Starting To Lose Faith With Maidenhead Aquatics...

[daver555]

I dont like maidenhead aquatics either, like most "chain" establishments they pay their staff very little and as a consequence usually end up with less than competent staff, they also generally have over inflated price tags on their fish and a poor selection of anything outside of cichlids and general community fish, i have 6 branches within half an hours drive from here but i havent been to any of them since christmas time after a crappy experience with one of the braches on christmas eve (give them their due though they did sort the problem out and let me have the fish i was interested in free of charge). Independent stores tend to be better in my opinion as they dont have the luxury of having the back up of 20 other shops if they get it wrong and start losing customers, unfortunately independent shops are becoming rarer and rarer these days.

In my opinion, it is the opposite around here. The smaller single shops seem to dis-regard the fish and let their tanks get smelly, overstocked, and diseased - generaly not caring for them.

However, Maidenhead aquatics in Bourne End, the only fish shop I use now, are absolutely fantastic. Fair enough the staff can have their bad days - but atleast they have regulations on who can buy fish, rather than the smaller shops palming them off to people even if all they have is a lunchbox filled with water!

I don't believe you can blame Maidenhead aquatics for the disease outbreaks. They would probably recommend that you quarantine your newly purchased fish for a week or two anyway, before adding them to your tank.

Paul.

Nice idea Paul but there's probably a VERY small percentage of the fishkeeper population in the UK who have quarantine facilities. Anyway MA have a policy of quarantining fish before going on sale to the public of a few days if not a week.

I am 99.9% certain that the white spot outbreak originated from MA Woking store. My maintenance procedures are very strict here at work. They have to be as work pays for it all so understandably want me to keep things in tip-top condition.

 

[Bex]

In my opinion, it is the opposite around here. The smaller single shops seem to dis-regard the fish and let their tanks get smelly, overstocked, and diseased - generaly not caring for them.

However, Maidenhead aquatics in Bourne End, the only fish shop I use now, are absolutely fantastic. Fair enough the staff can have their bad days - but atleast they have regulations on who can buy fish, rather than the smaller shops palming them off to people even if all they have is a lunchbox filled with water!

I don't believe you can blame Maidenhead aquatics for the disease outbreaks. They would probably recommend that you quarantine your newly purchased fish for a week or two anyway, before adding them to your tank.

Paul.
[/quote]

Hey Paul

If you use MA in Bourne End you must live near me - Maidenhead? I've never been to the Bourne End store but we use the Bracknell/Binfield store and it is excellent. The tanks are always clean and the staff are very knowledgable. And if you like plecs they tend to have an excellent selection of L numbers.

Been thinking about having a nose in the Bourne End store to see what it's like.

I also agree with you that the smaller shops round here are terrible.

EDIT: not sure what happened with the quote here? Sorry if my post is confusing to read

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

My experiance with Maidenhead Aquatics has always been good. I recently completed a weeks work experiance at my local store (in bridgeford) and the knowledge and care for the fish shown by the staff was excellent.

However, I accept that all stores do have problems from time to time. My advice to you would be to check the water quality of your tanks, and if thats all OK, try to same LFS again, and if the same problem occurs switch to another local store.

 

[daver555]

My experiance with Maidenhead Aquatics has always been good. I recently completed a weeks work experiance at my local store (in bridgeford) and the knowledge and care for the fish shown by the staff was excellent.

However, I accept that all stores do have problems from time to time. My advice to you would be to check the water quality of your tanks, and if thats all OK, try to same LFS again, and if the same problem occurs switch to another local store.

Water chemistry is checked once a week as I have a full range test kit plus others. The levels are all within acceptable limits with no change in chemistry for the last eight months. Just after the Christmas break 2005/06 I changed the carbon sachets and polywool within the space of a week and the Ni fluctuated a bit (still way below dangerous levels).

Thanks for eveyones replies. I got a bit carried away earlier suggesting we all report our bad experiences to MA HQ. One of the long serving Clown Loach went belly-up this morning so I was a bit pi55ed off! The strange thing was he had no white spots on his body with just 1 spot on his tail fin. His colours were all bold and bright and the water chemistry was normal.

 

[PaulEbs]

Ah no problem, I can completely understand getting pi$$ed off when fish die off and you know it's not your own fault.

I'm not saying that ALL MA's are worthy, so put your complaint towards them if they are to blame - after all, it's queries, complaints and suggestions that make a shop what it is - as long as they acknowledge them.

Paul.

 

[Saedcantas]

I honestly dont believe two accidental importations of a whitespot outbreak is a reasonable cause to disregard a shop/chain as rubbish or untrustworthy.

 

[daver555]

I honestly dont believe two accidental importations of a whitespot outbreak is a reasonable cause to disregard a shop/chain as rubbish or untrustworthy.

Woah there my fishy chum, I never said I would disregard or stated they were rubbish or untrustworthy
All I said was that they had lost my faith in them. What should be a reliable source of livestock has become a bit of a letdown to me. The MA group are normally an excellent bunch but the Woking store has caused me a number of problems over the years. You would have thought that large companys like MA would have set procedures throughout their many stores and they all operated in similar fashion. I would say that the Ascot and Weybridge strores are very similar in they're professional conduct and the way they operate. It seems to me that the Woking store employs a certain type that are, shall we say, a bit below par!

 

[Gill]

MA is Hit/Miss with there fish.

I use the Harleston Heath in Northampton when i am there - The one where PFK writer Jeremy Gay Works.
I would usually chat with Jeremy and he would always ask how the fish i got last time are doing and about my experiences working @ Dobbies.

There fish are usually good and they do sell alot of home bred fish from local breeders. You get to hear stories about MA, and some of the deals they do on fish.

1 I would like to mention was a shipment of large angel fish that had sever Popeye and none of the LFS I knew would touch them. They were not suprised to find out MA took them and still sold them with Popeye at a very high Mark Up.


I do find that they Will mark up the price of fish very sharply from 1 week to the next.
EG Egyptian Mouth Brooders week 1 = 1GBP each, week 2 = 5GBP each

 

[windsor-aquatic]

Whilst I appreciate you concern regarding the fish you purchased, I do feel that your comments and complaints should be addressed to the company concerned. They should at least be given the opportunity to offer an explanation and, if appropriate, re-imburse you. The measure of a good company is not just the quality of their goods or livestock, but how they deal with the occasional valid complaint from their customers. Unfortunately threads of this nature rarely produce a positive result, and such differences are best settled between the two parties concerned, i.e. yourself and the retailer.

 

[PaulEbs]

Hey Paul

If you use MA in Bourne End you must live near me - Maidenhead? I've never been to the Bourne End store but we use the Bracknell/Binfield store and it is excellent. The tanks are always clean and the staff are very knowledgable. And if you like plecs they tend to have an excellent selection of L numbers.

Been thinking about having a nose in the Bourne End store to see what it's like.

I also agree with you that the smaller shops round here are terrible.

EDIT: not sure what happened with the quote here? Sorry if my post is confusing to read

Hey bex, I live in High Wycombe. The Bourne End store is by far the best around here!

Paul.

 

[daver555]

Whilst I appreciate you concern regarding the fish you purchased, I do feel that your comments and complaints should be addressed to the company concerned. They should at least be given the opportunity to offer an explanation and, if appropriate, re-imburse you. The measure of a good company is not just the quality of their goods or livestock, but how they deal with the occasional valid complaint from their customers. Unfortunately threads of this nature rarely produce a positive result, and such differences are best settled between the two parties concerned, i.e. yourself and the retailer.

I understand your point and I have emailed the Head Office of the MA group explaining what happened. From previous experiences its a waste of time speaking direct to the branch concerned. I'm not after any form of reimbursement or anything like that as thats the kind of person I am. I just wanted to air my frustrations on here, an open forum with like minded people. My main concern is that the store in Woking is tarnishing the MA reputation in my opinion. The other stores I use (Ascot and Weybridge) are 100 times better in all aspects.

 

[Bex]

Hey Paul

That's good to know! Will have to go and check it out. If it's anywhere near as good as the Binfield one then I'll have 2 excellent LFS's to go to.

You should check the Binfield one out too, I think it might be slightly larger than the Bourne End one - both are fairly highly recommended on this forum in the pinned topic for UK stores.

Just didn't want to take a wasted trip if it wasn't any good. Done plenty of those with some independant ones that were awful - floaters in most tanks etc

 

[Disco]

Hey Paul

That's good to know! Will have to go and check it out. If it's anywhere near as good as the Binfield one then I'll have 2 excellent LFS's to go to.

You should check the Binfield one out too, I think it might be slightly larger than the Bourne End one - both are fairly highly recommended on this forum in the pinned topic for UK stores.

Just didn't want to take a wasted trip if it wasn't any good. Done plenty of those with some independant ones that were awful - floaters in most tanks etc

The oxford shop is a must visit if you live in Maidehead its just off of the M40 J8A about 20mins up the road

 

[PaulEbs]

Yeh, I went and had a look at that one on the way back from the tff meeting - it's got 'water gardens' which is the name for the larger MA's isn't it?

But that ones really good too

Paul.

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

Hey Paul

That's good to know! Will have to go and check it out. If it's anywhere near as good as the Binfield one then I'll have 2 excellent LFS's to go to.

You should check the Binfield one out too, I think it might be slightly larger than the Bourne End one - both are fairly highly recommended on this forum in the pinned topic for UK stores.

Just didn't want to take a wasted trip if it wasn't any good. Done plenty of those with some independant ones that were awful - floaters in most tanks etc

The oxford shop is a must visit if you live in Maidehead its just off of the M40 J8A about 20mins up the road

I agree the Oxford one is excellent, I have brought many a healthy fish from there.