I CANT EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU HOW MAD I AM

[segen77]

first off. let me say that if anyone is in the austin area, we need to BAN the austin aquadome!!!!



I was just in there today, looking around, and I overheard this guy talking about a new sw tank he just got. As usual, I'm interested, and I ask him about it. turns out it used to be fw, it's 29 g, and been setup for two days. I could tell that at this point the "sales guy" was getting mad at me. I over heard that there was no LR in the tank, and the SG was 1.021. Then I see this 'sales" person bagging up some shrimp, a clown, a yellow tang, a puffer, and I stopped him at the mandrin fish. I'm surprised I wasn't asked to leave. In any case, I wrote down this web site on a card, and gave it to the guy. I really hope he get's on here today so we can help him.

I just can't believe that the LFS would take advantage of someone like that.

thanks for listening.

[Volar]

Gotta love the LFS! thats just ridiculous

[Doctor_Reef]

Oh My!!!! :(

[FishinInTheDark]

I think you did the right thing by speaking up. Now, you can live with your own conscience. How that LFS employee can is beyond me.

TC,

[clown_goby]

that's complete bull.... jesus christ.. people have NO respect now-a-days..

I work at a Big Als Aquarium and if someone comes in asking for a very sensitive fish (such as the Mandarin Goby) Ill quiz them and pry into their SW fish keeping experience.. ill warn them about the feeding blah-de-blah blah blah.... and since there's no guarantee on the salties Ill tell them its their decision and ya...

[Sefu]

Haha koodles to you Clown_goby, you are one of the very few LFS employees that actually care !

[gman0526]

I just can't believe that the LFS would take advantage of someone like that.


Ok I'm going to be the party pooper :lol: , at least to some extent ;) . segen77 , you did the right thing, you had the knowledge and the disposition to try and educate the customer and steer him in the right direction. Now it was up to them to step back go do some RESEARCH and make an educated buy. You provided an alternative to that, you pointed him to this forum, still as far as we know he made the choice to still go out and buy the livestock, who's to blame there? At least your help should've made the buyer skeptical.

LFS are a for-profit businesses, they need to make $$ in order to operate and bring some profit to their owners so they can provide for their families too. They are going to sell to you if you want to buy from them.

For example, I work for a wireless communications provider , I'm a salesperson so I need to sell in order to be paid. We offer lots of different cell phone devices ranging from free to $600.00 . I'm a firm believer that you don't need to spend tons of money to get a phone that ultimately you'll only use to make and receive calls. I tell this to my customers and they make their decision if they want to spend $0.00 or $600.00 . Do you think I'll hesitate one bit to sell the $600.00 even when i reccomended the free one, Hell No, I got to make a living too. Not the same, but I'm sure you can understand my point.

IMO what we need to do is build relationships with our LFS, talk to your shop attendant whenever you go in to visit, pick their brains and educate them too in a non-confrontational way. Can you imagine if all the hobby was web based? You would need to buy everything online where you have no way of knowing what you'll end up with (livestock), or having to wait 2-3 days to get everything.

There's the situation were you'll find a concerned owner/employee that will try to educate customers and avoid selling unnecessary/unsuitable livestock/equipment to hobbyists. Then you have the "know it all" hobbyist that will still make the purchase regardless of the LFS's good intentions. What is the LFS to do? Not sell it to them?

We as hobbyists are responsible to educate ourselves, we are not only attempting to keep life in our tanks and are therefore responsible for their well being, but we are getting involved in a VERY expensive hobby we need to have knowledge in order to succeed.

I'm in no way bashing anything you did in that situation, on the contrary I think it was great. I just don't think it's fair to always blame the LFS for all the horrid mistakes newcomers make. We need to educate ourselves.

Off soap box....

[Condiman]

Gman you are absolutly right

[segen77]

don't get me wrong. I can certainly see your point. I was in sales for 9+ years, so I understand you need to make money, however, I also understand that if you sell someone a bad product (in this case fish that will not make it) you wont get any return business.

I understand that the consumer should be smart enough to make an informed decision, but most people, including myself, just don't know enough when begining the hobby to do so. We depend on the LFS to tell us what to do. IMO, if this guy really wanted to make money off the sale, he would have first sold the proper equipment, and LR and helped to guide the client down the right path.

I also have a beef with this LFS in particular any way because of the way they keep there fish. Virtually all of there fish are kept in connected 6 inch cubes, and half of them don't appear healthy. I guess I'm just spoiled with one of the other LFS's that cares about the hobby first, and the profit second. This is certainly the way to go (especially in this town anyway)

No matter what else, I just don't like to see people taken advantage of. This is the primary reason I left my last job. Not all sales has to be sneaky, and it bothers me when it happens. I certainly don't think that selling an expensive phone vs a cheap one is sneaky. people know that they are buying a "toy" at that point, and should be ok with it. I just think that this guy probably thought that he was going to be alright getting all those fish. they will die soon, and he will ultimately think that our hobby is just too hard, which isn't the case.

alright. sorry for the dissertation. these are just my opinions.

[gman0526]

This is where you come in, IMO. I know that the situation is exhasperating with this particular LFS. But how about you offer your help in a non confrontational way? (Not saying that you are ;) ) Offering some of your free time volunteering to help in there might be possible depending on your available time, you can somehow try to interest them into joining an online board like CF. Who knows? You might get some good discounts in there.

What I'm trying to say is that it's OK to complain and point out what is being done wrong. But I think it's better to try and be proactive about it. Instead of "Banning the Austin Aquadome", how about "let's help the Austin Aquadome"?

Again, not bashing at all, just looking at it from a different perspective. :hmm2:

[greasyclownG]

I have to agree with a lot of what I read here. I can understand a certain amount of contempt for the LFS. I am a firm believer in Lead By Example. Here ya go, walk in there and check out the fish, ask a question and the teen working there doesn't even know the name of the species you are asking about. Or you look at a dozen medium yellow tangs in barely 20 gallons of water and wonder why most of them have ick? I had one employee tell me that they don't have the space to house them all so sometimes they crowd specimins together that will battle day and night in their tiny dormatory until one is dead and the other badly injured and most likely dying as well. If ya want to house lots of beautiful fish ya need lots of space. And for goodness sakes put a rock or two in there so they can atleast think that they are hiding? In my opinion the LFS can not simply assume that they will sell their specimins before they all get sick and die. If the LFS doesn't have the means(space, Knowledge, and experience) to maintain healthy fish then how can they expect to make any money. Also those little cubical are often times all linked together, it makes since, but if a fish is dead or dieing get it out. How can they expect anyone to quarintine their own fish if the LFS doesn't practice what they preach, so to speak.

[Gimis66]

When you are first starting in this hobby it's very easy to get carried away. I was making every nooby mistake there is. I very stupidly thought the LFS kept thier fish alive they must know what they're doing! Ifinally came across a good LFG who walked me through the rough stuff & convinced me not to give up. His advice GET INTERNET! The moral There are good LFG out there you just have to find them, & pass on the news.

[cat 1]

Yeah theres good and bad in the fish biz.Weve got 2 a stones throw away thats not worth burning down theres more dead fish stuck to the intakes than there are swimming around!With about an hour drive the other 2 are pretty nice they quarantine, etc.But they will try to sell you the most expensive stuff in the building. All in all youve gotta study and watchem all,watch the fish,etc, for a while before you buy,watchem catch+bag it, know your compatibility,Educate yourself!!!

[Mantisfreak]

This is where you come in, IMO. I know that the situation is exhasperating with this particular LFS. But how about you offer your help in a non confrontational way? (Not saying that you are ;) ) Offering some of your free time volunteering to help in there might be possible depending on your available time, you can somehow try to interest them into joining an online board like CF. Who knows? You might get some good discounts in there.

What I'm trying to say is that it's OK to complain and point out what is being done wrong. But I think it's better to try and be proactive about it. Instead of "Banning the Austin Aquadome", how about "let's help the Austin Aquadome"?

Again, not bashing at all, just looking at it from a different perspective. :hmm2:

I'm kindof like this. Over the years, I've built up a relationship with the owners of most of the LFS's in town. Whenever I go into a store, it's for a two-hour stretch minimum because I end up talking to everyone (employees and customers alike). There have been many times after talking to someone for 10 minutes, I tell them that XYZ is not right for your tank and here's why..... I can do this right in front of store employees or the owners and it doesn't matter. They don't blink an eye. In fact, one time, I talked someone out of a very expensive miniatus grouper and I had no idea the owner of the store was right behind me and he said over my shoulder that "He overheard our conversation and Curt was absolutely right". Not only did I take money out of his pocket, he took money out of his own pocket.

However, here's why I can get away with this. They know that I'll take the time to explain things to their customers and not only that, I will help that customer find a more suitable replacement. Even if they don't buy something that day, they walk out of the store knowing that this store isn't going to rip them off and they'll be back.

I really like the collaborative approach and it has worked well here in St. Louis

[Mako8500]

Very Well Said!!! G

[tdevil]

i am in the same boat as Curt, for the most part, lol

one of my LFS doesnt like it when i talk people out of critters even though the owner does agree w/ what i say, go figure ;)

Jay