A bad experience @ Reef Aquariums Miami

[Reefercrazy]

The owner at that store, Henry, practices bad business and I feel its my responsibility to share with rest of the salt water aquarium hobbiest in South Florida. I had heard this already from several hobbiest, and was in there and witnessed with my own eyes this time around. He overcharged this one fellow just because he was driving a nicer than usual car. I asked for the same piece (of unpriced coral just a few min prior) and was given a totally different price. It was not my business at the time (because I was getting hooked up), but then after the fact i became enraged by the thought of being in that gentlemens position.

The following is what takes place.. He does not place prices on the livestock so when asked for a price, he goes behind the counter and gives you a price based on how much he thinks you have in your wallet. THIS IS TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this being said, has this happened to anyone else? I
did not believe it myself until I witnessed it with my own eyes.
There's plenty of stores out there and there is no need to support a store that treats their customers like this. Your feedback is appreciated!

Regards,
Reefer crazy

[maxfxn]

Heard the same thing before. Leads me to believe its true reefercrazy.

[minus_13]

Um... What's the address? Is this the LFS off of Bird Rd. within the warehouse district? Small place with a pretty clean system?

[saltwaterfishlover]

I think the one on Bird by the highway is exotic aquatics....or something similar

[minus_13]

No... that would be Exotic Aquariums, which is also located in the near vacinity. I know that store very well. I want to know if the store that is being complained of is the one located just off of Bird within the warehouse district on the south side of Bird Road. Exotic Aquariums is located on the north side on Bird Road.

[saltwaterfishlover]

oh sorry

[Reefercrazy]

I was speaking of the one just south of bird road in the warehouse district.

[mary2aquarium]

I have experienced this treatment from the owner before too.

[minus_13]

Apparently Henry is not making many friends. I am going to print this out and take it to him. Maybe it was a misunderstanding. I know he is preparing to move to the shops right in front of Exotic on Bird Road. The last thing he would want to do is alienate his client base.

[minus_13]

DP

[chrisaggie]

all they need to do to solve this problem is to mark the prices on the tank. Is that so hard?

[maxfxn]

wow, moving in front of Exotic on Bird? He must have won the lottery as of late....

[minus_13]

He actually won a very large settlement against a local police department. Close enough...

[Don_Gnomio]

aaa no not in front of exotic aquariums... i like exotic aquariums, and if he has better prices they will proably go out of buisinedd :c(

[maxfxn]

too bad he wont have any customers if he treats people like mentioned above!

[minus_13]

Originally posted by Don_Gnomio
aaa no not in front of exotic aquariums... i like exotic aquariums, and if he has better prices they will proably go out of buisinedd :c(

Um... I bet Henry goes out of business before Exotic Aquariums.

[ReefM@ster]

I have been there a few times and everytime I have asked for a price Hery or the other guys do the same song and dance describe by other members of this board.

They go behind the counter look at some kind of paper with info on it and make up a price.

This process has never made me very confortable so I have not purchased any livestock there.

[FragGuy]

Exotic has been in that same location for over 20 years. Many other stores have come and gone, they have only expanded more in that time frame. They are in no danger of going out of business because a new store opens(moves) accross from them, besides there are at least four other stores within a mile radius from them that have been there for years as well.

[maxfxn]

There's new owners where Henry had his old store (across from Tamiami Airport) and its now called The Reef Collection. Not much stock yet, but Both of the guys in there have been real cool. Check them out if u guys are in the area. Its off of 137th Ave and 132 St SW.

[Don_Gnomio]

is that any where near a reptile shop called natural selection??

[chrisaggie]

I have tr going to the Reef Collection twice. Once last Saturday afternoon and once today on my way home from work. Both times they were not open. No hours posted. Is this place ever open?

[maxfxn]

reef collection hours M W F Sat 2-8pm. They are still working on opening tue/thurs. Starting to get stocked up with fish and corals. Cool guys working there.

[Flamehawk]

Hmm... Do you work there? Really obvious.

[sonic]

I don't know what the beef is with Henry but he has always treated me real good, I've been going there since that place opened and he always beats the other stores prices by at least a couple of bucks, he even gives me free LR for frags and such. Not once I have seen this price jump when some asks for a frag, matter of fact I have seen him give the same price to 3 different customers on a really nice coral he had, and one of those customers drove a very nice SL600 (I had asked him about his ride in the store).

Also he is not moving stores, he is actually opening a whole new one on Bird and I was told that he would have a really big inventory of corals, including a section called "collectors corner" that will have only rare-hard-to-find corals and fish (which is a cool idea.

btw, I don't work there or are close friends with the guy, I just know him from buying stuff at his store.

[maxfxn]

piece of advise...If your such a close personal friend of Henry u best watch your back when dealing with him. Not even a family friend is safe from his napoleon wrath.

[sonic]

Originally posted by maxfxn
piece of advise...If your such a close personal friend of Henry u best watch your back when dealing with him. Not even a family friend is safe from his napoleon wrath.


obviously you can't read. I said in my earlier post that I'm not a personal friend. And now that I think of it you must have a personal vendatta against this guy cause every single post you have contributed is to badmouth him, hmmmm makes you wonder doesnt it... :rolleye1:

in the end its all good for us the collectors, prices WILL GO DOWN regardless, its the rule of business competition.

[maxfxn]

ur right, i'm not a big fan of the guy.. thats not hard to tell.
He screwed me over real bad and apparently he is notorious for it. U are lucky thats all I can say.