best & worst lfs experiences

[6ftaquaman]

I thought instead of bombarding bettaobsessed's thread with my gripes that I would start a new thread

One gripe I have which has happened to me three times now is not getting served by anyone in a timely manner (3 different lfs). I mean 45mins or more was the case each time, luckily I enjoy watching the fish in the tanks to wait around that long. I find that new people to the hobby take up a huge amount of the sales assistants time and 2 out of the 3 cases that is exactly what happened.

I understand first in first served but it is frustrating when you know you will be less than 5 minutes and you are waiting around to be served and hear questions like "whats the gravel for" and know its going to take another 10 minutes and another 10 questions and so on and so forth.

Do you think its ok for a sales assistant to say to them... "do you mind waiting while I serve another customer" (due to the fact they are taking so much of their time) or do you consider that to be rude and should not be done? Twice I walked out because I couldnt be bothered waiting any longer and at no stage did they even acknowledge my presence in the store with a "be with you shortly" or similar.

Twice there was only 1 employee, me and the customer in the store. They were the 2 times I walked out and they both lost sales. I understand it is not easy for the sales assistant but how long can one customer take up a sales assistants time before it is too long if they are the only help in the store with other people waiting?

Lets hear all your good and bad lfs experiences.

[BettaObsessed]

You waited a lot longer than I would have. If there is no acknowledgment that I even there I would only wait maybe 10 minutes. It doesn't take much to say "I'll be with your shortly" as you are walking past someone.

My favourite LFS usually has between 2-4 people working on the weekends depending on what time of day you go in there. They always say hello when you walk in the door. They will leave you to wander for a bit before asking if you need any help. The owner's wife is usually sitting at the counter on weekends while he does w/c and serves customers along with his assistants if there are any. I have never had to walk out of this shop because I couldn't get served. The only gripe I have with this store is the way they house their bettas. Very often there are males in with the females so they end up with torn fins. They also put the bettas in with other incompatible fish again causing torn fins and very unhappy fish that look as tho they are too scared to move.

Another LFS I go to seems to think all of their customers are idiots (or maybe just the female ones) and talks to you like you couldn't possible have a clue what you are talking about. I went in asking for brine shrimp eggs one day and his response was "Buy them on ebay from the US because you can't buy decent ones in Australia".

There is a not-so-local FS I go to mostly for my brine shrimp eggs that are always busy, do not acknowledge customers waiting unless they are available to serve and seem to have some knowledge of what they talking about. This one I have to wait at because it is the only place I know of where I can get the brine shrimp. The upside of this shop is that I have found another LPS just down the road that has started getting in different bettas. This is the shop I bought my dumbo ears, dragon and HM recently. He also had marbles, double tails and a couple of other different ones. I was in heaven and bought more than I should have :-D

[Wild Nut]

There is a bigger fish store near me that gets in a lot of unusual fish, and has very competitive prices for their livestock. However, the service there is terrible. I used to be in there every weekend when I first got into the hobby, but lately it seems like all the good people working there left, and those remaining either have no clue or no want to go and help customers out.

I actually feel uncomfortable approaching staff members. Once I was there after some blackworms (the only real reason I go there aside from the occasional fish) and I was the only customer there in the fish room with about 3-4 staff members. Not one asked me if I needed help. I actually had to go over and wait until two staff members had finished having a conversation before I could get some assistance.

I managed a Subway store and we would sometimes get 100 customers in per hour over lunch for 2-3 hours in busy periods. If you know me, you know I am not a people person at all, but even then I would never leave a customer deliberately standing unattended for more than a couple of minutes. I know dealing with the general public can make you want to put your head through a brick wall, but honestly, it takes a few seconds of courtesy to say 'won't be a minute' versus possibly losing a sale.

On the good side of things, I highly recommend someone of Fishchicks Aquatics. She always goes the extra mile to help me out even though I live several states away, and all her fish have arrived here in excellent condition. Once I even got a little gift stuck to the outside of my box with a statement along the lines of, 'Thanks for being a great customer'. That one gesture really made my day.

I also enjoy going to Exotic Aquatic. Although my mum and Adrian usually end up arguing over dogs and dog breeds the service there is top notch and Adrian and Wolfgang really go above and beyond to help their customers out. Case in point, I inquired about the availability of liquorice gourami in this country and practically the next week Adrian had some in stock. He has also done a couple of special orders for me and always gives me a really great price on the stuff I buy there.

I find it sad how many stores get away with bad service because they either stock great fish or price dry goods cheaply. It's like it doesn't register to the owners of these stores that it is possible to have one without sacrificing the other.