Does your LFS offer refunds?

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It's hard to have a totally perfect policy. I've had customers, while working at various LFS;

- bring me dried fish with floor lint and say "I dunno what happened, it just died"
- baby turtle that looked like (and had been) chewed on by their cat,
- a guy who bought 200 bucks worth of marine fish, even after I repeatedly grilled him about what fish he had at home to make sure he knew they were marine, return the next day with all the fish dead along with two large FW angels
- a lady buy koi, bring them back an hour later dead. Then do it again with the replacements an hour after that. Mine are all still swimming around.
- Guy insist everything in his pond was perfect...all koi died immediately. Ph was almost 11.

The LFS policy should be a health guarantee, not an insurance policy. It isn't the LFS' fault if your existing fish maul your new arrival for example.
 
SimonL;4973503; said:
It's hard to have a totally perfect policy. I've had customers, while working at various LFS;

- bring me dried fish with floor lint and say "I dunno what happened, it just died"
- baby turtle that looked like (and had been) chewed on by their cat,
- a guy who bought 200 bucks worth of marine fish, even after I repeatedly grilled him about what fish he had at home to make sure he knew they were marine, return the next day with all the fish dead along with two large FW angels
- a lady buy koi, bring them back an hour later dead. Then do it again with the replacements an hour after that. Mine are all still swimming around.
- Guy insist everything in his pond was perfect...all koi died immediately. Ph was almost 11.

The LFS policy should be a health guarantee, not an insurance policy. It isn't the LFS' fault if your existing fish maul your new arrival for example.
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Good stuff. I was shopping in the LFS one day and the guy brought in a half eaten and still alive fish and wanted his money back. He didn't know his Oscar would try to eat the baby Bala shark he tried to put in there. They didn't give him his money back because they told him repeatedly that the oscar would claim the entire 75 gallon aquarium and that the bala shark wouldn't make it.
 
jcardona1;4973012; said:
Refunds for a fish that dies? No way, never seen a place that does that. Petco/Petsmart only do it to maintain the corporate image, and they can afford to take the hits.

Given that we're dealing with fish, that rely 100% on their environment to surive (water), there is no way you can offer refunds for dead fish and hope to stay in business. Too many idiot fish keepers out there that don't know the first thing about water chemistry and what it takes to keep a fish alive. And you expect me to eat the costs for that? I don't think so!

If you buy a fish and it dies right away, that means you didn't acclimate properly and sent the thing into osmotic shock, simple as that.
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Every LFS in Central Illinois offers a one week guarantee. So NOT giving a guarantee would run you out of business.
 
Makes more sense to do it by what sort of fish. Delicate stuff like discus, rays and marine fish are hard to warranty. Africans as well, thanks to the likelihood of getting murdered by the old fish.
 
Yeah. If I ever opened a fish store there would be limitations. Like 24 hours on stuff like guppies mollies... the really cheap easy stuff. Nothing on Special order that would be hard to replace. Only case to case on Marine things. Nothing on really aggressive species. But then again there's always the "what if's" with fish.
 
SimonL;4973503;4973503 said:
It's hard to have a totally perfect policy. I've had customers, while working at various LFS;

- bring me dried fish with floor lint and say "I dunno what happened, it just died"
- baby turtle that looked like (and had been) chewed on by their cat,
- a guy who bought 200 bucks worth of marine fish, even after I repeatedly grilled him about what fish he had at home to make sure he knew they were marine, return the next day with all the fish dead along with two large FW angels
- a lady buy koi, bring them back an hour later dead. Then do it again with the replacements an hour after that. Mine are all still swimming around.
- Guy insist everything in his pond was perfect...all koi died immediately. Ph was almost 11.

The LFS policy should be a health guarantee, not an insurance policy. It isn't the LFS' fault if your existing fish maul your new arrival for example.
Click to expand...
This is what I'm getting at. And then people wonder why mom-n-pop LFS can't keep their doors open for very long. They're paying for people's stupidty out of their own pocket, just to keep customers happy. It's not a good business model, and it's easy to see why so many LFS fail.
 
Liz Sagara;4973539;4973539 said:
But there are some really good ones with policies that are around for years and years and are still around.
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A refund for customer's dead fish is lost money for the owner, no matter which way you look at it. They had to pay for the fish, pay for the shipping, and pay for the food and electricty to keep it alive. Then they sell it hoping to make a little profit on it. The next day the customer brings it back for a refund. Where's the profit? That's a LOSS. What, you think the LFS can send it back to the vendor and ask them for a refund?

Now multiply that by several people a day, a week, a month, etc. A LFS that can offer these types of refunds has enough sales to offset the losses. Those that are small, or new don't stand a chance.

I'd be really curious to know how much a typical LFS loses each month due to dead fish refunds.
 
I've asked mine. They say less than 100 and they more than make up for it in non refundable sales. dollars because most people after taking the fish out of the store don't have an issue with it until several days later if they're housing it the wrong way. They told me they very seldom have issues with customers bringing back dead fish due to a store mistake. If they know you didn't house it right they don't refund the fish. They don't refund either just replace. They say the ones they get a lot of are the ones labled "Pond fish No refund" and guppies that come pregnant. They say they've never operated in the red save when the front windows shattered due to 80 miles an hour winds.

Not saying that for some it's not a loss but the one I have has been in business 20+ years and they do have a policy.
 
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