Trick Lying customers into telling you they are Liars!

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Miles

Miles

Stingray King
MFK Member
Jul 2, 2005
5,547
162
120
Spokane, WA
So this family I have been helping, just can't seem to keep fish alive (big surprise).

They -SWEAR- it's because they broke a thermometer in the tank, and now the tank has everlasting mercury poisoning. They say its '40 gallons or so'.. which to customers, means it's probably a 20g or 29g.

After doing 100% water changes, and cleaning out everything 'super good', they would add fish. and they would die. I asked them if they think it could be water quality from ammonia spikes, and they claimed they 'test' for ammonia and there is 'no way' as our water is 'pristine'.. Its the MERCURY!

So after I decided they weren't worth helping anymore (they weren't listening to what I had to say, and kept cutting me off, which PISSES me off).. I told them that it MUST be the Mercury, and they should purchase a new tank. Of course, pompous father figure jumped in, and said he is going to buy all new gravel and decor, and bleach the entire tank.

Whatever. No big deal. Go bleach your tank, maybe that will neutralize the mercury poisoning!

So they come back, like a month later.. and walk up to me (I don't recognize them obviously) with this stunned look and act like *******s to me, because gee, after all this bleaching advice I gave them (which I didn't) there -3- Tiger Barbs, DIED!..

I tried to tell them that Tiger Barbs, especially in schools of 7 or less, are not a good fish to cycle the tank with.. BUT HEY! They left the tank sit empty for 2 weeks!.. The mercury fish killer will never go away!

So I started asking them questions..

'Did you have any Ammonia when you tested the water'
reply; "No.."

'Did you have any Nitrites when you tested the water'
reply; "No.."

'Did you have any Alkalinity when you tested the water'
reply; "No.."

So basically the reply was 'I have no clue what I am testing, or what I am talking about..'



Hahah. So I made the mistake, of laughing in their face. I asked them to show me their test kit, and they showed me the 5-in-1 test strips, which contain no ammonia test.

I tried to shortly explain to them about nitrifying bacteria, ammonia spikes, and schooling fish.. IN ONE EAR, OUT THE OTHER..

IT'S THE MERCURY THEY SAID! WHAT DO I KNOW?!


Please, don't lie to your LFS. You will only end up looking stupid.
 
'I bought a fish from you, and it made my water cloudy!'

"Did you clean your tank before you bought our fish?"

'Yeah the day I bought it, I cleaned it really good!'

"Really? Did you make sure you rinsed the gravel and decor, changed the filter, and scrubbed every surface real good"

'Yeah, totally! The tank was SPOTLESS before I purchased your fish..'

"Do you know what good bacteria is?"

'Yeah, the other fish store said don't change too much water, or it can ruin the good bacteria..'

(Insert conversation about bacteria and bacterial blooms here)

"So in other words, you killed our fish by overcleaning.."


If you don't trick the customer into admitting fault, they will ALWAYS double back, deflect blame, dismiss fault, and point fingers or change the story to fit their idea of wha happned.. It's quite funny actually. I catch customers trying to lie to me all the time.
 
'I need to return all of these fish'

(hands me a bag full of 8 big cichlids, 2 receipts)

'I had a leak in my tank and they all died..'

(I call over co-worker who sold him 4 of these cichlids)

"Hey didn't this guy tell you he had 2 tanks, which were 80g and 50g?"
(coworker: yeah, that's the guy)

"Didn't you tell this guy he couldn't buy anymore fish, as his tank would be overcrowded"
(coworker: yep, that's him)

"So your telling me.. You purchased 4 big cichlids from our store, 4 big cichlids from our other store, and now you want to return all 8 of them because your tank 'HAD A LEAK?!?'.. what happened to your second tank? Did it get a leak at the same time? Did you not have the chance to save them? Did you just watch the tank leak 50g of water all over your house, and let the fish gasp for air and die?"

'Uhhhhh'

Long story short.. I kicked the kid out, informed him that he lied to my face and I didn't appreciate it, and he could never buy fish here again. I told him next time he tries to lie about stocking his tank, I hope all of his fish die again.
 
Pretty similar to the stories that I've been told by customers -as if they thought I wouldn't figure it out. I don't know why people try to act like they know more than they do, especially when in a situation where the other person should / probably knows more than them.
 
gotta love the morons...I do miss them sometimes...
 
Miles;1275621;1275621 said:
So this family I have been helping, just can't seem to keep fish alive (big surprise).

They -SWEAR- it's because they broke a thermometer in the tank, and now the tank has everlasting mercury poisoning. They say its '40 gallons or so'.. which to customers, means it's probably a 20g or 29g.

After doing 100% water changes, and cleaning out everything 'super good', they would add fish. and they would die. I asked them if they think it could be water quality from ammonia spikes, and they claimed they 'test' for ammonia and there is 'no way' as our water is 'pristine'.. Its the MERCURY!

So after I decided they weren't worth helping anymore (they weren't listening to what I had to say, and kept cutting me off, which PISSES me off).. I told them that it MUST be the Mercury, and they should purchase a new tank. Of course, pompous father figure jumped in, and said he is going to buy all new gravel and decor, and bleach the entire tank.

Whatever. No big deal. Go bleach your tank, maybe that will neutralize the mercury poisoning!

So they come back, like a month later.. and walk up to me (I don't recognize them obviously) with this stunned look and act like *******s to me, because gee, after all this bleaching advice I gave them (which I didn't) there -3- Tiger Barbs, DIED!..

I tried to tell them that Tiger Barbs, especially in schools of 7 or less, are not a good fish to cycle the tank with.. BUT HEY! They left the tank sit empty for 2 weeks!.. The mercury fish killer will never go away!

So I started asking them questions..

'Did you have any Ammonia when you tested the water'
reply; "No.."

'Did you have any Nitrites when you tested the water'
reply; "No.."

'Did you have any Alkalinity when you tested the water'
reply; "No.."

So basically the reply was 'I have no clue what I am testing, or what I am talking about..'



Hahah. So I made the mistake, of laughing in their face. I asked them to show me their test kit, and they showed me the 5-in-1 test strips, which contain no ammonia test.

I tried to shortly explain to them about nitrifying bacteria, ammonia spikes, and schooling fish.. IN ONE EAR, OUT THE OTHER..

IT'S THE MERCURY THEY SAID! WHAT DO I KNOW?!


Please, don't lie to your LFS. You will only end up looking stupid.
Click to expand...
I'm going to have to remember that one. "Do you have any alkalinity" :ROFL: :ROFL:
 
lol, they were using a mercury thermometer? I thought most were alcohol based. I had an oscar break a thermometer during the night, and they were all fine and alive by morning.
 
Onion01;1275732; said:
lol, they were using a mercury thermometer? I thought most were alcohol based. I had an oscar break a thermometer during the night, and they were all fine and alive by morning.
Click to expand...

They think it was mercury.. The red stuff in the glass thermometer.

I would assume that companies could no longer use real mercury, as it would be dangerous for both fish and humans.. .and it's easy to break them.
 
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