Tisol

I just do not know why I keep trying to shop here. Every time I walk out annoyed and disappointed. You have to always search for help, even as they have numerous staff on duty (though occupied by their phones usually).
Last time I asked for help for a spray bark collar as I live in a shared building, the staff proceeded to tell me she was surprised as most of their customers live in houses, stating it as if my living arrangement as a horrifying surprise. Seriously? The store is sorrounded by condos. Plus why are you openly judging a customer? Is that not against customer service 101? I went to another store and dropped over $200 there. I can ignore lazy service but draw the line at rude condescending behaviour. Management needs to better train the staff here.

With the amount of money we spend on pet food and toys. I personally think the staff could at least say hello to each and every customer that walks to the door and a good bye would be nice. I always thought it was part of the job.

Great store, great staff. They carry the batteries for my dog collar so I'm very happy. Maybe the best selection of collar and jackets in Vacouver.

The staff at the Arbutus location are so grumpy & snippy! It’s closer to me but I choose to go to the main st location where the staff are always friendly & seem like they actually like their job!

Pet food and supplies store. Its a smaller location then the main street location less amount of itams but still good. They got a dog wash. And are hiring

Today I went in to just buy some cat litter. I was met with a whole lot of staff with alot alot attitude. It has not been the case for some time but today I was happy to leave as soon as possible.

I have shopped a few times at Tisol and everything went smoothly. They have a good variety of food for my cats. But a couple of weeks ago I went back to find something for one of my sick cats. I ask one of the personnel named Will to see if they have something special for vomiting and he offered me goat milk since it has protein and I don't remember what else he said that could be good for my cat. I trusted him and bought the product, it was frozen and paid more than $15. Then when I got home waited for the product to melt and the consistency looked weird, I know how milk is supposed to look. Then I checked the expiration date and it was past it due date. I'm glad I noticed that and I didn't give it to my sick cat. The next day, I went back and Will was not there but another personnel helped me very kindly apologized and refunded me. If it weren't for that experience, going back and that I almost got my cat sicker, would have been a five star.

Great customer service and good variety of products. I find their prices a bit higher than some other places.

I’ve always had positive experiences at Tisol on Arbutus! Their staff is knowledgeable and friendly, and there’s always lots of staff willing to help you.

Won’t be shopping here due to the company adding charge for bag. Is getting crazy as spent over $150 for food n treats and they wanted another $0.25 for a bag, no more profits directed to this chain. If you could give ZERO stars they would get it

We love tisol arbutus! They have always been warm, welcoming, helpful and hospitable. We’ve been bringing our dog Louis in since he was a puppy and he’s been treated extremely well by the staff. We’ve never had a bad experience, only 10/10 (even when puppy is being naughty).

The products carried are very high quality, especially the toys. There are some stores that seem to sell only disposable toys, so we appreciate this selection. We also love the treats. The only thing missing is ruffwear products. If they were sold at tisol we wouldn’t have to go anywhere else:)

This is always a reliable store due to the great people helping out. Never disappointed, even if I can't find what I'm looking for.

I’m floored by the amazing service!
Marian was great, she obviously cares and went above and beyond to make us very happy. Thanks so much for sorting us out, keep up the great work. Give this young lady a raise!

We used the dog Wash station here which was a pretty good experience. Way better than doing it home with no mess. They provide shampoos and conditioners and the total price was around $10.

Hi I have been going to Tisol on Arbutus for about 10 years. I do love their selection for dog harness and dog clothes and such. The cat section collars could be improved. The dog bath is great there too! The staff about half of them are nice lately and the other half seem to be deliberately passive aggressive and seem to deliberately not help lift heavy bags or offer to hold door if you are clearly having all hands full. It's like a no frills style of customer service, like less is more approach. I try to not complain but it has been noticable lately. I also shop a the pet store around the corner as much as I can just because I have a much nicer experience with the staff. I'm posting this as I think the management of Tisol on Arbutus is not aware of this possibly.

Half of the staff are nice and but the other half about three of them passive aggressive and kind of snobby.and not helping when would be natural to assist.

The item they sold to me at a full price was chipped and cracked. When I told them that, the answer I got was "yeah it may be chipped. "
I also bought a water bottle, asked them to put water in it and tried to put it in the cage I bought, but when it didn't fit, I wanted to return it right there and they said it was now USED and that they couldn't take it back. Appearently selling a damaged item at a full price is fair, but taking a water bottle back when the mouse didn't even come near it is not, for this company. They had already discarded the package without asking me, so now I have a $20 item that I never used and will never use. Wonder if they could tell the difference if I had taken it home and dried completely and said I never touched it? See my point?
Also the staff had no idea about the products they were selling, asked around to find the person I had talked on the phone 5 minutes prior to my visit and everyone was like "it wasn't me". But who was it that I talked to, we still don't know. And no one bothered to find it out either. I was in a hurry and if it wasn't an urgent situation, I would've left that store right away without a single purchase. I never expect anyone to show me an extreme joy when I enter a store, but a little crack of smile on their faces instead of their products would be nice as well.

I may be completely wrong and at fault or whatever (not), but after spending $89 and with everything above, I did not leave this place as a happy customer.

PS: I worked at a pet store for 2 years, and sales & customer service for 10+, so I know what I'm talking about.

Not very helpful even though there were many staff on wondered around looking for the fish stuff and not one person asked if I needed help. Left without buying anything.

Just dropped by to get some cat food and there happened to be a fire alarm in the same building so the store was closed and 4 staff were in front waiting. None of them seemed to be overly interested in interacting with me to let me know what was happening except one girl (If it wasn’t for her I’d give 1 star - I actually had to ask if they were the staff). They all started to leave to go to their safe meeting spot and I just hung around the front waiting for the store to open. A few minutes later the employees walked past me again to cross the street, they said it would be another couple of minutes. 15-20 minutes later the staff is nowhere to be seen, and now there’s a line up of 6-7 people who are trying to enter the store and have no idea what’s going on so I’m the one that has to explain it to them. By now the alarm is off and the fire truck is long gone. Finally the girls show up all with coffees and proceed to walk past all of us without making any eye contact to enter the other entrance. One of them should have stayed behind to inform customers what was going on. Terrible customer service.

Unfriendly, rude teenagers need a proper manager and based on other reviews I’m not the first customer that’s had this experience. Will be shopping only at the Main st location from now on.

This is a great local chain with knowledge pet loving staff. Their prices are competitive and they offer a simple membership that can earn you a few bag of food about once a year

This place feels like it's run by a bunch of teenagers.because it is. To be fair, they're doing their best, and the onus is more on the company for presumably hiring the cheapest staff they could find. There are usually about six people behind the registers, and if I'm lucky, one of them can help me. Questions are met by the majority of staff with blank stares or confused murmuring. Reading the comments, it seems the store was taken over by American ownership who don't seem particularly invested in the customer experience. In response they have put signs in the windows stating they are proudly Canadian-run. So, congratulations on hiring Canadians at a store in Canada?

Lots of expensive pet food most t contain sweet potatoes which my dog is allergic too. Need to shift thru alot but can usually find some single ingredient treats

I had good service and excellent suggestions from the staff based on the products they used for their pets.

Dirty dog in clean dog out, and they cleanup afterwards. The self wash is great and the appointment set up for covid works great. The store itself has a wide selection of everything for your cat or dog. The staff is great and seems to live everyone's pet.

The organization was a little confusing, but I found what I needed. The staff were friendly and helpful.

I usually buy Royal Canin 8+ (13lbs) for my dogs every 3 weeks. I decided to buy it at Tisol (Arbutus Street, Vancouver) as it is close to my house. However, I was very dissapointed with the price. It is literally 8 dollars more expensive than the one sold by PetSmart. I talked to the store manager to see if perhaps she could do the same price as PetSmart, but she did not seem to care much and just told me that PetSmart has better offers and she could not do anything about it.
Honestly, from my perspective, I really expect customer service to be a little more empathetic and friendly and, if an employee tells me that their competitor has better offers, I do not see the point of paying more for the same product and keep purchasing at a store that won't care about their customer's fildelity.
I only bought this time because I really need it but I am not bothering going there anymore. If PetSmart has better offers so that it the right place for me.

Helpful staff, good selection of items! Always fun to see what dogs are getting cleaned up at the bathing stations!

Friendly and nice atmosphere. But somewhat disorganized (at times our preferred item is out of stock). Went to the competition who had the item.

The place looks disgusting inside. There’s hair everywhere. They never have anything in stock. Whenever I ask to speak to a manager they always say that she isn’t in and when she is she’s “too busy” to help her customers. Legit seems like this place is run by the high schoolers that are at till. Don’t know how this place is still in business.

Today I had the most horrible and objectionable costumer service in recent memory! After being a royal and "weekly" shopper for 18 years!
I suppose this is what you get when inexperienced, egotistical, illogical people barely out of high school are placed in positions of authority!
For which by the way they have subzero qualifications and even less maturity! Horrid people skills and absolutely no understanding of costumer service! Be warned people Tisol is far from the store that provided all my pet needs and even further from what it used to be when it comes to costumer service! Time to support smart local businesses that actually appreciate your business!

Hey guys, sorry I have to leave a less than average review for this store.

For a year now I have been trying to get my dogs regular food from this branch as it's close to my house. Everytime I try, they are always out of stock of one of the items if not all. It's such a pain, as I would like to rely on my local pet store, especially when people tend to buy the same thing over and over.

Everytime I ring, or in store asking why this always happens I get the same answer that I should set up a standing order, and that the food is very popular.

1. Here is my one experience of setup a standing order. I set it up and I came down to get my first order, went to the fridge in store first to check stock, as usual no stock, went to counter and they said 'oh sorry we haven't got any in the back. ' So what was the point of leaving a standing order for then?

2. Maybe order some more stock if its popular, that usually a good solution to running out of stock of something in its first day.

I agree that the young girls in here are very enthusiastic, and helpful'ish in store.but as usual, having responsibility and actually thinking ahead is something the staff clearly lack. I have been going to main street branch for my dogs food the last 3 months, and they always, always have the food in stock. I use this store, but it's further from where I live making it a more tricky chore.

I do hope the manager reads this review and maybe changes the order to make the food is in stock and 2 build a more robust standing order system.

Good place to buy food and wash your dog. Although they run out of hot water regularly when more than 4 dogs have been washed.

This is my dog's favorite store. When we go for a walk in the neighborhood, he will lead me toward Tisol. The closer we get, the faster he walks until we arrive. A few times we've done late night walks after the store closes and my dog sat at the front door sadly staring in, wondering why he couldn't get inside. He likes to sniff all the food and loves the friendly staff that often offer treats. We've found some very cute dog sweaters/rain coats here too and Tippy gets many compliments.

Consistently well stocked, self serve pet bathing stations at this location, paid parking out front.

Tisol is a clean easy to manoeuvre store. Wide variety of pet food and supplies. Helpful staff.accessible also!

They carry some specialty merchandise that is hard to find. The staff is helpful & friendly. Stock can be low @ times, but they will check other stores & order it in if possible.

Terry knows everything about cats and the whole staff have been lifesavers with thier product and brand knowledge.

Only place around with big ropes. Look at the size of this thing, it's absurd. What a time to be alive.

I used to be a frequent customer at Tisol until they were bought out and our regular food wasn’t going to be supplied by them anymore. However, we’ve always had a great experience here and they staff were friendly.