I placed an order for 4oz of clean chaeto (for $40!) from BRS and paid for expedited shipping on 12/29.
In the meantime, knowing I'd get new macro algae soon, I tore down my 65 gallon and moved into a 100 gallon aquarium I bought on black friday. The fuge previous had sea lettuce in it, but it wanted to spread to my tank so I dumped it, knowing I'd get chaeto the next day.
Through no fault of AlgaeBarn, fedex then lost the package for several days in below freezing temps. I contacted BRS about the order and they told me AlgaeBarn does not replace orders until it has arrived and there is a photo of it proven dead, so I had to wait for fedex to find the package and deliver it after being in transit for 6 days. This isn't great.
I contacted BRS when I finally received the item and provided them a photo. They submitted a request to algaebarn to replace it and told me they'd ask for expedited shipping since I'd waited for so long for this already.
Algae barn contacted me after BRS contacted then and said they'd replace the order, however they were shipping it standard shipping and if I wanted it faster I'd have to pay for it. After a back and forth with them about it, and me explaining how important this macro algae was to my aquarium, I got no where. Told them to send me the bill for the expedited shipping and I'd pay it. They promised me they'd ship it out the next day. I got the invoice for the expedited shipping and paid for it that night. This is where it goes from isn't great to bad.
Then it gets worse. I get an email the next day at 6PM stating that their owner has decided to halt all shipping until next monday, and told me that they were a small buisness and could possibly afford to comp me expidited shipping. Then they tell me they're going to throw in a free pack of pods (which they point out is a $45 value). Which leaves me really befuddled how they can be such a small buisness that a $15 upcharge for 2 day shipping, or $36 upcharge for next day would make them go bankrupt, but they can throw in a $45 item to make it right.
I respond to their email saying that I didn't care about the pods and that my priority was getting my fuge up and running as fast as possible, and could the please confirm that the algae had shipped this morning like promised and was shipped with the 2 day shipping I'd already paid for (again, might I remind you, I paid BRS for expidited shipping too on the original order).
AlgaeBarn responded and told me that they indeed had not shipped the item as promised that morning and was holding it until monday next week, and reiterated that they couldn't ship it to me faster, or upgrade to next day shipping unless I paid for it, nevermind that they're introducing a week long unnessecary delay. Then they throw in a little extra victim blaming. I was told that I should have contacted them directly instead of BRS and that they might (might mind you, not would) have made an exception on waiting for the arrival to replace it.
A) This is 100% crap. If they made exceptions to the DOA policy, BRS would have known. I'm sure they deal with this all the time.
B) Throwing in an extra week of delays on an order that's already well past the time it should have arrived is adding insult to injury.
C) They simply don't care about your tank, or customer service. They've repeated reiterated that I should bare any costs related to fixing this issue.
To sum all this up. Imagine you went to a restaurant for dinner and ordered and paid for dinner. You even gave the cook and extra tip to get the meal to you faster. Then your server gets lost to your table and they take hours to serve you your dinner that's ice cold and unsafe to eat. You let them know that it's a problem and they tell you that you have to pay them to get your food replaced at a reasonable time frame. You feel extorted, but you're starving so you pay them for it and the promise to bring you the food ASAP. Then they tell you, oh wait, you have to come back tomorrow to get your food, our head cook decided he's not cooking the rest of the night, you should have told have brought a snack.
Asinine customer service. I would highly recommend people avoiding buying macro algae from algae barn. It might be "clean", but you can buy bigger amounts of the macro algae from people here on reef2reef for less money that's just as safe, and get better customer service.
In the meantime, knowing I'd get new macro algae soon, I tore down my 65 gallon and moved into a 100 gallon aquarium I bought on black friday. The fuge previous had sea lettuce in it, but it wanted to spread to my tank so I dumped it, knowing I'd get chaeto the next day.
Through no fault of AlgaeBarn, fedex then lost the package for several days in below freezing temps. I contacted BRS about the order and they told me AlgaeBarn does not replace orders until it has arrived and there is a photo of it proven dead, so I had to wait for fedex to find the package and deliver it after being in transit for 6 days. This isn't great.
I contacted BRS when I finally received the item and provided them a photo. They submitted a request to algaebarn to replace it and told me they'd ask for expedited shipping since I'd waited for so long for this already.
Algae barn contacted me after BRS contacted then and said they'd replace the order, however they were shipping it standard shipping and if I wanted it faster I'd have to pay for it. After a back and forth with them about it, and me explaining how important this macro algae was to my aquarium, I got no where. Told them to send me the bill for the expedited shipping and I'd pay it. They promised me they'd ship it out the next day. I got the invoice for the expedited shipping and paid for it that night. This is where it goes from isn't great to bad.
Then it gets worse. I get an email the next day at 6PM stating that their owner has decided to halt all shipping until next monday, and told me that they were a small buisness and could possibly afford to comp me expidited shipping. Then they tell me they're going to throw in a free pack of pods (which they point out is a $45 value). Which leaves me really befuddled how they can be such a small buisness that a $15 upcharge for 2 day shipping, or $36 upcharge for next day would make them go bankrupt, but they can throw in a $45 item to make it right.
I respond to their email saying that I didn't care about the pods and that my priority was getting my fuge up and running as fast as possible, and could the please confirm that the algae had shipped this morning like promised and was shipped with the 2 day shipping I'd already paid for (again, might I remind you, I paid BRS for expidited shipping too on the original order).
AlgaeBarn responded and told me that they indeed had not shipped the item as promised that morning and was holding it until monday next week, and reiterated that they couldn't ship it to me faster, or upgrade to next day shipping unless I paid for it, nevermind that they're introducing a week long unnessecary delay. Then they throw in a little extra victim blaming. I was told that I should have contacted them directly instead of BRS and that they might (might mind you, not would) have made an exception on waiting for the arrival to replace it.
A) This is 100% crap. If they made exceptions to the DOA policy, BRS would have known. I'm sure they deal with this all the time.
B) Throwing in an extra week of delays on an order that's already well past the time it should have arrived is adding insult to injury.
C) They simply don't care about your tank, or customer service. They've repeated reiterated that I should bare any costs related to fixing this issue.
To sum all this up. Imagine you went to a restaurant for dinner and ordered and paid for dinner. You even gave the cook and extra tip to get the meal to you faster. Then your server gets lost to your table and they take hours to serve you your dinner that's ice cold and unsafe to eat. You let them know that it's a problem and they tell you that you have to pay them to get your food replaced at a reasonable time frame. You feel extorted, but you're starving so you pay them for it and the promise to bring you the food ASAP. Then they tell you, oh wait, you have to come back tomorrow to get your food, our head cook decided he's not cooking the rest of the night, you should have told have brought a snack.
Asinine customer service. I would highly recommend people avoiding buying macro algae from algae barn. It might be "clean", but you can buy bigger amounts of the macro algae from people here on reef2reef for less money that's just as safe, and get better customer service.