Fair or No?

I bought this Acro from LiveAquaria Diver's Den exactly 14 days ago, I paid $49.99. When it arrived the box was leaking bad and FedEx marked it as damaged. There was still some water in the bag so I don't think it had anything to do with it...but...after a day or two ONE tip turned white, no big deal I left it. About a week later I notice one more white area, left it and observed. Got up yesterday morning to this,



The whole base is gone and more peeling off. Anyone who has kept sps for any period of time knows good and well that if I leave that coral alone it's a goner. I broke out the cutters and went to town but before I did I took a pic and emailed LiveAquaria since they have a 14 day guarantee and I'm on the 13th day. Now I have about 15 tiny frags of this coral but looking at it this morning before the lights were on there were several more dead.

I got this from LA today,

Dear Gabriel,

Thank you for your recent order with Drs. Foster and Smith. We would like to apologize for any inconvenience that this specimen may have caused. Upon further review of the specimen, we would recommend to remove the damaged area. The remaining portion of the Bushy Acropora appears to be doing well. At this time, we have placed a credit of $16.70 on your in house account for the cost of the damaged area as well as informed our shipping facility in regards to the leaking bag. The in house credit does not expire and may be used on any future order. Please keep us informed on the health of the specimen.

If I wanted a frag I could have gotten a frag easily from someone local. I ordered this piece because I wanted a small colony sized piece. I could see from their point of view also, they don't know me and I'm sure people try to rip them off all the time. They do have a guarantee though and we all know that coral isn't going to make it without me fragging it.

So what do you think, fair or no?

Well... as someone who is looking to start a business that will involve shipping corals I'm actually curious exactly how this would be handled perfectly. In my case I'm only looking to ship to Dallas... so it should be very minimal transfer time and hopefully these occurrences are few and far between.

My hope is that all customers would be extremely pleased that they did business with me even if their original order arrives DOA. I'd love to offer another free coral with free shipping on each and every situation where that would occur. However... if I do a guarantee that works that well I've got to charge a touch extra on the front end of every coral purchase. So that's not ideal either.

In most situations the way that I will handle it is to get the person on the phone and talk to them one on one. A large company might not do that, but perhaps they'll be as approachable through email. Email them and let them know exactly what you just told us.

I will say this though... a 14 day guarantee on SPS likely gets them MANY responses and just that is quite commendable. A 1/3rd refund... ehhh... leaves a bit to be desired if you ask me! They shouldn't still make a profit on the transaction!

A guarantee is just that... A Guarantee!


"Our Promise:
"When you order live fish or any product from LiveAquaria.com, every purchase is a partnership, and our guarantee is our promise. That's why we've made our Arrive Alive, Stay Alive® Guarantee 100% risk-free. Because we believe that a partnership built on mutual faith and trust will always be stronger than one built on terms & conditions."

Your Guarantees:
If your fish, coral, plant, or invertebrate doesn't
arrive alive and stay alive for 14 days, we'll credit
your account or refund your money.
Every Drs. Foster & Smith Certified Captive Grown Coral comes with a certificate of authenticity and an extended 30-Day Guarantee!"

If they don't hold to it, I would inform them of thier loss of a customer. No where do I see anything about being "Pro-rated". Thier "Guarantee" is a large reason I do business with them. Without it, they are just another vendor.. not a "Partner".

Puts me in an odd spot. Should I have let the coral die completely to get my full refund? My better judgement tells me I should frag it to attempt to save some of it. It is a living thing, I can't just sit there and watch it die hoping for the rest of my money. That much coral receded over night so by the next day I'd be willing to bet most of it would be gone but being the last day of the guarantee I couldn't take a chance. I had to notify them right then.

I've had some good and some bad with LA and I hate to lose anything and have always been very honest with them. In my business I have seen what people will do to get something free so I can see how they have to cover themselves but they offer the guarantee, they have to take that risk if they offer that guarantee I believe. I'm not going world wide with this info yet but surely they can do better than $16. That's not even half of what the shipping was.

Money or not I hope to save some of the frags from this coral. It's tight cluster made if difficult to get frag of any size without getting any of the bare spot on it.

You shouldn't be in an odd spot. Anyone of us would have done the same in trying to save it. I can't see anyone simply letting it die as a means to obtain a full refund. I just feel LA should have given you a full refund, reguardless of whether you were able to save some frags. You weren't looking to purchase frags. What you purchased was obviously dyeing. No fault of yours.

I agree. If they don't want to give full refunds then they should change their policy to "Arrive Alive" or something like that. I just like to get other opinions before I go raising hell over it.

Well I think there is another issue being overlooked. The delivery was noted as damaged. They should refund the entire purchase (including shipping) and file a claim with the shipper. You as the consumer did what you should have done which was notify them within the 14 days. Like you said you bought a colony not a bunch of frags that may or may not make it.

Grimreefer wrote:Well I think there is another issue being overlooked. The delivery was noted as damaged. They should refund the entire purchase (including shipping) and file a claim with the shipper. You as the consumer did what you should have done which was notify them within the 14 days. Like you said you bought a colony not a bunch of frags that may or may not make it.

That's what I'm saying. The FedEx guy posted the package as damaged while I was standing there but I put the corals in anyway. There was water enough water in the bag but it was leaking bad. I don't THINK that's what caused it to die but it died none the less. I got a zoanthid rock and a rose Stylophora frag in my order that are fine and I'm happy with that so I'm not asking for shipping back. I didn't ask for a refund or anything and honestly whatever credit I get will be spent on their site along with whatever else I decide to order.

In this situation I would:

Contact them and ask for the email address, or phone # of their Customer Service Manager.
I'd then take photo's of the colony, along with the frags. And of the others that you got, all in the tank. To show it isn't due to your water.
I would point out that if they looked at your buying history, that you have been a good and regular customer, and that this is the first time you have had issue with their product.
I would send a copy of the note which the Fed Ex man confirmed package damaged.
I would ask that I be given full credit for the colony, or a replacement colony, as I had purchased a colony, not frags, and that if they so wished I would be prepared to ship the frags back to them, at their cost naturally.

If they came back saying "no", then I would list all the marine forums I knew, and send that to the Cust Serv Manager, and ask if they wished to comment upon the post you would be making, detailing the poor service you had received.
As, as a business owner yourself, you too would want to be given the chance to put your side of the case.

As far as the frags, however they doing so far?

Grimreefer wrote:As far as the frags, however they doing so far?

Just took pics of them.

It was NOT an easy piece to frag. The tight clusters and the dead skeleton underneath made it almost impossible to get a decent frag. I think there will be more dead frags soon. Some look ok but most look pale. Only one piece has PE.

Almost all the ones on the bottom are dead.






This was the only fairly decent frag I could get. This is the only piece showing any polyp extension. I had this spot reserved for a nice colony but I have to keep this frag there now and hope it colors up and grows to a nice piece.


BTW, I didn't even mention that this piece looks nothing like it did in the picture I bought it from. It was a nice blue and purple color. It was grey and white when I got it.

Yeti wrote:
I would point out that if they looked at your buying history, that you have been a good and regular customer, and that this is the first time you have had issue with their product.

I have been a regular customer but it's not the first issue I had with them.

They sent me the wrong mantis shrimp. (Pookie!) No refund, I was ignorant and didn't realize it until after the guarantee time had expired.

They sent me a "blue" xenia that was not even remotely blue even though pics clearly showed blue xenia, (the xenia you got from me Yeti). Said it was my lighting. I heard they quit selling this coral because no one could get the blue color.

They sent me a Peacock mantis shrimp from Divers Den that had a bad case of shell rot, (again partial refund, $30 out of $69.99 I paid not including shipping) I didn't ask for any refund or credit, just emailed them saying maybe they shouldn't put stomatopods with shell rot on the "Divers Den" section.

I ordered 3 Lyretail Anthias, 1 male 2 female. They sent the male but no females (out of stock even though the site said they had them). They later sent the 2 "females" but one of them had more than started to turn male and fought like hell with my established male. I never contacted them about that one.

This isn't the exact coral I ordered but this is what it looked like on their website.



I sent them another email and the pics of the frags I cut. I'll update if they reply tomorrow.

I've looked longingly at the Diver's Den pages, and thought "Oh I'll buy from there once the tank is fully stable and I have the experience to warrant that much", from your catalogue of their mistakes I'm thinking I may wait until I am ready, then go to Dallas.

As for the Xenia, that is one of my favourites, even if it isn't a true blue.

Yeti wrote:

As for the Xenia, that is one of my favourites, even if it isn't a true blue.

Agreed. It's a nice coral. I paid a hefty sum for "blue" Xenia though. It was a couple of tiny sprigs on the corner of a tile for $40.

No response from them today.

Got a full refund today.

Excellent.

Whooo hoooo!

Awesome!!! then I might look in to them

I figured they would. I've always bragged on thier customer service & have recommended them to others. I'm glad the took care of you properly.

I figured they would too. They've always been fair with me which is why I was surprised at the 33.4% refund.

I'm back at the DD already scouring for a nice piece or two...or three...or ???

Great job on their part. Glad u got re immersed. Now let's talk about them frags? Lol

Grimreefer wrote:Great job on their part. Glad u got re immersed. Now let's talk about them frags? Lol

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