Petco Contact Numbers for Sick Animals Purchased There

tiggyswift

Post   » Tue May 11, 2010 3:10 pm


Oh, I didn't know that. I bought Junior at PetCo. They paid 100% of his vet visits, and told me if he ever has a future illness related to the original one, they would cover that as well. He has not had a problem since.

I would still try, bassplayer7. They may not pay, but it is worth a shot.

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codyNpatches
Supporter in '09 - '10

Post   » Tue May 11, 2010 3:23 pm


PetSmart only paid a very small amount toward my vet bills. Even if they don't think of it this way, if they are spending time fighting you then they are spending at least some resources. If you can't get money, at least you are getting them to spend time.

dmppiggie

Post   » Tue May 11, 2010 3:30 pm


My local petsmart is taking care of the $70 for my little girl's URI bills. But then again....she's pregnant too.....so that money is just going to pay for their check ups once they are born

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Waddles
Party Poop-er

Post   » Tue May 11, 2010 8:46 pm


I recently started fostering a girl pig and to my surprise, it looked like she might be potty trained. I was so excited I immediately went to hunt down a potty.
Target didn't have any for small animals and I ended up at the Petco across the street.

I'm not sure if it's just the Petco near me or something they're doing nationwide. They don't sell animals anymore, just feed and cages and accessories. Has anyone else noticed this?

dmppiggie

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 1:10 am


No, they still sell animals. We purchased a piggie there before we got Mollie, but took her back because she was sick (and that was the store policy). I was telling people in town not go buy animals from there even before I knew about rescuing.

From what I've learned in the past few weeks, I'll never buy another animal again!

bassplayer7

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 10:57 am


I called the 888 number on Petsmart's website and the guy told me to bring my bills into the store where I got the guinea pig. My guess is that they will be more then happy to refund all my $30 that I paid for the pig. The other problem is that Butter didn't exhibit symptoms as soon as we brought him home. It took a few weeks (4 weeks at a maximum) before he started showing sign of infection. To be honest, I didn't know some of those symptoms and they certainly could have been there I earlier, though.

If I knew that they were going to cover the vet bills I would do more extensive treatment, like taking Butter back to the vet so the vet that I've had phone conversations could see what we're actually dealing with here (do you read me?). I'll call the store that I bought (I don't like using that word) him from and keep you posted after that.

dmpiggie, I'm curious why it was $70 instead of, say, $80? Was that the amount of the vet bills that you brought (or did you?) in or something?

Thanks for all your help and I'll see what I can do.

bassplayer7

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 11:19 am


I called the store, and just as I expected, they were very resistant to the idea. They told me that they "guarantee" the guinea pig for 14 days after purchase, and in that time frame, if the pig got sick, they take the pet back, refund my money, supposedly treat it with their vet (one of the last vets I'd want to trust), then allow me to buy it back if I wanted. Well I'm certainly out of the 14 day period (considering I got Butter on the 4th), so I'm very confident they won't do anything but tell me to take a long hike off a short pier. The "pet care" manager told me to call back tomorrow and talk to the store manager.

Do you have any tips on how I could get them to cover the vet bills or did you always do it within the 14 day time frame?

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caruba
Supporter in '10

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 11:44 am


Four weeks is definitely past any reasonable quarantine period in my opinion. This forum recommends a three weeks quarantine period.

At that point it's going to be very difficult to prove that your guinea pig was already sick when you purchased it.

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codyNpatches
Supporter in '09 - '10

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 1:30 pm


I could understand 4 weeks if you are new to pigs and do not understand the signs of illness.

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sus4rabbitsnpigs

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 2:53 pm


Complain to management and corporate office. Many have gotten payment if you persist and make a big stink. Have your vet write a letter?

dmppiggie

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 7:37 pm


I went four days later---she was showing confirmed symptoms within three (congestion, goopy eyes--she had a itsy-bitty bit of gunk in one when I first brought her home, but it didn't return until the night of day 3).

I think I got lucky because #1, the guy who sold me Dottie was there and he is a small animal owner himself (I tend to believe him), AND I just happened to take Pennie to the same vet that they would have treated her at if I would have "returned" her for treatment (so basically, I was saving them the trouble of having to administer meds and monitor her). He seemed to be really concerned with having sick animals in the store and was the one who fought for me to get the vet bills paid--the other small animal guy who we bought the other two girls from really didn't listen to me when I told him that one of the piggies in another "cage" was looking really poorly.

$70 is the amount that everything cost ($45 for exam, 2 ab at $25 total).

bassplayer7

Post   » Thu May 13, 2010 9:12 am


Yea, I would say I'm new to signs of illness. But I've learned pretty quick in the recent past. We will see how much I push. When I got Butter, I didn't quarantine him, but just put him in with Peanut (because I didn't have another cage - I know that's not an excuse, though). Peanut has been almost completely healthy this entire time, except that he showed some minor symptoms of URI about 2 weeks after Butter got his so I treated Peanut's. I honestly don't know where Butter could have gotten this bacteria from. For the first week or two they were in a small cage, that the other loner was in, but now they a C&C cage that is larger then the recommended.

I will push Petsmart some more but not tons mostly because I don't have much cannon foder.

dmpiggie, I get it now. That's about how much each round of ABs (for both GPs) cost me but I've gone through so many now it's way above that. The vet I work with now charged me $30 for the office visit (it's normally $40) when I asked for a price break, and that was really nice.

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