Am I being stupid for worrying about this?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have never returned anything to a store for any reason. Never needed to.

So, on to my christmas present / fish tank story: I’ve wanted a pet for a long time, hubby is allergic to cats, we really don’t have time for a dog. So, for Christmas this year, he bought me a fish tank: very cute, 6 gallons, all of the associated filters, etc included, salesperson says: add water and fish and you’ve got yourself a fish tank. I was so excited! So, I set it all up, filled it with water then started to look for fish. I had angels years ago and I love them…they’re so relaxing to watch. So, that’s what I asked about at the same fish store hubby bought the fish tank at.

“Sorry”, they say, “tank is too small”. “Well, what are my choices?” I ask hopefully. Now, keep in mind, on the box the fish tank comes in, is a picture with 8 fish in the tank.

So, my choices are goldfish and little darty things which are definitely not relaxing to watch. So, I say, what about a heater so I can get a fish I like? Nope, can’t put a heater in the tank, it’s acrylic.

Sigh… this goes on for two weeks, different pet stores, same story.

So I call the fish store and say “can I exchange this for a bigger tank, glass so I can put a heater in then I can get angels?”

“Has it been used?”, they say.

“Well, it had water in it but no fish.”

“Nope, it’s been used”.

In the meantime, have been keeping hubby up to date with story of fish, or lack thereof. He is getting frustrated because, when he bought the tank, they said add fish; add water.

So, screwed up my courage, cleaned out the fish tank, put all the parts back in the box and back to the store I go. I was doing ok with the exchange until the nice fellow behind the counter said “this looks like it’s been used, are you sure it hasn’t?”.

Uh, oh.

Big breath: “not as far as I know” I say, expecting a big bolt of lightening to hit me.

Ok, he says, and goes to get the bigger one (additional $50.00 on top of the price of exchange).

So, my question: I lied, I know. But hubby says the salespeople were misrepresenting the tank when they sold it to him; and I wasn’t happy with the product so they would have never got any other business. In the end, I’ll buy the fish there, probably some extra plants and they will make more money now that I’m a happier customer.

Of course, I was almost sick after returning it and was paranoid they were going to call my house and tell me it’s been used and they were charging my credit card and some worse thoughts.

What would you have done? Am I being stupid worrying about it?

BTW, my new 20 gallon fish tank looks awesome…I can’t wait to get angel fish!

2

I would have bought a new tank.

It’s too bad that the photo on the box wasn’t accurate, but they often aren’t. Like on TV dinners, where they show food on a pretty plate with a sprig of parsley – we all know it doesn’t look like that inside.

The “add water/add fish” advice wasn’t misleading. It would have been nice if the photo had a disclaimer like they put on TV dinners, but it would have been in tiny print and most people wouldn’t see it anyway.

It sounds like you’re feeling a bit guilty, which means your ethics are working. :slight_smile: Don’t beat yourself up about it.

3

Oh yes, guilt is definitely present.

I’m losing it slowly however am sure it will not go away entirely.

4

Experience has shown that it often works better if you do that the other way around…

Relax and enjoy the tank. The worst thing that’s going to happen is that they charge you for the other tank (in which case you get a 6 gallon tank to use if you want another or need to separate out one of your fish for a time). The chances of even that much happening are in the slim-to-none range as the store has already put the one you returned back on the shelves and forgotten the matter. You should do the same.

If I were in your position I would have had no qualms about returning it; you took it out of the box and put water in it before finding out that it wasn’t suitable for the purpose for which it had been purchased. An aquarium that has never been used to hold fish (or whatever) has not been used.

5

Well, you did tell a fib. But you’d previously told them about putting water in the tank, and they actually inspected it, and accepted the return. Do pennance by making a donation to a local charity, and we’ll call it even.

6

Well, not as a justification or anything, but at my part time job, someone returned a deep fryer which had been used. Customer service accepted it and accidentally got back on the shelves. We heard it from the lady who had given it as a gift and it wasn’t until it was opened fully, they realized it had been used.

I feel moderately guilty about it - but I sort of feel like, a fish tank, when used, contains fish. This never did. Only water.

7

I don’t think you should worry about it- what’s done is done, but I think you should have kept or sold the gift tank and just bought a new one that you wanted.

8

Actually, I would not consider the tank “used.” You may have tested it for leaks, but without putting actual creatures in the tank, (the bacteria they would thus add to the tank being a potential threat to any future inhabitants), I would not have considered this “used.”

9

Yes, in my opinion, an aquarium that has had water in it but not fish isn’t really “used”. In any case, if he was really all that worried about it, he could have just refused to accept the return. Since he thought it was okay, I’d say you can relax. :slight_smile:

Even though this wasn’t the main point of your post, I must say as someone who is into fish tanks that I’m very glad that you ended up getting a bigger tank for your fish instead of just cramming the angelfish in a too-small tank like most people attempt to do at first. The one big reason so many people have bad luck keeping fish is because they try to put too many fish in a too-small aquarium. In a small tank, the waste from the fish builds up fast and poisons all the fish.
I recommend joining the forum at AquariaCentral.com for some good advice.

It’s fortunate you didn’t get a goldfish for that little tank as well. Goldfish are actually NOT good choices for small bowls or small fish tanks, contrary to popular belief. To be healthy, a goldfish requires at least 10 gallons per fish, since at their adult size they can be up to a foot long or (in the case of fancy goldfish with round bodies) about the size of a softball. For a six gallon tank, a betta would be a much, much better choice.

10

Thank you, lavenderviolet. It looks like a good site. As I mentioned, I had angels years ago, very little maintenance and they are truly beautiful fish to watch. I only intend to put two in this tank plus the scuzzbuster (the little sucker guy who cleans the tank).

The original tank was over $80.00, the new one $130.00 so the fish store made more money. If the tank had of been $10 or $15.00 I probably would have given it to my neighbour who has kids, but at $80.00, it’s another story. I feel better now that I know I’m not the only one who thinks just water is not “used”. And, believe it or not, I feel better about the store too.

My filter quit last night but the fish store says they have had that problem with a particular shipment so I’m off at lunch to exchange the filter and tonight I’ll put it back together and, hopefully, by next week, angel fish!

11

Ethics (lying) vs. Fairness (misrepresentation). Fairness wins. The fact that you filled the tank with water doesn’t kill its resale value. No harm, no foul.

12

I have a betta in a 3-gallon acrylic tank with a heater. I don’t know why they were telling you you couldn’t heat it. I did a ton of reading online with betta people before I did it – well, really, before I heated a previous fishy’s 2 1/2 gallon tank – and as long as I keep a close eye on the temperature everything’s always been fine.

I don’t know anything to speak of about other fish but I’m glad you’re trying to do things right. Fish take more work than it might look like at first glance. They’re cool, though, I’ve really enjoyed my various bettas.

A 6-gallon tank would be like betta heaven, I think!

13

Is the filter… used? :wink:

14

Except that the sales clerk looked at it when she returned it and said “this looks like it’s been used, are you sure it hasn’t?”.

It sounds like the clerk noticed something about the returned tank that a new buyer would also notice, making resale unlikely. Maybe it was just a water spot, or maybe the re-boxing wasn’t perfect.

I do think the clerk could have been more customer-focused. If he really thought the tank was unsellable, they could have put a few little fish in it and used it as a display model.

15

Just a word of caution – born of sad experience: please do yourself and your fishies a favor and cycle the tank first. If you don’t know what “cycle the tank” means, by all means learn. The link above is no doubt a good place; I myself learned at Aquamaniacs.

I learned at the expense of several beautiful fish. :frowning:

Sailboat

16

I had a similar experience before, and it comes down to who do you think was at fault here. I’ve did retail for a lomg time nad have seen where I think it’s the manufacture or sales persons fault. The box says one thing and the reallity is something else. The tank info sounds misleading to a burned person, and an experienced person will say they lied on the box. It’s easier to say never used it than I find it lied give me credit. I gave my brother a playstation controller and memmory card one Christmas. It burned out the game unit. The sister in law exchanged it at the same store that sold me the controller. The new one burned out also. I took back the controller for a refund, and we exchanged the 2nd Playstaion for a new one, saying it never worked. Why? At the time the system was hard to acquire, and they would’nt have believed it was the controller and not us that killed the system. Their crappy merchandised killed the Playstation, and we weren’t going to take it to small claims court. We got our replacement system and didn’t have to spend a year recovering the loss. Some times you have to say what you have to say, not to get screwed as a real world praticality.

17

pssst. Don’t trust anyone who tells you to do it in that order.

18

Having been involved with a fish geek for a while now, I’m surprised that the store sold them a six gallon tank for anything BUT a betta. Yes, the tank is now “used,” but at the same time, the fish people should have a better idea of what they’re talking about so they can give them good information rather than just handing them the smallest tank on the shelf and going “Here, you can add as many fish as will fit!” (No, they didn’t say this, but I can remember several customers I’ve seen in a pet store that’d interpret “add water; add fish” to mean that.) It’s entirely too bad that the people who know a reasonable amount about fish are not going to take pet store jobs because the jobs don’t pay anything that’s anywhere close to the value of their time.

19

I think you are a decent person for worrying about this (you can stop now :slight_smile: ).

I don’t think a tank with clean water has been ‘used’.

It’s not as if it was used toilet paper… :smack:

20

To take this a step further, isn’t the shop being irresponsible, perhaps even contributing to animal cruelty, by not inquiring what the tank is to be used for and making recommendations?
I don’t think you have much, if anything, to feel guilty about.