Drs Foster and Smith just pulled the rug out from under me

[Reef Dude]

It's not a mistake, mismark or accidental sale pricing. It's an adaptation of a classic sales tactic know as bait and switch. Very common among online vendors these days, also a favorite of petco brick and mortar stores.

Perhaps. But DFS has been so good in the past. Regardless how I might feel about Petco and some of the product offerings, they’ve been so great to deal with from a customer service standpoint in the past. Not quite the level of BRS, but close. Like if UPS beats up a box of salt or a bulb doesn’t work when I receive it, they are shipping me a new one free of charge without a question before I even finish my sentence. I thought it was just me with this issue with them recently. So now I wonder what really happened???

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

That’s a false advertising lawsuit technically so you could sue them I’d get a lawyer freind to type of a quick letter and that should do the talking for you just let them know you mean business and they will get scared

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Perhaps. But DFS has been so good in the past. Regardless how I might feel about Petco and some of the product offerings, they’ve been so great to deal with from a customer service standpoint in the past. Not quite the level of BRS, but close. Like if UPS beats up a box of salt or a bulb doesn’t work when I receive it, they are shipping me a new one free of charge without a question before I even finish my sentence. I thought it was just me with this issue with them recently. So now I wonder what really happened???

They have been great to me in the past as well. But if this was a mistake and dfs customer service was still exceptional then the issue would have been rectified. It was not, so something has changed.

 

[Reef Dude]

That’s a false advertising lawsuit technically so you could sue them I’d get a lawyer freind to type of a quick letter and that should do the talking for you just let them know you mean business and they will get scared

Good idea, but at a certain point it gets to be more trouble than it’s worth. Maybe i’ll Let my 2 year old ask they “whyyyyyyyyyy” 500 time until they concede!

 

[siggy]

Sorry to hear that. I wish they have let me know sooner after the order was placed rather than waiting 3 days. Several accessories are already in transit from BRS.

They may have gotten in trouble with Neptune for the 50% off, another vendor may have complained to Neptune and they pulled the rug???? even so DFS lost money on that closeout and to ask them to Buy more just to loose more ?????? NOW I bet you could ask for a 100$ gift card toward a Apex system for the mix up

 

[Kellie in CA]

It looks like they've pulled the 50% off pricing on a lot of items. Nearly all the IM items are back to full price.

There's still a few good Tunze deals though.

 

[siggy]

• Curve 5 (Mfg# BMCV0005)Was: $209.99Now: $104.99
• Curve 7 (Mfg# BMCV0007)
  
  Was: $299.99Now: $149.99

Just saying .....

 

[siggy]

Well it looks like they will be going in a new direction without Live Aquaria...... DFS will look like a Petco or Wallmart? ....Change is a coming
13 Jun 2018
Petco Announces the Appointment of Ron Coughlin as Chief Executive Officer
SAN DIEGO, June 13, 2018 -- Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. announced today that it has named Ron Coughlin as its new Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Coughlin joins the Company from HP Inc., where he served for 11 years, most recently as President of Personal Systems. He will begin in this role as of Monday, June 18.


SAN DIEGO, May 22, 2018 -- Petco today announced that Laura Wilkin has joined the national pet specialty retailer as executive vice president of supply chain and inventory. Wilkin will lead Petco’s ongoing supply chain transformation, responsible for all of the company’s inventory management operations, including logistics, planning and pricing.
Wilkin comes to Petco from Walmart, where she served as senior vice president, logistics and replenishment.

 

[Reef Dude]

I called the corporate number someone mentioned earlier in this thread. Left a message. Got a call back less than 2 hours later from a lady who was understanding, open, and good to speak with. For anyone that feels like they’ve been a little screwed here, know that I was offered a 25% discount. I applied it to the new Apex, which only turned out to be a little more than the full price Apex classic. So overall, not what I initially wanted. More than I wanted to spend initially. But I hate to admit that I am walking away from this pretty satisfied. I wish I could remember her name, but the lady from corporate redeemed the situation through her honesty and openness. She admitted that she doesn’t like their systems because there is a lot of lag time that allows orders to be placed on out of stock items in certain situations. She mentioned that there are 800+ customers in the same situation as me right now on various items that were deeply discounted as part of their inventory restructuring. Whatever. I guess I’m ok with it at this point. They could have done better but they could have done a lot worse. But if you’re in the same situation, make sure you call them up and mention that you know a dude that was offered 25% off on any item on a future order and see if you can get the same. Lesson learned on deals that seem too good to be true though.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Any retailer can sell any item at any price they want. If they listed apex classic at 50% off that doesnt mean everyone will get one coz maybe it was a special just to advertise and maybe only 1 or 5 or 10 units were to be given away at that price. May be you were the 11th order and they only had 10 at that price.
It be the same thing as one was to lineup at a business to get free ticket or free food etc and there are 50 people ahead. Once you get to the front they run out.

 

[Reef Dude]

Any retailer can sell any item at any price they want. If they listed apex classic at 50% off that doesnt mean everyone will get one coz maybe it was a special just to advertise and maybe only 1 or 5 or 10 units were to be given away at that price. May be you were the 11th order and they only had 10 at that price.
It be the same thing as one was to lineup at a business to get free ticket or free food etc and there are 50 people ahead. Once you get to the front they run out.

Yeah but it was more like buying something at a store, getting the receipt, then an employee ripping it out of your cart as you’re leaving the store and telling you that they’ll refund your money. This was paid for with confirmation email in hand before they told me three days later that they’re cancelling my order. I think there’s a difference.

 

[vaughnkingreefs]

I am officially out on this company...here is my story....

I placed an order for 2 white AI prime HDs and 2 mounting brackets Tuesday morning. I received an email confirmation and they charged my credit card. I expected my order to arrive within 5-7 business days. I was really excited (think Christmas in July). I have been using a used nano box over my IM 20. I really like the light, but I wanted to get my hands on a couple of new pucks. Over the past couple of days, I have been watching videos about the AI Primes and their par readings. I was really excited and couldn't wait to get them over my tank. Fast forward to today and I am sitting at my desk and I get this call from a 1-800 number. It was a rep from Drs. Foster and Smith. They told me that they were not going to honor my order because they ran out of stock. The rep gave me a weak apology and stated that there was nothing that they can do. Talk about horrible customer service. I immediately hung up the phone and went to Twitter. I mentioned Drs Foster and Smith and PETCO in my online complaint. Petco responded and told me they were looking into it. Well after 6 hours and no response I called Drs. Foster and Smith's customer support. The first rep told me that all that they could do was offer me a $20 gift card...problem is...I didn't want the gift card. I want my order honored. My call was escalated to a supervisor. I told him my story and how upset I was at the fact that they are selling inventory that they don't have. He told me that Drs. Foster and Smith does not have real-time inventory control! Excuse me??? It is 2018! How does a retailer of this size not have inventory control???? What type of ERP system are they using? I want them to honor the deal....oh...and the charges are still posted on my credit card!!!!!

 

[Reef Dude]

I am officially out on this company...here is my story....

I placed an order for 2 white AI prime HDs and 2 mounting brackets Tuesday morning. I received an email confirmation and they charged my credit card. I expected my order to arrive within 5-7 business days. I was really excited (think Christmas in July). I have been using a used nano box over my IM 20. I really like the light, but I wanted to get my hands on a couple of new pucks. Over the past couple of days, I have been watching videos about the AI Primes and their par readings. I was really excited and couldn't wait to get them over my tank. Fast forward to today and I am sitting at my desk and I get this call from a 1-800 number. It was a rep from Drs. Foster and Smith. They told me that they were not going to honor my order because they ran out of stock. The rep gave me a weak apology and stated that there was nothing that they can do. Talk about horrible customer service. I immediately hung up the phone and went to Twitter. I mentioned Drs Foster and Smith and PETCO in my online complaint. Petco responded and told me they were looking into it. Well after 6 hours and no response I called Drs. Foster and Smith's customer support. The first rep told me that all that they could do was offer me a $20 gift card...problem is...I didn't want the gift card. I want my order honored. My call was escalated to a supervisor. I told him my story and how upset I was at the fact that they are selling inventory that they don't have. He told me that Drs. Foster and Smith does not have real-time inventory control! Excuse me??? It is 2018! How does a retailer of this size not have inventory control???? What type of ERP system are they using? I want them to honor the deal....oh...and the charges are still posted on my credit card!!!!!

Sorry to hear that. Seems like the same story I got this afternoon. They’ve been reliable historically, but is seems like a bomb of confusion and incompetence has gone off this week. Hopefully they pull it together because they are my go to for salt and I purchase a ton of stuff through Live Aquaria. Are the charges pending/holding or have they actually been charged to the card?

 

[siggy]

I am officially out on this company...here is my story....

I placed an order for 2 white AI prime HDs and 2 mounting brackets Tuesday morning. I received an email confirmation and they charged my credit card. I expected my order to arrive within 5-7 business days. I was really excited (think Christmas in July). I have been using a used nano box over my IM 20. I really like the light, but I wanted to get my hands on a couple of new pucks. Over the past couple of days, I have been watching videos about the AI Primes and their par readings. I was really excited and couldn't wait to get them over my tank. Fast forward to today and I am sitting at my desk and I get this call from a 1-800 number. It was a rep from Drs. Foster and Smith. They told me that they were not going to honor my order because they ran out of stock. The rep gave me a weak apology and stated that there was nothing that they can do. Talk about horrible customer service. I immediately hung up the phone and went to Twitter. I mentioned Drs Foster and Smith and PETCO in my online complaint. Petco responded and told me they were looking into it. Well after 6 hours and no response I called Drs. Foster and Smith's customer support. The first rep told me that all that they could do was offer me a $20 gift card...problem is...I didn't want the gift card. I want my order honored. My call was escalated to a supervisor. I told him my story and how upset I was at the fact that they are selling inventory that they don't have. He told me that Drs. Foster and Smith does not have real-time inventory control! Excuse me??? It is 2018! How does a retailer of this size not have inventory control???? What type of ERP system are they using? I want them to honor the deal....oh...and the charges are still posted on my credit card!!!!!

Did they offer a rain check? or are they discontinuing AI primes and not reordering more?

 

[Benny Morosco]

Agree 100%

 

[Benny Morosco]

Just left her a voicemail. This will be interesting to see how they respond. Their customer service is usually a top notch “no questions asked” type of situation. But his single issue is enough for me to stop giving them my money in he future if this can’t be resolved.

Did you talk to her yet?

 

[Reef Dude]

Did you talk to her yet?

Yes. I outlined my conversation with her a few posts up on this page. She was good to talk to. Bottom line is that they are not honoring my initial purchase, but they did give me a 25% discount on anything I wanted.

So the thing is I purchased the classic because it was such a great deal. But after I purchased it and purchased accessories and got all amped up about the capabilities and piece of mind it would offer me, I was thinking about buying a new apex classic for full price from BRS after DFS cancelled my order. But with the 25% offered to me through DFS, I was able to get the newest Apex for only a little more than a new classic would have cost elsewhere.

Thanks for your help along the way.

 

[Benny Morosco]

Yes I just bought the new one also I’m excited to get it up and running ! Hey at least you got 25%

 

[NoWaiAma]

Who isn’t owned by petco at this point..

 

[Benny Morosco]

Who isn’t owned by petco at this point..

Exactly!!!!