irresponsible lfs owners.

[ctenophors rule]

we have all had the uncomfortable feeling when a lfs employee, or owner uses information that we nkow to be false to make a sale, falsly reassuring the newbe who is getting a rosey bubble tip anemone in a ten gallon starter kit tank, but what can we do?

I have never, nor have i ever heard of or seen anyone stick up for these animals at the stores, but shouldn't we? I simply cant believe it is just me that feels so uncomfortable confronting people about the deadly mistakes they are about to make that i dont speek up.

so how do you go about bringing up the subject that, the owner of a pet store is wrong, time after time after time? do you be abrubt, or subtle? do you surreptisiously inform the customers in the hopes that they will believe you, alert the owner of the error of his ways, after the fact, or both? What if the owner is a complete know-it-all, do you still bring it up?

i mean, we are playing with these animals lives, i want to say something, and i know many other aquarist who share my same inhibition, we just dont know how.

thank you.

 

[dmrailjam]

I typically just make a comment. In one case I stopped shopping at a store and was sure to tell the owner to his face as to why.

Adams Aquatics in Des Moines - had a sign saying "find nemo here" right after the movie came out and I witnessed a salesperson selling 20 false perculas to a lady who intended to put them in fish bowls (yes bowls) and give them out at her childs "nemo themed" birthday party.

But typically I just mention something to the shopper when a salesperson is not around - usually refer them to this site.

 

[SALT WATER CRAZ]

Yeah I try to talk to the person when no one is around. It seams that a lot of fish store owners and employees think that they now it all. And give out a lot of bad info just to get a sale.

 

[Scythanith]

Talk to the unsuspecting customer when the salesperson isn't around. Or you can ask some questions with both the salesperson and customer present, and bring up the information you think is correct.

 

[Tank2379]

I got kicked out of Petco before for giving information to a customer an the Manager threw me out the store for doing so. I recommended to the lady wait to do her cycle before buying any clown fish or fish if that. She said why and I explain to her the cycle process and I guess the manager over heard me and got upset he stated I was making him lose money because he wasn't making the sale with fish. I told him how are you going to sell fish to a Uncycled Tank? He had no answer. So i told him alright so if your customer come back with there fish dead and you test the water for Ammonia are you going to give them there money back because there tank was uncycled? He said no we have a 14 day policy... I laughed an walked out. Just my experience with trying to give the correct info on Fish buying. But I guess in any case your damn if you do and your damn if you don't.... But at least the good thing was the lady customer decided not to buy the fish after all....

 

[tomu]

I think that it is always best to be upfront and honest with someone when you think that they are wrong/doing something wrong. I would go up to the owner and say..."I heard you say this to a customer and I think that is incorrect because........." If the owner has a love for the hobby they will listen. They may change and they may not. If they are doing something they know is bad and they don't change then it will come back to them.

 

[ctenophors rule]

thanks guys, i think i will start speaking up.

my problem is here in fort pierce, and even in port saint lucie in my oppinion, all the lfs's owners and employees are morons. (for lack of a better term) the dont understand the basics of aquarium keeping and husbandry.

one guy told me my ph was zero when it was below his test strip, another time he tried to convince me to buy another anemone because mine died, nit from the salinity swing when i got fresh in stead of salt and forgot to taste, but because :corals are filter feeders" and need to be fed cyclopeeze, not krill and silver sides. they told a lady to super glue a rbta to the rock she wanted it on. and told a man that the only difference between salt water and freshwater is the filter, and goes on explaining how salt water tanks work in a completely false way.( i.e corals dont neeed strong lighting if you feed your tank cyclopeeze) thats why you need a better filter than fresh water.

his rock is fukll of ditritus, and his tanks are porly upket, but he is the best place around me.( believe it or not)

i guess i will just have to hope for the best, and not get thrown out.

or do you think it would be wrong for me to apply for a job their?

i am 14, and doubt that he will hire me, but i have had a job before for 2 years, and if i worked their i would have more time, and one on one with the customers to set them straight.is this ethicaly dubious?

 

[tomu]

While I'm sure it would be a good addition for the store to have you work there, I don't think it would be good for you. I have worked in LFS for years. The first thing I would say is that you have to agree with what that store practices. If you do not agree with their ideaologies on reefkeeping then you will butt heads and not enjoy your time. Disscussion is great, but if you do not agree with what they believe or how they run the store I would not apply. HTH.

 

[ctenophors rule]

thansk tomu, i'll have to think about it.

what does hth mean?

 

[billsreef]

HTH = Hope This Helps

Another good trick is to give the customer info on joining the local club. It's even good to get store people involved in local clubs. Makes for a good learning experience hanging out with a crowd of other reefers and no sales agenda in sight.

 

[ctenophors rule]

thanks bill, that is a great idea.

idh= it did help. (smiley fac emotican)

 

[Letmegrow]

The problem with LFS like that is you can't teach them everything in one day.

It's also hard to break old/bad habits.

I would just be consistent in your convictions and helpfulness.

First you will seem like a know it all but after a while they will have questions for you the next time you come in. Build a relationship and try and help out. Lets put it this way, they are going to staying in business no matter how many people you turn off from them. Learn the system, change the system.

 

[ctenophors rule]

i wouldn't nesecarily want to scare customers away, as bad as he is, he is still the best lfs in fort pierce that i know of. depressing.

i will start contributing. i will help him. thanks guys, hope this doesn't wind up biting me in the rear.

 

[RumLad]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14622370#post14622370 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ctenophors rule
i wouldn't nesecarily want to scare customers away, as bad as he is, he is still the best lfs in fort pierce that i know of. depressing.

i will start contributing. i will help him. thanks guys, hope this doesn't wind up biting me in the rear.

Bring them pizza and wings, it's a great ice breaker. Start up a meaningful conversation with the worker, perhaps even purchase something. that's how my son got started in the business. Once the LFS owner saw how interested he was in the fish, and how his knowledge wore off on customers, he asked him if he would like to work there. He went on to become a good salesperson for the store. Too bad the recent economic downturn put them out of business.
I don't get my discount anymore

 

[rytrearc]

I think all store owners get started in the business because they love the hobby. I bet for a majority of the "bad" LFS, the economics of the hobby finally hit them and they are less likely to adhere to the best practices because they need the money.

 

[CHOMPERS MFK]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14657777#post14657777 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rytrearc
I think all store owners get started in the business because they love the hobby. I bet for a majority of the "bad" LFS, the economics of the hobby finally hit them and they are less likely to adhere to the best practices because they need the money.

Exactly.
The chain stores are ruled by the bottom line and succeed. But the little guy trying to do the right thing is punished monetarilly. When you have to compete against the chain stores and competition that is only out for the sale, you may have to choose between giving in or closing the business.

 

[ctenophors rule]

rytrearc- that seems right for most, but the people up hear in fort pierce are ignorant from my experience.

i think that he saw the dollar signs when he noticed how much coral sold for and was taken in. plus we live in an area where a lot of aquarium animals can be collected.

and funny enough, most of his live stock are native to our area of florida, huh hum. never seen so many hi hats for sale in my life.

just saying.

wouldn't want another 'crystal reef' incident.

for those who haven't heard (happened a while ago) their is a company in west palm called crystal reef aquariums. (owned by a holes anyway) one of the owners would go to reefs and wild collect all of his life rock, coral, and anything else he could get his hands on to, illegaly.'

noiw i hear he is rotting in a federal prison, while he wife runs his store down the drain.

 

[likwidglostix]

Man, I wish I could remember the name of that place...

I used to live in PSL and my roommates used an LFS in Stuart. They would always ask, "what's in your tank?" That was a big clue that it was a good store and they wouldn't sell you anything that was going to be eaten or just die in your system. It's been a couple of years since I lived there, but looking at the map I want to say it's on monterey. I remember it was on the corner, but all the stores I can find on the yellow pages online are on US-1 and I know it wasn't there. I can only imagine what they're like in Ft Pierce.

If you apply there, let them know in the interview why you're applying. Tell them outright that you are a hobbyist with 7 years experience who wants to make the "best" fish store even better. The knowledge that you can provide to the customers will result in less animal deaths and more repeat customers. After all, who will keep buying from a store when their purchases always die. The first thing most people would do is try another store before looking at their own tank, unless they know better. Really explain your passion and you willingness to share it. If you were of driving age, I'd suggest offering to start providing at home services such as set up and maintenance. One thing I noticed down there was that people have that kind of money (present economy not withstanding) and would be willing to pay to have the best tank around. As any store owner knows, word of mouth will make or break any business faster than any other form of advertising. If he can get ahold of a good employee who will bring in more business, he'd be stupid not to. The worst that can happen is he won't let you shop there, and if he's that bad, he's the one losing out on your money.

 

[ctenophors rule]

thanks likwidglostix, by the way my experience is 7 years fresh and salt, only 2 +/- years.

 

[Coral C's]

I live in the Tampa Bay Florida area and we are very lucky to have one particular store that is great. The owner is called the "Fish Nazi" and that is only because he will lose a sale vs selling you something that will not make it in your tank due to the current tank mates or current water quality.
They had a sale one Sat and they were extremely busy, I purchased a Blueberry Gargonia, not knowing much about them I posted here on RC in my local thread asking how to care for it and placement in the tank. I got a PM about an hour or so later from the owner of the store asking who had help me, he wanted to make sure that the sales person knew that selling me that with out giving me the proper care info was not acceptable. He also asked me to send a picture of my tank, once I did he gave me pointers on placement and told me they can be a difficult animal to care for so if this was to much for me he would happily refund my money in full. Now to me that is the ultimate customer service and he has a customer for as long as I have my tank.