Post by stitch on Nov 13, 2006 23:55:21 GMT -5
Hi Everyone,
I'm the other parent of Odin (Sharasf being the other) and I just wanted to let everyone know of my recent experience with a local pet shop here in Brandon.
We have had some problems with supplies (Exo-terra water treatment supplies & Exo-terra Juvenile Iguana food) we purchased at a local pet shop (Exotic Pet Corner), which were sold expired by 2 years in some cases. We finally decided to take back some Biotize (that had actually leaked in the package, which we found out when we got it home) and some Aquatize, both of which were expired by late 2005.
I am so used to buying expired stuff everywhere I go, I think nothing of it anymore. There are some pretty sad stories I have about that. So we tried to use the expired stuff, but it didn't work at all (Odin had left a small mess in the waterfall we have and it didn't break down at all). We decided to exchange it in store, however when we went to the back to look at the stock after the cashier had gone into the back room twice to talk to the owner, the owner decided to step out.
"Now that's customer service!" I thought, but was abruptly shaken from my hope when she tried to tell us that the expiry date was the made on date, claiming a local grocery store had told her the same thing recently when she thought all the stock of a certain product appeared to have expired. Well, that didn't quite work, especially since right before she stepped out, the cashier had found the biotize on the shelf didn't expire till 2008!
That pretty much dashed that attempt, she then promptly moved into recovery mode insisting they find all the stock that was expired and box it up so she could send it back to her distributor. I helped them out by also telling them that they should probably check their Iguana food since last time I was there, some of it had expired. She didn't look too happy, but checked and found that some of it too, was expired. She then went on to say something about staff weren't stocking the shelves properly and moving the old stuff to the front.
We started talking and I mentioned our experiences with Thor and Odin, and what to feed them and what not feed them after she tried to offer us some crickets or mealworm snacks instead of the aquatize she didn't have in stock. We then explained how you can't feed them that and what you can and can't feed them. She immediately became defensive of what they feed them (which it really isn't horrible, but it isn't great either). She did claim you can give them dog food as a treat.
At this point things were looking pretty bad.
I then went on to explain our bad experience with a compact fluorescent light bulb that was supposed to give out enough UVB rays, however after some research we found out it gave negligible UVB output. The owner then dropped a bomb shell, they just got them in stock and haven't put them out yet.
Uh oh.....I think I've REALLY said too much......
I try and recover and say how we found a really great bulb (the MegaRay) that we ordered from the US (Yay Everything Reptile!) for $36 US that is phenomenal in comparison. She snaps back at me, well no one will pay that much for one of those.
Um, the regular fluorescent bulbs go for that much at PetLand in Winnipeg...without fixtures..... Which Exotic Pet Corner doesn't sell to begin with..but they sell the lights....
After that, she left, we made a beeline to pick up the stuff to replace what we returned (we got two small bottles of Calcimize for the one large bottle of Aquatize). The cashier called the owner, the owner told her to just give us the two bottles even though there was a price difference (6.99 for a large bottle and 3.99 for a small bottle). We cleared out after that.
Just remember: ALWAYS check the expiry date on supplies before you buy them, and tempt not the angry owners of small pet stores...they're not happy campers to begin with.
I'm the other parent of Odin (Sharasf being the other) and I just wanted to let everyone know of my recent experience with a local pet shop here in Brandon.
We have had some problems with supplies (Exo-terra water treatment supplies & Exo-terra Juvenile Iguana food) we purchased at a local pet shop (Exotic Pet Corner), which were sold expired by 2 years in some cases. We finally decided to take back some Biotize (that had actually leaked in the package, which we found out when we got it home) and some Aquatize, both of which were expired by late 2005.
I am so used to buying expired stuff everywhere I go, I think nothing of it anymore. There are some pretty sad stories I have about that. So we tried to use the expired stuff, but it didn't work at all (Odin had left a small mess in the waterfall we have and it didn't break down at all). We decided to exchange it in store, however when we went to the back to look at the stock after the cashier had gone into the back room twice to talk to the owner, the owner decided to step out.
"Now that's customer service!" I thought, but was abruptly shaken from my hope when she tried to tell us that the expiry date was the made on date, claiming a local grocery store had told her the same thing recently when she thought all the stock of a certain product appeared to have expired. Well, that didn't quite work, especially since right before she stepped out, the cashier had found the biotize on the shelf didn't expire till 2008!
That pretty much dashed that attempt, she then promptly moved into recovery mode insisting they find all the stock that was expired and box it up so she could send it back to her distributor. I helped them out by also telling them that they should probably check their Iguana food since last time I was there, some of it had expired. She didn't look too happy, but checked and found that some of it too, was expired. She then went on to say something about staff weren't stocking the shelves properly and moving the old stuff to the front.
We started talking and I mentioned our experiences with Thor and Odin, and what to feed them and what not feed them after she tried to offer us some crickets or mealworm snacks instead of the aquatize she didn't have in stock. We then explained how you can't feed them that and what you can and can't feed them. She immediately became defensive of what they feed them (which it really isn't horrible, but it isn't great either). She did claim you can give them dog food as a treat.
At this point things were looking pretty bad.
I then went on to explain our bad experience with a compact fluorescent light bulb that was supposed to give out enough UVB rays, however after some research we found out it gave negligible UVB output. The owner then dropped a bomb shell, they just got them in stock and haven't put them out yet.
Uh oh.....I think I've REALLY said too much......
I try and recover and say how we found a really great bulb (the MegaRay) that we ordered from the US (Yay Everything Reptile!) for $36 US that is phenomenal in comparison. She snaps back at me, well no one will pay that much for one of those.
Um, the regular fluorescent bulbs go for that much at PetLand in Winnipeg...without fixtures..... Which Exotic Pet Corner doesn't sell to begin with..but they sell the lights....
After that, she left, we made a beeline to pick up the stuff to replace what we returned (we got two small bottles of Calcimize for the one large bottle of Aquatize). The cashier called the owner, the owner told her to just give us the two bottles even though there was a price difference (6.99 for a large bottle and 3.99 for a small bottle). We cleared out after that.
Just remember: ALWAYS check the expiry date on supplies before you buy them, and tempt not the angry owners of small pet stores...they're not happy campers to begin with.
