So Annoyed With Lfs....

[Alasse]

Yes well i'm more of the midset of....if you the buyer has absolutely no idea of the product you are buying, more fool you for getting caught with something unsuitable, and serves you right.

I have also seen many cases, actually far more than them giving not quite accurate advice, at my lfs where the workers will state something may not be the best idea, only to be dismissed with 'this is what i want and i'm gonna have it' attitude. I've also been there when that same person comes back a week later to go off their brain that, it died, it ate all my ?, etc

There is no excuse for people to be caught out, there are plenty of ways to research something

I would no more buy a house without research, than buy a fish or equipment. I would have none to blame but myself if i got caught. To easy to blame someone else no days for your own laziness in becoming familiar with a product!

I understand where you're coming from... but if you were a parent with kids nagging u about fish that you didnt want... would you bother researching? or go to a pet shop with SHOULD have knowledgable people working for them?

Pet shop workers should know about what they are selling, just like a waiter/waitress knows about the food on the menu. it comes down to proper training. if the workers don't know the answers, get the manager who WILL know all the stuff..

If you are the kind of parent to give into your kids nagging, again, serves you right for what you get.

My lfs has information on the tanks with the basic requirements for each fish. Makes no difference. People are too lazy to even bother reading that info. People should not have to be spoon fed complete information, they need to get off their duff and research for themselves.

I still refuse to blame the LFS for the consumers stupidity and laziness. We are in the information age, info is around at practically any turn, not really hard to do research. People can manage to get onto a forum and find info after the fact, if they took the time to do so beforehand there would be less fish in dire situations and less owners whinging about it.

 

[simonas]

your always going to get that in LFS's though. Same as you will get people giving the wrong advise in these forums

I would say its generally the younger less experiencedstaff who give that advise wrongly because they feel they have to answer a question rather than asktheir boss etc

the shops to remain open have to employ cheaper, younger less experienced staff to remain a business as the profit margins are so slim for fish shops.

 

[FreedomFighter]

your always going to get that in LFS's though. Same as you will get people giving the wrong advise in these forums

I would say its generally the younger less experiencedstaff who give that advise wrongly because they feel they have to answer a question rather than asktheir boss etc

the shops to remain open have to employ cheaper, younger less experienced staff to remain a business as the profit margins are so slim for fish shops.

Yup.

And when it comes to what was said earlier, if the customer has been advised against keeping X fish in Y tank, or with Z fish, but still demands the fish, well.. The customer is always right, even when their wrong. What pets at home do in this situation is they don't give them the 1 week guarantee and refuse to give them a receipt.

 

[L4byr1nth]

What pets at home do in this situation is they don't give them the 1 week guarantee and refuse to give them a receipt.

Pretty sure that's against the law.

Ben.

 

[Dylan_89]

What pets at home do in this situation is they don't give them the 1 week guarantee and refuse to give them a receipt.

Pretty sure that's against the law.

Ben.

They can deny the guarantee, but have to give a receipt.. but can write "NO REFUND" on it - entirely legal if done like this

 

[L4byr1nth]

Yep, I'm sure a right every customer in the UK has is the right to a fully-itemised bill of receipt or invoice.

Ben.

 

[FreedomFighter]

Maybe they write on it, I don't work there so I don't know I've only overheard people arguing over it.

 

[Dylan_89]

Well I don't know much/anything about the laws in the UK - but that's the deal over here (Australia)

 

[Atrixblue.-MFR-.]

i often see in my P.A.H that fish are wrongly described to start with so against trade description there fo instance they had a described a fish for sale as a upsidedown catfish but infact was a african butterfly fish, ive also seen small baby engel fish described as black widow tetra's.

i also had to stop them selling a redtail shark and neon tetra's to someone who did ask are they compatable and the reply was yes they are and i shouted NO THEYRE NOT. ive also witnessed them selling a parrot fish to someone who only had a 2ft tank. ive also witnessed them giving treatment advice, so how does hole in the head syndrome get treated with whitespot treatment? i asked with the guy standing buy the treatment isle, ive also seen them put cold water loaches in the tropical tanks! what they class as temperate is really tropical, oh and a bunch of cherry shrimp in with 4 seen F8 puffers!!! advertised as south american puffers with cumminity safe tags on them!

i reguarly butt in at LFS's if they dish out wrong info. i see it as saving heart ache, and fish.

 

[L4byr1nth]

i also had to stop them selling a redtail shark and neon tetra's to someone who did ask are they compatable and the reply was yes they are and i shouted NO THEYRE NOT.

Yes, they are.

My RTB Shark and my Neon Tetras get along swimmingly (if you'll pardon the poor pun there ). Always have done.

The 'Golden Loach', or the Chinese Algae Eater, is one of the fish I see most commonly mis-sold to people (including me!). Regret ever getting him. He was cute at first, but is personally responsible for the deaths of 2 Neon Tetra - and he'll get quite huge, I'm told.

Just goes to show - take all the advice you get from your LFS with a pinch of salt, and NEVER buy a fish just because your o/h points at it and says "I want that one!"...

Ben.

 

[Shovelman]

As a Fresh water puffer enthusiest, it extremely 'Urks' me when FW and BW puffers are either mixed up and all facts about them, given at pet stores/or even online, not true. Especially with a limited amount of reliable information on puffers and people who do actually know what they are talking about. It almost makes me want to get a job at the fish store so I can help correct their keeping habits to improve the fishes health and lifespan. I do know fish stores are mainly meant to just hold fish until they are sold, but still, some species NEED certain conditions to live.

 

[Baccus]

I went to get some food today for my new fish and overheard a conversation that was taking place between a fishkeeper asking about what would suitable for a tropical tank.

It is not a shop I use to buy fish but it is close to work so sometimes nip in and get a few bits. The guy was with his kids and started asking about elephant-noses, I thought oh dear here we go!! He asked how big they would get and the guy at the shop, who seemed to know his stuff when he wa talking to someone else, informed him and promptly reserved 2 for him! They did not ask about how easy they are to look after, what conditions or what they are compatible and although I am jumping to conclusions, he did not look as though he knew or had done any research. You can just tell can't you by the questions they are asking?? Tell me if I am wrong but to buy an elephant-nose you have to have done some research and have the tank set-up properly, they are certainly not an impulse buy!!

Just so frustrating when I see this happen, because the LFS owner certainly knew what he was talking about!!

I was in one of my local petshops on the weekend and while the guy was writting the prices of my fish on the bags I entertained myself by observing the small tank of Cherry Shrimp they had set up. When he saw me looking at them he was quick to tell me they were cherry shrimp and was surprised when I politely said yer I know I have roughly 50 at home. THe poor guy didn't know anything about them aside from their name so I quickly gave him some basic info like how to sex them, how big they'll get, how the babies are cared for and what they are like when they hatch, and that they really would prefer being in a slightly darker tank. It was a tiny barely 15L tank with a huge over head light and at perfect bump, tap and generally annoy height. At least the young guy was eager to find out some info about the cherries but surely if he's in the industry he could make some effort in his home life to learn about some the creatures he's selling.

 

[zeke the black ghost knife]

everyone knows that lfs people will even say neon tetras and bgks will go together aslong as you buys it. its not good at all. but there is a wonderful aquarium place called dallas north aquarium and they are great with fish. UNLIKE petsmart, they will give you the right choices and wont give you false info.

 

[char la]

Its quite interesting reading the comments on this topic. Ive work in a very reputable aquatics retailer for the past 3 and a half years yet ive been keeping fish for the past 15 years. Up until I started working in the aquatics trade I had very basic knowledge. I didnt even know anything about the nitrogen cycle! Yet for the years up until getting the job I visited many different stores and NEVER was I asked any questions, told anything about any of the fish I wished to purchase or was I refused any fish because they were unsuitable. Ive had everything from bircirs with guppys, a parrot fish in a 120 litre tank, even artificially dyed glass fish. If you could do something wrong with an aquarium, I did it, unknowingly.

When I started working in an aquatics store my brain became a spounge, absorbing any information I could about everything and anything to do with ornamental fish keeping. Now when people come into our store to receive expert advice, like our sign says outside, I feel confident that I can give them that. I even get people comming into the store to ask for me personally. This is all down to self motivated research and a passion for the hobby.

In my opinion, in this type of enviroment, if your going to sell something atleast know about it! If you went into an electrical store and asked for information about what television would suit your circumstances and was sold the completely incorrect tv, who would be in the wrong?
Its not difficult to ask a few questions and yet a lot of pet shops/aquatic stores dont, either through lack of knowledge or being more interested in profit than customer service using the excuse 'well you should have done your own research'. I hear about it EVERY day when customers come into the store and tell me about their tank and fish. Ive got loads of horrible stories.

At the end of the day these stores are shooting themselves in the foot. The customers will have so much trouble with their aquariums, all from receiving the wrong or no advice and will give up and throw their tank away and so ending their custom at that store. Customers will always return for honest and knowledgable advice.

 

[clay]

everyone knows that lfs people will even say neon tetras and bgks will go together aslong as you buys it. its not good at all. but there is a wonderful aquarium place called dallas north aquarium and they are great with fish. UNLIKE petsmart, they will give you the right choices and wont give you false info.

i agree. i was in petsmart just a week ago and i was purchasing my blue rams and while i was doing that the store manager comes over to chat with me. he saw that i was getting the rams and he told me that they were very aggressive and would be most compatable with large african cichlids and catfish. if that isnt wrong information i dont know what is. petsmart is just a place i go to periodicly because my other lfs is better employed. the owner of my main lfs actually wouldnt let me purchase a fish when i first got into the hobby because he knew it wouldnt go into a communitty aquarium. i still thank him to this day because i was trying to purchase a juvenile red tailed catfish.