Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/17/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased over $200 worth of fish plants and fish tank decor with my son, on 1/13/24, at the Hidden Reef. When we got home and added them into our existing tank we noticed that one of the fish that we bought at the Hidden ReEf, a cardinal tetra, had a spot of ick, which is a parasite. We immediately treated the tank for ick and followed the protocol. Unfortunately, the ick had spread and its killing all of our fish! I called the store today, to get some kind of refund and they refused! I spoke to someone in sales who didnt even know what ick was, and the manager refused to give me any kind refund stating that the fish are sold as is! My son called and another sales clerk told him that the fish were sick and were treated for ick. Obviously, they were still sick! We were not warned and they should not have been sold!!

  Business Response

  Date: 01/26/2024

  The was the Info my Manager ***** gave me.I'm not sure what was said before i got on the phone with her. when i spoke with her she explained how one ***** had a white spot. she called a petco for advice they advised her to treat with the top recommended Ich medicine but refused to give me a name. she said everything in her tank had turned blue what most likely was Methylene Blue which means it targets all sorts of bacteria and microorganisms, even
  beneficial ones. This is one of the main reasons why dosing the aquarium instead of a quarantine tank is dangerous. Beneficial Bacteria is needed to convert Toxic Ammonia into Nitrate and then Nitrate. She then demanded we pay for the fish and everything in the tank. i told her that depending on the medicine it may have interacted poorly with the fish. i asked why she didn't call our store back if there was an issue with our fish and she replied that we were over an hour away and "it wouldn't make sense". i explain our policy is there is no guarantee on livestock and that she received a copy of that policy at the point of purchase. i also explained that it was listed on a sign at the register. i explained to her that medicines can be tough on fish and that it would have been more appropriate to have called our store for advice. i explained that according to our policy we could not replace her fish. following this interaction she and her family members proceeded to call the store over 47 times and harass our cashiers and fish room employees concerning the matter. i got on the phone with her son by the end of the day he told me a story about how several fish were sick and that the employee told him they were sick when he bought them. i explained that was untrue that im not sure who would have told him that. he began to get irate and demand that i give him his money back for all the purchases he made that day. i explained to him the same thing i explained to his mom and ended the call. he then proceed to call the store and harass the cashier until the store closed. the harassment lead to several missed sales and more time than necessary dedicated to an issue that had been resolved earlier with his mother. We had two different answers on how long the Aquarium was up, one was it is an established Aquarium the other it is newly set up aquarium but we waited till the aquarium was cycled to put the fish in. That makes a big difference how it was cycled if the water was good and the levels would not spike due to it not being done correctly. Cardinal fish are also not the hardiest of fish to keep especially if the water conditions are not good. This is what I am willing to do I will give them store credit for the fish they purchased not the Plants for a total of $82.29 that they can use on anything in the store.It will be by the end of the night on the Sons account. Thanks