Pink zoos-Tulsa Aquatics

[okiebones]

I stopped in to T.A. today as I was just passing down the street...decided to drop in and enjoyed talking with the lady working there. John was not in so she couldn't give me a price on the one thing of note I saw....some very nice hot pink zoos. She asked that I call back for a quote after 3pm when John would be back. I feel obligated to pass on how rude that guy is. I told him who I was and why I called only to get a long, pregnant pause followed by a curt, "Two hundred for the large......One hundred twenty five on the small". (est. @ about 50 polyps and 15 polyps respectively) I rechecked the price to make sure I heard correctly to get the reply "For the pinks....yeah that's right.....if you can get them better I'll buy them...". My reply was "You bet I can get them for a better price....So you'll buy some?"....Of course he wouldn't stating "No...I've got a good connect already".
My interpretation...If he is indeed getting them at a good price then his pricing is not only a joke...it's insulting and borders on criminal. The attitude was pathetic....I guess the little Yorkie peed on his Post Toasties today.....a customer shold be paid to be subjected to such a jerk. Yellow Tangs also selling @44.99!!!!!
The last one I bought from Scott @Oddballs was only 30$ and I've seen them in the past week for just over that at 2 other places local. Tulsa Aquatics is a disgrace to the hobby and insulting to my intelligence.
My nickels worth on that!
Doc

[keckles]

I'm banned for life. (Still not sure why)

I have talked to many other people who are as well. A club is currently forming; we will have t-shirts soon. ;)

[jjmcat]

I LOVE TULSA AQUATICS.John really knows what he is talking about.hes the smartest cat in town when it come to corals and chiclids.LOL Im a proud member of the banned club.

[Travis L. Stevens]

I banned myself from going there. ;)

I wish he was a little more open minded to people. Maybe he would lighten up. In general though, he obviously has a lot to learn. The hobby is changing in front of his eyes and he seems completely oblivious to it.

[TheMcs]

Everybody lighten up! The guy's ahead of his time by keeping stony corals under PCs. Jealousy reeks thick around here... :D

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6975520#post6975520 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TheMcs
Everybody lighten up! The guy's ahead of his time by keeping stony corals under PCs. Jealousy reeks thick around here... :D

I must have taken a step back by down grading to a metal halide :lmao: I guess I need to try to start pushing boundaries with normal output T8 lights ;)

[SweetFawn]

I have been in there once and that was too many times. That man is the rudest person I have ever encountered. I will never step foot in that store again. (And hopefully noone that I have talked to about the incident will ever set foot in there either!)

[n8duncan]

I thought the were closed down. Everytime I have went by there they were closed. Oh well, the times I had been in there I wasnt impressed.

N8

[Andys29]

I wanna T-shirt when they come out :D

[phetish]

once i went in and asked him check the salinity of water sample. he set down his cigarette, and popped open my container of water. then he dipped his finger into the water and smeared it (and all of the dust, skin, and nicotine) onto his refractometer.

then he promptly told me that my salinity was too high.

i'm not sure if he was testing salinity or nicotine levels in my sample.

i think that was the last time i was in there...

the problem is that there are places like that all over. even here in LA, there's a shop with the same reputation.

derek

[predatorpassion]

well.... that was the first store we ever got fish from... that was when they were across the street from corals and reefs...they were just starting out... my brother hated (john) because he always called cody "sweety" the lady was nice.... well we became friends.... I was into killer agressive predatory fish....well I was in 3grade I think... he said peacock cichlids were killer (s...u...r..e) :rolleyes: but we got them... he was all proud of his manaquense cichlid (jaquar cichlid from central america) and he had 2 crenicichla (probably johanna pikes (also cichlids) the lady was obsessed with tetras....well we were "faithful" customers intil they got into saltwater and had a new store... the man got annoying (funny thing is I was smarter then him about most fish he got and he NEVER had a good selection of fish) the last time we went in there was when I had my 2 silver arowanas (got them from scott when he worked in southern ag.) my mom got really into a yellow seahorse they had...well they told us they could have a 10 gal. tank and we only needed a week to cycle it...(well I have never had salt...neither did anybody else in our family... that is when I started to research about them) well we had a week to cycle the water.. .went in and bought the seahorse... for a while he was perfect and was in good condition... I noticed that his dorsal fin was damaged making him incapable of swimming (he would never swim) so he was almost incapable of eating... we didn't know that (I guessed on it) well we started to target feed him mysis and brine shrimp... well one day (a little while after we got him) he was dead... seriously tore up my mom... they evidentaly gave us false informatin and a emaciated...injured seahorse... haven't gone in there since...

shane...............

[scott0615]

I am currently charging $17.00 to look at my zo's. $17.00 will get you a glance for 22 seconds. Come on by.

[keckles]

Can I spread my 22 seconds out over a weekly period and set up a payment plan? Is there an allotted discount for blinking?

Thanks,

Jared

[jokeloma]

I can't stand the guy and I'm glad we all agree on something without having to take a poll. Maybe we should take a poll " How many people would be in the hobby if he was all we had" I''ll say none I think it's obvious that he has made a nice bed for himself with all of the salt owners around. I would shop at Petco before stepping through his door.

[scott0615]

Jared - we have a 90 days same as cash program.

Scott

[scott0615]

By the way - would you ask for a discount at WalMart too???? I am sooooo tired of "hey, if I buy 44 seconds could you cut me a break?". What is it about this industry that people think they can get deals constantly!?!?!??!?!

[okiebones]

O come on now Scott! Where's you're heart....about 30%+ of a doctors time is done giving away his/her services ( for those who don't do %'s well that's "FREE" ) but last time I had plumbing done I don't remember going over the bill with the guy and marking through 30% ( or any for that matter ) that was his "giveaway".

[Snprhed]

Ok so I had to go check the actual zoas. Come to find out I have $160 ones, mine do look a little better than his. I will start fragging at $25 a polyp!! Such a great deal.

[keckles]

You got PM.






;)

[n8duncan]

Such a steal!!! At that price I want the whole colony. In fact they are so great I'll pay double per polyp.........not........lol

[n8duncan]

I feel so much better now that I have had my daily dose of sarcasm.
N8

[Travis L. Stevens]

I really didn't want to get too mixed up about this, but the stories just keep rolling in. I think we should look at this from a serious point of view. For the most part, he is really doing the hobby a disservice. Should we, OMAS members, as ambassadors of the hobby do something about this? Is what we are doing enough? At the moment, we mainly only educate current members. But should we find a way to reach out to others in a more public educational program?

[okiebones]

There's really nothing else for us to do Travis...he has a right to open and run any business any way he sees fit....I was just venting more than anything else.....done formy mental health than any other reason :)
Doc

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6996537#post6996537 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by okiebones
There's really nothing else for us to do Travis...he has a right to open and run any business any way he sees fit....I was just venting more than anything else.....done formy mental health than any other reason :)
Doc

We don't have to do anything directed directly at him. I respect his right to do business as he pleases. But our goal as OMAS members is should be to educate people about the hobby. And a well educated person often finds that Tulsa Aquatics often gives poor advice and information. Now, if we could find a way to educate the masses and not just our members, we can accomplish two goals. Increased membership and decrease the bad reputation that the saltwater hobby gets as being "hard" and "expensive" that a few stores and failed aquarists inadvertently give the hobby because of misinformation. Word of mouth is the strongest form of advertisement and one negative word is worth ten in positive. Therefore, for us to change this hobby to a hobby known as an enjoyable past time and help people not make discouraging mistakes, we need to work ten times as hard to debunk misconceptions.

[phetish]

note: cross-posted here as well: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=6997189#post6997189

well, if OMAS has no intention of endorsing a list of "good" LFS's, then OMAS should not be considering a list of "bad" LFS's.

let the market decide who the good ones are and who the bad ones are.

Having said that, I agree that OMAS should be working toward providing good, solid information to the new people entering the hobby. you can't reach everyone, but you can make the group's existence known and anyone that wants help can use OMAS as a resource.

the question then becomes how do you make the group's existence known? in my opinion, the best way to do that is to partner with the LFS's. The problem there is that the LFS's tend to have love/hate relationships with hobbyist groups.

Several months ago, i started a thread asking what the LFS's needed to make the relationship workable between OMAS and the LFS's. I can't say that much came out of it.

I think that until there is a strong relationship between the LFS's and OMAS there will be a struggle on both sides. OMAS needs the LFS's in order to reach new members and provide good solid advice to hobbyists. LFS's need OMAS as a support group for the people in the hobby.

Here are a couple ideas:
1 - OMAS could offer to provide an in-store liason to customers. (i doubt this is an idea they would jump on, but it's an idea)
2 - OMAS could offer to provide a class to a store's customers on 1 or 2 Saturdays each month. perhaps a fragging class, or a sump/refugium class, etc. ( i keep hearing stores say they want to provide these classes but i've yet to see one do it... why is that? lack of demand, lack of resources, or lack of follow through?)

enough from the peanut gallery on the left coast...

derek

[Snprhed]

So Doc how are your new pink zoas?

Cory

[brucoh]

Add me to the list of people who won't go into Tulsa Aquatics anymore. I used to shop there until some of the other stores opened around town. About 6 months ago, I needed to buy some saltwater and Revolutions just ran out so I went to Tulsa Aquatics to get some. When I go in, John was arguing with the lady about something and both looked really pi$$ed. Well of course she sees me and puts on her best happy face and fills my jugs up with water. (She's always been very nice BTW) I give him the money for the water and he still has this pi$$ed off look on his face the whole time. That overwhelming uncomfortable vibe was going on. I hand him the money, he doesn't say a word, he gives me change and I say, "thanks, have a good day," in a polite geniune tone because I meant it and he gives me a "go to hell" look and says nothing. So immediately think to myself, "yeah, well this is the last time you will ever step foot in this store". I then left the store in a bad mood. Even though it isn't really that big of a deal and I have no idea what he was so mad about, it had nothing to do with me. Letting your personal crap spill over into your customer service will get you nowhere. There's too many other good choices of LFS in this town now to have to put up with that crap. I never go there again and I've told other people not to go there after that happened.

[jjmcat]

WELCOME TO THE CLUB