Arrogant LFS employee....

[widmer]

There are two LFS's closeby and a few further away from where I live. After reading on here and on liveaquaria and looking at one of my LFS's websites, I decided I'd like to purchase a rainford's or hector's goby. I knew the LFS that was further away carried them but I wasn't sure about the one closeby. So I stop in...

Me: Hi, can I ask you something?
Employee: You bet, what can I do for you?
Me: Do you carry a rainford's goby?
Employee: No.
Me: Do you carry a hector's goby?
Employee: No.
Me: Oh ok...
Employee: Want to go for a third strike? Like asking me if we have a mandarin that eats frozen food?
Me:Um...
Employee: Seriously though, those two fish are notoriously difficult to keep alive so we rarely ever have them in.
Me: Oh, funny, the website didn't say anything about them being difficult to care for.
Employee: Well you might want to try reading more than one website before you decide on a fish.
Me: It was liveaquaria
Employee: Try visiting a forum sometime then.
Me: Ok (mentally trying to recall for myself how many posts I have at this point)...

I proceeded to walk out the door and continue on to the next LFS. I don't know of another such low-paying position out there where the customer may be subjected to such arrogance. I would most likely have bought the great looking yellow watchman they had on sale if the employee would have made his point in a friendlier way. Kind of makes me realize how one off-key LFS employee can lose so much money for a store. As long as there are great competitors closeby, I certainly won't be back to this LFS.

Oh well...I'm just venting.

 

[kev apsley]

LFS employees are notorious know it all's, that's why I always love to overhear their conversations with customers, I also like to pick their brains to see what their knowledge base...usually not very good..

 

[sanababit]

^Dune

 

[plyle02]

I am not surprised at all, that is why I have no problem with a 2 hour travel to deal with the most reputable LFS's in the Tampa area... I probably pass 5 stores on the way to visit some of the best in the business, at the end, it is so worth it!

 

[Chihuahua6]

While he may have come across as rude he is actually correct. These fish are quite challenging.

 

[stlrams88]

I work at an LFS, and when I dont know an answer to question someone throws at me I send them here. I know I definitely do not know everything about the aquarium hobby, but I can answer most questions. It really is difficult to find an LFS employee that knows what they are talking about (I have been told before that most anemones do not require good lighting).

 

[kev apsley]

even if the fish are hard to keep there is no reason to come off as cocky and rude, your in a customer service based business, you should be bending over backwards to help out in anyway possible in a nice and professional manner

 

[SDguy]

I agree with what he/she said. I don't agree with the delivery .

 

[polyppetey]

The LFS near me is similar. I asked an employee for help, he was vacuuming gravel and I needed RO water. He told me "am I going to have to stop what I am doing to get YOU water?" I told him to GFY and went down the street to another place and actually bought water cheaper there along with some salt and plumbing supplies. I did not know gravel duty was so enthralling.

 

[widmer]

Yea after I left I was pondering what I should have said...

"Oh, OK, now that I have been thoroughly dissed, I'd like to purchase this other item from you..."

Seriously though, I came in with my typical friendly air. All it would have taken was for him to say "Sorry we don't sell those fish because they tend not to do too well long term. But it sounds like you might also like <insert suggestion here>." I would have bought the yellow watchman if that had been the course of events. I have a strong belief in happy transactions, so I couldn't bring myself to buy it then.

 

[Rendos]

You should find out who the owner is and let him/her know about your experience with that employee. I had a similar experience with one of my employees. A customer finally told me about the incident. I asked the employee about the incident, and in the end had to let the employee go because of his actions. My store cannot afford to have the arrogance of one employee ruin our reputation. I am sure that the store owner would appreciate you sharing your experience with them. I know I did.

 

[Hampton]

I bought an aquarium product from a store in Co Springs, over the phone. 2 days later, my credit card was used against my will at a wall mart on the SE side of Denver. I told the CC company about my recent transaction. I called the store owner and let him know what had happened, and that I had no idea if they were related, but I thought he might want to know.

After getting *****ed out by him, I came back politely again and tried to let him know that I wasn't being accusational, just informative. After getting *****ed out again, I told him that I guess I found the guilty party and that I would be letting Chase Security know about the incident. That felt good.

 

[jtunafish]

Widmer , you should have asked him to bag you up like 4 fish, ones that are hard to catch and then tell him nevermind and walk out, :lol: j.s.

 

[austin93]

The first things I do whenever I deal with a salesperson is start asking questions I already know the answers to. My wife thinks it kind of an [profanity] thing to do, but it really tells you alot about their knowledge base. Jim Valvano of NC State, always said never lose a game because you are mad at a player, I think that this can apply to stupid lfs employees also, if they have the fish or item you want just buy it anyway.

 

[Peter Eichler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14296102#post14296102 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDguy
I agree with what he/she said. I don't agree with the delivery .

Agreed. I actually find it kind of refreshing that a store doesn't carry Rainford's and Hector's Goby as they're not really suited for life at most local fish stores and probably not most of the tanks of the people those stores would sell them to.

 

[iamwrasseman]

wow i have had similar things happen too . we just had a LFS called ABC REEFS open in syracuse and thease guys are great .they treat you like real customers should be . something to drink,place to sit and read ,or just hang out.and the tanks are packed with fish and corals like mad . aussie stuff too ! they are two knowledgble people promoting great things in the reef world .wish they would let me work for corals ,i would do the dishes or something . maybe i should ask i probably would get a "yes no problem".really only kidding ,but check them out if your in my town and PM me if you need directions or phone numbers i will surely pass on the good word !

 

[waynem]

Hey at least he was right. Thats not something that happens often.

As for the customer service, well ..............

I vote with my feet all the time weather in a shop or in a restaurant ordering food, it best just laugh at them and walk out. My wife hates it when I do that for some reason.

 

[NCSUsalt]

as a LFS employee, sometimes you just catch someone on a bad day, or they get fed up with people constantly asking for things you know they 99% will most likely kill. if you haven't worked retail before, DON'T

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

i completely agree with NCSU, the most frustrating thing for me is clownfish questions like

"can i put 2-3 of these in a bowl?"

or after 20 minutes of explaining the nitrogen cycle and how things work you get " oh it's saltwater? nevermind"

or "why did this anemone i bought die? i set my tank up last week and your co-worker sold me these lights and said everything will be fine".....


now back to the OP, you obviousy didn't do enough research before asking about rainfords or hector's goby's. 20secs of googling shows both are notoriously hard to get to eat prepared foods and live mostly on filimentous algae.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/3/fish

liveaquaria is a fish store just like your LFS there trying to make money and aren't going to tell you somethings

 

[wayne in norway]

Go thro' the quoted conversation with a humorous tone and it becomes quite different in nature. Are you sure you aren't annoyed becuase you were told you were wrong?