Animates New Zealand Avis 

Customer support absolutely shocking, don't even bother contacting them they are a waste of space.

As my Maltese X usual groomer was booked up for quite a while ahead, I decided to take him to Animates at Linwood today 05 July, but never again, should have been more patient and waited for his usual groomer. My dog (Blu) usually has a lovely fluffy tail which his usual groomer keeps looking fluffy but now it looks like a stick!!

Thankyou animates Te-rapa. Placed order on a Sunday, delivered rural on the Tuesday morning. Highly recommend

I'm disappointed with the inconsistency of recommendations made by staff. I got a learner aquarium kit for my daughter and strictly followed staff instructions on getting the fish for it. They recommended initially 3 male guppies and then come back after a week to get 4 females. When I returned a different staff said that my tank couldn't sustain the females and consequent breeding. Why recommend the guppies in the first place? So that my daughter won't go home sad and disappointed I got 3 males instead. Still she was looking forward to female guppies.

I am writing to express my deep disappointment regarding the recent experience I had with Animates Kaiwharawarha. As a long-standing customer, I entrusted my perfectly healthy cat to their care, only to be blindsided by unjust charges.

Despite my protests, Animates declined to reimburse these costs, including second opinion backing their billing policy and blaming me for giving consent for the tests. Their CEO, Neil Cowie, not only failed to address all the issues but also displayed a shocking lack of empathy. His response essentially amounted to "too bad."

The way Animates handled this situation, particularly during a time of significant financial crisis for me, was absolutely unacceptable. It is distressing to see such a lack of professionalism and accountability. I have reported this incident to the Commerce Commission, raising concerns about Animates' billing practices and the fear-mongering tactics used to persuade customers to agree to unnecessary tests.

Money talks with this company.

I was appalled when I visited the New Lynn branch. It is kitten day and I saw kittens in tiny cages with no bedding so the public could come and stare at them.When I queried this at the check out the girl did not appear compassionate and I was told these poor kittens would be in those cages for 4 hours on a hot day. I was very upset and am disinclined to shop there again where I have spent hundreds of dollars

If this is the company in Peterborough they charge extremely high prices and don't tell you until afterwards. There is no price list on show.

Animates Westgate.
GIOVANNI always looks after my wee schnoodle, Ruby. He takes the utmost love and care when grooming her, and she always smells and looks beautiful on pick up. I would (and have) highly recommended GIOVANNI to friends and other dog owners. ❤️

Animates Kilbirnie. As though I haven't, what with between my childs white rats and my fussy elderly dog spent a GREAT deal of money there over the years. A little good customer service would go a long way and make you actually feel valued, instead I was left with a bad taste in my mouth, so to speak. Brought my dog to be washed, yes, sadly I forgot the towel behind, and asked to borrow one, any old scraggy bit of towel will do, and I will remember next time. I don't even mind if you rap me over the knuckles. I don't want to schlep all the way home. I don't use the blow dryer which terrifies her as it as loud as a boeing 747. Nope-no towel available - and end of conversation. Well....DID I feel guilty when my dear sweety sweet left very wet trail of splodges across the floor after her dog wash? Strangely....I didn't. She didn't either, I noticed. Come on guys, small gestures make a big difference. Customer loyalty and all that. Google it.

Yes we can get what we need here but why! Are Animates SO EXPENSIVE?

A piece of corrugated cat scratch cardboard $30-$40 Just because it’s got a curve in it!

Sorry but their prices are unbelievable, we also don’t buy toys there for our dogs as the same issue.

We go anywhere else unless it’s vital.

Brought some tropical fish two weeks ago and the fish keeper of the store said the rummy nose tetras may not survive as they weren’t in good shape and if this was the case bring in a water sample and we would be refunded if the water parameters were right.
The rummy nose tetras died along with almost the rest of my existing healthy fish. I am losing up to 4 fish a day so took a water sample in to get tested and was turned away (due to staff shortages) and was told that it wasn’t likely that I was sold sick fish and to come back later that day which I couldn’t. I had driven from a different town to get to Animates and had made a special trip to get the water tested. I get that they were short staffed but the guy was quite rude (didn’t get a name). I’ll be sticking to the Pet Centre from now on.

I bought one tunnel and one hammock for my guinea pigs. as soon as I opened up the hammock some of the semes came loose and it was as thin as a pencil led and is not warm. Now the tunnel rusted and was also cheaply made I have bought other things from animates but this was horrible, and they don't even have anything for guinea pigs if you animate could get some good strong warm Hideys and not just one that would be great.

Online shopping is very easy, and I get a decent discount for frequently buying dog food from them. When the post office claimed my address didn’t exist and sent a package back to Animates, the staff kindly and quickly helped me edit the address on the package to give more information to the post office, and it got delivered fine the second time. We had been having trouble with the post office for a while, so it was no fault of Animates. They also have the sensitive digestion dog food that my pup needs.

Came in this afternoon with a fairly big list of fish for my tropical tank.

After spending 15 minutes waiting while the staff member "Frankie" stood and chatted with a middle aged woman about a wide range of subjects I went to the counter to get some assistance. Told by the staff member I'd have to wait for Frankie. After another 5 minutes while Frankie & friend carried on their ongoing chit chat I walked out.

Went to replace my gold fish and they said the tank was too small for a gold fish , my tank is 60 l which I purchased of animates 3 years ago …..go figure as they had no problem selling me a tank and 2 gold fish then!!!
Animates Rangiora give them a wide berth as the staff are rude ,uneducated and stunk of cigarette smoke

I have been a loyal customer for many years but no more,I have found on 3 occasions now that I have purchased on line only to find the very next day or same day of ordering that the product goes on sale at a considerable price drop ,when contacting their so called customer service you hit a brick wall not only preached to that this is how retail works( although I have been in retail for years myself )but to be told there is nothing that will be done,plus to find that this response comes from a customer service supervisor! is disgraceful.

Bought a German made retractable lead from Animates New Lynn paid $63 in 4 months the leash failed tearing off near the clip. Really disappointing no warranty not interested in replacing it considering we purchase from there regularly for our dog. German made so thought it would be a good product. Dog under the weight limit of the lead. Told it happened from a sudden stop so not covered. Will not go back there and will advise others to steer clear. Terrible customer service!

phoned animates to make another order for a 14kg bag of dog food to be shipped to me again as we cant get it from our store but a guy called LUKE who i was dealing with couldn't be bothered helping had a poor attitude said nothing he could do and i couldnt get it shipped to me. when I asked which dispatch stores had this in stock he got annoyed told me they were all out of stock everywhere but he didn't even check! had a real arrogant attitude.worst customer service I've had in ages last time when I phoned last time Katherine went out of her way to get this shipped to me she was amazing such a shame she has left.
Had luke been bothered to try help me today I would have bought 2 bags which is nearly $500 but instead told me to go to my vet to get alternative food. really disappointing customer service especially from a supervisor ! Won't be going back wrote to animates to about my experience no reply.

I might have wasted more time chasing my order with the Animates contact centre and with NZ Post than I would probably have if I had driven to the closest shop that had the product I needed (which was not close as it was out of stock from my nearest shop). As I was trying to save myself the trip to their shop, it really did not work for me having to collect it from the courier. The courier was unable to accept my re-deliver request over the phone and asked for this to be done online, however their website was not working properly when trying to do this. Unfortunately a waste of time. In the end all I could do was ask the courier to send back to Animates.

Invercargill Animates Grooming.
Absolutely rapt with the cut, I gave the lovely girl a matted mess and got back a beautifully trimmed pup. Can't rave enough about how kind she was and how gentle with our girls first time trim. The price was half what we expected given the work we know would have been involved.
Will go back any time.