Bohemia Bunny

Pet Shop Service Grade: C

March 27th, 2008 by lynnylchan under Comments and Pets

Ever since getting the mice, I think I’ve been to pet shops more times than I’ve been in clothing shops. Really really. And I’ve had plenty of opportunity to experience their retail service firsthand.

I’m a member at the chain of pet shops known as Pet Lovers’ Centre, plus they have 2 outlets within easy reach of me, so I often go there. Unfortunately, service at these places is also the worst I’ve ever seen.

My most recent quest was to check out the Habitrail Ovo Maze extension, since Tim keeps escaping from his box and he’s currently imprisoned by an improvised plastic wrap cover. So I went to Vivocity over the weekend.

The staff member I asked for help didn’t even speak English. Sure he understood me, but to have someone who doesn’t speak English, at the largest branch that gets lots of non-Chinese-speaking customers, is frankly a dumb move. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to deal with customers directly, but how am I supposed to know whom I should approach? Anyway he didn’t know what item I was talking about, but they didn’t have it anyway.

Next I tried the Holland Village branch. This was an especially bad experience. The staff were eating their lunch right at the counter. And it wasn’t even their fault - I overheard one of the staff telling a regular customer that “management makes us eat on the job to increase efficiency”. That’s seriously awful - it reeks of unprofessionalism, plus it didn’t make them any more efficient since you had to wait for them to at least finish chewing.

Again, they didn’t have the item I wanted, so I asked if they could call up the other branches to check. I was right at the counter as they tried to do this, and one staff member was telling the other, “this item isn’t in stock, I know because I haven’t seen it” in Chinese. Hello! I’m standing right here, why don’t you tell me straight to my face? As it was, I waited for them to inform me of availability, but they didn’t seem to be doing anything except speak about my request as if I wasn’t standing right within earshot. So I gave up and walked away.

Oh, and while I was there, one staff member was discomfitedly trying to attend to a slightly annoyed Caucasian lady who complained that her dog had developed a mouth inflammation after eating their recommended (expensive) brand of dog food. Whoops!

Today I went to the Plaza Singapura branch, which is hidden in the basement and had only 2 staff members on duty. Nevertheless, they were very helpful and knowledgeable about the item, and even checked up on availability for me. When the other branch didn’t respond, the staff took down my number and subsequently called me. By that time, I had already checked out the item at the Centrepoint branch, but at least they tried.

Anyway I didn’t like the item. It looks good in the pictures but it felt a bit flimsy to me, and the moving parts just seemed like a tail accident waiting to happen. Plus at more than 40 dollars, it’s overpriced.

To be honest, I’ve yet to see a really knowledgeable and caring staff member at any of the branches. Smaller pet shops actually provide better service, in my opinion. When I bought Tim, the proprieter spent 15 minutes catching the mice and inspecting their rear ends for me. All for an animal that cost 3 dollars. Plus he gave me a discount on another item. I doubt anyone at Pet Lovers’ Centre would be so committed, not to mention the fact that they only sell expensive hamsters that cost double digits, and not pocket-change mice.

Liking animals alone doesn’t qualify you for a job at a pet shop. You need to know how to please their human owners as well. And I think the staff at Pet Lovers’ Centre need to learn this.