River City Aquatics

[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