Aquatic Avenue - The Aquarium Specialist (Review) (Redhill SG)

Dishonest. Untrustworthy.

If you are new, don't be tempted to buy. If you have been buying, beware:  when you meet with their dishonesty, you'll kick yourself for having bought from them so many times.

On separate occasions:  2 instances of absurd pricing methods that no other shop does. 1 instance of attempted con. 1 instance of successful deceit & con.

For the sake of gaining $1 or $2, they deceive & offend the customer.  Not only do they lose the customer, they lose their reputation.  Not smart.

We predict the shop will last only 1 year or less. I give them a year. Bro says "less than", "a few months". This prediction hasn't changed since the beginning when we first went to check out the place.

1) Dishonest
2) Money first, even if it means losing customers.
3) Disrespect for customers
4) The business owners have no interest in what they are selling 
5) Internal conflict. Divided interests.
6) Don't know how to do real, practical business.
7) Don't know how other aquarium shops do their business.

It's good I see their ugly side earlier so that I can stop buying sooner.  I won't go into their shop again.

Luckily, I didn't order any aquarium tank from them.  Almost tempted to, but their price is high for ordinary-looking "crystal" glass. Their glass imported from Taiwan has a strong green tint.  It is clear & transparent but not low-iron. Definitely nothing near ADA.  It's a lie that "customers come here admiring the quality of our tanks.".  If it's not a lie, then these customers aren't well-informed & therefore susceptible to con.

Since the beginning, I noticed another thing. It seemed rather minor at first but it kept bugging me.  Regarding customer service. I won't elaborate so the shop will remain disadvantaged.

Additionally,  their aquatic plants have snails. Surprising since I expected their plants to be better than the C328 shop at Clementi (The plants I bought from the lady have no snails).

Bro says Aquatic Avenue is a combination of "green and greed". Green because they don't know what they are doing.


Details: 

There are 3 owners:

Gabriel: Beady eyes, glasses.  28 or 29 years old.  Looks like a China man.  Immature mentality & small-minded. Dishonest face.  The first time we saw him, we guessed he was dishonest. This has been proven. A person's character is written on the face. This was true during Shakespeare's time & still holds true now.

He sets the prices (improvises whenever he likes) & acquires the stock for the shop.  

In his own words, he is not interested in what they are selling. Has no respect or love for the aquatic life he is selling. He's only selling them because they are popular.  Has no patience at all with what he calls the "livestock".  Very rough handling of the fishes & finds it a chore.

To him, shrimps & cultivated fishes are "bastards".

Only interested in being at the cash register where he can improvise his prices.

If an item costs less than a rounded amount of currency given to him, he will improvise to avoid giving change. The same as some hawkers who take $50 but don't come back with the change & pretend to forget or deny they received $50 (there used to be many complaints about them).   

I was very shocked by the way he handled the fishes that I asked him to catch for me.

He used a big net, chased the fishes, scooped them together with another species of fish together with moss and duckweeds. Then he lifted the net out of the water & under the blindingly white light over the tank, used his fingers to carelessly throw out those not needed.  This means the fishes were unnecessarily exposed to dry conditions & very bright light for a rather long time.  His fingers then held the net surrounding the remaining fish that was dropped into the pot of water.

(I have never seen anyone use such a destructive method towards their own fishes & shrimps in any shop I went.).

By then, the fishes were so stressed after being caught that they floated upside down & appeared dead in the pot of water.  I was very concerned that being so stressed, the fishes would die when I brought them home.  Also, I am paying for these fishes. Therefore, he should be careful with the customer's purchase. Yet his behavior was appallingly immature.

When I mentioned their stress level, he joked, "I want them to fear me.".  This is greatly different from when I talked to Ronnie at Green Chapter.  Ronnie told me, "I take effort to keep them alive." & he wants customers to be able to enjoy the fishes & shrimps for as long as possible. 
 

Jaryl: The guy behind the Facebook replies.  But he won't take the effort to correct you if you mistake him for any of the other 2 guys (dishonest). Neither does he reveal his name when posting in their Facebook.  Only comes into the shop at night (after 8pm) "to count money".  21~23 years old.   Just a student. NUS business course.  He can use his own shop as example for his classroom case-study on "How not to do business.".


Eugene:   Well-liked by kids & adults.  Mr Nice Guy? Not at all. Birds of the same feather flock together. He can't be any better to have joined up with the other 2.

Stiff robotic voice.  Looks like a fish & is somewhat nerdy.  25 or 26 years old.  Spineless. Has no say in the running of the business & is fine with it. Even when he knows that a tank of shrimps has been wrongly labelled, he just lets it be: "they don't want to change it".  His financial contribution to the shop must be the least or zero.

His knowledge is based on reading up (something that anyone can do online & from books). Minimal experience.  The only one genuinely interested in what they are selling. As we already guessed when we first saw him, he is more honest than Gabriel. More often seen in the shop than the other 2.



Absurd pricing methods:

1) I was interested in an aquatic plant. Asked price. Gabriel used scissors to snip about 2.5cm of the plant with only 1 strand of root & said $1.50. I said that's absurd. He said that's the way it's sold. I said how can you sell it like this? He refused to admit that it shouldn't be done this way.

Nobody sells a plant like this. It's either a whole plant or nothing. Which shop sells it by a snip? The food & gutter oil in China must have messed up his brains (he goes there to acquire fishes & shrimps).  Or he was already messed up in the first place.

2) A handwritten piece of paper affixed below the Vietnam Bee shrimps tank says "$3.00 XL/L". Which shop sells it like this?  He thinks he's selling supermarket grey prawns, tiger prawns?

All shops sell aquarium shrimps at 1 price for any size. Even Eugene admitted it since size pricing can be confusing. He said Gabriel refuses to listen & has no interest in shrimps.

In fact, it is unfair to price based on size. The seller can take advantage of any size difference to quote a higher price, which is what Gabriel is doing & did.



Attempted con:

I wanted to buy 1 aquatic plant. The price said $3 and there were 2 pots in the row labelled "Rotala Indica".

When I gave a $5 note, Gabriel said $5. I said the sign says $3. Strangely, he refused to look & insisted it's $5.

I pointed to the sign until he looked. He said it's the wrong plant, it should be the one above which costs $4 (Rotala Macrandra). But above, I saw it was an empty row, just the name of a plant.

If it belonged in the upper tank, why was the plant in the lower tank priced at $3? If it was really a mistake, why didn't they move the plant into the right tank? To this day, the remaining pot of plant is still in the same $3 row.

I was dissatisfied & returned the next day to copy down the scientific names of the $3, $4 & $5 plants & returned home to check online for their photos. It seemed that the plant I chose is Rotala Macrandra (Variegated) & should belong in the upper tank at $4.

It is possible he had mistaken it for the $5 Ludwigia repens "Rubin" (as they look rather alike when bagged).  So, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. However, it was strange that he firmly insisted it was $5 even without looking or checking. Suspiciously, he appeared to be purposely not wanting to look until I insisted. And when he finally looked, said that it was $4.

Just because he saw I held a $5 note in my hand, he wanted it all.  In any case, a $3 labelled plant now became $4.


Successful deceit & con:      Sun 12  5.12 pm


I chose 2 shrimps at $5 each ($10) + 4 Vietnam bee shrimps.

I saw the handwritten note in blue pen below the Vietnam Bee shrimps tank "$3.00 XL/L" & asked Eugene about it. He said he already told Gabriel not to price it like this but that guy wouldn't listen. I said if you guys price it like this, you'll be the only shop to do so. Every shop sets 1 price for a tank of shrimps. Nobody sets a price by size.

Eugene agreed & said he'll just charge me $2 for each.

I chose 4 Vietnam Bee shrimps. Therefore, the total price for the 6 shrimps should be $18.

But at that moment, Gabriel entered the shop. When I was done choosing & asked how much, he said it was $22 (meaning $3 each for the Vietnam Bee shrimp).

I said it's $2x4 Vietnam Bee + $10 for the 2 other shrimps = $18. Eugene who was standing beside him, said to him in Chinese, "I already said you can't do this.".

Gabriel looked unhappy, but told me "$18". I said I will go to withdraw from the nearby ATM (since they don't have NETs).

Just 2 mins later when I returned & handed Gabriel 2 red notes ($20), he said it's $20 if I chose another shrimp. I knew he had overridden Eugene's opinion & had improvised in my absence.

Having agreed on the price of $18, now he's saying it's $20. Just because he saw 2 red notes, he wanted all of it. And despite knowing that I was in a hurry to go & a male customer was choosing from the same small tank, he wanted me to get another shrimp.

When I said I didn't want to spend time choosing another as I was in a hurry, he said, "Are you sure? It's $10 for 5. Only for today. I'll be increasing the price.". What a fraud. 2 minutes ago, he had agreed on the price that Eugene promised me. Now he improvises within 2 minutes. Meanwhile, Eugene was silently attending to a tank, his back facing us with nothing to say.

When I was sure I didn't want anymore shrimps, he said, "Then it'll be $20.". I said, "It's $18, right?". He gave a stinking look & said, "It's $10 for 5." (referring to the Vietnam Bee shrimps).

Unfortunately, as I had handed him the $20, I couldn't walk out. I went to get another shrimp.

Where there should have been $2 change ($18 versus $20), there was now none.

Anyone would have insisted that he honour Eugene's promise of $2 per Vietnam Bee shrimp. From his own agreed price of $18, it became $20 just after I returned from the ATM. (Earlier, it was even $22).

How can this be called an honest business? For the sake of 2 extra dollars, they do this to a regular customer.

Gabriel wanted to price the shrimps to the utmost advantage by charging by size. So, supposedly smaller ones would be $2 each, XL/L would be $3 each. However, this is not how it's normally done in other shops. Knowing this, Eugene said he would charge only $2 each. This price was promised me.

However, Gabriel couldn't accept this. The only way he can accept it, is if he cooks up an impromptu "discount" to make it $2 each. (But "only for today"). If I reject, he would earn an extra dollar each (each would then be $3 as he wanted).

I would say his "only for today" is a lie. As there was only the male customer & myself in the shop, the "discount" would apply only to us. After we leave, the price would increase & nobody would know.

I didn't want to argue with him. Since he wanted the extra $2 so much, fine, take it.   He sounded so pleased that he won.

What a stupid man.

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[Compared to Aquatic Avenue's meanness & dishonesty, Polyart uncle at C328 was so nice and generous. When I chose 1 shrimp with eggs for $6, he told me there were baby shrimps in the same tank and caught them for me as well. For $6, I got 1 shrimp with eggs and 6 baby shrimps. Wow.]