King Eds? Wow! I'm done with them!
 

I just stopped by King Eds to take a look for some snails and took a gander through their livestock.


When I ended up in the saltwater area - the man who is always there - most would remember and know him as the 'chain and toothpick guy' who is normally standing by the door was working the salty area. A young guy who was with his girlfriend was being told how to care for his new percula clown pair and anenome in their brand new tank they just bought."turn the lights on when you get up and turn them off before you go yo bed" he says. Yeah... what about the fact you have no business buying a marine fish before atleast keeping a damn Betta first.

But see, that wasn't the part that made me storm away and leave to never return. It got better. Apparently pointing out dead fish is a big no-no. Personally, as a business owner myself, if a customer points out an error wether it be useful or not, needs to be taken into consideration. But when a dead fish can completely irraticate your entire livestock - I would be thankful if someone pointed it out. I didn't find one dead marine fish - I found 7. Hippo tang, one damsel, two wrasses, and a gorgeous emporer angel belly up. When I pointed them out, I was polite and courteous.

He picked out a few of them, then passed a couple off as "normal." Sorry, been around long enough to know a foul dead fish when I see one. They weren't naping.

I took a look for what I came in for since he was readily available, then I noticed one more carcass - white, half eaten and festering while seemingly sucking the life right out of a blue tip anemone, as he was attached at the stem. I pointed it out to him. He took barely a glance and angrily replied that clownfish swim with anemones. Yeah - I know that. But look - he's half eaten and dead - interrupted "then don't buy one."

Noted. Thank you. Unacceptable. The fish dif not look healthy, and wouldn't be surprised if they lasted another two weeks without some sort of treatment. If you don't believe me, go see for yourself.

Great coral prices and specimens, but horrible livestock care and customer service. It's truly a shame that I will never return.

You should take up your concerns with the store management and see how they handle it, before giving an opinion on an open form. My 2 cents worth.

The problem is - he is management, if not the owner of the place. If I felt like it would get somewhere, I would. Feel free to shop there, it's only my personal opinion, and I would value your input about local businesses as well.

wow! that's crazy. it looked good last time we were in there! good to know man, thanks

I'll side with Ryan on this one Laurie, this is what an open forum is all about. I would certainly do the same about any vendor that gave me such a bad experience, whether it be a fish store, an eatery, or a car shop.

Bottom line is they push fish and dry goods...if they tell how hard it isto keep marine fish, and anything negative, you will likely not make a living.

On the contrary, it gives them more opportunity to sell you other gear and dry goods to 'help.' accurate advice and a clean store is what you need to give people if you want repeat business. Unfortunately too many people only care about the cheapest prices rather than quality of service so take that increased risk of buying stock from said store. Now if you dropped thousands of dollars in a short time there or constantly then they treat you well, but those customers who sporadically spend are just trash to wiggle a few extra dollars out of when you are in fact acknowledged

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I don't go there nearly as often since Bob/Robert (the main saltwater guy who was always there) hasn't been around. From what I hear he is on a medical leave and has been for a few months.

The guy works there on Sunday is quite good though.

Lol

What's so funny??

Sorry guy's misunderstanding here I didn't realize it was management that was serving you. I didn't think Ron worked in the SW part, that being said I understand now why you felt the way you did. I have no problem with reporting poor customer service for any shop or business.
I reported very poor service myself , it was a shop on Fraser street and have not been back since. :redface:

Lol, ya he is pretty good.

I have shopped there for years and Robert (the saltwater guy) unfortunately had to leave due to some serious medical reasons. He was a great guy to deal with and for the most part took care of business in there. I don't know who the new guy is but that kind if service is unacceptable. I am sure this will be addressed once word gets back to the owners.

Sounds like it was the manager looking after the saltwater section today. And we all what happens what you try to get the manager to some real work.

2 tumbs up for the Sunday guy. honeset advice, no pressure sales technique. Etc etc.

I think you mean langley bypass rite ? The guy on Fraser st has it nailed down and knows what he is doing .

I agree with the comment, and it comes down to - you get what you pay for.

Thing is, I HAVE dropped thousands of dollars there. The last time I was there I spent $500, the time before that was a little less. But it doesn't seem to matter, he doesn't seem to remember me anyways.

well too bad Rob is not there. He was great guy and always provide very honest answer. However, I found almost 99% of the owner there only care about the money from your pocket. The moment you said u not gonna buy from them, they will turn around and be very cold and wish to get lost right away. I guess they forgot that even I might not buy with them today, I can purchase something else in the future.
My case was try to order a cockatiel from them, told they would have it in stock in 1 month, I paid the full amount and end up waited over 3 months. So when I finally found it from another store and adv that I can't wait any more, the lady at the cashier ( the owner) gave me a cold look when I try to get my refund and pretty much told me to just get loss when I want to ask few more questions. I still go there for other stuff when Rob was there, I guess not any more.

I think that Rob fella , who is a reefer himself, is going cancer treatment and wont be back for up to 6 months..... without him, I think sales are definitely down. There are a couple of reefers who work there sometimes so they probably know his condition better.

BTW, Keep away at the bigger mean bulldog looking fella; he doesn't give you a good deal whereas the other brother, he is more willing.
Without rob, I don't know if all the frags they used to get from reefers are as plentiful as I have not been able to go there as often in the last few months .

msjboy

I personally would not shop at any pet store that I believe puts profits ahead of good honest advice or ethical treatment of livestock. I have never been to King Ed's, always wanted to, but now I'm not sure.

Nope I mean Fraser street in Vancouver, that was a couple of years back. Maybe things have improved since then.

I though you were calling out Oceanic on Fraser in aldergrove .

Ya. I bought discus off from them. Spent 120 dollars just for them to end up back at the store again. I didnt know discus needed to be kept in bigger groups and they just accepted them back without giving me any store credit. I was seeing if they would atleast offer something, nope. I never went back since.

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I've been going to King Ed on and off for probably 20 years. It's a family run business, and they have the largest supply of pet supplies I have seen. The main woman (her name escapes me) has always been nice to me regardless of how much I spend. Downstairs, I can't speak much for the fresh water guys, but they seem to know what they are doing. Yeah, since Robert left, the saltwater room has gone downhill. I'm sure it will come back to what it was once a suitable replacement, or Robert, is found. take a break from that store for a month or two if you didn't like your experience last time, but King Ed is one of the best fish stores in the Lower Mainland. I'm sure they'll get their act together.

The owners name is Cathy. She's lovely! If you have a concern I would bring it up with her.....as she most likely doesn't frequent fish sites, running her business takes up enough time for 2 of us I'm sure.....because she isn't online much (I assume) she has NO idea that there are ANY unhappy people. Her sales are likely still very good, no one speaks up that there's an issue so she thinks it's all going great.

I run a similar business also (not near as large, my goodness), and would only know that I have a staff issue if people came TO ME....I would appreciate the feedback, to try to change it rather than have people bad mouthing me everywhere including online forums. I think you will find Cathy the same....she truly is a great person...who has a passion for her store.

I also have shopped there on and off for over 9 years...yup there have been some less than great staff...but we all have that, and can only fine tune it if we're aware!

the last time i went there , i saw like 4 anemones half of it were smashed under the rock and jelly things came out of it some coral were stinging each other ,
even the owner dont anything about saltwater , i hope the main saltwater guy feel well soon to save the King eds reef

A couple questions for you.

If I go into the store and ask for Cathy would she have time for me and or if I phone the store and ask to speak to Cathy, what kind of answer would I get from the person who picked up the phone.

I find most owners of busy stores also have no time to deal with customer complaints either. That's what they pay their managers for.

A customer who experiences bad service goes home and talks about it with their friends. It doesn't matter what type of business it is. If they have a good experience they tell 1 friend, if they have a bad experience they tell 10. I would think with the openness of the digital age, business' should be even more careful as the 10 friends now easily becomes a thousand or more using facebook and forums.

Neoh took the time to talk to a manager about what they saw before making this post, but the manager didn't seem to care or have enough knowledge. I see nothing wrong with this post in general as it doesn't slam the business it just gives an honest review about their visit and as the thread developed we learned a little bit about why that part of the store is not doing so well at this time.

I have no idea what her schedule is like or if she has a manager to handle complaints...but I do believe it's fair to bring the complaint to her. How she handles it from there I cannot answer as I'm not her. I didn't say there was anything wrong with this post, so please don't put words in my post. Feedback is always good....but bringing it to someones attention is even better. If the manager sucks then take it higher...just a suggestion for him to get his grief out on the person who holds the key. My feedback to his concern is just as valid as yours.

I apologize, I was only responding to the one comment you made. I'm just saying I didn't take this post as bad mouthing just an honest review from someone on one of their visits. :)

No worries! In this day there is sooo much electronic conversation that a little real conversation can be beneficial!! :biggrin:

I was in there for the first time on Saturday and was not impressed. I was on a coral shopping trip to vancouver and thought I would check them out due to some recommendations but wow! Compared to the other shops I was less than impressed with the health of some of the fish and other livestock. I too did see the dead emperor angel. I did buy a lot of coral from both J&L and from Albert at oceanic. Very impressed with both those stores in both customer service and health of their livestock... Just saying

I overheard a employee at JL convince a newb he needed 2 skimmers for his tank...

Then got off the phone and bragged to me about what a good salesman he was...

It's a for profit business guys.
If you're concerned with scruples, you won't last very long.

+1, otherwise it's call "SPCA"

I have been in sales my whole life and like to believe I do well with scruples. Any good salesperson knows there is more money to be made in honesty and quality. Once that 2 skimmer "newb" found out he had been duped he probably stocked his entire tank with the competition. Referrals are the bloodline of your business, especially in retail sales as your limited to who comes through the door.

A for profit business should be more concerned about this, or I'd like to see their training program.

LOL....
as someone who's been in sales their whole life, I am surprised at your innocence.

I've worked many different sales positions and some MAY allow you the luxury of scruples but many more do not.

Not to mention, put a sales guy with a conscience next to a sociopath and i guarantee the sociopath will sell circles around the do gooder.

We don't go into sales...:)

Ya this kind of thing happens at every fish store, even great ones like JL. It is a pretty difficult business as we all know... many (maybe most) LFSs eventually go broke. Selling stuff is their livelihood, so it is hard to blame them when they do everything they can to make the sale.

It is unfortunate when this mentality extends to livestock though. There should be some morals involved with dealing with live animals. In my opinion, selling a customer a skimmer he doesn't need is one thing, but selling a customer an animal that is clearly doomed to suffer and die in a 1-day old tank is another.

That was one of the things that impressed me with J&L. I witnessed an employee schooling a very obvious newbie who had only kept fish only and was wanting to buy some sps. I was very impressed by how knowledgable the employee was and how political he was in basically telling the guy not to do it unless you know exactly what your doing and the costs involved in doing it properly. So props to J&L for being ethical with their livestock

I have to agree with Gizmoh, I have been in business for 15 years and I worry a out keeping my clients happy first and making money second. If you do that the money will always follow. I only deal with major clients and have had some for over 10 years now. It's worked for me and I sleep well at night.

I've always found J&L to be good in this regard. They've always answered my questions honestly, and have not just gone for the sale when I've inquired about certain livestock that wouldn't necessarily do well in my system.

I agree, when Robert was there the Marine section was amazing. Definitely second best in the area other than J&L. Could find some gems every once and awhile. He always gave me honest and sound advice, and his experiences. The replacement...not so great to say the least. I have not bought anything since Robert left.

There is one guy, a young Asian fellow who does work from time to time. This guy is very good. Suggested to a couple to go to J&L to get some parts that they did not have. Obviously a serious hobbyist that wants to help.

J&L I have never had any problems before. They are all very experienced hobbyist (except for one guy, the latino guy?) and all give excellent and honest advice.