Sickened by Walmart

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Nixxy

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So I was with my fiancee picking up some items at the local Failmart, and we decided, hey, let's look at the fish.

Now, I had looked before and they had a pretty nice selection, and they were taken care of decently enough. But now what we saw was just disgusting..Literally, more than half the fish were floaters, many visibly sick, the water was dirty...they had way too many fish in each tank, they had these tiny little 10 gallon tanks stuffed full with like 5-6 Dragonfish that were a good 8 inches long. The beta's were in the plastic temp containers, and the water was BROWN.

My fiancee wrote a sign and put it up near the display saying "Animal Cruelty". We called the corporate complain line, and they are going to "investigate" (Doubt it.) the issue.

Not to mention, anyone who gets these fish will likely not have them for long, and god forbid someone uses them as feeder fish what'd happen to the animal fed them.

I went back three days in a row, and it was worse each time with more and more dead fish, just sitting there.
 

ascott

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Did you complain to the actual store manager? I would have done that then explained to the manager if the issue is not resolved....you know about 100 people that have nothing better to do that to protest out in front of the store....with signs and yelling and contacting the local newspaper.....this works :D
 

Nixxy

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Not to mention the 100 or so employees there just stand around.
 

Jacqui

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Instead of corporate, first go the the store's manager and if that does not work, go to the area/regional manager. Action from either of those will be much quicker and better. Then call in the local animal control folks.

This is not something I have saw happen any of my area WalMarts. I will say that we did have a high death rate in the days following new shipments coming in. Does not excuse the dirty water.

I worked for years as an over night manager for the front end and I do not know how many times, as I did my nightly walk by the fish department, that I would find where teenagers, with nothing better to do with their time except look for trouble, would put two of the betas together. :(
 

dmmj

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Walmart is taking fish out of more and more stores.
 

Nixxy

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Jacqui said:
Instead of corporate, first go the the store's manager and if that does not work, go to the area/regional manager. Action from either of those will be much quicker and better. Then call in the local animal control folks.

This is not something I have saw happen any of my area WalMarts. I will say that we did have a high death rate in the days following new shipments coming in. Does not excuse the dirty water.

I worked for years as an over night manager for the front end and I do not know how many times, as I did my nightly walk by the fish department, that I would find where teenagers, with nothing better to do with their time except look for trouble, would put two of the betas together. :(

That's just cruel. They are so beautiful to watch swim around, why would anyone want to see them destroy each-other?

And it wasn't always this way, as I said..they used to have a pretty nice setup for all of them. It just appears that it was quite literally, abandoned. The whole section never has anyone in it (used to have someone in the area tending to them.), and it's just sad.

And I'll follow up on that, thanks a lot.
 

Millerlite

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Walmart in general is a cruel company. Hopefully someone will listen and do something about it. Sad
 

emmalaub

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I agree with u walmart is very cruel and lets all work together to stop it
 

Ethan D

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emmalaub said:
I agree with u walmart is very cruel and lets all work together to stop it

Lol, i wish that walmart was a better company, personally once a cooperation is established, i believe that productivity in the workers themselves diminish, and the overall service provided is horrible, i support locally owned stores for the most part, but walmart does have some items that they do not carry, i have mixed feelings about that company, but for the most part i despise it, and most chain pet stores for that matter as well. Good place to get a job if you need one i hear though, pretty much hire anyone lol.
 

StudentoftheReptile

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Here's an hilarious (albeit cruel from the fish's POV) story about Walmart.

Back when I was still working at my LPS (which, despite its faults, was and still is phenomenally better than most petstores Ive been in), I had to stop by Failmart one day on the way home from work. I had my few items and got in line. I noticed the girl in front of me had some fish she had gotten from the pet dept. As she was checking out, the cashier instructed her to, as she exited the store, to hold her fish high when she passed through the anti-theft detector things, because "apparently" a lot of Walmart customers complained that their fish died on the way home, and the powers that be somehow surmised that the culprit was that the anti-theft machines emitted some kind of pulse or whatever that affected or stunned the fish as people walked out of the store.

I literally laughed out loud when I heard the cashier explaining all this. After all, the fish mortality couldn't possibly be the horrible conditions Walmart keeps them in or simply the fact that most people are morons and drive home with their fish sitting on their hot dashboards. But then the only solution these corporate geniuses came up with is to have people hold their fish over their heads like loonies as they walk out the store. As I pointed to the large logo of my LPS on my shirt, I simply told the girl that she should start buying her fish from us where we actually know what we're doing, and she wouldn't worry about looking silly carrying her fish over her head when she leaves.
 

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Jacqui said:
Instead of corporate, first go the the store's manager and if that does not work, go to the area/regional manager. Action from either of those will be much quicker and better. Then call in the local animal control folks.

Having worked retail for a number of years, this is the best way to address an issue in the store. Often, complaints don't even make it back through the line of authority to the store managers, or complaints sent directly to corporate are immediately returned to the store managers without any consideration, resulting in lost time.

I don't know how it is in other areas, but the Walmart's around here have gone down hill. Not that they were that high up to begin with. But, no more greeters, fewer cashiers, and fewer people working on the floor. Something like this doesn't surprise me.
 

wellington

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I commend you for doing something. Yes, it might be better to start with the actual stores manager and then up the line. However, I am so glad you did something about it and didn't ignore it. If you keep on it, things might change. Keep us posted. Thank you for standing up for the fish.
 

tortle

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The walmarts around me used to carry fish but then they all got rid of the fish department a few years ago. Before they got rid of it I would find dead fish just floating around everytime I went there. I bet a lot of people complained and so they got rid of it.
 

Jacqui

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Neal said:
I don't know how it is in other areas, but the Walmart's around here have gone down hill. Not that they were that high up to begin with. But, no more greeters, fewer cashiers, and fewer people working on the floor. Something like this doesn't surprise me.

Yes, WalMart is trying out a new way of doing thing. People greeters are gone and even tho I did not like them, I want them back, they did make me feel more welcomed.

This same program also took all the department managers from one section and combined them into one person. :( This is why your now seeing such a decline in quality and have a harder time finding somebody to help you. If you think things have gone down hill, please please start complaining to both the local and district managers, but corporate also. Customer complaints do actually change things in WalMarts, contrary to what many believe.



austinSOLO said:
i think walmart should stick to selling SUPPLIES and not ANIMALS

Fine for folks in big cities, but for some of us out in the rural areas, these are the only places we can get our animals. I would actually hate to see them go. Instead I would like the department managers back in place, so the animals would be getting better care.
 

austinSOLO

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Jacqui said:
Neal said:
I don't know how it is in other areas, but the Walmart's around here have gone down hill. Not that they were that high up to begin with. But, no more greeters, fewer cashiers, and fewer people working on the floor. Something like this doesn't surprise me.

Yes, WalMart is trying out a new way of doing thing. People greeters are gone and even tho I did not like them, I want them back, they did make me feel more welcomed.

This same program also took all the department managers from one section and combined them into one person. :( This is why your now seeing such a decline in quality and have a harder time finding somebody to help you. If you think things have gone down hill, please please start complaining to both the local and district managers, but corporate also. Customer complaints do actually change things in WalMarts, contrary to what many believe.



austinSOLO said:
i think walmart should stick to selling SUPPLIES and not ANIMALS

Fine for folks in big cities, but for some of us out in the rural areas, these are the only places we can get our animals. I would actually hate to see them go. Instead I would like the department managers back in place, so the animals would be getting better care.





yeah that would make sense
 

AustinASU

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I'm a big fish fanatic I have 700 gal tanks and have had about every fish possible, and I'll tell you this wal mart doesn't know crap about fish. The spotted puffer fish and dragon fish are both brackish water dwellers (almost salt water but not quite). Most of their breeding stock fish are brother sister so you see a lot of deformed fish.....though some of the disfiguration is caused by tuberculosis. What they think is that hey the fish won't get any bigger in this tank to some extent that's true butbwhat you don't see is that the fishes organs keeping growling. Eventually the organs will outgrow the skeletal system and well then any kind of organ failure will happen thus leading to fish living a shortened life. I just wish people dId their research the info is out there.....even simplified for people....grrr
 

Nixxy

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Amen to that, Austin.

Unfortunately, they just see it as a quick product to sell off. But you'd think they would want to at least have a product in good shape...

Fun fact, the betta fish at a local pet store I go to (Real nice, family owned) are not only cheaper, but taken nicely care of!

I feel like just taking all the fish at Walmart and giving them to that store. It's just disgusting how they treat their fish. They used to even have aquatic frogs, but I haven't seen them in a while..probably for the best..

Honestly, when you are as big of a company as Walmart, with that much money..seriously..You don't have any excuses for being understaffed or under educated on a product.

I live in a small rural town, in Northern NH. We have a few pet stores, one specifically for dogs and cats, one that's mostly supplies, and one that has a good selection of animals.
 
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