LFS power compact bulb buying experience

[JT101]

My experience with ordering SunPaqs

It is really sad what the state of the LFS is these days. To make matters worse, it’s ironic why they even wonder why the online places are putting them in the crapper. Poor on-the-phone presence, minimal product knowledge, lack of availability, difficult to get through etc.

Here is what I went through today. I started by making a list of my local LFS’s and calling them. I started each call in a very friendly and polite tone and simply asked if they had replacement bulbs for the AquaPod 24 with the power compact fluorescents.

Here are the results:


Aquarium Adventures (Carle Place NY) – Nice guy on the phone, but didn’t know if he had any “coming in on tomorrow’s truck” and said I would have to call again tomorrow afternoon. When asked how long it would take to get what I wanted in if he did NOT see them in his shipment, he said “next Friday” -way too long for me. On to the next…

Tropical Showcase (Hicksville NY) – I like this store (mainly because it’s in my home town AND he has a lot of corals and inverts) but unfortunately the owner always acts like you’re bothering him when you ask him for help. His wife? Don’t even bother. She knows NOTHING about saltwater reef tanks, equipment, corals, lighting etc. The only thing she can do is ring you up if you bring anything to the counter or if you just want to buy a fish. Ask her a question where she has to think on her feet, and she will immediately without fail always seek her husband out, but if he is helping another customer you have to wait. I'm not saying anything personally derogatory about her, just that she really needs to be trained on the lingo so that customers areen't left milling about waiting for the ONE GUY that can help...GRRRRRR…. Anyway, I call, she answers and of course as I expected she doesn’t have the slightest clue, so she gves me a tired "hold on" gets her hubby. He tells me he doesn’t carry them. No offer to order them was made, but I didn’t bother to ask if he could due to the above responses I received from asking the same question.

Mutts & Butts (Merrick NY) – Nice guy on the phone but he said that since they don’t have any in stock they wouldn’t have any more until next Tuesday. This was the best call so far, at least the guy who answered the phone knew exactly what an actinic bulb was etc. AND the item is a regularly stocked part in their store, they just ran out of them. In any case, Tuesday is still 5 days away, so on to the next call…

Suffolk County Fish & Reef (Ronkonkoma NY) - Again, another irritating “I don’t know anything” type of call. The woman who answered the phone said that the owner “stepped out for a moment” and that her regular “fish guy” is out, and she was the only one in the store so she would take my name, number and call me back. OK, I give her all the info and she calls me back in about 10 minutes - not bad. Unfortunately, once again, they would have to order the bulbs and it would be a week’s wait.

Pet Den (Commack NY) – Nice guy who answered. I tried calling them first but their line was continually busy so I put them off to last. Unfortunately, he didn’t even know what an AquaPod was. He was the least knowledgeable person I spoke to so far. I mean, c'mon - you sell reef stuff and I have to tell YOU what an AquaPod is? SHEESH! I explained to him that I needed blue actinics and daylights. I got the impression that he had no idea what I was talking about even with the bulbs. In any case, he said he could order them for me. Again, didn’t bother as I cannot wait a week and I was afraid that I would come down to the store and see a box of garage fluorescent bulbs with my name on it!

Aquarium Dreams (Wantagh NY) – I found this one particularly annoying at first even though it ended better than it started. I called in the AM prior to noon and via their message found that they don’t open until 12PM and they said they would call back if I left a message. OK, no problem, I leave a message. No response at 12:10PM so I call back. Guess what? GOT THEIR VOICEMAIL AGAIN! Now, either they are not open yet, or someone forgot to take the machine off. Either way, it sucks. If you own a store and you are supposed to open at noon, OPEN AT NOON! OR, if you have a message, MAKE SURE YOU TAKE IT OFF! I don’t understand why people can’t see how much business they lose this way. I FINALLY got through at 12:41PM and actually got somewhere. The woman who answered had to get someone else but she returned and said she didn’t carry them. This time, however, she said she could have them in two days. She took my name and number and she actually did call me back right away. The bad thing is, she was wrong about the 2 day thing; since it was “so late in the day” she said that she would have to rush order them for an additional $50 for the pair of bulbs AND I wouldn’t get them until Monday at the earliest. I thanked her for her time and told her that was too long of a wait and $50 was too much to pay for shipping charges.

Finally, I gave up and called an online supplier. They had the bulbs in stock, they will ship them overnight for $29.99. I think you can easily figure out what I did.


I don’t know if anyone else has similar experiences but the LFS industry is pretty bad. Maybe I'm being overly harsh. Maybe some of you will say, "Hey John, take it easy! These people are LFS', NOT warehouses!" True enough. But when you run sell reef livestock AND in some cases AquaPods you should keep bulbs on hand. You should have at least ONE person in the store that can answer questions, OR train up the remainder so that they are not always running to the owner for a bailout.

Well, there's my rant. Now I will just sit back and await my package tomorrow

[lcstorc]

Sorry to hear you had such difficulties. Unfortunately an LFS is only as good as their worst employee.
Since so many people order equipment on-line, I find the LFS carrying less and less equipment. These things are generally cheaper on-line but it certainly would be nice if they kept them on hand for "emergencies". I had the same issue with bulbs for my Aquapod, but my LFS knows me well and ordered them immediately since he did not have them on hand.

[JT101]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

Sorry to hear you had such difficulties. Unfortunately an LFS is only as good as their worst employee.
Since so many people order equipment on-line, I find the LFS carrying less and less equipment. These things are generally cheaper on-line but it certainly would be nice if they kept them on hand for "emergencies". I had the same issue with bulbs for my Aquapod, but my LFS knows me well and ordered them immediately since he did not have them on hand.

Hi Lynne,

I posted my supposed "lighting emergency" on another thread on RS but I was assured that it wasn't really an emergency, just an inconveniece as my corals would make it for a few days. Still, being as anal as I am, I figured if I could find a way to get these bulbs ASAP without waiting a full week OR without spending a fortune for shipment (like the one place that wanted to charge me $50 AND I have to go THERE to get them AND it won't be until Monday) then I would rest easy. As you can see, the only way that was going to happen was going online.

[zy112]

At least you have that many options for LFS. I only have 2 and the best one would pry be about as good as your best. Really unfortunate.

[ReefGuy69]

I totally agree with you about the LFS. The ones in my area are exactly the same. Some say they open at noon and they stroll in when they want or dont open at all and not post a sign or anything letting anyone know. They have no clue on what they are doing. they dont take care of their tanks. I just dont get it. All the experiences you have had i have had the same. I told my wife that if one day i ever decide to open a LFS i am going to stock everything you would need from setup, to maintenance, to live stock, to care. I went into a LFS the other day they had really nice livestock and were keeping the maintence of the store up. but they had odd stuff for equipment. They had no fish tanks but one nano style. He had one titanium heater, a test kit for PH and a test kit for Alk. A bag of sand, and a veggie clip. That was it as far as the fish section. Why not have everything you need to get a tank started, then everythign you need to maintain it, and then some upgrades. if i was interested in keeping salt water fish i wouldnt have all the equipment i needed to keep them. it drives me nuts. that is why they are not succesful.

[JFK_Jr]

That sucks...

I guess I'm lucky here in S FL... I've got five LFS... 4 of them specialized in Reefs and corals within 10 miles from where I live.

Lot's of competition down here...

[ReefGuy69]

yeah JFK u are lucky. I have a condo in West Palm and there are a few really nice stores that specialize in reefs. It makes me wish i lived down there just for the stores and sunshine.

[in_a_days]

Considering the price I'm sure these aren't the highest quality bulbs... But this is where I've purchased the bulbs for my FW planted tank for the last several years. Like I said, probably not the best, but my plants look great.

[Witfull]

my best LFS closed...almost 1yr after i said they would.....in the waning months,,i punked them. purple tang and an emperator angel. and a 1lb pack of cyclopeeze, and 4 pks of ON angel diet, and 3 tubes of flakes for $50. yeah, they were closing down, but over priced....and i bught from them when i could have gone internet....we are our own worst enemy~

[lcstorc]

Originally Posted by ReefGuy69

I totally agree with you about the LFS. The ones in my area are exactly the same. Some say they open at noon and they stroll in when they want or dont open at all and not post a sign or anything letting anyone know. They have no clue on what they are doing. they dont take care of their tanks. I just dont get it. All the experiences you have had i have had the same. I told my wife that if one day i ever decide to open a LFS i am going to stock everything you would need from setup, to maintenance, to live stock, to care. I went into a LFS the other day they had really nice livestock and were keeping the maintence of the store up. but they had odd stuff for equipment. They had no fish tanks but one nano style. He had one titanium heater, a test kit for PH and a test kit for Alk. A bag of sand, and a veggie clip. That was it as far as the fish section. Why not have everything you need to get a tank started, then everythign you need to maintain it, and then some upgrades. if i was interested in keeping salt water fish i wouldnt have all the equipment i needed to keep them. it drives me nuts. that is why they are not succesful.

That would be extremely difficult if not impossible.
Now keeping the tanks clean ect is very reasonable but they can't carry every possible item for reef tanks. It is just not reasonable particularly on items that expire.
There are just too many things. Not only would the cost be out of this world for them to purchase everything, but it would have to be a monster store.
I have a very good lfs who keeps their livestock in nice clean tanks and has the basics as far as equipment etc. The nice thing is that they willl order anything I need and stock anything I use on a regular basis.
That is more than reasonable in my eyes.

[ReefGuy69]

I know what your saying, but most stores around here dont have the basics. They usually dont have any skimmers, one kind of lighting, usually PC and everyonce in a while youll see a t5. and most dont advertise they will order for you so how would you know. and sometimes your scared to ask if you did know they would because they always come off like your bothering them. Maybe its just the ones around me but i doubt it. I use to have a really good one around us that did stock anything you would need. They didnt carry every brand or anything like that, but they had the sand, the salt, the thermometers, the heaters, air pumps, power heads, wet dry filters, mech filters, bio wheel filters, a few skimmers, different light setups, your basic test kits, and their tanks were always clean and heathy looking. But he ended up moving to advance corals that cost a few hundred dollars a peice and alot of rare species, people either couldnt afford them or they wernt that far along to have the confidence they could get them and keep them healthy. He ended uo closing shop and were left with the few that dont know what their doing. I figure if you dont have the basics, one of each, then why bother having fish. Your not going to grow your customer base because they wont have all the necesaties to keep their tank going. I learned about most products from here like skimmers, fuges, in sump, out of sump, and many more because they dont even carry the stuff so you can ask questions or even know you may need one. its a shame i stand my ground.

[in_a_days]

Reading this thread makes me feel guilty for all the internet purchasing I do. But it also makes me appreciate how spoiled I am with the multiple excellent shops here in Vegas.