The Simplistic Excellence of Chewy.com

For pet owners, finding a reputable supplier for all of your pet care needs is a bit of a hassle. Some places are overpriced, some places carry food and toys, but no treats or clean up bags or beds. There are a handful of places where you can get a good discount on some dog and cat items, but you have to sort through some junk to find it. Owning a pet shouldn’t be made more complicated by days when things are out of stock at your local store or simply unavailable. Pet owners have spent years crying out for an easier way.
Then something miraculous happened, a website launched called Chewy.com, and the life of pet owners was changed forever. In 2011, there started to be rumblings about a mail-order site that was boasting over 30,000 products exclusively for our furry friends, and then in 2015, it exploded. Everyone was talking about this site and it was doing major competition for the big box stores who had previously been the best in the game. Chewy had great prices and awesome products but nothing surpassed their customer service and that creates the simplistic excellence of Chewy.

How Chewy Does Things

As a pet owner, we want to know three things. The first thing we want to know is that the food we’re feeding our animals is the best. It’s not going to make them sick and it isn’t going to be full of a bunch of unhealthy ingredients. The second thing we want is a good value. We’re willing to pay top dollar for what we’re feeding our fur babies, but everyone wants to know that they’re getting a good deal. Finally, we want to know what happens if something goes wrong with our purchase.

On Chewy.com, you get to see the full ingredient listing of the food you’re buying. You can also read real life reviews by others who have purchased the same food, toys, or treats. If you still have questions about what you’re buying or what would be best for your animals, check out the Chewy live chat. Their representatives are well-versed enough to tell you what your pet needs and what they’ll probably like if they’re experience certain symptoms associated with their food.

On a personal note, I’ve been buying from Chewy since I bought my dog last December. He’s not super finicky but his stomach is, so the food I had been feeding him started causing issues with his digestion. I was on Chewy’s auto-ship program and had just received a 33 pound bag of food when my vet suggested that Jake may have food allergies. They recommended some different proteins and suggested a limited ingredient diet at my veterinarian, but when I went to Chewy.com, I was completely overwhelmed. The customer service agent on the live chat walked me through three different options based on the proteins I gave her and the amount I was willing to spend. I was able to pick a food, set it up for auto-ship, but here’s the kicker. They refunded my money for the food I had just received and told me to donate the food to a shelter.

To most people, good customer service means that you’re satisfied whether you have an issue with your purchase or not. If we walk away from a purchase feeling like we’ve gotten a good deal, satisfied our pet, and that we’ve bought something from a reputable company, we feel pretty good about our purchase. However, it’s when something goes wrong that we really want the assurance that someone is on our side and Chewy absolutely makes that well known.

Recently, Chewy was purchased by Petsmart and a lot of the fans aren’t exactly celebrating this purchase. Petsmart isn’t known for their stellar customer service and they generally have pretty limited stock in some of their smaller stores. If they can maintain the level of care that Chewy has shown its customers in the past, they’ll be golden. If not, they’re going to have a lot of angry pet owners on their hands.