Visited Old Orchard Aquarium yesterday

yep, depending on your order size. and usually free shipping to Chicagoland (or discounted)
Orders over $175 are free, under $175 pay $8.99 for shipping, but weight does not matter. This includes rock/sand. PA Shipping is always overnight to Chicagoland.
 

HecticZ

Member
Old Orchard Aquarium is the store that got me into the Hobby. The Staff have always been very helpful and the owner has been very helpful to me. You just have to give them a lil bit of time, they are busy most of the time, but they are all happy to talk about the animals under their care.

I enjoy going into Old Orchard Aquarium one of the few places I can get Peacock Mantis, Anglers and other oddities.

Oh and their Super Bowl Sale
 

poidog

Active member
They are the store that got me into the hobby too. Then wised up that they are the biggest rip off. I stopped in this weekend to get a pump... wanted $40 for a $16 pump... come on! I went home and bought it online with shipping for $16
 

HecticZ

Member
I think Poidog has a personal Vendetta against this Store. lol


Poidog I think everyone gets it You HATE this Store, got it.
 

poidog

Active member
I don't hate the store, I hate people who take advantage of others.

So with 4 posts and an attack statement, you work for OOA?
 

HecticZ

Member
I don't hate the store, I hate people who take advantage of others.

So with 4 posts and an attack statement, you work for OOA?
Nope I don't work at OOA, but I know how to speak my mind like you do. I think we get it, you don't like Old Orchard Aquarium. And your entitled to that but this Thread was not made to just continue to bash the place. It's about everyones experience at the place not just Poidogs.
 

The reefer

Active member
??? He just said he doesn't hate the store just ppl that take advantage of ppl that does not know about the hobby. The store can b great but with bad customer service it can give a bad rep.
 

poidog

Active member
Out of 50+ posts 3 are from me referencing OOA. Others have more posts either good or bad. Others have the same opinion as me. How you targeted me I have no idea. But hey, if you like over paying and crappy customer service, no one is stopping you from shopping from there.
 

jcarlilesiu

Active member
The point of this thread is for everybody to contribute on their own personal experiences with the establishment. We don't have to re-hash the same points when somebody else contributes their opinion

If you have said your piece, your post isn't going anywhere. Everybody can see it. No need to comment again.

This thread also isn't a place to critique other posters experiences or make accusations.

This thread has been a point of contention in the past. Lets keep this thread on topic so we don't have to close it.
 

Bwidner

New member
They are the store that got me into the hobby too. Then wised up that they are the biggest rip off. I stopped in this weekend to get a pump... wanted $40 for a $16 pump... come on! I went home and bought it online with shipping for $16
Other than coral I never noticed anythign being overpriced until my last trip there, I mainly went to get some GFO and holy crap, for another $20 I bought 5x as much from brs(shipping included). I am all for supporting local businesses but I have walked out of there once or twice because they were just too busy to help. Some of their employees seem to not care about customers while others you have to try and find a way to escape from them. Granted since discovering MCF i think i have been there once.
 

Bwidner

New member
I personally think it's one of two things because I have been helped by the owner several times...either he knows and thats why 99% of the time he isnt in a good mood, or he enables them. Again I think a lot of us would even deal with the service if they had a better selection/prices etc...because if I am planning a trip to an LFS its to New Fish or MCF, if im right by OOA I may stop by to look out or if I need something and dont want to make a special trip elsewhere....but then again im more likely to go see if petco has it.
 

JVC

New member
I've been there a few times for this and that... but honestly... if you're close enough to go to OOA, why not drive 15 minutes north and go to MCF. Personally, they have a good stock of dry goods and their coral/fish selection is decent, but quite overpriced. Things that are $45 there are like $10-15 at Midwest Coral Farms and someone will actually help me at MCF.

I called there a while back looking for a modular surface skimmer. I talked to a guy on the phone, he said yeah they have it, I asked how much he said "it's not gonna be more than 2-3 bucks. Then when i said could you check, he said there's no way its more than 4. So I said screw it and drove over there since they were the only one in the area with it. Guess the price... $5.99. :( I asked him to check the price, and he assured me that it wasnt more than 4. Instead of walking over to the shelf and finding out the price. I would have been happy to wait on hold for a few seconds for him to go check it so I knew how much I was gonna spend. I'm not saying the $3 killed me or didn't allow me to eat for a day, but it was a bit frustrating after I asked him to please check it for me since I wanted to know and he wouldn't do that and just guessed instead. Then once i was there, he proceeded to have a 10 minute conversation with the guy in front of me in line before ringing him out. I asked if the other guy could ring me out and he said that he would do it after he helped the guy he was helping... after 10 minutes went by, i got rung out, didn't get asked if i found everything, if that was all, etc. Just was told a total, I paid and walked out, wasn't thanked for business or anything.

I'm happy I got what I wanted, but I'm frustrated that I was told the wrong price after I called and ASKED for what the actual price was, instead of a guess. Then waited in line and was barely even acknowledged as a customer.
 
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