How do you tell your LFS they aren't doing a good job?

[eatbreakfast]

Many of those issues that your LFS has going on in his tanks are going on in the systems of online dealers, but it's a little more palatable because it's out of sight for you for the online vendor.

Try just having a conversation about how he deals with bryopsis/dinos/cyano/diseases. In many cases you can find out what they are trying to combat them with. Just because they are losing the battle, doesn't mean they aren't fighting.

 

[billw]

I just like supporting local business and i enjoy talking to people sometimes.

I never do just because they are local. If they offer product or service that is inferior to what I can find elsewhere IMO it does them a disservice. As long as they are rewarded essentially for being substandard, they have no motivation to improve.

 

[EuroDriver]

My wife hates complaining about quality/service. I like to voice my dissatisfaction because I believe if you don't tell them, they won't know what they're doing wrong. However, I like to "gold-plate the pill" so I won't come off as a "mule." If that doesn't work, then I become very direct. For example, you can start by asking if they will discount whatever livestock you're interested in, and explain that in its unhealthy condition, you'll need to make a significant investment of time and resources to try and save its life. If they discount your argument, you can come back by saying something to the effect that in its condition, it's not worth anything near what they're asking for it.

Here in my neck of the woods we had a local fish store that many of us went to because the next nearest one was almost 30 minutes away. This local store was much like what you (OP) have described. Ill fish and corals, infested tanks and the place always stank. Yet he was the most expensive in the county. He was a know-it-all and whatever your question might be, the answer always ended in a pitch to upsell you. His response to the high prices was always a long-winded rant about how expensive it is to run the store, impossible to compete with online retailers, and on and on. To boot, he was the only vendor in our local forum using a free account and despite many protests, he would shamelessly continue to post and promote his store (I don't know why he was never banned). He ended up closing while the other stores around town thrived. Last I heard from him was something along the lines of what an ungrateful bunch of souls us reefers are.

I believe his demise came from the many negative reviews online and on our forum. The silver lining to that is that as a result of this, the other stores cleaned up their act a notch or two and a significant lowering of prices.

Moral of the mini-novel: Some people just won't learn but when all else fails, Yelp is a very powerful tool.

 

[Kbas]

I know the shop you are talking about. He is very understanding just talk to him like I did. He has a new store and a lot of tanks. That means a lot of new tank syndrome ie diatoms, dino, and hair algae. As far as the dead fish go if he is busy then he doesn't have time to look at every tank and if you let him know he has a dead fish he will go and get it out and thank you for letting him know.

 

[dodgerblew]

I’m a very direct and, I believe, fair person. I confront the authority and approach them as objectively and concisely as possible.

I also share with them that because this is my viewpoint, it doesn’t necessarily make it valid or worth anything, but I wanted to share.

Yep, this. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. I think society in general has lost sight that communication and confrontation are very different if handled properly

 

[Slarti]

Just walk away! It is what I did when mine were not prepared to help me when I had an emergency. This was a proper pet store with a large fish section and with my two dogs, two cats, bird, guinea pigs and fish I spend a small fortune with them but no more. From what I understand their large and what was beautiful display tanks all but died out since I was there last. I am very happy with my new place and can only say good luck to anyone still buying from them, chances of ending in tears are great...

 

[Mattrg02]

How do you tell a LFS that you’re not the one that stole their identity?

One of two LFS in my town was listed as a Red Sea reefer tank retailer. I emailed them about getting a Red Sea reefer 350. They replied that they could help me out with that. They then emailed me asking if I was the one that stole their identity, recently, and ruined their life?!

Needless to say, I didn’t speak to them again.

 

[LatinKing]

The LFS near me about 10 minutes, with the same situation. Tanks are dirty, dead fish in the bottom of the tank. No inventory or the same stuff all the time. The corals are poor in quality. Since I'm retired I offer to help clean the tanks. And trust me I've made several comments and opinions. I stopped going and a few of my buds. We drive to Tampa or Orlando like WWC or other LFS that care.

 

[Dsnakes]

How do you tell a LFS that you’re not the one that stole their identity?

One of two LFS in my town was listed as a Red Sea reefer tank retailer. I emailed them about getting a Red Sea reefer 350. They replied that they could help me out with that. They then emailed me asking if I was the one that stole their identity, recently, and ruined their life?!

Needless to say, I didn’t speak to them again.

Ha that's kinda crazy.

 

[glennf]

A good LFS should always,
- listen to their customers.
- keep up with new developments
- be willing to learn from their own mistakes

When they think they know it all, stop being openminded and stop learning, that's when all go south. Because nowadays new insights and developments which affect the reefing world move very fast.

 

[Legal Reefer]

I do all my business online. We have two in my town and both are bad. I would go to Petco before I would go to one of them.

Not the petco in my town...lol...the girl they had working the fish area last time I was there didn't know which end of the frag plug went up...not joking either. They had several frags for sale in different tanks, most were sideways or upside down and burried. When I asked to get a look at one she moved one to the front and stuck it in the sand with the purple frag plug up. I asked to hold her net and went tank to tank digging them up and putting them right side up. Even the manager said he had never worked in the pet business before. It is a new store and I think they just hired people because they could use a register.

 

[Mattrg02]

Not the petco in my town...lol...the girl they had working the fish area last time I was there didn't know which end of the frag plug went up...not joking either. They had several frags for sale in different tanks, most were sideways or upside down and burried. When I asked to get a look at one she moved one to the front and stuck it in the sand with the purple frag plug up. I asked to hold her net and went tank to tank digging them up and putting them right side up. Even the manager said he had never worked in the pet business before. It is a new store and I think they just hired people because they could use a register.

Maybe United Way could add Petco to the list of locations to volunteer at?

 

[Scratch08]

I have been to the same "un-named" store on several occasions and have left each time feeling less and less enthusiastic about them each time. I have bought some hardware from them simply because it was local and had great reviews on here, but once I'm ready for livestock, I probably won't buy it from there unless things do a complete turn around by the time I'm ready (finally have all my hardware together, stand build starts this weekend). There is a lot of potential in that store, and for it to be the only "real fish store in town, I hope they can pull things together and clean it up, I'd much rather buy local so i can see what I'm getting than to order online and be truly "surprised.

 

[oldpaddy]

They don't care. Take your business elsewhere.
Sorry, but that's been my experience.

 

[Daltrey]

By not shopping there. Last time I went into petco they had a dead black clownfish stuck to the power head and by the looks of their other fish I would say he was the lucky one. They had petco ornaments in the tank and didnt even bother taking the tags off them.

 

[TonapahNorth]

I have dealt with this situation. I handled it by offering to help. I spent about an hour a day just doing tank maintenance and it surprised me about the things they “didn’t” know. I did it for about a month. Their tanks were cleaned up and livestock improved. Soon they realized the importance and worked harder at it.

Who knows what your small business owner is going through? I came to get to know them well. Also, I realize that my experience is tempered by my ability to donate time. It was a measure of my passion for the hobby as well as wanting to help a local entrepreneur in a smallish community. Bottom line is that when their business improved, the owner’s gratitude showed.

Lots of ways to handle the situation. My nature is to help first.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Thanks everyone for all of the extra advice. I know a lot of folks have suggested I simply talk to the owners, but from my experience with the guy and his wife, they're not exactly the type to sit down and listen and they're definitely pretty opinionated.

Other folks have suggested that I volunteer at the store and help them clean up some which isn't an idea I'm totally opposed to, but currently I'm stretched thin with a full time job and grad school so maybe it's something I can try once I graduate at the end of this semester. It would also probably be a good opportunity for me to realize what all is entailed with operating a fish store, especially since I often play around with the idea of developing a business plan for my own store.

For the time being I will probably take my money elsewhere, there's a frag swap coming up in February in Montgomery AL I need to save up for anyways

 

[Forsaken77]

Just to play devils advocate for a minute... But having bryopsis, aiptasia and cyano in a large, multi-tank connected filtration system is extremely difficult to deal with. I mean, we see how hard it is on our own single tanks. Being their tanks are all interconnected, it keeps spreading throughout the system. Plus they may not be able to treat with certain products because it will affect a tank down the line.

I'm not making excuses, just saying it's not black & white. But having dead fish in the tanks and not trying to clean the tanks is inexcusable.

 

[Jl330]

It's not that I don't respect the notoriety of dinos, bryopsis, and cyano and how hard they are to get rid of, it's that they don't seem to do anything to at least fix the issue such as manually removing as much nasty stuff as possible or even so much as wiping it off the glass. It's hard to convince me to buy a goby when I have to peer through a wall of cyano to look at it

I especially agree that there is nothing like a local store that will stay open a little longer for you to get there for emergency supplies, that's something Amazon or heck, even Bulk Reef Supply and Marine Depot will ever be able to do which is why I'm adamant about supporting local businesses.

In the long run I hope they figure it out or change things up for the better because Pensacola is a great place for reefing and has a lot of potential for the hobby, we already have a large reptile keeping hobby in the area so it wouldn't take much for reefing to catch up, I still think a good store is critical though. My girlfriend jokes that I should open my own store and honestly I would seriously consider it if we weren't moving.

Funny you mention opening your own store. I'm a young guy but I'd love to open a store after retirement. Although I'm planning an early retirement because reasons but there's beside the point. I have a bunch of business ideas for post retirement.

 

[bdejong1112o]

I never do just because they are local. If they offer product or service that is inferior to what I can find elsewhere IMO it does them a disservice. As long as they are rewarded essentially for being substandard, they have no motivation to improve.

Now lets be fair and quote the entire paragraph. I will vote with my wallet if the service is substandard or the care of the animals is not appropriate. The above sentance was kind of just hanging on the end of my post as a closing thought that I like to talk to people... Was thinking about great forums like this where I always want to be able to talk to all you fine people.