River City Aquatics

[cseger]

I have bought several fish and corals from this store, and used to visit regularly since it was the closest to my house. For the most part I have found the staff to be friendly and helpful. Unfortunately I made the mistake of hiring them to do some maintenance on my tank. After they put about 50 pounds of uncured live rock in my tank, the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels all went crazy, killing nearly everything in my tank. I have spoken with several other stores in town and they all assure me that the cause of these drastic increases was the introduction of uncured rock and that someone who claims to be a professional should have known that would happen. (I had been assured by a couple of people at RCA that it would be fine to put the rock directly into my tank.) Rather than apologize, Carlos, the owner, then had the nerve to bar me from the store for not wanting to pay for this “service.” I will avoid them like the plague they unleashed in my tank from now on.

[Texreefer]

WoW!! Great first post!!!!!!! I would like to hear a lot more about you and your tank before I believe THAT story

[hobogato]

no kidding mike. carlos, misti and all of the folks at river city have always been well informed - too well informed to make that kind of mistake.

[cseger]

Don't take my word for it - ask Carlos. He still maintains that putting the rock in uncured was the right thing to do.

[RayAllen]

I think I can speak for the members of Maast when I say RCA is a great sponsor. Excellent people and a wealth of great knowledge and in know way do I believe they told you to put uncured rock in your tank if they actually knew you had livestock. Carlos has even been a spokesman at our monthly meeting; just to unlikely. Sounds like a misunderstanding. You can put uncured rock into a tank with livestock if doing it very slowly and running carbon.

[SoLiD]

Yeah, that's beyond a rookie mistake. It seems more like the person maintaining the tank had an IQ below 70. Stupid Is As Stupid Does. I can't believe that Carlos would make that mistake. Someone needs to verify this with RCA before we convict them in the court of Public Opinion.

-David

[SoLiD]

Don't take my word for it - ask Carlos. He still maintains that putting the rock in uncured was the right thing to do.

Give Us Your Tank Parameters.

Tank Size (Gallons):
Total Water Volume (Sump, Refugium, Protien Skimmer, & Tank):
What You Lost (Type of Fish and Corals):
The Time It Took To Lose Your Livestock:
When You Lost Everything (Approximate Dates)

Current Tank Parameters For The Following:
Ammonia
Nitrites
Nitrates
PH
ALK

[semperfimarine1]

WHAT?!?! my boys and gals at RCA doing this?!

very hard to believe!!
they know what there doing and they know there stuff! no doubt about that!!

[Tavio]

No doubt for sure. Sorry i was going to let my first post be a little intro but after reading this post i thought id put my $.02 in. Ive been shoppin at RCA since umm.......... they first opened. There good people down there. They run a great
knowledgeable staff. Not once in the time that ive been in the hobby had I had ANY kind of problems or trouble from them or the info they given me. Thats really hard to belive as helpfull as theyve been to me and everyone i know that shops there.

[SoLiD]

No doubt for sure. Sorry i was going to let my first post be a little intro but after reading this post i thought id put my $.02 in. Ive been shoppin at RCA since umm.......... they first opened. There good people down there. They run a great
knowledgeable staff. Not once in the time that ive been in the hobby had I had ANY kind of problems or trouble from them or the info they given me. Thats really hard to belive as helpfull as theyve been to me and everyone i know that shops there.

Yeah, but I've seen a shop push the envelope in hopes of trying to make a Quick Buck. :ph34r:

I hope that wasn't the case. ..........Scratch That.... I Know That Wasn't The Case.....

[ismvel]

I don't think that RCA has to come in here and defend themselves. There are so many factors that haven't been presented here....I personally have not met the RCA folks but know they are around all over these boards and give sound advice. Many of you have met them and know them personally and seems that they know better than what the OP is stating. Heck, I am fairly new and know better than that. There is no need to turn this into another fiasco. Call it for what it is...someone having a bad experience (for whatever reason) and leave the subject alone instead of feeding to the fire. He can't go back to the store, he/she (csegar) isn't anyone that people seem to know....and from the sounds of all these posts (me included) nobody beleives these allegations.....

Seriously doubt RCA will really miss this person's business....and csegar, if you stay in the hobby, do a little research before jumping into big tasks like adding a bunch of uncured rock.

[Carlos_at_River_City]

With out starting a fire-storm, the live rock in question added was ALL DEAD DRY ROCK. We would NEVER add uncured live rock to an established system. There are MANY other details to this situation that were left out. If anyone has any questions about our maintenance services please feel free to pm me

[SoLiD]

If anyone has any questions about our maintenance services please feel free to pm me

You have choosen to Not Allow any PM's in your profile. You might wanna change that.

-David

[Carlos_at_River_City]

You have choosen to Not Allow any PM's in your profile. You might wanna change that.

-David

That's strange I received a pm this afternoon. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. carlos@rivercityaquatics.com

[SoLiD]

OK Guys, I got the low down from Misti. This guy is upset over something that was Clearly His Own Fault. If he doesn't keep up with his tank for over a month (Ammonia 0.5 and Nitrate 60ppm) then tries to go the cheap route to Band-Aid the situation then it's His Fault. You can't do major changes to a tank and leave for a week out of town. The only reason he joined MAAST was to give RCA a Bad Name. This is a site for True Marine Aquarists. Not slander mongers. I'd boot this Guy if I was a MOD. But that's just me. My 2cents.

SWAT

-David

[zcatzmeow]

I looove River City :heart: Always full of helpful information, quick to help you out no matter what the situation and the advice is always solid. I've been a customer for years now (gee...scary it's been that long) and they have been there for me from that first 20 gallon freshwater through my 140 gallon freshwater and now with my 29 gallon saltwater.

Take a look around the store, check out the clean tanks and superb livestock, and watch this thread grow with more testimonials from happy customers. RCA knows their stuff.

:bighug: to the entire staff!

[MissT]

100% we appreciate everyone's opinion and thanks to everyone who knows us well enough to stick up for us even when all the facts aren't presented.

If anyone has any questions about any of this, Carlos already said he was open to them and I offer the same invitation to an email, PM or phone call.

MAAST is an incredible organization and we're proud to be a part of it.

:bighug:back at ya!

[fjr_wertheimber]

Just another $.02 from a pretty recent n00b... I'm new to this whole "aquarium thing", both freshwater and saltwater (I can thank my girlfriend for these new addictions) and I've got to say that RCA and the staff there has been friendly, knowledgeable, helpful, and has gone out of their way to make sure that they answered every question I had (no matter how stupid) and really made me feel welcome. Not once have they ever tried to "push the envelope to make the quick buck", quite the opposite, in fact. There's been a number of times when they've been the voice of reason and moderation.
Great folks, great store, great experience there. Thanks, RCA.

[KyleV]

River City is the best! This @^@%^@^@^@%$^@$%^@#$%^$%&^&&*(9 Needs to Leave!

[CoryDude]

Gotta love the 'net! Pretty easy to libel and slander someone when you can do it hidden behind a computer screen. If your're just ranting, I understand your frustration. But dude, we've all made mistakes in the past with our tanks. Own up to it and learn from your failures.

[SoLiD]

Not once have they ever tried to "push the envelope to make the quick buck", quite the opposite, in fact.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply River City Aquatics practiced this method of up selling. I said I've seen another store do this (right in front of me). It rhymes with Ets Art in my home town of Corpus Christi.:ph34r: :angel:

[SoLiD]

Carlos, Misti, & Staff "Just keep on keeping on and you'll see, good things will happen to you." -Joe Dirt :bigsmile:

[bozack]

I am even surprised this thread went 3 pages.
I think we all know River City wouldn't even have to defend their position because we know they are in an elite class by themselves.

It's great to have them, (Misti, Carlos etc) so local.

[longhorna95]

I have been to RCA a few times and every one there is very knowegable and havent tried to "just make a buck" on me. I bout some zoo's from them also and they are doing great! just some personal info I thought I would through out there.

[cseger]

Wow.

I feel like its 2002 and I have just questioned the competency of the Bush administration.

Carlos is correct to some degree in his post on this subject. Due to an unmanageable hair algae infestation, and after trying every solution I could think of, I consulted with River City Aquatics about what my last option would be. After paying for them to come to my house and look at the situation it was determined that all I could do was take all of the rock that did not have coral on it out of my tank and leave it out for a couple of weeks to kill everything on it, which I did.

After the two weeks were up I once again had them come out to the house because I wanted an expert to handle reintroducing the rock and make sure that the hair algae had been completely eradicated. I assumed that they would not do anything harmful and explained to them that I would be out of town for a week immediately following the procedure.

They completed the process and I went out of town the next day.

When I came back, all of the remaining coral in my tank had died. I checked the water, and my nitrites were at about 2.5 – 3 ppm and nitrates were around 2.0. I did not have an ammonia test kit at the time, having not had a problem with that, nitrates or nitrites for several years.

I took a sample of my water to another shop and was told that my ammonia levels were high as well. I asked how this could be and the person there explained that after everything had died off on my rock it had still left behind biological debris. When reintroduced into the aquarium, this debris decayed, causing the drastically increased levels of harmful chemicals in my water.

This is precisely the sort of thing that I had hired RCA to prevent. I assumed that since I had explained to them my situation (including the fact that I was going out of town) and they had consulted with me that they would handle this process professionally and would notify me of any special tasks that I would need to do. Apparently neither of these things happened.

I have posted this because up until this point I have had nothing but a positive experience with RCA. I have spent thousands of dollars there over the years and have depended on them for advice. The staff people have always been very friendly and helpful. However, when this incident happened I was shown a different side of Carlos. Thinking that the deaths in my tank were their fault, but not wanting to be mean, I left a message for Carlos to call me because I thought that since the cost of one of the 2 days service they had rendered was roughly equal to the value of the livestock I had lost we should just call it even. (I had already paid for the first service call.) After not hearing back from him I went in person one day to talk to him. I brought a water sample for them to test as well. Carlos wasn’t there, but Jake was very helpful. He tested my water and was his usual honest self when I asked if I needed a certain product, telling me that it was unnecessary. I asked him to tell Carlos that I had stopped by and would like to talk to him.

I received this email later that week:

Chad,

It was brought to my attention that you stopped by our store the other day to have your water tested. Unfortunately I will have to ask that you do not return to RCA until your balance is paid in full. I understand that, through the advice of another fish store, you have decided that RCA was at fault for your losses while you were on vacation and that “we should just call it even”. I do not think we are even. The losses you experienced had nothing to do with the work we performed on the aquarium. The fact that you are refusing to pay and yet still come in for free water testing is a little disturbing.
If you would like to discuss this further please mail a check for the total balance of $168.29. Once we have received payment I would be happy to call or email you and discuss what happened to your tank. Until we receive payment I will ask you not visit or call RCA.

River City Aquatics
12108 Roxie Dr. Suite A
Austin, Texas 78729

I responded to this email trying to explain my point of view but received no response. The fact that he won’t even talk to me about this before I pay him seems very unfair to me. I had come to expect a higher degree of customer service from RCA. I found the entire situation very frustrating and so posted my experience here.

I understand if people want to believe someone that they have a history with over a newcomer. That is human nature. If Carlos wants to dispute any of the assertions above I am sure you will take his word over mine. I just needed to have a place to express my frustration about a situation in which I felt I was wronged and thought that the “Vendor and Product Experiences” section of an open forum was an appropriate place to do so.

That’s all I have to say about that.

[SoLiD]

I am even surprised this thread went 3 pages.

Hmmm. It's still only 1 page on mine. Go to your User CP>Edit Options>Thread Display Options>Number of Posts to Show Per Page, & change it to "Show 40 Posts Per Page.

Sorry Off Topic.

-David

[bozack]

OK, how about I am surprised the thread didn't get locked when a sponsor gets bashed by a new user??
Nothing ever good comes from it but I do find it funny how the newer generations find that they must vent online. Probably the same people with crazy myspace pages and when they apply for corporate jobs they wonder why they don't get hired, LOL.

Good advice on the user settings though, just changed. Thanks

[JimD]

"I understand if people want to believe someone that they have a history with over a newcomer. That is human nature. If Carlos wants to dispute any of the assertions above I am sure you will take his word over mine. I just needed to have a place to express my frustration about a situation in which I felt I was wronged and thought that the “Vendor and Product Experiences” section of an open forum was an appropriate place to do so."

This is the appropriate place and you are entitled to express your experiences and you have done so in a non aggressive manner. These types of scenerios are very touchy and need to be handled with respect and courtesy for both partys. I see no reason to close this thread at this time, as long as it remains a discussion with hopes for resolution, I, myself will not close it. Just be aware that most of the sponsors here will typicly be defended by the members and choosing your words carefuly will go a long way...

[bigmoe21]

did you sign some sort or work/service agreement freeing them from liability of loss fish, etc..usually if you are going to schedule service from a store i think there would be some sort of pre-disclosed agreement, was there? so that, if your livestock did end up dying during or after they visited, you could not hold them liable. just curious and not trying to start trouble..

[ErikH]

Personally, it sounds like that tank was not being taken care of properly in the first place. What if all that stressed a fish and caused it to die? What if your water quality prior to this was the cause of death to a fish and THAT caused the downward spiral of your already problem tank? Would it not have been wiser to have RCA come in much earlier to do service? To me it sounds like you are looking for a fall guy, and Carlos is it. His manner in the letter is completely appropriate, and after a week of being gone, it is next to impossible to say that the rock was the entire cause of your tank crash. Did you forget to leave the A/C on, and one day, your fish died? There are too many ifs ands or buts from your side to determine that RCA was at fault in any way. Welcome to MAAST, sorry for your bad experience, and thank you for handling yourself the way you have. You do have every right to be upset, but most people cringe at leaving their tanks for days at a time, not a week. Who fed your fish?

[cseger]

did you sign some sort or work/service agreement freeing them from liability of loss fish, etc..usually if you are going to schedule service from a store i think there would be some sort of pre-disclosed agreement, was there? so that, if your livestock did end up dying during or after they visited, you could not hold them liable. just curious and not trying to start trouble..

No - before all of this happened I thought that I had a really great relationship with RCA. Everything was handled verbally because I trusted them. The quality of our relationship that I perceived before this incedent was the main reason I was so stunned to be treated like I was.

[bigmoe21]

No - before all of this happened I thought that I had a really great relationship with RCA. Everything was handled verbally because I trusted them. The quality of our relationship that I perceived before this incedent was the main reason I was so stunned to be treated like I was.
man well that sucks sorry but like scorpino said there is just too many things that could have happened...and i have never been to rca but from what everyone has been saying they seem pretty competent..once again sorry for your troubles but hopefully you stick around..there are lots of people to help you out here with any questions..life just isnt fair sometimes..but like david, i mean joe dirt said..u just gotta keep on keeping on

[cseger]

Who fed your fish?

While I was gone an employee of mine stayed in my house and did all of my regualar aquarium maintenance and feeding. He has done this countless times in the past with no incidents. I give him explicit and exact instructions and he is the type of person who follows such things to the letter. (Which is why I leave him in charge of it.) Before the rock was introduced my water quality was excellent and had been for a long time, I simply had encountered a strain of hair algae that proved near impossible to get rid of. (I was even spending more time maintaining my water quality than usual in an attempt to get rid of the infestation). I have been keeping a saltwater aquarium for 6 years and had done very well with it before the algae infestation. The fact that I had encountered something that was beyond my abilitites was why I brought RCA in to help.

[ErikH]

That sucks man, sorry to hear it. Did you find the root cause of the algae problem?

[cseger]

That sucks man, sorry to hear it. Did you find the root cause of the algae problem?

A friend had fragged a mushroom out of his tank for me. It had a tiny bit if the infernal pest on it, but I did not think it was a big deal until it began to spread. After about 8 months of constant battle it had coated everything, despite my keeping phosphates at 0, maintaining my lights, introducing things that should have eaten it, doing very regular water changes and everything else I could think of. It was the most difficult algae I have ever seen, which is why I finally had to take such drastic measures. I have learned that even the smallest amount of harmful algae needs to be seriously addressed as soon as it is detected.

[Carlos_at_River_City]

I feel like its 2002 and I have just questioned the competency of the Bush administration.

I can not begin to tell you how offended I am that I am being compared to Bush and that some how your problems with your tank compare to the US being involved in a war.

Carlos is correct to some degree in his post on this subject. Due to an unmanageable hair algae infestation, and after trying every solution I could think of, I consulted with River City Aquatics about what my last option would be. After paying for them to come to my house and look at the situation it was determined that all I could do was take all of the rock that did not have coral on it out of my tank and leave it out for a couple of weeks to kill everything on it, which I did.

We never recommended "a couple of weeks" and according to Misti you told her that the DEAD rock had been dry for months.

After the two weeks were up I once again had them come out to the house because I wanted an expert to handle reintroducing the rock and make sure that the hair algae had been completely eradicated. I assumed that they would not do anything harmful and explained to them that I would be out of town for a week immediately following the procedure.

We NEVER knew you would be out of town until the very last moment. We would never schedule anything this massive when we knew the customer would not be around to keep an eye on the tank over the next few days. When Misti tried to reschedule because she found out you would be out of town, you refused and said you needed the tank cleaned out now.

They completed the process and I went out of town the next day.

Went out of town with out paying your bill or even letting us know that you would take care of the bill when you got back. We are a very small operation and every little penny counts. Maybe $163 is nothing to you but it is something to us.

When I came back, all of the remaining coral in my tank had died. I checked the water, and my nitrites were at about 2.5 – 3 ppm and nitrates were around 2.0. I did not have an ammonia test kit at the time, having not had a problem with that, nitrates or nitrites for several years.

When Misti tested your water before you went on vacation the nitrates were 60ppm. Pretty crazy how they dropped off during the tank crash.

I took a sample of my water to another shop and was told that my ammonia levels were high as well. I asked how this could be and the person there explained that after everything had died off on my rock it had still left behind biological debris. When reintroduced into the aquarium, this debris decayed, causing the drastically increased levels of harmful chemicals in my water.

You don't bring the water to us and you don't contact us to let us know that something is going wrong. How can we help you fix the problem if we never know about it? If the rock had been out of the tank for several months as you told Misti, then there would be nothing left on the rock to decay. It doesn't suprise me that one of our competitors told you it was our fault.

This is precisely the sort of thing that I had hired RCA to prevent. I assumed that since I had explained to them my situation (including the fact that I was going out of town) and they had consulted with me that they would handle this process professionally and would notify me of any special tasks that I would need to do. Apparently neither of these things happened.

AGAIN you NEVER told us you were going out of town until the last moment and when Misti wanted to reschedule you said no, that you wanted it done before you left. Misti then told you that if she was going to do that large of a renovation, she wanted to take all the animals back to the store just in case something did happen to the tank. You agreed. When Misti arrived at the house you left a note with your son NOT to take the animals out. Misti repeatedly tried to call you to tell you that she thought this was a bad idea, but you never answered the phone. At this point if she took the animals it would be like stealing, so with great reluctance she left them in the tank.

I have posted this because up until this point I have had nothing but a positive experience with RCA. I have spent thousands of dollars there over the years and have depended on them for advice. The staff people have always been very friendly and helpful. However, when this incident happened I was shown a different side of Carlos. Thinking that the deaths in my tank were their fault, but not wanting to be mean, I left a message for Carlos to call me because I thought that since the cost of one of the 2 days service they had rendered was roughly equal to the value of the livestock I had lost we should just call it even. (I had already paid for the first service call.) After not hearing back from him I went in person one day to talk to him. I brought a water sample for them to test as well. Carlos wasn’t there, but Jake was very helpful. He tested my water and was his usual honest self when I asked if I needed a certain product, telling me that it was unnecessary. I asked him to tell Carlos that I had stopped by and would like to talk to him.

You have not spent thousands with us, not even close. I don't know why people feel the need to exaggerate and brag about how much they have spent. It doesn't matter anyway, we treat all our customers the same whether they drive to our store in lexus or ride up on a bicycle.
You NEVER left message for me to call you to discuss your losses. You did however, after several calls from Misti trying to find out how your tank was doing and to collect on the open balance, called Misti and told her you were refusing to pay the bill, because another store had told you that all your losses were because of our work, not your months and months of neglect. Again NEVER once did you try to contact me or anyone at the store to try to work something out, or even figgure out what really happened. The only contact we got from you was you were refusing to pay your bill.

I received this email later that week:

It was my understanding that posting a private email was against the bylaws and in poor taste, but I would not expect you to know that seeing how this is only your third post.

Chad,

It was brought to my attention that you stopped by our store the other day to have your water tested. Unfortunately I will have to ask that you do not return to RCA until your balance is paid in full. I understand that, through the advice of another fish store, you have decided that RCA was at fault for your losses while you were on vacation and that “we should just call it even”. I do not think we are even. The losses you experienced had nothing to do with the work we performed on the aquarium. The fact that you are refusing to pay and yet still come in for free water testing is a little disturbing.
If you would like to discuss this further please mail a check for the total balance of $168.29. Once we have received payment I would be happy to call or email you and discuss what happened to your tank. Until we receive payment I will ask you not visit or call RCA.

River City Aquatics
12108 Roxie Dr. Suite A
Austin, Texas 78729

I think the email is very direct and to the point. At no point have you ever-expressed interest in trying to work something out. Your only contact to us was that you were refusing to pay your bill because you thought, "we should just call it even". I don't think we should offer FREE services to individuals who refuse to pay their bill, and so I sent you the email asking you not tot return to the store until you took care of the bill.

I responded to this email trying to explain my point of view but received no response. The fact that he won’t even talk to me about this before I pay him seems very unfair to me. I had come to expect a higher degree of customer service from RCA. I found the entire situation very frustrating and so posted my experience here.

I will not post your email as per the bylaws.

I understand if people want to believe someone that they have a history with over a newcomer. That is human nature. If Carlos wants to dispute any of the assertions above I am sure you will take his word over mine. I just needed to have a place to express my frustration about a situation in which I felt I was wronged and thought that the “Vendor and Product Experiences” section of an open forum was an appropriate place to do so.

That’s all I have to say about that.[/QUOTE]

[BIGBIRD123]

If anyone has a problem here, then send me a PM. I believe all parties have spoken and this is going nowhere. You have the right to believe as you will in this matter but I believe experience speaks for itself. Do not start another thread in this matter or it will be closed and your user status denied as per Our by-laws.

Steve