Reef Box
Shoulder Deep in Saltwater.......Again
I've been reading posts and hearing talk in the hobby of LA's rapid decline recently but I've always had pretty good luck with them, bought several fish and inverts and had very few problems. Even when I had issues they were quick to fix them....
I no longer have any faith in them.
After being on a short hiatus while doing some remodel work around my house I'm back to putting some work into my tank. I saw and fell in love with a purple short spine urchin that I saw on LA but of course it was out of stock. So I set up the "in stock notifications" and waited ... and waited. After a month it was back in stock so I jumped on and ordered it! YES!! Got an email confirming my order and that it should ship out of the CA center on Tuesday and I'll see it Wednesday. On Wednesday I get an email instead of an urchin:
"Dear Me
We apologize, at this time we are unable to ship your order. Order number A4xxxxx9.
New shipments arrive at our holding facility daily. Once up to 75% of your order value is available with in-stock items, the order will be fulfilled. On the day your order ships, we will send you an e-mail containing shipment tracking details."
Now, I get that things happen that are sometimes out of the supplier's / distribution center's hands but I literally had 1 item in my order. So it wasn't actually in stock? No big deal, I don't "need" it, I just "want" it, at least my order is in and I know nothing happens fast in this hobby.
Two weeks after the day I was supposed to receive the original order I got an email saying my order is now physically on the way and was given a tracking number. Remember this is coming from CA and I live IN CA (about 3 hours from the dist. center). The next day the urchin shows up and I immediately get it out of the box only to see this:
You can NOT tell me that this was packed the night or even the day before it arrived at my house! Half of it's spines were laying in the bottom of the bag, the water is so rancid I can smell it through the bag and I can't see past the portion of the urchin that is against the side of the bag.. Nevertheless I follow the acclamation process and once it's in the tank it shows zero signs of life..... NONE. But since it's an established tank dedicated strictly for new arrival recovery and there was nothing to lose, I left it to see if maybe there were just some shock issues. The next day it hadn't moved and the rest of it's spines were falling off. That same day I start a DOA claim with LA and submit a pic of the dead urchin. LA replies quickly by giving me a store credit for the price of the urchin but not the shipping or the "box charge". Upon attempting to reorder the urchin, of course it's out of stock. A few days pass and it's back! I didn't wait for the back in stock email this time, I just checked in every morning before I left for work. So i quickly reorder and again get a confirmation thanking me for my order and letting my know it will ship Tuesday for Wednesday delivery....You'll never guess what happened on Wednesday....The exact email I got the first time I ordered. I've now paid shipping twice, box fee twice and hopefully only paid for the urchin once since they said to "add a note in the box asking to use store credit" as it does not show up in my account tab but is "in their system".
I have not received anything saying my order is actually on the way so I'm just sitting here hopeful that it actually shows up alive. If it doesn't I will not be trying a third time nor will I ever buy anything from them or any of their affiliates. They can refund the cost of the urchin as store credit but I will never use it. Not only am I already physically out the money from the original order, it's irresponsible for @LiveAquaria to continue selling or shipping live animals that have slim to no chance of survival if they are sitting in a box waiting for "short staff" to get them out of the warehouse. I'm so terribly disappointed in my recent experiences. It kills me to put any business on blast. I am ALWAYS the first to give anyone the benefit of doubt but this is just too much. . I will keep everyone updated as the new order arrives but having just been through the exact same scenario, I have very little faith.
I no longer have any faith in them.
After being on a short hiatus while doing some remodel work around my house I'm back to putting some work into my tank. I saw and fell in love with a purple short spine urchin that I saw on LA but of course it was out of stock. So I set up the "in stock notifications" and waited ... and waited. After a month it was back in stock so I jumped on and ordered it! YES!! Got an email confirming my order and that it should ship out of the CA center on Tuesday and I'll see it Wednesday. On Wednesday I get an email instead of an urchin:
"Dear Me
We apologize, at this time we are unable to ship your order. Order number A4xxxxx9.
New shipments arrive at our holding facility daily. Once up to 75% of your order value is available with in-stock items, the order will be fulfilled. On the day your order ships, we will send you an e-mail containing shipment tracking details."
Now, I get that things happen that are sometimes out of the supplier's / distribution center's hands but I literally had 1 item in my order. So it wasn't actually in stock? No big deal, I don't "need" it, I just "want" it, at least my order is in and I know nothing happens fast in this hobby.
Two weeks after the day I was supposed to receive the original order I got an email saying my order is now physically on the way and was given a tracking number. Remember this is coming from CA and I live IN CA (about 3 hours from the dist. center). The next day the urchin shows up and I immediately get it out of the box only to see this:
You can NOT tell me that this was packed the night or even the day before it arrived at my house! Half of it's spines were laying in the bottom of the bag, the water is so rancid I can smell it through the bag and I can't see past the portion of the urchin that is against the side of the bag.. Nevertheless I follow the acclamation process and once it's in the tank it shows zero signs of life..... NONE. But since it's an established tank dedicated strictly for new arrival recovery and there was nothing to lose, I left it to see if maybe there were just some shock issues. The next day it hadn't moved and the rest of it's spines were falling off. That same day I start a DOA claim with LA and submit a pic of the dead urchin. LA replies quickly by giving me a store credit for the price of the urchin but not the shipping or the "box charge". Upon attempting to reorder the urchin, of course it's out of stock. A few days pass and it's back! I didn't wait for the back in stock email this time, I just checked in every morning before I left for work. So i quickly reorder and again get a confirmation thanking me for my order and letting my know it will ship Tuesday for Wednesday delivery....You'll never guess what happened on Wednesday....The exact email I got the first time I ordered. I've now paid shipping twice, box fee twice and hopefully only paid for the urchin once since they said to "add a note in the box asking to use store credit" as it does not show up in my account tab but is "in their system".
I have not received anything saying my order is actually on the way so I'm just sitting here hopeful that it actually shows up alive. If it doesn't I will not be trying a third time nor will I ever buy anything from them or any of their affiliates. They can refund the cost of the urchin as store credit but I will never use it. Not only am I already physically out the money from the original order, it's irresponsible for @LiveAquaria to continue selling or shipping live animals that have slim to no chance of survival if they are sitting in a box waiting for "short staff" to get them out of the warehouse. I'm so terribly disappointed in my recent experiences. It kills me to put any business on blast. I am ALWAYS the first to give anyone the benefit of doubt but this is just too much. . I will keep everyone updated as the new order arrives but having just been through the exact same scenario, I have very little faith.
