rebekwl February 16, 2014 Share February 16, 2014 We'll, I took my wife an d kids to a LFS that I have gone to before (I will not post the name) and I have had amazing service there before. When we arrived there was someone helping a patron and another person topping off tanks. There was no greeting as came through the door, which is ok they were busy I guess. Then the next 20 mins went by without a word. No " hey there as soon as I'm done with this gentlemen I will help you out". No " let me know if you have any questions". Again, still not enough to upset me. It did seem a little strange though, as I have had nothing but great service there. The one thing I did notice was, I had never seen either one of these individuals in the store before. Moving on, after this person was done helping the customer they were with, they proceed to ignore my wife who was standing right in front of them, so they could finish the texting session they were having at the time. Which was apparently important enough to ignore us and walk into the back room. That was the last straw, we walked out and took our business somewhere it will be appreciated. This does not make me very happy, as I like this store and I believe the owner is the person we have always dealt with before. I wonder how he would feel to know that, $59 for the yellow tang, $80 for the Mis bars, and $99 fore the rose bubble tip, walked out the door. And this all because, a couple of individuals couldn't take time from texting and topping off tanks to aknowledge that customers were in the store. Worst wasted 25 mins in a long time. I will have a hard time returning to this store again.. I will get off my soap box now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Ford February 16, 2014 Share February 16, 2014 I went to a store for the first time a year ago. There was a guy who wanted to sell me everything on the left side of the menu. I proceeded to tell him my tank was on the new side. At the time less that a year old and I was taking it slow. He didn't care and just wanted to sell sell sell. It eventually pissed me off so I left. I've been back several times now and have seen that employee a couple times. I think he knows he pissed me off.. but I'm happy I went back and have gave them another shot. Id be the one missing out Sorry you had a bad experience where ever you went Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyCallMeMr.703 February 16, 2014 Share February 16, 2014 I agree, and from one who has been on both side's, employee and management... I'd say talk with the owner/Main Manager, about your unfortunate experience... not the M.O.D. at the time apparently. If you have received nothing but great service, why cut yourself short of what could be, and has been a great place for you. Nonetheless, occasionally, this does happen from time-to-time again... and gotta' take them in stride... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbowdeep88 February 16, 2014 Share February 16, 2014 I can understand why whis would be very frusterating and upseting. I know that venting can be helpful. You mention great experiences before with the assumed owner. I'm sure "he" would value a quick note as to your experience so he can determine problems. Any decent owner will greatly appreciate the opportunity to improve and make it right. If he wasn't there he probably doesn't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite February 17, 2014 Share February 17, 2014 I went to a store for the first time a year ago. There was a guy who wanted to sell me everything on the left side of the menu. I proceeded to tell him my tank was on the new side. At the time less that a year old and I was taking it slow. He didn't care and just wanted to sell sell sell. It eventually pissed me off so I left. I've been back several times now and have seen that employee a couple times. I think he knows he pissed me off.. but I'm happy I went back and have gave them another shot. Id be the one missing out Sorry you had a bad experience where ever you went I know a store where that type of irresposible marketting seems to be the norm, but it's not in VA. I don't usually go to it, but almost everytime I havegone there in the past, I have seen things like that happening and heard some of the craziest inaccurate information coming out of the sales clerks' mouths to noobs. Terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime February 17, 2014 Share February 17, 2014 You mention great experiences before with the assumed owner. I'm sure "he" would value a quick note as to your experience so he can determine problems. Any decent owner will greatly appreciate the opportunity to improve and make it right. If he wasn't there he probably doesn't know. Well said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin February 17, 2014 Share February 17, 2014 Well said +1 Nothing will change if the owner does not know what is going on. One can not fix something if one does not know it is broken. I give them another chance. A good LFS is hard to come by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worm5406 February 17, 2014 Share February 17, 2014 Ya know... I have had this happen more than once. I finally took a little bit of action with a few of them. I know the owners names, so after I left I called in and asked for the owner by name. Once I was talking to them I explained what had just happened in the store. Texting employee, dead animals in the tanks, or worse no one at the register when trying to checkout. Funny thing is one of the stores I walked right back in after I hung up. The owner came out of their office/cave/cage and started in on the employees. 'Hey lets get some of this cleaned up in here' -- "Hello.. welcome in, how are you today?" -- 'Where did ___ go... on a break again...' Yeah some of the stores we know all too well and they know our voice, but sometimes we can get away with it. HAHAHAHA. There is nothing worse than walking in to a place and getting no 'greeting'. It is funny in some of the smaller stores, even the customers say hello to the people coming in, and I had never been in there before. It is all about networking, customer service, and what they see when they walk in the door. Wet floor and empty boxes all over the place do not help with getting return customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lutz123 February 17, 2014 Share February 17, 2014 I have had it happen a time or two - with money burning a hole in my pocket. Sometimes I go back and other times I don't. Fortunately we have many choices around here. It is probably a good reminder for the owners around here to see this every now and then. It's easy to become complacent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnybv February 18, 2014 Share February 18, 2014 Speak up, email, call, pm the owner. If it was my store I want to know! Busy is one thing hard to stop a conversation sometimes for a greet but if employees on personal texts or performing tasks that can be delayed to help a customer instead...hello no brainier. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flooddc February 18, 2014 Share February 18, 2014 I have had it happen a time or two - with money burning a hole in my pocket. Sometimes I go back and other times I don't. Fortunately we have many choices around here. It is probably a good reminder for the owners around here to see this every now and then. It's easy to become complacent. Agreed! I believed in 2nd chance. Also, possibly the employee(s) might have something really important that they need to text! Whom am I kidding! All kidding aside. Occasionally, owners/managers might need the customer to addressed their concern. However, I think a good manager/owner need to better manage their employees and not solely rely upon their customers. Just my 2 cent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime February 18, 2014 Share February 18, 2014 While I agree with all of the above, an owner can not 24/7 monitor their staff, as nice as that sounds. It seems like the OP has had good experiences in the past, and it would be a shame to not let the owner know so they could remedy the situation, just like John mentioned above. Although I commend Rebekwl for not bashing the store by mentioning a name, IMO it does us a disservice by telling us "I had a bad experience somewhere in Norther Virginia, but I normally have gotten amazing service."I understand the need to vent. Instead of expressing my emotions in house, I'm quick to send an e-mail or write a negative review instead. It is less confrontational, and still gives me a voice, and you bet I feel better afterwards. In most customer service training, you will find that a good experience results in maybe one or two people finding out about it, a bad experience reaches to above ten. I would love to see some reviews on some of those "amazing" experiences you had, and hope that you reach out to management or the owner to share your negative experience. Just my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nova423 February 19, 2014 Share February 19, 2014 While I agree with all of the above, an owner can not 24/7 monitor their staff, as nice as that sounds. It seems like the OP has had good experiences in the past, and it would be a shame to not let the owner know so they could remedy the situation, just like John mentioned above. Although I commend Rebekwl for not bashing the store by mentioning a name, IMO it does us a disservice by telling us "I had a bad experience somewhere in Norther Virginia, but I normally have gotten amazing service."I understand the need to vent. Instead of expressing my emotions in house, I'm quick to send an e-mail or write a negative review instead. It is less confrontational, and still gives me a voice, and you bet I feel better afterwards. In most customer service training, you will find that a good experience results in maybe one or two people finding out about it, a bad experience reaches to above ten. I would love to see some reviews on some of those "amazing" experiences you had, and hope that you reach out to management or the owner to share your negative experience. Just my 2 cents. This is why I don't trust Yelp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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