Retailers and wholesalers still give fish warranties, but it’s a balance between following policies and making the customer happy.By Meghan Murphy
A decade ago, it seemed as though everything came with a guarantee. But as the economy tightens and businesses take a harder look at their bottom lines, some retailers are changing and even eliminating warranties on fish.
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| Unless aquarium water is tested, customers may never know what killed their fish. |
Many retailers and wholesalers still do offer warranties, but they come with rules and regulations. The retail business in general, including fish sellers, has shifted toward stricter return and exchange policies.
“I think the rest of the retail business realized they gave away the farm,” says Gary Raab, president of Bangkok Aquarium & Pet Supply in San Jose, Calif.
Some retailers have kept guarantees in place and are using them not only for customer satisfaction but as an educational tool about proper fish care.
Not on Your Honor
Honesty is an important aspect to any fish guarantee and some retailers have stopped offering warranties because of a few bad customers.
John Billington, owner of JB Tropical Fish in Williamstown, N.J., says he offered a 24-hour guarantee at one point, but dishonest customers cost him too much money.
Yet Billington hasn’t seen sales drop since he got rid of the warranty. He said most of the stores in his area don’t offer it, either. Since he doesn’t give refunds or free fish, he also can keep prices low compared to big-box stores that do take returns, he says.
Raab says he’s also had problems with dishonest customers at his store. He doesn’t give anyone a cash refund or store credit, but his 24-hour guarantee does offer a replacement fish so long as the customer can prove the water is balanced. A customer must bring back three things: a receipt, the dead fish and a water sample for testing.
While Raab says his policy hasn’t changed in 20 years, he thinks the customer has. Fewer people bother to come back to return their fish.
“The warranty isn’t as important as it used to be,” he asserts.
A No-fault Policy
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| Besides bad water conditions, tank-mate incompatibility can also result in death. |
At Azalea Aquariums, customers can do no wrong—at least the first time around. Owner Keith Howe offers a 50-percent refund—or No Fault Fish Insurance—on every fish in his Richmond, Va., store, even if a fish died because of the customer’s aquarium conditions.
There is one catch, though: Customers can’t get a new fish until they prove the water is suitable for the animal. Howe says the policy enables him to educate customers on how to create a healthy aquarium environment.
“I need to keep the dialogue open with the consumer to where we solve the problem,” he explains.
With this policy, some buyers have to come back five and six times with the water to get it right. However, the hard work pays off in customer loyalty, Howe notes.
The policy builds a customer’s trust in the store’s expertise and gives the buyer a working aquarium, so they can then come back for more fish.
Raab says his warranty is also an educational tool. Although the employees explain proper care and acclimation in the store, the warranty is a printed half sheet of paper with the instructions on it for the customer to take home.
If customers return fish, they must bring a water sample to prove that it was not the aquarium that caused the death.
“We test and explain it to them,” Raab says. “If it’s a water condition, we explain why the fish died in there.”
From Ocean to Store
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| Many return policies require customers to bring a water sample along with the fish. |
The aquarium hobbyist isn’t the only customer who needs to be kept happy in the fish-sale food chain. Retail store owners also like to have assurances from wholesale fish sellers on live deliveries.
Wholesale companies have a range of policies on refunds or credit, and often a particular company will have a different agreement with different buyers.
Some wholesalers offer only a white-line guarantee, meaning the warranty ends once the retailer picks up the fish or upon store delivery.
“Most wholesalers, even my very best, very rarely help me out with a loss,” Howe says.
When wholesalers do offer a credit, they ask retailers to prove their water is good, just as an individual customer must, says Bruce Baker of Pan Ocean Aquarium in Hayward, Calif.
Baker says his policies aren’t set in stone’ he just does his best to make his customers happy.
“If people feel like they’re not being taken care of, or your fish aren’t good and you don’t stand behind them, you’re not going to be in business long,” he comments.
Counting up each and every cichlid that dies in each and every order can be time consuming for both a retailer and fish wholesalers. So some wholesalers offer retail stores a break of up to 8 percent on every order to compensate for the loss.
A wholesaler suggested this deal to Raab years ago and he quickly agreed.
“You’ve got to be a storekeeper who has a little bit of honor, but it works,” he says.
The Cichlid Exchange Inc. of Portland, Ore., reports that less than a 5-percent loss is standard. Beyond that, the company offers its retailers a 24-hour guarantee and replaces any lost fish in the next order, says sales manager Shea Delaney.
The Bottom Line
Whether retailers and wholesalers have official warranty policies, all report they work with customers to keep them happy.
While Billington’s store has no warranty, his staff exchange a fish for a customer with a legitimate complaint, especially if there’s been a problem in the store aquarium. The bottom line is he wants to keep that customer. Raab will make exceptions to his water-testing rule for good customers, and Howe’s half-price credit turns into a full one if he’s having a problem with fish.
“If I have any doubt as to the quality of the fish that they got, I’ll give them a free one,” Howe says. <HOME>
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