I never feel good about leaving negative reviews especially for small businesses, but in this case, I feel it is more than justified. Anyone who enjoys marine fish keeping and supports LFS (local fish store) over big-box retailers will understand why this review is so troubling. Small businesses are increasingly frustrated that they lose market share to large corporations while simultaneously refusing to offer even basic courtesies to their customers who will immediately go to the retailer that ingrains customer service into their employees.
Triton Marine Aquaculture (Triton) is essentially no exception. Joel and his wife own the company, and both have a near encyclopedic knowledge of their trade. Unfortunately, to extract any information of them comes with eye rolls and passive-aggressive childish behavior even in front of my 10-year-old daughter. Both of them have a fairly menacing appearance being sleeved in tattoos and currently Joel has blue hair which is ridiculous on a grown man. Notwithstanding that, I am not there to be his fashion consultant or his friend. I am a customer and expect to be treated with a certain degree of courtesy and respect. I tolerate their sophomoric behavior because I know that they are a couple of West Coast hipsters basically think they are better than us bumpkin. Moreover, believe me, they treat you that way. My complaint is not about their store which is nice, clean, and well lit. Or even its inventory, which is extraordinary considering the alternative. It is the people that run it who are the problem. I have been supporting the store since they opened taking my young daughter in to show her the fish and we always leave buying something which adds up to several hundred dollars worth of fish all of which have died. I do not need a lecture about tank maintenance, I have been keeping tanks for over 20 years. I use only professional equipment perform regular water changes as well as check the chemistry in the water which is flawless every time. As a matter of fact, there are two big-box retailers that contact me directly to rescue fish when they are dropped off at the store. Suffice to say, I know more than the average person about keeping fish.
This past week I purchased a trigger and some miscellaneous other items from Joel and the fish lived for less than 12 hours. This is the second trigger to die that they have sold me yet all of the fish in my tank are healthy and thriving. Call the store the next day when they open at noon and offered to bring the fish back with some water and said that if there was something wrong with my water I would accept the loss however I would like them to replace the fish otherwise. The woman was flabbergasted, literally talk to me like I was an idiot for even suggesting that they would take back the dead fish. Yes, I expect you to take back the fish that died less than 12 hours after you sold it to me. Especially, if I can prove that it was not my water quality that killed the fish. She told me that they're basically the only game in town and that this policy is not uncommon. I don't buy anything without a warranty of some kind, but I expect even if this is their policy that be clearly marked in the store and not just some phantom rule that I should know about. She told me it's on the receipt, you know the receipt that they give you after the purchase. The egregious part is that she told me "oh yeah, you bought that from the quarantine section of the store". What the heck is that? Quarantine? There certainly no signs that say I'm buying potentially sick fish... Maybe these guys will survive in business maybe they won't but I can guarantee you it will never be with another dollar of my money. What really bothered me was left Joel's wife with my number and asked for her to explain the circumstances. To give me a call if they would be willing to work with me considering the fish died just hours after I got it. It's been 48 hours and no call. They clearly don't care about losing my business and they won't care about losing yours given the same circumstances. read more