came home to a sad sad sad scene

fishyladdy 2013-08-16, 23:40

so i got a new heater today, cherry barbs, guppies, tiger barb (i think) a couple platys and one other fish and put the heater and fish in my little tank. well the temperature thing must have been broken because i went to the pet store and came back and my temperature in the tank was 100+ degrees.. needless to say.. all my community fish died Sad

broke my heart Sad

so much money spent and wasted because of a broke heater... sad day. anyways i thought id share my sad news Sad

DMD123 2013-08-16, 23:50

Sorry to hear. Sad

Guest 2013-08-17, 02:07

Sorry about the fishes

fishyladdy 2013-08-17, 02:14

Thanks guys Sad

it sure broke my heart. I feel so bad I shouldn't have left the house but I figured since the heater was new it would be ok :/ guess not

**Madness** 2013-08-17, 02:34

I would be furious and have a few choice words with the manufacture of that heater and if anything try and get something from the place that sold you that heater

fishyladdy 2013-08-17, 02:56

Yeah I called the store and they told me they couldn't do anything about it and to call the company who made it. So I did and was put on hold for 1 hour I finally got made and hung up. Lol

DMD123 2013-08-17, 09:47

I have had good success dealing with manufacturers. Just be calm in the way you speak to them and dont be afraid to ask for something in compensation. Dont know if they would give you money for fish but dont be afraid to ask. At the least they should replace or refund the price of the heater.

What company are you dealing with that had you on hold for so long?

cichlid-gal 2013-08-17, 12:14

Sorry for your losses. Alot of fish get killed by malfunctioning heaters...it is all to common.

pbmax 2013-08-17, 12:36

That really, really sucks. Sad

I'm paranoid of that happening with my tanks; every new tank I setup has a temperature alarm on it. This is the one I'm buying lately:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

They've come in handy on a number of occasions, but I thankfully haven't had a runaway heater yet.

KaraWolf 2013-08-17, 12:41

seriously sucks :/ I got a heater from a friend a while ago and it nearly fried my poor fish, saved them all with a giant water change and trashing the old heater. I wish you lots of luck talking to the manufacturer. New heaters aren't supposed to do this 0.o

Guest 2013-08-17, 13:36

Wait wait wait.....

So, you purchased a heater & it was defective & killed your fish like the same day?! Um, I would be going back to the LFS and raising hell. Even though its a manufacturers defective product the STORE needs to stand behind its product and reimburse you!!!! At the very last the store should be 1. giving you your $$$ back for the heater or replacement + some sort of store credit for the fish loss. I can see the store pushing responsibility off on the manufacturer if it was like a month later but its only been less than 24 hours later! This is a in store responsibility!

I too once had a situation where it was clear the LFS should have fully reimbursed me. The manager was wiggling out of it and wanted to give only a partial refund. Towards the end i became bold, raising my voice so other patrons could hear, told them if they wouldn't do the right thing they where about to loose a customer that on average spends $1000 (at lest ) annually at the store. I actually left the product right there on the table and left! Needless to say, the OWNER tracked me down using the receipt I left and looked me up. Completely apologized, gave me a full refund!

Oh, I would be sooo upset, shoot I am upset just thinking about it!

fishyladdy 2013-08-17, 15:01

Yeah it was a little pet store and the manager won't do anything for me I've talk to him twice now. He said its not there fault and Ishould have been more careful I'm like are u kidding me?? How was it my fault?? I've spent so much money at there stupid store and they all know me well but they aren't gonna at least give me store credit for the heater?? That's coldd right there. I don't have a receipt but Ihave the packaging it came in and they had just seen me in there earlier that day. I was pissed off and I still am. It killed 30+ fish and most of my live plants Sad

oh well I guess I will just except my losses and sell a few things so I can get some new fish to start me off again. Sad

thanks for the kind words everyone

pbmax 2013-08-17, 15:09

Wow, that's awful. I say post a review on here about them explaining that - at least steer fishbox folks away from them. Store credit for a defective heater is such a small investment in a lot of future spending on your part... the management is extremely myopic to refuse to even take it back.

Guest 2013-08-17, 15:38

pbmax wrote:Wow, that's awful. I say post a review on here about them explaining that - at least steer fishbox folks away from them. Store credit for a defective heater is such a small investment in a lot of future spending on your part... the management is extremely myopic to refuse to even take it back.

Totally!!! I would like to know where this is as well. You could PM me if u dont want to broadcast it. But, yeah, POST a rating here! I gave a heads up on a review, see RATE OUR FISHSTORES , Jones Pet Co.

fishyladdy 2013-08-17, 15:43

the thing is that its a small family business and i dont wanna put anyone on blast you know? im not like that, id feel bad. like i know i shouldnt feel bad but i would if i put them on blast.

pbmax 2013-08-17, 15:50

I don't blame you; I generally don't post negative reviews either, but I would if I were upset enough.

It's sad that some small business owners still haven't realized that the only way they'll thrive in today's market is through value-added service. They can't compete on price or selection, so they have to compete, at least in part, on service. And while it may suck for them, sometimes that means taking responsibility for the mistakes of others.

Addicted2CAs 2013-08-17, 19:16

theChad wrote:
pbmax wrote:Wow, that's awful. I say post a review on here about them explaining that - at least steer fishbox folks away from them. Store credit for a defective heater is such a small investment in a lot of future spending on your part... the management is extremely myopic to refuse to even take it back.
Totally!!! I would like to know where this is as well. You could PM me if u dont want to broadcast it. But, yeah, POST a rating here! I gave a heads up on a review, see RATE OUR FISHSTORES , Jones Pet Co.

^^This.^^ I have learned over the years that anger, yelling, choice words etc gets you nowwhere. Hit them where it hurts, their bottom line. Bad reviews and negative word of mouth can do some serious damage to a companies reputation and bottom line, especially when it is a small mom and pop store. As chad stated that is complete BS as it was no more than 24h and the owner wouldn't help you out on a, what, $20 heater?! They obviously don't value the customers that keep them in business, slam them!

**Madness** 2013-08-17, 20:28

This reminds me of a time way back. I had some issues with a couple heaters, cant remember the brand, but I was in the Petsmart near my home, and mentioned that i had 4 of these heaters that are not very old and none of them work. So the girl went and spoke with the manager and he came over and told me that they (Petsmart) carry this type of heater, and if I wanted to bring the heaters to them, they would give me store credit. That was 4 heaters at $30 ea.

I have been going to this Petsmart ever since.

I would call them out. No if ands or buts about it.

Guest 2013-08-17, 21:24

fishyladdy wrote:the thing is that its a small family business and i dont wanna put anyone on blast you know? im not like that, id feel bad. like i know i shouldnt feel bad but i would if i put them on blast.

Um, seriously? So your telling me you got ripped off yet you won't tell us who ripped you off? Here all this time i thought we where friends!

Here's the overall deal in my world. More than likey this store is also MY LFS or a place i frequent
So in telling me or giving a review more than likely WONT stop me from shopping there BUT i would be cautious about purchasing items now knowing their "return" policy.

Im just saying....

fishyladdy 2013-08-17, 21:59

I have no problem telling u theChad I just don't want to blast them online.

Addicted2CAs 2013-08-18, 13:08

fishyladdy wrote:I have no problem telling u theChad I just don't want to blast them online.

Why not? Because you would be "the bad guy?" They sold bunk product, which happens, and refused to make it right. The warning should be put out there so that other consumers at least have a heads up before walking in that store. Like chad said, it probably won't stop most from shopping there but being in the know as to their business practices potentially keeps others from having the same thing happen. I personally won't give money to any business that won't make things right with something so simple.

anderson_p_r 2013-08-19, 16:54

We had the same thing happen years ago in our community 29g. Heater malfunctioned over night and cooked all the fish. Our LFS did the same thing, "we didn't build it", "call the manufacturer." We contacted the manufacturer and they offered to reimburse us the costs of the heater and lost fish if we could provide original purchase receipts for every one of them. At that point we just let it go.

nick_76 2013-08-20, 00:41

I had a filter malfunction which was supposed to be agitating the surface of my tank, suffocated a tankload of discus while I slept in the next room. the lone survivor took 10 hours of reoxygenating the water before he completely revived. all the smaller, cheaper fish survived. go figure.

lesson learned: don't do massive water changes or maintenance late at night and then go to bed. do it early enough to catch any problems before calling it a day.

and don't depend on spraybars for gas exchange

iandraco 2013-08-20, 09:04

that really sucks. sorry for your loss

fishyladdy 2013-08-20, 12:49

Thanks for everyone's input but I have decided to just cut my losses and buy some new fish Smile

nick_76 2013-08-20, 21:06

yea, buy new fish...elsewhere....but let the reset of us know who you were dealing with....if nothing else so we can deal with them, informed and cautiously...

TheFishPimp 2013-08-24, 14:37

sorry for your losses. equipment failures suck

TFP

**Aquarium Co-Op** 2013-08-25, 13:04

While obviously you didn't buy this heater from me. If it's a heater I carry in my store I'll exchange it for you and get it sent back to the manufacturer. As a small business it should be easy to get that replaced by the wholesaler.

I'd also like to offer you $10 store credit to help get your tank back under way. Fortunately not all small business owners treat customers badly. I'd like to offer you the opportunity to experience the new way of doing business in aquatics.

**Madness** 2013-08-25, 13:06

Aquarium Co-Op wrote:While obviously you didn't buy this heater from me. If it's a heater I carry in my store I'll exchange it for you and get it sent back to the manufacturer. As a small business it should be easy to get that replaced by the wholesaler.

I'd also like to offer you $10 store credit to help get your tank back under way. Fortunately not all small business owners treat customers badly. I'd like to offer you the opportunity to experience the new way of doing business in aquatics.

**lloyd378** 2013-08-25, 13:59

That's awesome Cory!!!!! This is top notch. Next time I'm up north, I definitely need to get up to your shop. This makes me want to start a community tank so I can support your business. Again, Cory, this is really impressive

Gryphon 2013-08-25, 15:44

Cory, you sir are awesome!

fishyladdy 2013-08-25, 16:48

thanks alot cory ive never been to ur store before but have always wanted to stop in this will give me a good reason too Smile

LuminousAphid 2013-08-29, 19:50

Cory knows what's up, totally worth the trip to come down here to edmonds, as you can see! Or, I will even bring you stuff out to snohomish if I'm going hiking out on Hwy 2! Smile

Seriously though, make the hour trip to stop in, and support a local business who knows how to keep customers happy

fishyladdy 2013-08-29, 20:19

yeah i just sold my car so once i get a new car i definitely will try to make it down there

plaamoo 2013-08-29, 20:33

Aquarium Co-Op wrote:While obviously you didn't buy this heater from me. If it's a heater I carry in my store I'll exchange it for you and get it sent back to the manufacturer. As a small business it should be easy to get that replaced by the wholesaler.

I'd also like to offer you $10 store credit to help get your tank back under way. Fortunately not all small business owners treat customers badly. I'd like to offer you the opportunity to experience the new way of doing business in aquatics.

That's the way to do business!

Dave Sanford 2013-08-29, 20:59

Sorry to read of your experience. I see why you don't want to reveal the shop where you bought it but i'd like to know the brand so i could avoid it in the future!

twoohsix 2013-09-12, 21:29

gotta give props to aquarium co-op for stepping up like that

fishNAbowl 2013-09-12, 23:05

Seriously though, make the hour trip to stop in, and support a local business who knows how to keep customers happy

Snohomish is only about 25-35 min tops to Edmonds Wink

Sponsored content

We have moved to a new home! You can find us at:http://wafishbox.com/

We have moved to a new home! You can find us at:
http://wafishbox.com/