LFS question

[sufunk]

I know that a few of you guys work at LFS so maybe you can answer 2 questions for me. I just went to JAWZ but it was closed. They are closed monday and tuesday"by appointment only" and only open from 3-7 on wednesday thru friday.
1) what is this by appointment only nonsense? Do stores really have this much high end business to be closed to the public for 2 days a week?
2) how can you operate a business from 3-7 p.m.? what is the deal with these ridiculous hours?
Dont get me wrong i like JAWZ but theirs and a few others hours are RIDICULOUS!

 

[nyvp]

I totally agree. What happens is you just go to the stores that are hungry for your business and are open when you need them. I stopped going to JAWS for that reason

 

[sufunk]

Don't they realize people work? Sometimes the only time I have is skipping lunch to go check out the lfs (weekends are for kids usually)
One time i went to Coral sea pets. This isnt a big store and they must need the business. It was literally 12:57 p.m., the front door was wide open and the owners wife was standing in the doorway smoking a cig. I walk in and she rudely says "what are you doing?" i said what do you mean and she tells me "we don't open until 1". I look at my cellphone and it was literally 12:57 so i left. Did she expect me to stand there sweating until she finished her cig??? I used to go there every week as they have some decent corals but I Never have and never will return. Still can't figure how this rinky dink store turned down business over 3 minutes????

 

[Rogger Castells]

I think you guys need to understand that most of this stores owners can not sustain them selves just on the business they are making on the store so they need to have regular jobs or maintenance jobs and adjust their store hours to try to capture the hours were they are getting most of their business, true this may be an inconvenience for some of us but at the same time they have to do what ever they can to survive.
The truth is that there is hardly any loyalty to your local stores anymore, the competition is fierce and the online business doesn’t help them either.
The "rinky dink" store you mentioned is owned by two of the most decent people in the business, true their store hours is very "custom" but their tank and inhabitants are very nice, Robbie is very knowledgeable and I like that he never tries to push any sales on me.
Store bashing is no good business for us; if we don't support our LFS eventually all we are going to have is big Al's and online stores. If this happens watch how they will rise their prices cause there is no competition anymore.
Just my 2 cents

 

[sufunk]

I dont like to bash any lfs as they are the stores i frequent. I dont like big als and would rather give business to lfs. How can a business be successful when it is only open 4 hours a day, 3 days a week???
That being said, the owners of coral seas may be "decent people" but you cant run a business when you are rude to customers who are there 3 minutes early even though you are clearly "open". I was in that store every week and she knew I was a regular customer but had no problem being rude to me over nothing. Not good business!
I want to support my lfs but that doesnt mean they can act however they want and we have to take it. Hours may annoy me but i would never stop going to a store because of this. Only rudeness or complete rip-offs(Reefs edge!) would cause me to bash a store.

 

[mkarston]

I agree with you Rogger. I frequently go to Coral Seas Pets as well, and find them to have well maintained tanks with good livestock. Robbie always takes the time to help me understand things and is very knowledgeable. His wife, I'm sure didn't mean to be rude, I find she doesn't have an inviting personality but always friendly to me when ever I open conversation with her. Besides ReefCentral, I attribute most of my knowledge to good LFS be such as Coral Seas that allow me to stop by and pick their brain. I'd much prefer making a store like this "my regular LFS" vs. a generic Big Al's, which I feel is the "Wal-Mart" of the hobby.

Although, I must say, for the same reasons I would go to Wal-Mart, I find myself going to Big Al’s to buy things like tanks, pumps, etc… BTW, I do think that the owner of Big Al’s is a local South Floridian?

Craig

 

[sufunk]

I agree about the lfs as opposed to big als, but I know that you guys would not go to a store where the owner's wife was rude to you. She may be very nice to others but she was intentionally rude to me. As i said, she knew i was a regular( I had just bought a bunch of xenia frags the week before from HER) which is why it was so unacceptable.
Either way, when you run a business, if someone shows up a minute early and you are there and open, LET THEM IN! I would never turn away a client because they were there 5 minutes early or late. Every one of my clients has my cell phone # and i routinely take calls from them VERY late at night (and no, im not charging them for the calls, lol). I do it because i dont make more money than i can spend and i need the business, not only from them but word of mouth after i do a good job for them. I expect the same from small business i frequent.

 

[Rogger Castells]

Sufunk, I understand what you are saying and you have all the right to be upset for the incident you described, however, it is hard to judge a store on one bad experience and hearing only one side of the story doesn’t make it any easier either.
I was trying to answer your question with my idea of why certain stores have to cut the hours of operation and although these practices may proof fatal in the long run for them this may just be the last gasp for air they have.
Being upset because a store is not open on a weekday at 12 noon for the one time a month you go is just not fair either.
I can only imagine how frustrating and expensive must be to keep this type of stores open regular retail hours, having to pay employees, electricity etc. lets face it, how many people really goes to the fish store before 4 pm, and the ones that do go on the lunch break like you mentioned probably can’t really buy anything because they have to go back to work.
The truth is that the bulk of the business in most of these stores is done on the weekend only, as far as I know Coral sea pets open normal retail hours on the weekend, personally I only go to this store every once in a while because it is far for me, but I do make a point to visit and support and when I do I make sure I call and check their store hours and plan accordingly.

 

[Ludwigia73]

Only rudeness or complete rip-offs(Reefs edge!)

The statement above just lost me your credibility. To just say someone is a complete rip-off with no supporting arguments is belligerent, rude, and uncalled for. You're the first person I've ever heard bash that store. Reef's Edge has some of the best quality LPS and fish, and I constantly hear Mark asking for input on how the store looks, how his stock can serve us better, etc.

As for Coral Seas Pets, I never felt openly welcomed either, but never had any bad experiences either. They have decent stock with good prices, and I never found a reason not to stop in once every couple of months to see how they're doing. One thing I will say, is that I've worked retail in some form or another, to include Management at Radio Shack for 3 years, and Management at HSS RentX (tool rental) for 7 years. I've learned this: You can't please everyone. No matter how much you bend over, someone will find a reason to complain. And complain. And complain ad nauseum. To those people, I tell them to go to the competition and take their attitudes with them. If I have to tell one person every 2-3 months to get lost, I'm really not losing any business and I'm keeping my attitude better for my more appreciative customers. Alot of customers will push and push and push, showing up at 5:35 when you close at 5. Then you have to take the average of 20 minutes per customer. Then you add that up for at least 4 days a week that happens. That's why everything is locked up and I'm laying rubber at EXACTLY 5:30. Because I've spent enough late nights because of ONE customer!

Plain and simple, relax. Everyone's got a personality. Unfortunately, yours and hers clashed. Probably no fault to be given. You chose to not give them your business. Your option. To come on and slander them is irresponsible. Also, who are you? Tell us more about yourself. You're posting in FMAS, yet no one seems to know you (I made some calls). Let us know who you are. Your location and occupation aren't filled out. Sometimes that means you don't want anyone to know who you are, but maybe you just forgot. Let us know who we're talking to.


Can't we all just....... Get Along??? ;-)

 

[sufunk]

I am not a member of FMAS but i am a reefer in Davie who is wanting to join soon. My name is Jason and i am an attorney. I have previously posted about my experience with Reefs edge on here. I will gladly tell the story of how they ripped me off if you want to hear it, just let me know. If mark is the owners name , he should remember the incident and i dare him to refute it on here.
Just for the record , i am not badmouthing JAWZ , i like them but there hours are very bad. Coral seas , as i said, has some nice corals. I just thought she was very rude to me so i wont repeat there. Anyone else is free to as they do have nice stuff, especially lps and sps

 

[jeffbrig]

I, for one, would like to hear the story. I have been extremely pleased with all of the fish and corals I have purchased through Reef's Edge, and consider them to be one of the premium stores in the area. And...I've found their prices to be quite reasonable compared to some of the other places around town. No rip-offs that I'm aware of, but then again, I wouldn't buy something if I thought it was a rip-off.

 

[sufunk]

OK, tell me if this is a rip-off and if you would be happy.
Let me start by saying that reef's edge has nice fish and GREAT corals, albeit slightly overpriced.
My wife got my daughter a 26 gallon tank christmas 04. I thought it was too much and we had a service for it. I had nothing to do with the tank until about September 05 when i started to get into it. Champion did our service. After Wilma(late october) champion never showed up or ever returned our calls. I was desperate for a new service since the tank hadnt been serviceds for 5 weeks and was without power for 4 days(just a small battery pump).
I had bought some fish from reefs edge and was very happy with them, knew they did tank service and called. I spoke to the wife and told her we were DESPERATE for a service and the tank needed cleaning ASAP. She explained that they couldnt start without marc coming and looking at the tank 1st to see if he could handle it. I told her this is a 36gallon with 10lbs of lr, a carpet anemone and a small mushroom rock. NOTHING else. very easy tank. Doesnt matter she says he has to come look and it costs $75. Fine, when can he be here? She says friday(this was like wednesday) On friday she calls and says he cant come, he has to reschedule for next friday! I tell her how desperate we are but what can i do? Next friday comes and he comes over 2 hours late(almost 7 pm). Spends literally 5 minutes in my house looking at the tank explaining how it will cost $80 to service 1 time a month. Fine, its high but im desperate. He says the wife will call tomorrow to schedule. I tell him over and over i need it asap as a fish and cleaner shrimp died in the week he made me wait. NO problem he says, takes my $75 and promisees a call tomorrow.
Next day no call, i call the next day and she tells me "oh he'll call you right back sorry". No call! Next day, i call and leave another message(closed for appointment only) no return call. Next day same, message left no return call! That night i found saltwaterfish.com and learned how to service it myself. They NEVER called me back, EVER!!!! They did cash the check for $75 the day i left the 2nd message 4 days after they were supposed to show up!
I left it at that and figured whatever their loss. In March, i really got into the tank and started buying lps. I went there against my better judgement because they do have REALLY nicve lps. Marc is there and definitely recognizes me and ignores me. Finally i call him over and ask the price of a frogspawn and torch. $75 each he says. I ask if he remembers me and he says yes. I ask what happened and he says "oh im so sorry i have no idea what happened abbout the service?? she never called you back??". I tell him no problems but how bout giving me botht the corals for $75 to make up for the $75 i gave him for nothing. He says" nope, they are $75 apiece, but i will start servicing the tank now if you want". I laugh and walked out and will never return.
Now , as i said, they have GREAT corals but every word i have said is TRUE. I ask any of you to show this to him. He will remember this and i DARE him to refute anything ive said.
So did i get ripped off for $75 or not?

 

[zoltetov]

Just to be clear, that Jason, the attorney, is different from THIS Jason, the attorney.

 

[zoltetov]

Whether or not you received $75 of value is obviously up for debate... Whether or not you got ripped off... That probably isn't. He charged $75 to come out and evaluate your tank. You agreed, and he came out and evaluated your tank. You got what you paid for.

When you do something stupid on your computer that a computer savvy person can generally fix, it costs something like 80 bucks to bring it to BestBuy to have a geek squad dude turn it on. To me, that's a rip off, but, they won't look at it unless you agree. (On the other hand, to someone who looks at the big plastic box with pretty lights that does magical things, it probably is worth the money.)

Anyway, not telling you not to be ****ed. You just asked for our opinions.

 

[sufunk]

I semi agree with you except there was no reason to come and evaluate a tank like mine. It is clearly just a way to make an extra $75. Thats fine, i have nothing against making money and i was willing to pay that as some sort of "startup" fee for their service. BUT and its a big but, when you then stiff me and refuse to provide that service, then i think you RIPPED the customer off.
What type of business are you in? Whatever it is , i know that after you make an agreement with them and they pay you, you dont ignore them and not provide that service after repeated requests. They cashed that check knowing they hadnt called me and that i had been leaving messages.
If you were me, would you ever shop there again or not badmouth them?
Oops, i think you said you are an attorney. If you are, what do you think would happen if you did that to a client?

 

[zoltetov]

Hey, I agree that it's ridiculous to charge $75 to do what they did. I mean, I think you're right to not like how you were treated and certainly have a right to discuss it. On a personal note, I'd never be able to charge a client for something like that. On the other hand, maybe that's why I work for the state. From a purely objective standpoint, I think they did what you paid them for. I mean, unfortunately, I'm not sure a follow-up call was part of the $75 deal.

Subjectively, based only on your side right now, I mean, hell. I'd probably be pretty ****ed too. On the bright side, they saved you 80 bucks a month for something you could do yourself!

 

[seas3to5]

I think that this guy thinks that everybody's time should be free, but his. One piece of advice """ Grow Up """
Don't go back if you feel you didn't get what you paid for. I have been in all the stores, you have been talking about, and never did have a bad experience. Maybe it's your personally, did you ever stop to think about that, or maybe they just had a bad customer right before you walked in that took up a hour of there time and didn't buy a thing. The next time you go to any store try to imagine what it's like trying to sell to the jerk on the other side of the counter. The world does not owe you a thing, buy off anybody you like and tell us the good things that they do for you. But don't let your personality get the better of you,because it shows in your writing!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all have bad days, just maybe, you might even be a great guy having a bad hair day!!!!!

 

[sufunk]

Wow, obviously you are having a bad day, lol.
What are you an infant??? Is that how you run your business?? the person before made you mad so you are gonna screw over the next customer? And lets say for arguments sake, it was my personality, that still doesnt make it right to take my money, promise me service and then never return another call. Just call and tell me you cant service my tank.
You only want me to tell the good experiences, I shouldnt tell when someone screws me over?
I notice marc hasnt refuted any of this even though i'm sure its been shown to him by now. Guess he'll be as slow to respond as he was to my $75.

 

[seas3to5]

There are two sides to any story. I am not the one that bad mouth every store that I went in. If your story is true take him to small claims court ! That should make you happy , if you win , that is! I have a shop that is four blocks from were I live, that I do not shop at, because I don't think that they care about what they sell, I drive 22 Miles to a shop across town in West Vegas to buy my coral. I have never got on a forum and bashed any store. So if you didn't like what you got , go to court!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I never had a bad day in my life, I know how to make the best out of any problem I ever had , maybe you learn that with age.

 

[jeffbrig]

sufunk, I understand your frustration, but I'm not sure I would categorize that as a rip-off. Sure, $75 sounds like a lot for an evaluation, but it does involve time and driving costs for them. The cost is also probably there to deter people from "shopping around" for multiple quotes. Who wants to waste time giving people free on-site quotes if they're not going to get any future business from them?

Then again, all aquarium maintenance services are a borderline rip-off, in my book, it doesn't matter what company. The whole service industry is designed to take advantage of people who are too busy, too lazy, or too ignorant to do things for themselves, and have enough money to burn that they can pay someone else to do it. These services are NEVER going to be cheap, because they're viewed as luxuries.

Not calling you back is certainly poor customer service, but I don't think that it's meaningful in whether or not you got ripped off. Who knows what issues prevented them from calling you back? Maybe they were still dealing with post-hurricane aftermath and not returning calls quickly. Maybe they didn't want to mess with a relatively small potatoes 26g tank on a regular basis (I think the $80/month quote reflects this). Maybe they just didn't like you (you sound like you didn't like them very much either) - sometimes personalities just don't mesh.

I've dealt with many business (some by choice, some not by choice) that are really bad about not returning phone calls. Sometimes, if you don't get the person you need to talk to, you just have to keep trying. The squeaky wheel gets the oil (eventually), and you decided to stop trying to contact mark to establish a servcice date.

Asking them to give you a $75 coral to make up for things was a ridiculous suggestion, considering the costs of their time and travel to your house. Perhaps $25-$50 may have been more reasonable, but they really didn't owe you anything. The $75 was paid as agreed on that date.

Your experience does nothing to tarnish the reputation of the lfs, in my view. I would never use them (or anyone else) for service, so that's kind of a meaningless detail to me.