I first want to state this isn't meant as a bashing post and I will visit the store again to see if the service is better. I would also add this is the cleanest LFS I have ever been in and saw nothing but healthy fish.
Now that the disclaimer is over, I had a very poor experience in this store earlier today. I stopped by after a lunch meeting (around 2pm) thinking I would be in and out picking up a goby. I walked in and milled for about 5 minutes keeping to myself and then I spent 5 minutes hanging around the front counter waiting on one of the employees to get off the phone. Just as I started to mill around again the guy got off the phone and asked if I needed any help. I asked a couple simple questions and he was helpful enough then I asked him to pack up a goby for me. He caught the goby and went in the back. Five minutes later he emerges phone in hand and no fish. I waited another five minutes while he was on the phone and he proceeded into the back room again. After a further 15 minutes, I decided enough was enough and just left pretty disgusted by the entire experience. A woman left at the same time I did after waiting a prolonged period of time at the counter with no help. We spoke briefly heading out the door and she told me she wasn't coming back on the way out. I pointed her down the road to Marine Fish.
There was a family getting a lot of fish and another employee seemed to be on top of that situation, but the other guy did an incredibly poor job. If it was an important phone call, he should have sent someone to tell us or told us himself. I would have waited longer had someone just set my expectaitons. Feeling ignored by a salesman is a cardinal sin of retail.
Anyway, I hope others don't have an experience like this in the store as it seems like a good store. I think they lost one customer. I will probably go back one more time and see if this was an isolated experience, but the service better be pretty good or I won't be going back and will point everyone I know away from them.
Now that the disclaimer is over, I had a very poor experience in this store earlier today. I stopped by after a lunch meeting (around 2pm) thinking I would be in and out picking up a goby. I walked in and milled for about 5 minutes keeping to myself and then I spent 5 minutes hanging around the front counter waiting on one of the employees to get off the phone. Just as I started to mill around again the guy got off the phone and asked if I needed any help. I asked a couple simple questions and he was helpful enough then I asked him to pack up a goby for me. He caught the goby and went in the back. Five minutes later he emerges phone in hand and no fish. I waited another five minutes while he was on the phone and he proceeded into the back room again. After a further 15 minutes, I decided enough was enough and just left pretty disgusted by the entire experience. A woman left at the same time I did after waiting a prolonged period of time at the counter with no help. We spoke briefly heading out the door and she told me she wasn't coming back on the way out. I pointed her down the road to Marine Fish.
There was a family getting a lot of fish and another employee seemed to be on top of that situation, but the other guy did an incredibly poor job. If it was an important phone call, he should have sent someone to tell us or told us himself. I would have waited longer had someone just set my expectaitons. Feeling ignored by a salesman is a cardinal sin of retail.
Anyway, I hope others don't have an experience like this in the store as it seems like a good store. I think they lost one customer. I will probably go back one more time and see if this was an isolated experience, but the service better be pretty good or I won't be going back and will point everyone I know away from them.
