WOW...I love my LFS!

mykidsmylife

mykidsmylife

Princess of Peons
Aug 26, 2005
925
0
0
Indiana, U.S.A.
I have always liked my LFS...but today they really WOWED me. I have been thinking of getting a Magnum cannister filter for "water polishing" of my two tanks. I read all the product reviews and decided on the Magnum 350. This pet store has a "pet club" you buy and then they give you extra discounts on certain items.
I priced the Magnum 350 from Big Als... with shipping it would have been around $79. I called the pet store and they had theirs on sale for $97 and no pet club discount. :eek: They know who I am and I asked a question about our parrot and then the girl asked if I wanted her to hold the Magnum 350....I said no that honestly I could get it MUCH cheaper online. She asked me how much online and MET THAT PRICE!!! Can you believe it. I never expected them to and thought it was just wonderful. So wonderful I bought 2 in fact, one for my best friend. I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask anywhere you go, the worst they can say is No.
Big Al ended up getting some of my money too though :p:
 
thats really cool :cool: i wish we had an LFS around here like that
 
i'm starting to seriously hate my lfs. the one worker there is good, but the owner and the newer employee are both idiots. unfortunately, the good one is rarely there b/c of his school schedule.
when i had mold growing on my driftwood, all the owner could say was "well, you have to soak it to get the color out", and he said it at least three times. i don't have a problem with the color, i have a problem with mold.
the other day i went in there to find a backflow/prefilter sponge, and they were out of stock. i talked to him for a couple minutes (far too much of a chore) and when i made a move to go look at the fish, he basically told me i had to hurry up and get the hell out because he closes at 12 for lunch, and it was 12 right then. i can understand leaving for lunch when you don't have anybody in the store, but to throw someone out who is interested in your stock? he's right, i wasn't going to buy any fish that day, but now i'm not sure if i'll be buying fish there ever again. i have a 10g which is going to empty out in a couple weeks when i move my bristlenose out of QT, and i want to try some new species in there. fish shouldn't be an impulse buy like getting a candy bar while you're in the checkout line, he should understand that people like to look and learn before they put the money down. i might even get my sponge online, since his markup is beyond ridiculous. it's not even like they have it posted that they leave for lunch, i guess sometimes they go at 12 and other times i've gone there and they've been closed at one.
grrr. sorry, but i had to rant. it was bugging me a lot.
 
I think LFS's are like any other type of store. It all depends on the people.

I have every confidence in the expertise of the people who work at my LFS but they are all a bit arrogant and stuck up. I know that if I want to go look at the fish and not be bothered they will leave me alone. I know that if I want help they will help me. If I ask a question they will probably know the answer. However, if I want to talk abot my tank, chat about fish, whatever, they will roll their eyes at me and act like I am wasting their time.

Perhaps they will become more friendly when I have been in more (I've only been keeping fish since July so I've been there 6-7 times). More likely, I will continue to do my research online so that I can ask intelligent questions, go to the LFS to buy fish and when I want respect and good customer service I'll go to Nordstrom and buy new shoes.
 
I used to have 2 places I liked to go. Both of course are a good 45 minute drive but these 2 places are pretty much where I bought all my fish. Well now it's down to 1. I honestly hate poor customer service. I guess primarily because my jobs have all been in the customer service field and to me, IT'S NOT THAT HARD! I work in a call center answering people ignorance all day long about their dental insurance and why we didn't pay for things. You think I'm genuinely concerned or even have a remote desire to speak to most of these people? You learn to fake it even if you don't care. Because that's what makes people feel good.

Anyway about the *other* LFS I used to go to. They lost my business when they admitted to killing their MTS with bleach on a regular basis and yet refused to sell me any despite my knowledge of what they are and what they did. No reason whatsoever. They lose my business flat out, I'll never go there again. From what I gather the fish store industry is not a very lucrative industry. One wonders why they would tick off the knowledgable people who would be repeat customers. Those same people who also know others in fishkeeping most likely and word of mouth advertise for you. It's just bad business practice to me.

Curtis
 
My lfs doesn't carry the starter kits, you know, complete heater, filter, decorative air pump, gravel vac, etc. They put one together for me for my 60 gal. and matched the price I thought it was @ petsmart (something like $75). The total before discount was $130, So they took almost a 50% hit. Then I found out the kit was aCtually more than I said, plus it didn't include the air pump. My lfs said, who cares, at least you keep coming back.
 
I am a real stickler when it comes to customer service...It isnt that hard to be atleast civil and some what attentive...I have a couple of LFS that are closer to my home, but their prices are not competitive enough on fish stuff, but they are always pleasant, so I buy my dogfood there...Other LFS i would crawl through broken glass before I went back...
 
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