I haven't been this angry in a LONG time

aelene

Member
Okay, I need to vent and I don't know anyone else that knows SW stuff so you guys get to hear it instead.
I started to pay to have someone come out and service my tank from DNA (yeah.. you DFW'ers know who they are) I figured, they are good, respectable, reputable and can do a better job that I can of keeping it maintained so it's worth the money right?
Wrong

This is only my second service... the first one was great which is what made me decide to do it regularly, this one however....
These guys show up. Clean up the glass, start sucking out water... do a 5gallon water change rather than a 10g which is what I'm being charged for, once they realize that it was only 5g they were like, "oh oops, oh well it's no big deal." Then they go to add some red slime remover (note - my 2 probs with my tank right now is red slime and hair algae, all else is good) Instead of following the directions and adding the red slime remover to a cup of water, letting it desolve and then adding to the tank.... they just throw it in a cup of water and toss it the tank leaving huge chunks of this crap floating in my water. They didn't do anything at all with the hair algae, I mean come on when cleaning out the water they could have gotten some of it, but nah.... Just great.
But wait! It gets better. They start cleaning up the sand, knock over my rock with my newly split anemone (who's already fragile) Don't bother to fix it either, just left it there. End up getting sand and crap all over my rocks and corals... don't bother cleaning it up.
Also, when they add the new water.... he takes the Ph buffer and put it DIRECTLY IN MY TANK. WHO DOES THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So AGAIN, more crap floating around in my tank.... chunks of it just laying on my corals which might I add look worse than I have ever seen.
So, then he adds some cleanup crew they brought me, and of course throws them directly into the tank... WITH the store water and WITHOUT allowing me to just acclimate them. Didn't even bother to temp acclimate them at the very least. 45 minutes later and there are already three to four that aren't moving what so ever. Wouldn't doubt it if they are dead or in shock. Hey no big deal right, it was only $75 worth of a clean up crew.
THEN, to add to the mix once they put my lights back on something is off. The lights are making the tank look green?? Something happened to the actinics, before they came in this morning the actinic lights were bright bright blue, now they look like moonlights. Once again, no big deal right? I only bought the lights from them less than three weeks ago. And even the guys here said something didn't look right.... Oh well... and left. Good times.
Soooooooo..... $200 dollars later (which I was expecting about $75 since it's a $100 for two visits a month) my tank looks horrible and I'm afraid that something(s) might die. My freaking ricordea's look like a galaxia now! That's so not right.
If it weren't for the fact that their store caught on fire a month ago, I would joke about arson.... (please note, do not take this comment seriously, I'm trying my best to find some humor and be lighthearted but I really feel like I'm going to throw up right now)
BUT I AM MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad:
I could have saved $200 and done a seriously better job on my own.
 

puffer32

Active Member
I am new to the area, can you tell me who NOT to use LOL! Sorry this happened to you, i was thinking about using a service right before i go on vacation, Thanks to your post, NOT! :scared:
Just reread your post, and I know what company you are talking about. I thought they were out of commision due to fire??? I guess they can still do tank service though.
 

lion_crazz

Active Member
Yeah, most service people are complete idiots when it comes to fish tanks! I am so sorry to hear you had such a bad experience.
 

moby

Member
COMPLAIN TO THE MANAGEMENT!!
You are the consumer! Use this power to assert the fact of what lousy service they provided.
I feel for for you, 15 years ago I provided this sort of service and pretty much put the other 2 companies offering tank maintenance out of business. I didn't do anything extraordinary. I just gave folks the same service I would have expected if I were the customer. Word got around and soon I had more business than I could handle.
If as the consumer, you document what they did wrong and present it to their boss, DEMAND SATISFACTION!! You have recourse! Use it!

Moby
 

lion_crazz

Active Member
Originally Posted by moby
COMPLAIN TO THE MANAGEMENT!!
You are the consumer! Use this power to assert the fact of what lousy service they provided.
I feel for for you, 15 years ago I provided this sort of service and pretty much put the other 2 companies offering tank maintenance out of business. I didn't do anything extraordinary. I just gave folks the same service I would have expected if I were the customer. Word got around and soon I had more business than I could handle.
If as the consumer, you document what they did wrong and present it to their boss, DEMAND SATISFACTION!! You have recourse! Use it!

Moby
I could not agree more with Moby! If you are not satisfied, they did not do thier job.
 

mrdc

Active Member
Yeah I would complain. I just got offered to take care of 2 120g tanks at a local restaurant. I thought about it and decided not to because I would feel like everything in the tank would be my responsibility. If I had excepted the job, I would hope that anything not liked would be brought to my attention. I guess I would be more professional than I shoulld be
 

aelene

Member
Lol Moby, you are totally right... and I already did! I told the service guy when he left to let the manager know he could expect a call in five minutes or less.
Soo... an update just in case any of you use Dallas North because I don't want to do them a disservice. The MOD sent out another guy right after who not only did an *awesome* job but literally hand cleaned my rocks of any algae and finished out the water change...not only that he added some live rock I had in a different tank and did some re-working of my aquascape that works out even better than my original setup did. I couldn't have asked for better service. Sooo.... I'll chalk it up to a fluke.... the "cleanup" far outweighed the frustraton of the original visit. I just told the MOD that I'm requesting my service guys from now on lol!! I guess I know who the good and not as good ones are now.
 

lion_crazz

Active Member
Well, I am glad everything worked out for you.
mrdc, that is often the problem with taking care of people's tanks. That is why I am so selective with who's tanks I do maintenance on. If they seem like the type of people to blame me for everything, I don't even get into it because I know it will not be worth it.
 

ray28576

Member
B4 you get a hold of management, make sure you are calm. You don't want to go in there mad. The only thing that will happen then, is you will get angry and they won't do anything for you. Talk with the manager face to face, and demand he does something about it. What they done to your tank is not right. Of course you probably already know all this. Hope it helps some though.
 

aelene

Member
Originally Posted by puffer32
Just reread your post, and I know what company you are talking about. I thought they were out of commision due to fire??? I guess they can still do tank service though.
Yes they are still doing tank service, and they are also running at lower capacity just from the back of the store rather than the front. The fire they had was really sad, lost about 80% of everything due to some bad wiring in silly stock shelve light, something so simple.
They have/had beautiful fish and setups, I haven't been there since the fire and I think it would make me sad to see it before it's restored to it's normal state. So many poor fish that could do anything but stay put and die
 

moby

Member
I'm really happy to hear everything worked out so well Aelene. BTW, I love your avatar!
As far as tank maintenance goes, yes.
It is tough to make some folks happy. Not a business for the faint at heart. I took care of all the holding tanks for the red lobsters in my state. Yikes, that was a lot of work keeping all those lobsters fat and happy!
Moby
 

aelene

Member
I know how to care for my tanks...
Right now I just have a time issue. I'm single, I just bought a house that requires a lot of work. There is a pool, a pond, and lots of gardening/landscape stuff. I work full time and I go to school part time to full time depending on the semester. I'm just a little overloaded right now and lately my tank had been neglected. I'd rather pay someone else to do it for now since I don't have time, rather than seeing my tank go south. Just a trade off that's all.
 

fishy7

Active Member
Hey Aelene,
Sorry to hear about your experience. Hope it turns around for you. I've had DNA out 10 times and never experienced this that of service. They are always polite and careful with my tank. In some cases better then me.
Still learning.
Congrats on the anemone, wish I could get a better handle on keeping them. I have one that has been hiding for 2 weeks.
Any who.
Good luck.
 

slgcmg

New Member
Aelene and Puffer 32.
I am in your area as well. Have you guys ever heard of the lfs Scales in Irving. I have been going there for about 7 years now. The owner is John and he services my neighbors tank once a month. He is very polite and knowledgeable. There are some bad ones out there but he definitely is a good one. His store number is 972-986-7526. He will get your tank back on track. :happyfish
 

puffer32

Active Member
Originally Posted by slgcmg
Aelene and Puffer 32.
I am in your area as well. Have you guys ever heard of the lfs Scales in Irving. I have been going there for about 7 years now. The owner is John and he services my neighbors tank once a month. He is very polite and knowledgeable. There are some bad ones out there but he definitely is a good one. His store number is 972-986-7526. He will get your tank back on track. :happyfish
We have the time to di our own maintainance on our tank since we are new to the area and hubby is still job hunting
We had to cancel his going with me back home next week for a graduation. (need to watch we we spend money on till he lands a job) so he will be here. I am interested in finding another lfs in the area, we go to saltwater paradise mostly, but would love another source for our reef. Can you tell me what the store itself is like? Thanks!
 

slgcmg

New Member
It is not the biggest store, but it is by far the cheapest. I have been to several LFS(pretty much all) in the DFW area and he is by far the best. It is in Irving off Belt Line 1 mile south of 183. He will get pretty much anything you want if he doesn't have it. They guy is by far the nicest LFS owner I have met.
No comment on Saltwater Paradise.
 

blue20051

Member
Originally Posted by slgcmg
It is not the biggest store, but it is by far the cheapest. I have been to several LFS(pretty much all) in the DFW area and he is by far the best. It is in Irving off Belt Line 1 mile south of 183. He will get pretty much anything you want if he doesn't have it. They guy is by far the nicest LFS owner I have met.
No comment on Saltwater Paradise.

Saltwater Paradise is pretty expensive. Randy's fish warehouse is pretty close to where you live. Idk if they do maint. but it doesnt hurt to ask.
I agree with slgcmg, the owner of Scales is very nice but i wished he had more fish in his tanks.
 

puffer32

Active Member
Originally Posted by slgcmg
It is not the biggest store, but it is by far the cheapest. I have been to several LFS(pretty much all) in the DFW area and he is by far the best. It is in Irving off Belt Line 1 mile south of 183. He will get pretty much anything you want if he doesn't have it. They guy is by far the nicest LFS owner I have met.
No comment on Saltwater Paradise.

Hey now don't leave me hanging about saltwater paradise, I am new to the area and want to know who to avoid and why. As far as Randys warehouse goes, he has alot of fish, but not much in the way of corals, pretty dull stuff the one time i went there.
 
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