Our "Trusty" LPS stores...

Okay seriously guys. What's with the lack of information sharing?
Give names and addresses and phone numbers when you're talking about a store please.

 

It's in the User Agreement for the forum:

TropicalAquarium.co.za does not host any vendor feedback forums as they tend to spiral out of control quickly due to many different personal experiences with vendors or sponsors (or private parties) amongst the whole community. As such, it is against TropicalAquarium.co.za's policy to air out one's issues about sponsors, local stores, or private deals which have been made or may have gone bad. We would ask all those who have issues like this or similar in nature to work these kinds of problems out in private. TropicalAquarium.co.za staff retains the right to retain or remove such posts from the general forums.

 

That's open to interpretation, and my interpretation is that it relates directly to rants about service feedback.
But for this forum to become a useful tool that people will carry on using, it needs to be scrapped. Forums are about opinions and sharing information. This thread is pretty much useless if we don't know what stores are being discussed.

 

We've debated this issue on many occasions, and it is pointless for us to be debating it yet again! The purpose of my posting the thread was NOT to name and shame any particular LPS. I was showing that even though I have found my ideal LPS... it has been through many hours of visiting other LPS, and deciding what "extra" work I am prepared to go through. My particular LPS has resulted in me having a good relationship with the owner... I get good prices (as a repeat customer I get 15% on hardware), the owner is prepared to source stuff for me... BUT I have to go through the pains of Quaranting all fish from him.

The point I am making is you will NEVER find a perfect pet store. I mean let's stop being pathetic babies here guys... even when you go to a hardware, or a grocery store.. you never find the service or stock that you want... and you are prepared to shop around in those circumstances. Why can't we all be a little bigger than the rest and be prepared to shop around for our fish.

You walk into edgars to find shoes... they don't have nice shoes... so you goto next store, truthworths... still nothing. You go to Mr. Price... they have somethign you like, but not your size. Eventually you find them somewhere else. Shoes, groceries, hardware, magazines, books.... anything you want to buy you INVESTIGATE FIRST... and then SHOP AROUND until you find it...

When last did you walk into Checkers and ask the teller to explain the difference between Albany bread and sasko and the benifits blah blah blah...

I think 85% of bad purchases at an LPS comes down to the person MAKING THE PAYMENT... because that person didn't investigate him or herself. Yes... Granted..... a LPS will take you for a ride and give you bad advice... but if you know your stuff... would they be able to??

My intention was NOT to run LPS stores down.... they are also out there to make a buck.... just like you are working to make your buck. I was just showing how my EXPERIENCE with different LPS has resulted in me choosing my particular LPS... and working AROUND their faults.

Some people actually might prefer the pet store that has no filter medium in their tanks because they have had good success themselves. Maybe they autmatically quarantine their own fish and have never had problems with that particular LPS.

Someone else might also get a lot of success out of the LPS I mentioned that runs everything on the same sump... the fish are all healthy (appear) and are all grown up too... because they don't have a lot of feet in the store, the fish stock turns over very slowly.... so fish get to grow up a bit in that particulat store before being sold. I would much prefer to have bought the grown up Danios there, than have bought the 6 small danios at my usual pet store... because the small danios were eaten by my angels. Perhaps had I bought the grown up ones, the angels wouldn't have eaten them???

 

Sorry if it came across as a flame, I just figured it was the right place to point out the futility of the clause in the "user agreement".

If you gave names of the stores then I'd know which ones to go visit, so I could check it out for myself. But you didn't, because you can't, and now none of those stores will get any business from me.

 

Hey Whipme, in a way I agree. However, there is nothing stopping you from PMing the author to ask for the names.

 

Hi all
I also find it little usefull to bad-mouth one or the other store. Different customers might get different service. The one shop owner might be very knowlagable but will still pull the novice over the table. While the next doesn't know Apple from Pear but is fair and well priced.
So i can only agree with the builder, shop around, if you are not absolutly sure don't do impulse shopping and asked friends, here at the forum, next pet shop.

 

+1 PM mail or phone - Then it stays "private".

 

1) In a centre with value?
2) Inside a nursery perhaps?

 

I have on occasion read about a bad lps review, and pm'd to find out who and where.

for good reviews i'm sure we can give a name, as i remember it, we're not allowed to give contact details etc, as the user can do a yellow page search, google, or pm the fellow who posted, so it doesn't amount to free advertising. for bad lps, handing out names and adresses would amount to the forum supporting negative or defamitory remarks about a store which could get the poster or the hoster in trouble...

Before i bought my first fish, i had searched google for tropical fish, to read up on some, instead i found the forum, joined and started interacting, from there i gained quite a bit of helpful knowledge, as well as where stores near me are, where to buy hardware and fish at best prices, what to look for, what to leave alone etc... i have the businesscards of about 6 stores in my keycardholder and i did alot, ALOT of store hopping and price comparisons while buying my fish.

As Zoom says, it is in many cases the buyers fault for doing a faulty purchase, for instance, at Petstop the other day, i almost bought chinese algae eaters, since they are only labled algae eaters, and though i've READ not to buy CAE but go for SAE (two barbels sets if i remember Laure's advice correctly) if haven't SEEN a pic of CAE yet, so didn't know what to avoid. IN STORE i pulled out my cell and did a google on the fish and read of the negatives a CAE may have, and decided to hold off on the buy till i got home and posted pics of the fish here for ID.

Now, cynthia at the shop is very helpful, but i dont expect her to have all the answers, so when her only id was "algae eater" i didn't blame her, i decided to take it on myself to see what to buy or not.

Like Guido calls it, Impulse shopping, can usually result in happy fish, but there is also the coin flipside that results in buying a fish you dont want in a week, or you cant house after a few months or that eats all the others, or gets eaten.

So, before buying, like Zoom said, and like i experienced, do shop hopping, take a cell pic, make a note etc, then go home, do your homework, and go back to buy that which you can manage. lots of shops in any sector of the market carry the same stock, and very few staff members go working there to gain knowledge, most are there to earn the monthly paycheck, or the weekly payout, or a daily pettycash withdrawal. not everuone works in the retail business out of the inherent need or want, to help peolpe. It doesn't necessarily mean the shop sucks, or the staff are morons, they're just not informed, because face it, info on fishkeeping is not common knowledge, not everyone knows about the nitro-cycle, or which fish life where etc.

If we educate outselves, and keep in mind that most shops can almost ALWAYS benefit from a little info themselves, then maybe we can make our trusty lps journey a little more beneficial, eh
:wink:

 

Very well said Ferryman :congrats:

 

Absolutely agree with both Ferryman and Zoom - well said guys

 

sheeze, i just read through that and all i saw were all my misspellings and keyboard mishaps, lol, sticky fingers and hasty typing makes for embarrassing end results hehe

 

Possible solution to allow shop rating - please qualify

http://www.hellopeter.com/ is one of those sites that some bookmark and read every morning - just to get a daily negativity shot before getting stuck in traffic on the way to work. I do think it could have a better use - maybe this is it.

All forums share this problem of defamation / legal issues. ... What if you could do your praise / complaint on a site like hellopeter ... and then post only the link to that complaint on the forum.

I am thinking of a bulletin module that will allow for the creation of shop index (name only - more if the shop wants to advertise) and a simple rating say - 1 - 5 on things like fish quality, tank / shop appearance, value for money, knowledgeable staff, noob friendly ... but these can only be done for the store if a positive or negative link is provided to a valid hellopeter incident. The trick would be that it is not an open thread - free for all to add comments that would lead back to the initial problem.

Maybe the problem with this plan is not the technical implementation but rather that our LFS mafia's do not care about service delivery.

"Hellopeter.com is not designed as a platform for vicious slander - it is designed as a highly sophisticated and economical way for Companies Who Respond to deliver the service that they profess to provide." http://www.hellopeter.com/how_it_works.php

 

I actually find Hellopeter to be very handy when it comes to choosing companies to deal with. A perfect example was the paving I wanted done....did a search on Hellopeter and the initial company I was going to use had LOADS of negative ratings and not many changed from bad to good. Whereas the company I chose to go with in the end had very few negatives, of which most of them were sorted out and changed to positive, and quite a few positives. Therefore I went with the second option.

So yes, hellopeter and the complaints/compliments works imho. You just need to work through all the 'stupid' complaints where a lot of the time it is actually the person who is posting the complaints fault anyway.

 

Paveman - Awesome...

 

Hi there (I'm new here) and am in PTA East - Wapadrand.

So I know we can't give opinions on LFS's but could you just inform me of some other than the following that I already know in the Pretoria East area? As far as I can see the listing of the location of local fish stores will not violate the terms and conditions of this forum. If I'm wrong in that interpretation I apologise in advance! Pm me or something, thanks!

Pet a Pond - Willows Centre
Pet and Outdoor - Corner of Simon Vermooten and Rossouw
Animal Kingdom - Atterbury Value Mart

Any and all help is appreciated!

 

Sounds like a good sales man, "You can`t have that R50 cat without this R300 basket of nonsense"

 

@Singularity... this might be the case, however I know his client base have supported him for years. He has a reputation for being the most supportive guy in the area with cats, dogs, and getting there with fish. I wish more LPS owners would show this kind of care and not just sell for the quick buck.

 

Very interesting and read , and one avenue that has been trodden to the end IMHO. My 2C for what is worth (and standing on both sides of the line shop owner & fish keeper) naming and shaming , promoting (directly or indirectly) is a very subjective opinion as there are so many variables to consider.

Lets start with the shop owner, to kit a shop takes a LOT of bucks...and CASH, accounts in this industry is tough , so normally the owner will have another interest as well or be connected to other shops to get buying power. This leads to him having to appoint assistants, lets be honest , working for a lps doesnt make you a millionare so normally students etc are used and they would have limited experience , knowledge etc. Having said that we all are still learning everyday.

Then there is the customers, now I am speaking from experience. I always ask clients what is going on in your tank and unfortunately more that 50 % lie . They make out to be experts and a week or two later I need to take a drive to go and asses a situation. The onus is just as much with the buyer as the lps.

The first rule in keeping any pet is KNOW YOUR LIMITS !

So back after my rant...to critisize (positive or not) is up to each person , but my must agree a separate forum (ie hellopeter) is a better option in my view.