Petco

Reviews

• JP

  J P

  Dec 27, 2025
  5.0
  The staff at the Fairfax location are very helpful and knowledgeable.
• EH

  Elmer E. Hata

  Dec 22, 2025
  5.0
  Fairfax Petco is great. Selection, customer service and polite helpful staff.
• JM

  Jeff Marchetti

  Dec 14, 2025
  5.0
  Excellent Staff and great seeing Santa!
• MI

  Michael Iskander

  Nov 29, 2025
  5.0
  Hands down the best Petco in NOVA for saltwater fish. The aquatics specialist, Mike, and store manager, Brian, are awesome! They will order just about anything that you ask for, within their availability. If you keep saltwater, this is a spot you should check out.
• AC

  Alejandro Castellanos

  Nov 25, 2025
  1.0
  This experience became disappointing not because the manager, Brian, tried to apply a store rule, but because just minutes earlier we had been talking about fish care, bettas, food options, and the cardinals I was planning to come back and purchase. I walked into the store excited about my new 20-gallon tank that I bought from the Petco Vienna store and genuinely interested in becoming a returning customer to Fairfax. I had selected the most blue beautiful shrimp I wanted and because this was an exchange I got the dead shrimp and my recipe. I approached the cashier with the shrimp, my receipt and betta food I was ready to purchase. The cashier explained me a manager approval was required. I didn’t know Brian was the manager, so I went back to him. At first, he seemed surprised that an approval was needed at all...he texted the cashier from a handheld device and suddenly his attitude changed, he told me I could not get an exchange without bringing in a water sample. Initially he claimed this was a company policy. When I pointed out that the Petco website lists water testing as recommended, not mandatory, he changed his explanation and said this was his personal rule for this store and that if any other store was allowing exchanges without a test was “doing it wrong.” I respectfully asked for proof of this policy or any document explaining it, he refused stating he was not obligated to show me anything. I asked if he could make an exception this one time only, assuring him that now that I knew about the rule, I would gladly bring a sample if needed in the future...He refused multiple times I stood there holding a live shrimp in a bag waiting for a decision that never came. After about 10 minutes, he finally agreed to refund me. Then, when I asked if I could purchase new shrimp after the refund, he told me I could not buy anything without providing a water sample first. I was denied not only for an exchange, but even the opportunity to purchase in this store...this was the first time I was denied to buy something in Petco, over a $6 shrimp. I couldn’t understand how I could be prevented from buying livestock solely because of a water sample rule no one had mentioned until that moment. To make the situation even more confusing and after requesting his card, as we walked to the register, he stopped left me hanging there and came back with an iPad and began searching for the policy mentioning: “to make sure what I told you is correct.” After 10–15 minutes of insisting his rule was non-negotiable, he looked it up to confirm, I was amazed...he needed to confirm it...that was the most frustrating part. Again, this is not about a $6 shrimp. It’s about how the situation was handled. A manager can enforce a rule and still educate customers, build relationships, and create a positive experience. Instead, I left feeling dismissed, prevented from making a purchase, and discouraged from ever returning—even after expressing my genuine excitement about buying cardinal tetras from that same store in the near future. Policies should help the customer experience, not destroy a potential long-term relationship and let's not forget the arrogant "have a good night" before I left empty handed.

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