Petco is a pet company dedicated to providing products and services to millions of pets and pet owners.
As such, the complaints that the company deals with are unique. So, if you wish to know the type of complaints Petco customers make, and how the company deals with them, kindly read on!
How Does Petco Handle Its Customer Complaints In [currentyear]?
Customers can reach Petco’s customer support through several channels to lodge complaints regarding product and service quality, customer support, charges, and ethical issues around the handling of pets in [currentyear]. If Petco doesn’t resolve the complaints satisfactorily, customers can escalate them outside Pet retailer’s channels. Several review sites rate Petco’s customer support as disappointing.
Keep reading if you want to know how to lodge your complaint with Petco, what you can complain about, how Petco handles your complaints, and much more.
How Do I File a Complaint Against Petco?
Complaints against Petco can be filed through any of its offline and online channels.
For in-store incidents, customers can lodge a complaint to the store’s customer service representative or the management.
In the alternative, customers can call toll-free for customer support.
The average wait time is 4 minutes, and though the line works all day every day, the best time to call is 9:30 AM.
Customers can also email or contact customer care through Petco’s social media accounts.
For official mail, customers can mail letters to Petco’s corporate headquarters.
What Are Petco’s Contacts for Filing Complaints?
You can contact Petco through any of the following channels:
- Phone: 1-877-738-6742 and 1-888-824-7257
- Petco live chat
- Petco Help Page
- Email: customerrelations@petco.com
- Mailing address: 10850 Via Frontera, San Diego, CA 92127, USA
Where Else Can Customers File Complaints Against Petco?
Besides Petco’s internal complaint resolution mechanisms, customers can complain to agencies protecting animal welfare and consumer interests.
Alternatives to which customers can resort include the following:
- Animal Welfare
If you see an animal in danger at Petco, you should immediately inform the staff.
If it appears the goings-on are not strange to them, call the local police or animal control officers.
Other bodies where you can lodge complaints about animal abuse at Petco include the ASPCA, PETA, and the Humane Society.
Information on how you can lodge your complaints with either society is contained on their respective websites.
- The Federal Trade Commission
The business end of Petco may involve aspects that fall under the FTC. Customers can report Petco’s practices that are excessive to this agency.
- The Better Business Bureau (BBB)
The Better Business Bureau is a consumer advocacy that rates and interacts with companies on behalf of complaining customers.
Therefore, customers can make their complaints through the BBB if they are dissatisfied with how Petco handles their grievances.
- Small Claims Court
Many of the complaints against Petco involve a breach of contract and form a cause of action.
Further, most of the complaints involve amounts less than $10,000, which places the complaints under the Small Claims Court’s jurisdiction.
To file a case in the small claims court, you set it out in writing, identifying yourself fully and outlining all the details about your dispute.
You can file such a claim with the court clerk. If your claim is approved, the clerk alerts Petco and gives you time to file a response.
After that, the clerk sets a date during which you and Petco can argue the merits of the claim.
What Are Common Complaints Lodged Against Petco?
Complaints lodged against Petco revolve around product quality, issues with service, billing, and ethical treatment of the animals.
Here are the common complaints made against Petco:
- Product Quality
Sometimes Petco sells products that get damaged easily during everyday use. For instance, cages that fall apart easily, or pet beds susceptible to scratching.
Customers have also complained that, in some instances, the grooming products or pet food is the wrong formula and discomfits the pet when used.
- Poor Grooming
Petco customers have accused the company staff of incompetently grooming the pets, sometimes resulting in infections, despite, charging highly for it.
Employees also roughly handle animals during grooming, injuring, or unsettling the animals.
- Canceled Appointments
Sometimes, Petco associates set up appointments, but customers find the meeting canceled when the customers get there.
- Ethical Concerns About Treatment of Animals
Petco has been charged with treating animals in its care in cramped spaces, not feeding them enough, and relying on unskilled volunteer labor.
Interest bodies have also accused Petco of being one of the pet companies that throw away unsold pets.
- Customer Support
Customers allege that Petco’s customer support is sometimes unhelpful when confronted with complaints.
Customer support, in some cases, makes promises that they don’t keep, pass the complaint around in the system, or are outright rude.
How Effective Is Petco’s Complaint Resolution Mechanism?
Customer Service Scoreboard places Petco 388 out of 996 companies ranked by the site, based on an overall score of 34.96/200 from 476 ratings.
Petco achieved scores of 2.0/10 for issue resolution, 3.2/10 for reachability, 3.2/10 for friendliness, and 2.6/10 for product knowledge.
Site Jabber, on the other hand, awarded Petco 3.4 stars, based on 287 reviews, and 2.5 stars from 29 reviews.
Hissing Kitty gave it 1.53 stars, based on 177 complaints made on the site, while Trust Pilot gave Petco 1.5 stars from 927 reviews.
Complaints board awarded Petco 2 stars for resolving 71 complaints out of 426.
At Consumer Affairs, Petco performed better, where it attained 3.9 stars from 1,435 ratings, while Pissed Consumer awards it 2.1 stars, based on 535 reviews.
Petco only manages 1 star from 128 reviews on Reseller Ratings.
Though the reviews are a mixed bag, the indication is that Petco customers are less than satisfied with how the company resolves complaints.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on what is Petco, Petco competitors, and Petco return policy.
Conclusion
Complaints against Petco involve how it does business and how it treats the animals in its charge. Customers can air these grievances through Petco’s internal system, or in the alternative, with other bodies that also resolve consumer complaints.
