Ordering corals over the web sucks

[mscarpena]

I ordered $230.00 worth of corals from a web site a few months ago and got 10 frags, 5 of which were wrong. So I told the guy and he said I'll replace them with your next order. So I said fair enough. Ordered another $240.00 worth of corals and I got them. Most were right some were wrong, but the salinity was 1.034 of the corals shipped after adding some of my aquarium water. So needless to say some made it and some did not. I am now working on getting a replacement or refund. I think I will go for the refund, but we'll see.
So I then ordered $150.00 from some one else and the package got delayed. I shipped overnight air through FED EX by 10:30 am. I got this package at about 3:30 pm, but the kicker is I got a ground package at 1 pm. The FED EX guy stood at my sidewalk at literally thew the package to the front steps. My wife saw him or I would have ran out and kicked his you know what. So one frag died and another one was forgotten. Also a few other heads on 2 other corals died.
Now your thinking WOW THIS GUY HAS BAD LUCK, but it gets worse.
I made a trade with someone 40 polyps of some lunar eclipse for 25 polyps of AOG's and a few other paly's. I shipped his out he received it and said all is well. So I am waiting for mine and it's late. So I track it and it says return to sender. Well the package leaked so now this guy has my coral and his. So I was a little bit nervous, but he states no worry you'll get your if I have to drive it to you myself. He said only a very small amount leaked out and the coral still looks good. So remeber he says all looks good with both corals(mine shipped and his) and he was acclimating them. So later he says a few looked like they go crushed. Ok I can see that maybe. Then later he says hey I found several zoa eating spiders. Well I know my tanks and I have never seen one in my tanks. I look at night with a flashlight at least weekly. So I ask where and he told me he found 2. So I look last night every 15 minutes for an hour straight in both my tanks. I picked up frags and looked all over and I saw none. So I am all freaked out and can not sleep so at 6am I get up and look again, no spiders. I will keep looking, but doubt I will fiond any because I look all the time. So now this guys says hey things do not look good and he's not happy because only a few polyps have opened up. He's only had it for 12 hours so I told him to be pateint, but now I thinking I just got screwed again and this guys not going to ship the AOG's. I don't think I will ever order from the internet again. It just burns me up because I am super honest. Man I am really discourage right now. I love this hobby, just not dishonest people. So I guess the lesson is be careful who you guys order from and I hope I helped some one from having the same heartache and disappoint ments that I have. I have shipped many corals and always been 100%. I have many repeat customers and many people off this site have ordered from me and been happy.

 

[hypertek99]

If your trading find out some feedback first. But if your buying from an online vendor they usually refund the money if something is wrong. I have ordered all my corals online and never had a problem yet. When i do get doa's i get a refund. Can you let us know which site you order the corals from so we don't run into this problem.

 

[pbienkiewi]

I agree that does stink. I have bought several corals from _ _ _ _. I was semi pleased. The bag that the Hammer corals in in sprung a leak. I took pictures right away when I noticed it. He requested pictures. I send him the pictures and he promissed to send a new hammer coral with the next purchaced. Same thing happened. So I gave up also. I bought some corals frags from another site that I was pleased with. I also bought some from meemmoo which to my satisfaction I was very pleased. She did a awsome job packing them. When I get some more money after I buy new light bulbs I would gladly buy some from her again. I love honest and trustworthy people!
Thank you Meemmoo

 

[rcreations]

I've bought some corals from SWF.com and also from another major site and they all arrived in good shape. However, my friend has had major problems with another online vendor, name starts with M and ends in T. Some of the worst packing ever!

 

[nycbob]

i order my corals from two places only: swf.com and this drs site. never really had a problem w either one. i rather pay more then deal with the headache.

 

[bessycerka]

There are some good online suppliers, but it's always a crap shoot as, you can't pick the coral/fish yourself, you must rely on what they feel like sending, but what are ya gonna do when your LFS does not have what you're looking for?????? It's very complicated being a supplier online, and things do happen to the best of them. These are living creatures, and it's not like ordering an auto part from Pep Boys. Here's how they get ya. 'Oh, sorry that the fish/coral died, we'll credit your next order, just use this credit # when you place your next order BUT I DON'T WANT TO ORDER FROM YOU KNUCKLEHEADS EVER AGAIN!!!!! but you do to try to recoup your losses, BUT IT"S USUALLY LIKE THIS. Please, we want to satisfy you, as you are a valued customer, what can we do to make it right? ( so we can

[hr]
you on that next order too ) and they keep you on the line perpetually, so it's best to take it on the chin, admit you made a mistake by ordering from X, Y, or Z, and move on to the next supplier.....They've got you coming and going. They have your credit card, or atm card #, they reserve the right to "substitute " items that they don't have, their website is not up to date with their stock/inventory, they don't return e mail, and some have no telephone #...... sound familiar? Unfortunately, we can't mention ANY competition as far as other online suppliers, but there ARE some good ones out there.

 

[jrthomas40]

it would be nice to allow an exemption this time so that it would save people from making the same mistakes and buying from those sites

 

[jonthefishguy]

Originally Posted by bessycerka
Unfortunately, we can't mention ANY competition as far as other online suppliers, but there ARE some good ones out there.
Yes, there are!!!

 

[bessycerka]

From what I've read ( past tense ) here on this site, there seem to be MANY very nice people to buy coral from, AND you can actually check their "feedback" if you are leery.........

 

[zeke92]

order from people on sites like this. i ordered kenyas from rubberduck and mine did great.
just gotta find trusting people

 

[mscarpena]

Oh don't get me wrong I have had some great experiences with ordering on the web as well. See my problem is that I am very, very picky in what corals I want. I got into the more high end corals and my LFS does not carry them. I would also like to add that none of the problems were from anyone on this site. I have just spent too much money on crap from people being dishonest. I understand that mistakes happen, but these people did this to me on purpose. Thats what bothers me. Also I only order from what you see is what you get sites. I spent like $600.00 in 2-3 months and had I of know what I was going to get or end up with in the end I don't think I would have spent $100.00. I am just very discouraged at this point. There are very few corals that I want at this point and it looks like I will have to hunt locally. SO anyone selling any corals in my area PM me. I'm glad to hear others have had these issues as well. Well I guess I'm not glad to hear it, it just makes me feel better and less like a donkey for making these mistakes. Well thank you all and happy reefing. Hopefully I get this 25 polyp frag of AOG's and I guess that will make me feel better.

 

[rackyrane]

mscarpena, don't feel bad or alone.
I found out about a vendor who sells zoos for a great price. Won't go into a long story, but bought from him once and stuff died shortly after arrival. Told him and he sent replacement "with next order". Got over $100 of stuff next and the overnight shipping became 2 days (not his fault). Needless to say most of the zoos didn't make it because the heat pack did not last. Told him about it and never got a reply. The zoos that made it did not look at all like the ones he posted. Will never buy from him again.
Like you, my LFS doesn't have the type of things I want. I am looking for nice SPS and nice zoos (not brown like my LFS always has).
Have also been taken by a fellow hobbiest who sent zoos in hot weather without a cold pack and then refused to refund when the zoos died, because "he couldn't control the weather"! Good luck. I guess we'll just have to cruise the feedback forums before buying.

 

[hypertek99]

Originally Posted by mscarpena
Oh don't get me wrong I have had some great experiences with ordering on the web as well. See my problem is that I am very, very picky in what corals I want. I got into the more high end corals and my LFS does not carry them. I would also like to add that none of the problems were from anyone on this site. I have just spent too much money on crap from people being dishonest. I understand that mistakes happen, but these people did this to me on purpose. Thats what bothers me. Also I only order from what you see is what you get sites. I spent like $600.00 in 2-3 months and had I of know what I was going to get or end up with in the end I don't think I would have spent $100.00. I am just very discouraged at this point. There are very few corals that I want at this point and it looks like I will have to hunt locally. SO anyone selling any corals in my area PM me. I'm glad to hear others have had these issues as well. Well I guess I'm not glad to hear it, it just makes me feel better and less like a donkey for making these mistakes. Well thank you all and happy reefing. Hopefully I get this 25 polyp frag of AOG's and I guess that will make me feel better.
For those what you see is what you get corals. They will never be what you see is what you get. The actual coral will be but the color is always different than the pics. The pics is where they get you.

 

[jonthefishguy]

Originally Posted by Hypertek99
For those what you see is what you get corals. They will never be what you see is what you get. The actual coral will be but the color is always different than the pics. The pics is where they get you.
That the same problem I am having. I will not alter the images for a sale. I notice on a few of my competitor sites that they alter their pics. Hey by the way Hyper, not to bash you or anything on this subject but....that pokerstar i bought from you, it wasnt as vivid in color as it was in the pic lol...however it colored up in 10 days and sold for $225.00.

 

[mscarpena]

Well thanks for the support. I have scoured my tanks for the last 2 nights in the am and pm and have not seen a zoo eating spider. I will do a 10 minute fresh water dip tonight just to be sure. Also the guy has not updated me on the condition of the paly rock I sen him and it's been 36 hours. If it were me I'd have let me know an update by now. So tomorrow I will update him that I have not found any spiders and what I have done to look for them. So I will be requesting that my AOG rock be sent Tuesday for Wednesday delivery. We'll see what happens. He promised to send it even after he received my coral and his words were both corals look great. So we'll see what happend. Also we discussed on how to ship triple bagged, heat, packs, and a cooler so now he's required to take care in the shipping. So hopefully this will end well for both him and I. Really thats all I want is what we agreed upon.

 

[mscarpena]

Well I did my freshwater dip to kill the zoa eating spiders that i DON'T have. I killed some mini brittle stars, amphipods, copepods, and asterina stars, but did not find one spider. I don't know what to think about this guy anymore, but one thing I am thinking is he will not ship my coral.

 

[b bauer]

Mark I checked my corals last night since 75% of my stuff I got from you and no spiders either I think you got burned.When you start fragging give me a list!

 

[mscarpena]

Thanks Ben. I have scoured my tank, done iodine dips, and freshwater dips and no spiders. So we will see.

 

[hypertek99]

Yep sounded like the guy wanted to get a free frag out of you. Did he send you a pic???

 

[mscarpena]

Nope, no pics of anything. No pic of my colony that I sent him, no pic of his AOG's, and no pic of the spiders. I think he's trying to

[hr]
me. Now he wants to send 10 instead of 25 heads. He also told me that he grew the 25 heads from a 2 head frag in less than 2 months. That seems impossible. Thats a new head every 2-3 days.