debono
New Member
Hi!
We just wanted to warn everyone about a horrible situation we are going through with a company – www.aquacon.com and a great experience we had with another company, www.MarineDepotLive.com – which went about as well as anyone could want and we would recommend to anyone! (We're going to also try saltwaterfish.com - they seem to have it down as well. Someone recommended them (and this site) to us from another board.
First the bad (well, terrible!). We called Aquacon and ordered a Harlequin Tusk. The “gentlemen” taking our order (Derrick) said he had one in stock. Then, we come to find out he actually doesn’t but would have one in stock in a day “for sure.” We said we’d wait to order, but he kept assuring my wife (lying) and saying they had it at the wholesalers, there was absolutely no doubt it would be there the next day, etc. She took the chance and ordered it, but advised that she didn’t want our card charged until they had it and they agreed to this. Well, it’s a long story but days passed and we kept getting the runaround and then several days later (after we lost patience) we come to find out they DID charge our card when they had NO authorization and it was a MUCH HIGHER AMOUNT! Yet, they still didn’t have a fish. We told them they had no authorization to make the debit and to credit us. A Ron Ratoff then sent us an email that completely ignored our concerns. He basically gave us some “quality” reason for all this (fish had to be eating to ship, but they still never had the fish!). No, it was lying and then fraud. He also was very patronizing telling us those fish were expensive! Wow, we didn’t know that! He did, however, say they’d credit the money back very soon. Well, over 10 days later and still no money. After several days, we contacted them by phone and email simply asking when to expect the money and they ignored us (they sure were quick to fraudulently charge the account, but, suddenly, they couldn’t get us the money back). I figured I then had to threaten I’d go to the bank and report fraud. I did but they still ignored us. So, we went to our bank today and had to rip up our debit cards, get new ones and hassle with switching all our auto payment stuff from the card (life insurance, health insurance, etc.). It’s been a real hassle, but at least the bank said they’d have our money back quickly now after we gave them all the emails and information.
When we’re through with getting the money back via the bank, my wife and I will decide whether to take this further. We just may do that due to the amount of problems (all they had to do was return our money which they never had authorization to take in the first place). We gave them ample opportunity to make this right and they chose to ignore us and their responsibility.
Another fishy – couldn’t resist – thing is we still have never received ANY email or paperwork or anything else whatsoever for the transaction. We tried hard to work with them but we figure this HAS to be on purpose at this point. We understand mistakes can happen, etc., but they have completely lied and mismanaged this and fraudulently charged our card and tried to pull a classic “bait and switch” (quoting one price and then raising it). I this isn’t intentional , well, stupidity is a bad excuse.
We understand that it can be “stressful” getting a fish mail order, so we wanted to share this (it’s difficult enough worrying about fish being “okay” without worrying about the company behaving like this!
On the other hand, we ordered a pink tailed trigger from www.MarineDepotLive.com and it was a great experience. They said they had it in stock, we ordered it, and it arrived – safe and healthy, so it was about as easy as it gets and just how it should be! We recommend using them wholeheartedly.
As for Aquacon , I figure they have made some good orders for people (one could only hope so!), but this situation is inexcusable and shows how terrible they are when a situation does arise. Just wanted to let everyone know - why take a chance?
We just wanted to warn everyone about a horrible situation we are going through with a company – www.aquacon.com and a great experience we had with another company, www.MarineDepotLive.com – which went about as well as anyone could want and we would recommend to anyone! (We're going to also try saltwaterfish.com - they seem to have it down as well. Someone recommended them (and this site) to us from another board.
First the bad (well, terrible!). We called Aquacon and ordered a Harlequin Tusk. The “gentlemen” taking our order (Derrick) said he had one in stock. Then, we come to find out he actually doesn’t but would have one in stock in a day “for sure.” We said we’d wait to order, but he kept assuring my wife (lying) and saying they had it at the wholesalers, there was absolutely no doubt it would be there the next day, etc. She took the chance and ordered it, but advised that she didn’t want our card charged until they had it and they agreed to this. Well, it’s a long story but days passed and we kept getting the runaround and then several days later (after we lost patience) we come to find out they DID charge our card when they had NO authorization and it was a MUCH HIGHER AMOUNT! Yet, they still didn’t have a fish. We told them they had no authorization to make the debit and to credit us. A Ron Ratoff then sent us an email that completely ignored our concerns. He basically gave us some “quality” reason for all this (fish had to be eating to ship, but they still never had the fish!). No, it was lying and then fraud. He also was very patronizing telling us those fish were expensive! Wow, we didn’t know that! He did, however, say they’d credit the money back very soon. Well, over 10 days later and still no money. After several days, we contacted them by phone and email simply asking when to expect the money and they ignored us (they sure were quick to fraudulently charge the account, but, suddenly, they couldn’t get us the money back). I figured I then had to threaten I’d go to the bank and report fraud. I did but they still ignored us. So, we went to our bank today and had to rip up our debit cards, get new ones and hassle with switching all our auto payment stuff from the card (life insurance, health insurance, etc.). It’s been a real hassle, but at least the bank said they’d have our money back quickly now after we gave them all the emails and information.
When we’re through with getting the money back via the bank, my wife and I will decide whether to take this further. We just may do that due to the amount of problems (all they had to do was return our money which they never had authorization to take in the first place). We gave them ample opportunity to make this right and they chose to ignore us and their responsibility.
Another fishy – couldn’t resist – thing is we still have never received ANY email or paperwork or anything else whatsoever for the transaction. We tried hard to work with them but we figure this HAS to be on purpose at this point. We understand mistakes can happen, etc., but they have completely lied and mismanaged this and fraudulently charged our card and tried to pull a classic “bait and switch” (quoting one price and then raising it). I this isn’t intentional , well, stupidity is a bad excuse.
We understand that it can be “stressful” getting a fish mail order, so we wanted to share this (it’s difficult enough worrying about fish being “okay” without worrying about the company behaving like this!
On the other hand, we ordered a pink tailed trigger from www.MarineDepotLive.com and it was a great experience. They said they had it in stock, we ordered it, and it arrived – safe and healthy, so it was about as easy as it gets and just how it should be! We recommend using them wholeheartedly.
As for Aquacon , I figure they have made some good orders for people (one could only hope so!), but this situation is inexcusable and shows how terrible they are when a situation does arise. Just wanted to let everyone know - why take a chance?
