Quote:
Originally Posted by
MikeM 
The folks selling rock bottom ponds are starting to irritate me. A few weeks ago we went to a "home show" to get some ideas for a remodeling project. At one booth was a fellow marketing rock bottom ponds. I started looking at one of the brochures. I was immediately approached and asked if I was interested in a koi pond. My wife answered that we already have one, "it's a swimming pool for fish". The fellow became very assertive that the rock bottom approach was superior to all others. I replied as politely as I could, "I disagree, but I don't want to debate it." That got him going. He pointed out a video that was playing of a beautiful water garden with a few koi. There was not a speck of algae on any of the river rock covering the bottom, waterlillies were in bloom and the water was crystal clear so the rocks could be clearly seen...about 2 feet below the surface. (Obviously it was newly installed, but his spiel made it sound like it had been established for years.) I told him it was beautiful, but not what I would want for my koi. I explained that my pond was 6 feet deep, operated with several filter systems, bottom drains and no plants. The guy became belligerant. We walked away with him almost yelling that he bet we fed our koi more than every other day, and feeding any more was bad for their health.
I put the incident out of mind until I got home from work on Friday. My wife said I had a call that afternoon from a guy who was providing pond cleaning services, and that in one day they could remove all the fish, empty the pond, clean off all the algae and put it back together so it was like "brand new"... for a not very modest fee. My wife said she replied: "Not my husband's pond your not!" Something ended up being said about rocks in the pond and she hung up on him. (...My wife really isn't into koikeeping, but she knows more than she lets on.) I don't know who called. I guess they found my name in some koi club materials. But one thing I'm sure about, the caller thinks rock bottomed ponds are a good repeat account.
I am posting about this simply because in both instances there was a very hard sell, aggressive approach taken, and as soon as anything critical of rocks in a pond was said, these guys got downright belligerant. It is an unusual sales technique to start attacking the "prospect". Newbies really should be warned. Weird stuff.