Whos Fault Is It?

[JoolsA2]

I think it would be both. alot of costomers and alot of staff at the shop can be both wrong.

 

[matchstickman47]

haha my crap is always deleted... i stilll think bettas should be kept alone ....
we do keep some with harlequins but she said she had neons, that wouldnt work ...

 

[Sean W.]

its a shame... but thats the way it is...

and when you are running a buisness all you can do is do your best to educate the customer but in the end, they get what they want, regardless of what they have been told.

 

[MBOU]

Huh, why wouldnt you keep a fighter with neons??? Ok.... anyway... ignoring that..

I voted Customers Fault for a laugh, going AGAINST the saying 'the customer is always right' because i got on the basis of 'the customer always THINK they are right'.

I dont claim to be an expertand i readily tell customers i hardly know anything and that any so called expert will always tell people that they dont know everything, know one knows everything therefor we cant always be right. I will also explain that a lot of fish care is based on opinion therefore if they spoke to me then another member of staff, they might get different opinions. We do have meetings where any new and unusual (and even some more of the common) fish that have come into the shop are gone over with other members of staff, care and requirements etc. We do our best but it is easy to make mistakes...

The biggest mistakes are with the customers LYING or just making their own mistakes. If we ask a customer how big their tank is and they give us dimensions and we work out volume but their dimensions are wrong... WHY would it be our fault for selling fish to a tank too small if they exaggerated?

If they cant name every fish in their tank or just refer to them as 'the orange ones' or 'the silver coloured ones', WHY would it be our fault if they arent compatable (assuming we've done our best to identify them of course with books and fish in shop and descriptions) we can hardly refuse to sell fish to people who cant name every fish in their tank.

I am SICK to death of rud customers who object to me asking details about their tank and dont even know what the heck they even have in their tank!! Why on earth bother keeping fish if you dont know anything about them?

To be fair i'd lose my job if i didnt sell fish, at least i refuse to sell fish to unsuitable tanks when i know for sure they are unsuitable, like the poor customers with their 20l tank today, they chose 3 tiny glowlight danios and were raising temp to tropical and their friends bought them 4 common goldfish. Aparently they just walked into the LFS near us and asked for some fish compatable with danios! Walked out with 4 common goldfish and now these people have to take them back, good thing i spoke to them because they had no idea they could return fish but they should never have been sold them! I wouldnt sell them any more fish until the goldfish were moved on.

Customers that shout, scream, threaten, complain to head office, snide comments, whinging, vandalising shop, touching the glass, thumping the glass, LICKING the glass!! Bringing screaming kids in the shop... STEALING! It is all seriously unnappreciated by staff and the rubbish we have to deal with most days is completel unnappreciated by people who cant do anything better than whinge about the shops.

 

[Haych]

Huh, why wouldnt you keep a fighter with neons??? Ok.... anyway... ignoring that..

i did wonder that myself,, and i have to say, i do agree with alot of what you say. at least youre caring for the animals first

BUT i have to admit, some peopel have made a good point, ok i DO feel that it is the shops responsibility to let the customer know ALL the facts possible and investigate if they dont think a certain fish would be suitable (i.e brackish fish being asked for, assistant could ask about set up of current tank to see if the customer knows what they are getting)

AND I also feel that a shop assistant can only do so much to offer help, if the customer isnt listening then that cannot be helped.

surely an assistant has the right to refuse sale if they feel an animal (including fish) is going to be badly treated/cared for etc?

 

[matchstickman47]

neons r nippy !

 

[MewMew42]

the comment by MBOU...i cannot agree more......

people are so rude, its getting worse [i not gonna go into what happened today] grrrrr its really irritates me when they think they know all, why ask me then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i dont think i have anything to add to that one tbh....

edit:

surely an assistant has the right to refuse sale if they feel an animal (including fish) is going to be badly treated/cared for etc?

oh i have done ive told them that its cruel to not have a filter for a goldfish and flat out refused [its MA policy anyways] him and the kids were thinking about getting a filter but he wife said no....i bet they just bout em elsewhere...

 

[MBOU]

Yep, i will admit i have said on occasion "Look, i have explained that a/ i can't sell you the fish because its against company policy to sell fish to a bowl or tank without a filter and b/ its cruel and unethical for numerous reasons, if you still want to buy a goldfish, you will have to go find a shop that doesnt actually care about fish... there are several in the area...".

I had a great huge stocky built 6ft something bloke threaten to thump me (5ft nothing and a woman!) because i was upsetting his kid on its birthday but not giving him a goldfish for his plastic bowl! He was kindly asked to leave and not come back, very politely but i was terrified!

 

[tricia73au]

I think its a bit of both, as seems to be the general agreement here.

If you ask, and they give you the wrong info, its their fault. But you should research first before you get there. And if they really dont know, they should tell you.


bit of double dutch really.


I always research first, then ask a few different stores. And now I know what staff know, and what staff dont.

This last weekend a lady was buying angels and goldfish for her kids. When she asked if they would go ok together in a take, the girl staff said YES.

I stood their in shock, and my Miss 11 said, angels will eat the heads off the goldfish wont they mum. Everyone in the room looked at me. I sheepshly said, probably.

The lady turned to the staff girl, who then said. Oh yes they dont mix well together, sorry I wasent thinking.

We left then, without buying anything. I was impressed with my girl, but embarrised at the same time.


For the dollar, people will say anything. I guess.

 

[squiremaster]

id say in that situation, its the customers fault because she didn't listen to you

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Yes, and it's so much fun working with the public. Oh, I'm sorry m'am, those greenies aren't for sale, those other packs are. Well, they're the same pack, but these have twenty percent more free. Um, I'm sorry, but they are different, they have different upc codes, so they are considered different product. And then I get screamed at in front of the other people in line (who, like me, are waiting for ANYONE to answer my plead for a second register to open). I refrain from punching her nose in and call a manager, he comes, and just like company policy tells him, the customer is always right, so he rings her up like it was on sale, and she gets to be all smug in her rightness to me, the lowly register girl.

It absolutely sucks to be non-manager staff at these places (ahem, pet-dumb) because no one will believe unless you are a manager or at least look like you are, and you have to quote 'forget everything you know about keeping pets and go by what the training books tell you'. Which, trust me, there is some dumb crap in those books.

I blame people for being ignorant jerks who can't be told they're wrong, or at least misled.

 

[timmystood]

Every shop has the right to refuse a sale and every member of staff at good aquatics chains/shops will often find themselves refusing sales.

 

[raptorrex]

Every shop has the right to refuse a sale and every member of staff at good aquatics chains/shops will often find themselves refusing sales.

thats well said! . its also true staff are sacked for doing the same. until fish have the same standing as, other, pet animals, this will continue. lets face it, Sony can sell an, outrageously, defective £400 games console and do nothing. who cares about some £2.00 fish, sold with bad advice? we all have responcibility to care for our charges. but as they CLAIM to be specialists, should shops not be held to the highest standards?

 

[Darkstar]

all your reasons for shops being angels, deal with inanimate objects. they are irrelevant to this thread.

How can you say that lol when in the same post you state the following:

if you buy a cd player and it is mis-described by the vendor, you are entitled to a refund (in the UK). why then should fish be any different?

and then this a few posts later:

lets face it, Sony can sell an, outrageously, defective £400 games console and do nothing. who cares about some £2.00 fish, sold with bad advice?

Seems there's one rule for you and another for everyone else.....

i agree WE should know our stuff. but if we dont and ask for advice. that advice should be correct. Tesco Aldi, do not claim to be "Experts" at anything except making money. LFS/Petshops, claim to be, "experts" in the field of livestock sales. there is a vast difference.

I've no idea how you came to this conclusion but it is nothing more than your opinion, it certainly isn't factual in any sense. I have never been into any lfs that claimed to be experts and any that did would more than likely be lying. Although as you said earlier Tesco don't sell livestock so the two are incomparable, so again I've no idea why you've made this comparison.

 

[raptorrex]

all your reasons for shops being angels, deal with inanimate objects. they are irrelevant to this thread.

How can you say that lol when in the same post you state the following:

if you buy a cd player and it is mis-described by the vendor, you are entitled to a refund (in the UK). why then should fish be any different?

and then this a few posts later:

lets face it, Sony can sell an, outrageously, defective £400 games console and do nothing. who cares about some £2.00 fish, sold with bad advice?

Seems there's one rule for you and another for everyone else.....

i agree WE should know our stuff. but if we dont and ask for advice. that advice should be correct. Tesco Aldi, do not claim to be "Experts" at anything except making money. LFS/Petshops, claim to be, "experts" in the field of livestock sales. there is a vast difference.

I've no idea how you came to this conclusion but it is nothing more than your opinion, it certainly isn't factual in any sense. I have never been into any lfs that claimed to be experts and any that did would more than likely be lying. Although as you said earlier Tesco don't sell livestock so the two are incomparable, so again I've no idea why you've made this comparison.

perhaps you should read the whole thread. but who cares. you clearly dont. my comments stand. opinion? yes, valid, yes. whatever you think.

i made the comparison with Tesco, because the post i was quoting, made statements relating to supermarkets and other retail outlets. guess tesco was the first one to come to mind.

if you see a sign "BANK". you would assume, rightly, they know their job. why should "Whatever Aquatics", not follow the same rules?