Walmart has better Pay and Benefits

OK, here is a retail dilemma.

And how I dealt with it.

  A guy comes in today who typically spends $5 or less every month. The guy has two filters on his tank that he does not know the names of, he needs the strainers that go on the intake of the filter tube that extends into his tank from the filter.  The guy does not know what filter brand  he has and therefore, I cannot assist him right on the spot. Under my instruction he says he will call me later with the exact name of the filter and I tell him that if I can obtain the parts he needs I will order them for him.

He calls sometime later, he has two Regent filters on his tank. Regent is Walmart's knock off brand of Marineland's Bio-wheel filter, San's the bio-wheel. The  Regent filters are cheaper, they are Marineland's big F'U to the independent LFS.  While they may not have the Bio-Wheel on them they still will take the same filters and parts that Marineland's 350,250,100 etc. filters will take.

As I have mentioned These filters  parts and filters are almost interchangeable. I have never been interested enough to figure out which of  Marineland's Bio-wheel filter  parts and accessories go to which  Regent filter .

Buy it at Walmart?,  go figure it out at Walmart!.

If I was so inclined I would have to go through the trouble of determining which filter this guy had, (did I mention his room temperature IQ?) Which filter strainer(Regent) he had purchased that would match up to one those that we sell(Marineland). Which part number and the retail price of said product,choosing between two wholesalers, and retrieved the item within an acceptable time frame.(He wanted the parts within the week).   

Actually, this is an easy fix,

I tell the guy to go to Walmart and look for parts there.

Yes, the shop lost a $1.49 sale.

Yet again. I will not be employee of the month..(sigh)..

Walmart does not carry spare parts. Part of me says he should buy 2 new filters from his favorite retail outlet,  cut out the strainers from each of the boxes bag with a razor blade, and then return the boxes for a refund. Do the folks at customer service really check those things?

Does anyone really care?