API Test Kit vs Test Strips--Dead fish--No Refund

[Jewel]

I bought a Koi angel fish this past Saturday. Within 3 days it was dead...it wouldn't eat and the other angel fish. a little larger, was chasing it. I had the fish in the bag in the tank for at least 20 minutes when I first brought it home and put a little of my tank water in the bag to help acclimate it to its new home.

I took it back to the LFS where I bought it with a sample of the tank water as requested. However, before I went to LFS I checked my tank water with an API kit and everything came out just as it should for ammonia, PH, Nitrite, Nitrate, etc. The LFS took a test strip for Ammonia only and said "Oh here is the problem--your ammonia level is high and that voids the warranty on getting any refund." I have been doing business with this LFS and know the manager fairly well but this really shocked me. I told him what my results showed with my API Kit but he would only go by the test strips. Manager asked me if my Test Kit was old--I said "no." I checked with API today and found that the bottles are good for 3 - 4 years after the manufacturer date on the bottle. My kit is still good for over a year! If I recall correctly from other posts that the test strips are not reliable. Is that still true? I also checked the water for ammonia tonight and it is at -0- just like the day I took in the dead fish. I paid nearly $29 for the Koi angel fish and nothing to show for it. Needless to say I am very upset with the LFS manager. I am thinking about talking to the manager again about getting a refund but wanted to get all my facts straight before I do.

[Zagz]

Test strips are notoriously inaccurate. As well as this board, do a google search, print off the results and take it in to the manager. So sorry for your loss.

[Purrbox]

While the test strips are easy to use, their results are not reliable. After all they have to be kept dry while being stored around a bunch of aquairums. I especially wouldn't trust them being used by a bunch of different employees at a LFS.

[xyyz]

next time, if you have an AMEX card, and the LFS accepts it, please use it.

you could've opened a dispute with AMEX, and they're pretty good about listening to their members.

[AquaScaper]

you should always be buying your supplies from PetSmart, They usually give you refunds. That's where i get my things from.

[Sum22]

You could always file a report with the better business bureau, if it gets that far. Most business owner are willing to work to satisfy a customer complaint if they threaten to file a report with the BBB. On top of that, the BBB will sometimes work as a mediator between a customer and a business to settle a dispute. If you have evidence from this board as well as a google search, then you might have a good chance of getting your money back or fish replaced.

[JohnPaul]

What worries me more deeply in all of this is that the pet store is actually using the test strips to begin with...

ANYONE who knows ANYTHING about aquariums knows those strips are next to worthless. So the fact that a store whose business is (supposedly) aquariums would use those tells me that the people in charge, literally, have no idea w.t.f. they are doing. And if they don't know what they are doing when it comes to testing water parameters, that tells me they very likely don't know what they are doing in any other aspect of how they are running their aquarium stuff either.

If I were you, I would look around and try to find some other place to take your business. It doesn't make any sense to reward their incompetence with your hard-earned money.