This past Christmas I received a beautiful fish as a gift. Too bad my partner chose Pet Valu to buy our first fish tank. He ordered a complete 10 gallon tank kit which included a filter and heater. 5 weeks later we woke up to find water all over our living room floor. The tank had leaked from the bottom during the night. Luckily our fish survived.
My partner emailed Pet Valu right away to let them know that they had sold him a defective fish tank and if he could exchange it for another one as soon as possible. But he was politely informed by Jamie from customer service that they have a 4 week "customer care policy" and since we had the fish tank in our possession for 5 weeks they are "unable to provide you with a refund, replacement, or store credit."
This is completely unacceptable. I can understand if we showed up at the store after a year or two and complained that the tank was leaking.....but it's only been 5 WEEKS. Not to mention that a defect like that could've killed our fish? A business that sells defective merchandise and then hides behind their "customer care policy" over the difference of a week is nothing but greedy.
I work in retail for a small business and it is shocking to me that a business would treat its customers this way. If we had sold a defective product to someone we would never refuse to do something to amend the situation....at the very least an exchange!
After some research I was disappointed to learn that if we had decided to purchase our fish tank from PetSmart we would have been covered by their 60 day return policy. They even offer returns or exchanges if your receipt is older than 60 days...or if you lost the receipt altogether. And we don't want to support Walmart but they sell the exact same tank kit for less money and provide a 90 day return policy. Boy did we ever pick the wrong store! Per Valu does not care about its customers or their pets...they are just out to make a dishonest buck.