Favorite LFS "CUSTOMER" STORIES ...

[TheCanuck]

i have one (not that funny but i thought i'd mention it


except the stupid person wasen't someone else in the store it was me.......



anyways we were at the LFS today (to buy a plant nuitrient supplement) anyways as were going (i forget how the subject came up) we started talking to a the guy at the cash and so he asks how much do you think their big "show" saltwater tank was worth. me underestimating everything like usual reply umm i dunno maybe 6000 bucks ? (me not thinking much about saltwater equipment costs (except for protein skimmers and lights) he replies it's worth 30000 dollars


stupid me

Yes it was in the morning and i hadn't eaten much so my brain was like functioning at half the rate of someone smoking weed


i forgot about all the live rock and calcium reactors, phosphate removers, power heads, and pumps for the sump.

I bet you could make that same tank for 6000 dollars. The idiot was the fishstore owner who paid 30000 dollars for the tank. Don't fool yourself.

 

[Enemyarms]

i went to petsmart and i am only 12 and i was smarter than them they were like ooooohhhhhhhhhh your son is very smart to my dad. i was just sitting there thinking "all i did was read the box" literally that is how stupid petsmart people are they have their dragon gobies listed under 30 gallon tank in fresh water! and they dont feed their fish the right stuff also they have oscars and other agressive fish under semi agressive

hey now, i work for petsmart. We dont control what the tags say or where the fish go, corp says x fish goes in x tank, and when we get an inspection we get docked. We feed our dragons bloodworm's, our needle fish minnows and our large Oscars med goldfish/pellets

 

[Enemyarms]

I like how a 24 inch pacu needs 30+ gallons at petsmart, and walmart sells special ones that one get 10 inches long.

Pretty sure it says 75g but that could be the dragon goby

 

[mshill90]

I was shocked to find clown loaches at my Wal-Mart for $5. I bought 5... 4 survived. I get notification when they come in, and I can get them before they hit their tanks.

Anywho... the other day I was at our LFS, and it's always crowded in there. I am normally in a good mood, but then I hear all these other people and I just want to smack them. I go in once a week just to check their stock. They normally don't have anything new, but you never know. There was this couple who were looking at fish... I over heard the conversation, and I seen the fish they went home with.

2 painted Parrot Cichlids
3 Dwarf Gouramis
1 Large Clown Loach
A whole bunch of every tetra available
Some Barbs
1 Discus
2 Convicts

All in a.... 30 GALLON TANK!

Then someone tried telling me that all small fish will school together... neons, rosys, tiger barbs etc...

Someone came in and complained that their Discus were skinny and starving. Then she pointed to a goldfish, and explained how it should be fat like them.

Someone tried to sell me 1'' Demon Eartheaters (the common ones) for $30 a piece.. when I had clearly read the tank that said $7.50. He them proceeded to tell me that they were not the fish I picked.

They tried to sell me a Sterlet for $60, and when I told them that another local store sells them for $30, she told me "oh, well these are the rare ones." Then I asked her whether it was a Sterlet, or a Sturgeon, because one stays at 3 ft, and the other can get huge. She then tried telling me that Sturgeons are Extinct, and Sterlets are really hard to come by.

The list can go on and on... And yet... my fish store refuses to hire me because I have "too much knowledge".

 

[dawsonkid]

I'm sorry but I read this in my head with an australian accent and it made it 10x funnier.

DUDE I Did That TOO!!!!! It Was FunnIer!!!

 

[blogan]

I got into this about 5 yes. ago and lucky for me and the fish I do my homework. When I was looking to start keeping fish I checked out every lfs I could find. Most were good and a few not so good. Here is were my story starts I go to this one store and they had about a 4x8 tank about 12" to 14" deep for their live rock and in this tank I saw a shark. When I asked an employee who happened to be an owner what it was? How big? Tank size? I was told it was a nurse shark and it would only grow to be half the size of the tank it was put it in. A min. 150 gallon but recommended a 180. Now thinking if those tanks were 6' long the shark would grow to 3' it still couldn't turn around I knew this was wrong for the fish. I always research fish I want and when I found out that shark could be 9-14 feet, I couldn't believe they were even selling it. I never went back to that store because I figured if that was what they told me about that shark how bad would the rest of their info be. Oh and by the way that store is still open to this day and they redid it with smaller tanks for more fish in bad conditions.

 

[phillydog1958]

I was shocked to find clown loaches at my Wal-Mart for $5. I bought 5... 4 survived. I get notification when they come in, and I can get them before they hit their tanks.

Anywho... the other day I was at our LFS, and it's always crowded in there. I am normally in a good mood, but then I hear all these other people and I just want to smack them. I go in once a week just to check their stock. They normally don't have anything new, but you never know. There was this couple who were looking at fish... I over heard the conversation, and I seen the fish they went home with.

2 painted Parrot Cichlids
3 Dwarf Gouramis
1 Large Clown Loach
A whole bunch of every tetra available
Some Barbs
1 Discus
2 Convicts

All in a.... 30 GALLON TANK!

Then someone tried telling me that all small fish will school together... neons, rosys, tiger barbs etc...

Someone came in and complained that their Discus were skinny and starving. Then she pointed to a goldfish, and explained how it should be fat like them.

Someone tried to sell me 1'' Demon Eartheaters (the common ones) for $30 a piece.. when I had clearly read the tank that said $7.50. He them proceeded to tell me that they were not the fish I picked.

They tried to sell me a Sterlet for $60, and when I told them that another local store sells them for $30, she told me "oh, well these are the rare ones." Then I asked her whether it was a Sterlet, or a Sturgeon, because one stays at 3 ft, and the other can get huge. She then tried telling me that Sturgeons are Extinct, and Sterlets are really hard to come by.

The list can go on and on... And yet... my fish store refuses to hire me because I have "too much knowledge".

Your LFS refuses to hire you because they want knowledgeable people, and you have knowledge, but they also want people who don't reduce sales. No offense, but you're bad for their sales. It's not always about giving the customer good information. It's usually about making the sale and generating revenue.

 

[TheCanuck]

Your LFS refuses to hire you because they want knowledgeable people, and you have knowledge, but they also want people who don't reduce sales. No offense, but you're bad for their sales. It's not always about giving the customer good information. It's usually about making the sale and generating revenue.

Though someone with knowledge could revenue more sales and frequent customers. Giving someone a break every now and then could lead to more sales then the store could imagine. They are not hiring you cause you would make everyone look stupid.

 

[phillydog1958]

Though someone with knowledge could revenue more sales and frequent customers. Giving someone a break every now and then could lead to more sales then the store could imagine. They are not hiring you cause you would make everyone look stupid.

You don't get it. These are tough times. Local fish stores are desperate to get livestock out the door. They know that the average fish purchaser won't ever grow a fish to adulthood. so they don't care that some uninformed couple comes in to buy a bunch of incompatible fish and throws them in a 30 gallon tank. They want the sales. I'm not defending the actions of the LFS. I'm just explaining what they want. There are 2 kinds of customers: The serious, informed aquarist and the rookie who has not a clue. Fish stores want both. They do not want their sales clerks to reduce a sale by discouraging a customer to not buy as many fish as the customer wants. Why do you think they often tell you lies or misinformation when you ask them questions about fish? Because they don't know and some of them do know, but they lie to get the sale. Once they realize you're a knowledgeable hobbyist, they respect and treat you differently. It's nice to care about the well being of fish, but the LFS has to make money to pay it's overhead. Local fish stores are cashflow businesses, with minimal reserves. I think most LFS owners do care about fish, but they also care about profit, just a bit more.

 

[justin guest]

You don't get it. These are tough times. Local fish stores are desperate to get livestock out the door. They know that the average fish purchaser won't ever grow a fish to adulthood. so they don't care that some uninformed couple comes in to buy a bunch of incompatible fish and throws them in a 30 gallon tank. They want the sales. I'm not defending the actions of the LFS. I'm just explaining what they want. There are 2 kinds of customers: The serious, informed aquarist and the rookie who has not a clue. Fish stores want both. They do not want their sales clerks to reduce a sale by discouraging a customer to not buy as many fish as the customer wants. Why do you think they often tell you lies or misinformation when you ask them questions about fish? Because they don't know and some of them do know, but they lie to get the sale. Once they realize you're a knowledgeable hobbyist, they respect and treat you differently. It's nice to care about the well being of fish, but the LFS has to make money to pay it's overhead. Local fish stores are cashflow businesses, with minimal reserves. I think most LFS owners do care about fish, but they also care about profit, just a bit more.

I worked in Germany in the pet industry for years. Shops with this sort of sales philosophy never stayed in business cause the german customers reported such behaviour to government vets who would usually shut the shop down until employees had done bridging courses in aquarium keeping as this is law in Germany. These shops always got watched very closely after that. A shame that the states don't have tighter controls around the training of shop employees or more fish would survive over there. Don't worry though I encountered my share of clueless customers over the years. I had the luck to work for a pet shop chain that encouraged the blocking of a senseless sale.

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