to me and said that the clerk REFUSED to bring out the puppy unless:

1. we were absolutely serious about buying it
2. the puppy was already out too much and needed to rest

Here’s where I got pissed off as we walked out the store. That’s just pure 100% bullshit. After a few minutes, I decided to turn back, walked into the store and confronted the clerk, who happened to be the manager of the store. She gave me the same lame excuse and said that unless we really wanted to buy the puppy, they will not bring it out because it has been touched by too many people already.

I couldn’t help but wonder what made her refuse us service. And I came up with a few thoughts that, if not 100% accurate, come close to at least 98%. The all-knowing, Einstein-manager didn’t show us the puppy because:

1. we weren’t dressed nice enough - at least I didn’t
2. we didn’t look wealthy and could afford a $1,000 puppy
3. we weren’t serious - at least in her mind. What a dumb ass to assume such things.
4. she was too lazy to get the puppy out

One would think that a pet business will take every opportunity to sell a puppy seriously and not judge their customers, like the manager at the store did to us.

This lame pet store opened in the Spring of 2004, so I’m not going to fault them on having such poor customer service. Considering they are a new business and have a lot to learn about quality customer service.

Here are some thoughts to Just Paws Pet management.

Make sure your managers understand true value of customer service. Maybe give them more training in prospect identification and send them to non-discrimination school - if there’s such a thing. If not, create one or your Topanga store will most likely close its doors after a few years thanks to the “customer-focused” manager you hired.

Just Paws Pets says that

We try our best to serve our new family members with the most informed and helpful personnel, excellent customer service, and a genuine love for animals.

Well, maybe I was in a different Just Paws Pets, but I sure as hell didn’t feel any of the above from this manager of theirs.

Not sure how many managers you have running that store, but the women I encountered should be fired for causing your business to lose a sale!! I wonder how many sales this manager has caused the Just Paws business to lose out on because of her “I am the store manager, it is my decision” attitude. One can only wonder…

And I also did Just Paws Pets the favor and submitted a complaint to the BBB - enjoy.