I am officially done at a certain lfs

[NaClH2Opgh]

I hate to but agree with bmiller. Elmer's usually has a line of customers, and for them to ask you your tank config is like the drive up person asking your cholesterol when you order that big mac. They are there to sell you what you want, its up to you know know what your tank can handle and what you know how to care for.

I agree 100% that the responsibility is on us the consumer. It just seemed like a picture was being painted that one store takes the time to talk to you and the other does not, when that is not the case. With that being said, I purchased my last two fish from Elmer's and couldn't be happier with them. I actually think the quality of fish at the lfs are pretty good even as far as price. I know we had this discussion on another thread. I don't want sales associates to bother me when I am buying. I'll let you know when I need something...:lolspin:

 

[bmiller1234]

It very well could be bad timing also when it comes to service. If you go to any lfs at noon on a Tuesday four people will come over and talk and ask you a million questions. If you go to the same store on a Saturday at 3 those same four people won't even say hello as they are dealing with the family who's daughter is screaming for nemo and some poor kid making peanuts is trying to explain the nitrogen cycle and how bacteria population works as biological filtration in a marine aquarium......

Salespeople don't know a twenty year veteran reefer from a guy that has a three month old betta bowl in his kitchen and now wants to buy a 180 dollar trigger and put it in the old thirty gallon he had a turtle in a few years back. It was mentioned earlier about prices and if they had enough staff to spend twenty minutes going over supplements and stock list do we really think chromis would still be 7 bucks?

 

[turbo21]

I am going to chime in here because i spend a good deal with wet pets. Brian and John have been good to me in the last 10 years i have been shopping with them. IMO i have gotten far better customer service from them than with anyone else. Will i pay the super high prices on the coral there, no way. But Fish wise, i have spent alot of money and never had any issues. This is my experience and because they know my face and name i may get treated a little differently.

I have had no luck with fish from Elmers. most have died or had issues that quarrantine fixed, but i have bought a ton of coral. The service drives me nuts. I was there a few weeks ago and they were not busy enough to start using the numbers, and i had to ask 4 different people before someone would come over and bag up the inverts and coral i wanted. It took around 30 minutes before i could get someone to help. I was frustrated to the point of almost leaving.


Aquaworld- Corals are great and have bought a bunch, but the fish are overpriced and never seem to look good for some reason. But Ming and Jeff have pretty much anything you could think of on hand as far as supplies go

Seahorse- It has been hit or miss for me on the fish, some have been great and others.....well i should have pitched my money out the window. Coral--Seems a little high and i have noly bought a few things over the years

Burton's Total Pet--Terrible. they would be better of closing the saltwater section than having empty tanks. When they were Pet Supplies Plus, i used to buy a good bit and actually i started saltwater because of the store in south park. Does anyone remember the big acrylic reef there. They had a full grown target mandarin that was the reason i started saltwater

So my observations and shopping habits are as such.

Wet Pets--Fish
Elmers--Coral
Aquaworld--Coral. some supplies.
Burton's Total Pet--- Salt
Seahorse---Fish. maybe some coral if the price is right

Getting coral from all the local guys.......Priceless

These are my opinions and experiences and i am in no way coming down on anyone for what stores they choose to shop at

Bob

 

[cloakerpoked]

So all that to say...we appreciate what the LFS offer us, and the quality in this area, while not awesome, and probably never Aquaworld's selection at Elmer's price/general store presentation, is improving as our club becomes a more regular fixture, especially at Elmer's since we're in there monthly. I personally think that has a lot to do with it, and if we give them another year and the staff there remain committed to ramping up their selection to provide us with the goods that we're after, we might be a little surprised at what they have to offer. Let's remember too that the 13% discount they give us is not insignificant.

 

[bmiller1234]

Very good point cloak.... So this raises the question if we could possibly make the meeting a little more mobile and maybe have a few meetings at some of the other local stores would the increased business and exposure afford them the ability to increase their stock size and quality?
Surely if there was a way for a store to host us they would probably give a decent meeting night discount on livestock on top of the 10 percent they already offer on other goods?

 

[AHDOnline]

Let me pick at you one by one bmiller (smile)

Its hard enough to get people to come to the meetings when they are in the same location, imagine the confusion caused when we are constantly changing it. We have to keep every notified, keep everything updated and you know how well we do that now.

The other issue is what other store in the area can support 40 people like elmers can? Seahorse can't, Wet pets might be able to rearrange. and well we wont talk about burtons..

Before my time it use to be at a conference room in a hotel. We paid for that, and while some people liked it some didnt. My personal opinion is that elmers is currently the best location and bang for our buck. I do wish that it could be closer to where i live, but then so does everyone else,

 

[vr697getta]

another thing to consider when going into any lfs is you have to know to talk to. with any place of business there are good employees and bad employees. there are only 2 people i will talk to at elmers or ask a question if i don't know. any other person i tell them what i want and they get it for me.
over the past almost 4 years now i never purchased a fish from elmers and have it die on me and i dont know why. i have several fish over 3 and all but one are from elmers.

 

[Mark 75g]

Its the luck of the draw when shopping for fish at any store. I have had the best luck with buying fish from Wet Pets. Never had one of their fish die unless I caused it (Spray Paint issue). I purchased 4 fish from elmers back around christmas and I lost those 4 fish plus 2 others after putting them in my tank within 1 week.

I guess it could be my fault since I did not qt any of the fish but after buying fish from wet pets and not qt their fish I figured what the heck. I tried the qt tank once and had a spike of ammonia multiple times so I have not tried to set up another qt tank.

I have bought a few pieces of coral from elmers which are still doing well but wet pets is very high priced for their coral and are not having much luck with their frag tank.

I think Wet Pets has good pricing on their fish and I am not sure but I was just in Elmers the other day and none of their coral are looking good. All of their sps are dying. They are putting sps in with soft corals into little tanks and not sure what is going on but its not good. And their larger tanks are not looking good either. The corals in their larger tanks are slowly dying.

 

[jakesalk]

I think to solve the problem on coral and fish quality we should do more group buys online to save on shipping. And also this may make the local stores step up their game on the quality of there livestock.

 

[AHDOnline]

while I'll admit this will benefit me it can also help others.

What are you looking for? We can't read minds, and I know that in my talks with scott(elmers) they fill request but when coral is stocked in the stores most places dont have the time and resources to keep it up and when nice pieces come in the regulars know when to get there to get cherry pick. So while I might agree most places dont keep a lot of nice items in stock, a lot of of the time its picked over thursday as soon as shipments come in.

For every 12 pieces of coral you get in sometimes only 10 might be immediately looking healthy the sale, the others well are pretty much what you end up with later in the week. This also greatly depends on vendors.

I know i have been at elmers when a shipment comes in and i hover over and watch, i also have people that do the same.

Its next to impossible to compare online to local for that reason. Outside of fish health its hard to determine where it comes from, and with liveaquaria they will tell you outright, and they also hold fish for a few days to weeks before shipping which local places really cant do that all the time.

 

[bmiller1234]

I know i have been at elmers when a shipment comes in and i hover over and watch, i also have people that do the same.

Your not bringing up me and the 6" clam again are you.... I wasn't hovering, I just left work early and drove over really fast....

 

[pluschinatown]

How would you guys feel if Aquaworld offered to host some of the meetings?