Southern Aquatics & Pets Reviews Summary

Product Range and Availability

Pros:

• "Always have everything needed, if for cat, dog, fish, reptiles, birds, rats, rabbits, ferrets."
• "All types of cages, fish tanks. Enormous supply of loose and packaged animal food, including live foods for fish and reptiles."
• "There is a great range of supplies & in normal times a lot of livestock."
• "Great place to shop.... has a great choice of everything you need for you pets from food to toys."
• "They have increased choices of animals I.e birds guinea pigs to reptiles and plenty cages for birds too."
• "So much variety! Great choice tropical fish, caged birds, reptiles, even spiders!"
• "This store caters for all types of fish whether it for fish in tanks or garden ponds."

Cons:

• "Popped in for A few bits for the snakes and geckos however unfortunately they were completely out of stock for most of their live foods."
• "However, we bought a tortoise from there a few years ago and went to buy some adult tortoise equipment and there was barely anything."
• "When I last went I was so saddened to see the amount of dead fish floating or at the bottom of tanks decaying."
• "Keep seeing dead fish in tanks there when I've swung by for food."
• "There were several dead fish in the tanks and other dead animals throughout the store."
• "What is on sale looks to be of poor quality, dead fish being the norm."
• "All fish from southern aquatics have been dying from what appears to be swim bladder."

Staff and Customer Service

Pros:

• "Service from staff was excellent and very knowledgeable."
• "Very informative and helpful staff, will guide you through your first purchase and won't allow you to buy more then you should put in your first tank."
• "The staff here are very helpful, passionate and knowledgeable about what they are selling and what you need to know."
• "The staff were friendly, pleasant and helpful."
• "Staff are friendly, knowledgeable and approachable."
• "Staff are very helpful and knowledgeable and they always go above and beyond."
• "The staff are really helpful so if you can't find what you're looking for in their well stocked store or you need advice, just ask."

Cons:

• "Twice had bad advice from staff, one time it resulted in every last fish of ours being killed off."
• "Unhelpful staff and an overall bad customer experience - felt very unwelcome."
• "No stars if i could..Unhelpful staff .. We waited ages to be served with a few fish."
• "Three separate staff almost all as rude as the main man with a silly haircut and beard."
• "Took ages to get served. Staff knew little about fish and which could be housed together."
• "I was served by a young guy... Very roughly handled the fish we wanted, didn't ask us how many we wanted, no customer service skills whatsoever."
• "Poor customer service and general staff etiquette!"

Pricing and Value

Pros:

• "Great prices and fantastic offers 😉😄😄😄⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"
• "The prices are exceptional as opposed to their competitors."
• "Price wise they are very fair & on a lot of my purchases i have found them cheaper than online retailers."
• "Prices are very competitive as well, often beating even amazon and ebay prices!"
• "Great prices and deals on all sorts of bits."

Cons:

• "This place has a great range of products but usually over priced."
• "Everything was well looked after but I found the prices was a little high."
• "The pricing is reasonable, some of the items could be more competitively priced."

Online Shopping Experience

Pros:

• "First order on the internet fine."
• "So impressed with this company. I ordered a gerbilarium from their website a couple of weeks ago, and it literally came the next day!"
• "Had lovely email from them. They are going to change their online ordering system. Received refund."

Cons:

• "Do not order on line !! Waited 3 days still no email as stated."
• "Tried to order another of the same product, no stock known tried calling told to use internet, called again got an answer and was asked could they call me back as they were busy I agreed still waiting 24 hours later."
• "I don't recommend getting any fish from here as others I know have also had problems with the fish here."

Store Atmosphere and Policies

Pros:

• "Animals are well cared-for and healthy."
• "A proper local pet shop...but on a slightly larger scale."
• "It's a big store with a huge selection of ponds and pond equipment along with pond plants etc."
• "FELT SAFE & GOOD COVID SAFETY PRACTISE IN PLACE ON ALL MY VISITS."
• "The shop is absolutely huge."
• "Absolutely amazing place, definitely worth a visit, it's a big store with lots of variety, well maintained enclosures for all their animals and lovely staff."

Cons:

• "Due to Covid they have introduced some weird policies."
• "Then if you are allowed to look and want to buy then you cannot actually chose the fish you want."
• "Not entirely fond of the place, seems run down to the point I'll here it'll be closing down soon."
• "The outside definitely doesn't give it justice. As it's looking a bit run down."
• "Very busy at this time, they have put a one way system in place and done everything they can to limit the number of people from one household."