It must be Pets-mart and not Pet-smart...

L

Luke Jaywalker

is argumentative
Nov 15, 2004
59
0
0
Virginia, USA
tfarchive.com
...because I wasted a half-hour in one trying to get some rare (around here) harlequin rasboras. First off, they only had one person working in the fish section and she freely admitted that she knew nothing about fish when I asked why teensy rasboras were being sold for $2.49 and labelled as extra large.

Her response was that since they CAN get up to 2", they're sold at a higher price since they can "become extra large." :duh:

I pointed out that they had small, medium, and extra large bala sharks being sold at different prices and asked why the rasboras weren't being sold at a price that reflected their size. Her response was that the bala sharks must be different species.

It was at that point that I went off looking for a manager or someone who actually knew something about the fish. I found a guy and he also wondered why the rasboras were being sold as extra large even though they weren't and went to go ask his manager if there was a lower price. The manager said they had to sell them at the price on the tanks and I left the store having lost 30 minutes of my life and fishless.

My local Walmart carries some fish and actually keeps them in good condition and the only LFS I know of specializes in cichlids and other half-dead fish in filthy tanks.
 
That is great customer service :( I wish some people would just say they do not know instead of trying to justify the price. She already said she did not know about fish but tries to tell you that the same fish in diferent sizes must be different species...
 
Ah yes...this is the same place with the label on the pacu tank that says perfect for desktop aquariums :D
 
wow.
too bad there isn't a national headquarters who cares to complain to...ppl wonder why there is so much rage in the world. There is way too much ignorance and no way to for people who realize it to make a difference!! How frustrating.
 
yea...it's always a women..
 
i don't understand what the problem is. . . .my money is on the possibility that they were some strain of harlequins that gets larger than the usual type, which is why they are labelled as extra large. maybe they're defined as extra large as compated to other kinds of fish. maybe it's just a simple mistake. anyway, you don't pay for fish based on eventual size, you pay for them based on availability and supply/demand, as well as the money put into those fish. 2.50 is not bad at all for those rasboras.
the sharks are all different prices because the larger they are, the more money the breeder has to spend on growing them out, so the cost for the store is higher, therefore your cost is higher. time + effort = money. if you want to take the time and effort to grow them out yourself, buy the small ones. same with plecos - small ones at 2-3 inches are much cheaper than large 8+ inch ones.
do you expect a food sevice employee to know the cost of everything in a sandwich and be able to price it for you item by item to come up with the total actual cost of the sandwich? of course not. employees should be able to tell you about the fish - how to care for them, what to feed them, general stuff. they aren't in charge of pricing in any way, shape or form. do you think they go home at night with a stock list and print out those tank info tags on their computers? prices are set by overhead management, not in-store people, but headquarters.

if you feel the need to 'test' these people, ask them things that they are supposed to know about, like cycling, feeding, and algae or ich trouble. don't ask about something that they have absolutely no control over.
 
wataugachicken said:
if you feel the need to 'test' these people, ask them things that they are supposed to know about, like cycling, feeding, and algae or ich trouble. don't ask about something that they have absolutely no control over.
Click to expand...

1 - She practically started our conversation by admitting she knew nothing about fish.

2 - She thought that a species of fish that shows little variation through maturity was three different species because of the size.

Your food service analogy is poor because I'd expect a food service employee to realize that something's amiss if he or she is charging me for supersized fries and then giving me a small order. That's more comparable to my situation.

Ultimately, I checked my local Walmart (again, I'd normally never even think of buying fish from Walmart, but this one actually has their tanks and stock in good condition) and found rasboras for $1.66 each. Only 30 cents more than what I paid for my first few at the great store where I used to live.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom