Nat'nCritters March 16, 2007 Share March 16, 2007 Just want to alert all members to the HORRIBLE experience I just had with saltwaterfish.com. I ordered $150worth of stuff from them. One fish arrived dead on arrival, along with 4 turbo snails. Several snails died shortly afterwards. And the cleaner shrimp died within hours. I emailed them immediately wiht pics of the dead critters, as I flushed them since they stank badly. After a day they finally wrote one line back: "Thanks for the email. We are very sorry to hear about this. Please return the items via the Money Back Guarantee procedure found on the left hand side of the website." That's all. No phone number anywhere on their site to be found and when I wrote several more times, I got the same auto reply back. I have never heard of an online store requiring the items to be shipped back for the refund. I would spend more on the shipping back even IF I had known to do this, and not flushed them when they died right away so I did not pollute my tank! :( AND they only would have refunded via a credit towards my next shipment...as if! The other fish looks in bad shape, nad the other shrimp is barely moving. Oh...and the emerald crabs do not look like any other emerald crabs on the net anywhere. So...do NOT order from this place! MUCH better luck with PetSolutions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzekunoi March 16, 2007 Share March 16, 2007 Just want to alert all members to the HORRIBLE experience I just had with saltwaterfish.com. I ordered $150worth of stuff from them. One fish arrived dead on arrival, along with 4 turbo snails. Several snails died shortly afterwards. And the cleaner shrimp died within hours. I emailed them immediately wiht pics of the dead critters, as I flushed them since they stank badly. After a day they finally wrote one line back: "Thanks for the email. We are very sorry to hear about this. Please return the items via the Money Back Guarantee procedure found on the left hand side of the website." That's all. No phone number anywhere on their site to be found and when I wrote several more times, I got the same auto reply back. I have never heard of an online store requiring the items to be shipped back for the refund. I would spend more on the shipping back even IF I had known to do this, and not flushed them when they died right away so I did not pollute my tank! :( AND they only would have refunded via a credit towards my next shipment...as if! The other fish looks in bad shape, nad the other shrimp is barely moving. Oh...and the emerald crabs do not look like any other emerald crabs on the net anywhere. So...do NOT order from this place! MUCH better luck with PetSolutions. Sorry to hear about your bad experiance! Really sucks when things go like this. I ordered from SWF many times and all the time with great success. Exept for 1 Rock anem which decided to die. Actually, you should have read their guarantee before flashing the stuff as they clearly say they want everything back - covered in salt in order to get refund. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcerna March 16, 2007 Share March 16, 2007 I had a good experiences, with saltwaterfish.com, but with any livestock purchase one has to know their policy incase something happens before hand. It is always buy beware with livestock. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nat'nCritters March 17, 2007 Author Share March 17, 2007 Yeah, I know y'all are right, and I should know the policy before I buy. I was just really disappointed is all, as I saved forever it seemed like before I ordered, then I lost so much. I didn't even think to see what the policy was,just assumed it was like the other places I have ordered from, so took the pics and flushed the dead fishes, in tears (of course! :() Anyhow, I think they could at least have taken the time to write a custom message back, instead of the auto reply, and I wish they had a phone number or some sort of customer service. I suppose this is how you learn. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djcerna March 17, 2007 Share March 17, 2007 Nat, Look for a group buys to get really good deals. Group buys are going on all the time in many areas (it would also be good to let us know your location) , and that's what your membership pays access for. Usually, people get together to split shipping or qualify for free shipping. Sometimes it totals several hundred dollars worth of livestock between members. Then the seller sometimes goes out of their way to insure repeat customers. However animals are always a risk whether from a LFS or over the net. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alok March 17, 2007 Share March 17, 2007 We just did a group buy. It seemed to go smoothly, but I guess we should wait a few days before making that determination. But, SWF did not got out of there way to make a group buy easy. I specifically asked they to pack multiple orders of the same item separately, for easy distribution. They did not honor that request... However, I'll probably purchase from them again, in a month or so... Alok Nat, Look for a group buys to get really good deals. Group buys are going on all the time in many areas (it would also be good to let us know your location) , and that's what your membership pays access for. Usually, people get together to split shipping or qualify for free shipping. Sometimes it totals several hundred dollars worth of livestock between members. Then the seller sometimes goes out of their way to insure repeat customers. However animals are always a risk whether from a LFS or over the net. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nat'nCritters March 17, 2007 Author Share March 17, 2007 Iwill DEFINITELY go in on group buys! What a wonderful idea! I am in Charlottesville, but can drive up north if that's where the order is shipped to. Are there any group buys on at the moment? BTW...Saltwaterfish never did credit me, even though I sent them the pics, and my other shrimp died this morning along with another snail. Very sad. I must've just had bad luck this time. It makes me sick, as I make myself wait SOOOO long before ordering each time so I don't over do it... Please be sure, anybody,to let me know if there are group buys going on, or if anyone wants me to head one up for the central VA area...k? Thanks everybody! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzekunoi March 17, 2007 Share March 17, 2007 Iwill DEFINITELY go in on group buys! What a wonderful idea! I am in Charlottesville, but can drive up north if that's where the order is shipped to. Are there any group buys on at the moment? BTW...Saltwaterfish never did credit me, even though I sent them the pics, and my other shrimp died this morning along with another snail. Very sad. I must've just had bad luck this time. It makes me sick, as I make myself wait SOOOO long before ordering each time so I don't over do it... Please be sure, anybody,to let me know if there are group buys going on, or if anyone wants me to head one up for the central VA area...k? Thanks everybody! Just keep your eyes opened and check "group buy" forum regularly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve G March 30, 2007 Share March 30, 2007 I just want to add my review of saltwaterfish.com here. I ordered from them a few weeks ago and came away with very mixed feelings. Pros: - good selection and prices - flexibility on shipping date - good packaging of materials - easy to use website Cons - "Free" shipping costs $20. It's fine to charge for box and delivery, but don't insult us by calling it "free". - Small livestock. They say they don't guarantee the size, color, etc. but man, they pretty much sent me fry. No wonder they didn't survive. The inverts were tiny too. I bought a group of peppermint shrimp and realized that they were so small that they turned out to be "feeders" for my 4" anthias. Expensive feeders. That made me sad to send them to their death like that. - FINE PRINT. they have majorly covered their a$$es with a very stingy set of "guarantee" policies. Qualifying for money back is tricky because you have to email them immediately, within 2 hrs of the fedex delivery time. In my case, I had 3 fish die, one was DOA and the others croaked during and after acclimation, respectively. (I am an optimist, I almost went through the full acclimation with the DOA just in case, but he was decaying before my very eyes). You have to follow their procedures exactly, which I did, to get the credit, but to use the credit you have to buy ANOTHER $80 worth of livestock AND you have to pay another $20 of "free" shipping. And on top of all that, they don't guarantee the re-sent item! I think I'll cut my losses and find another vendor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phisigs79 March 30, 2007 Share March 30, 2007 they do give you small inverts. i almost had to get out a magnify glass to see my arrow crab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman March 31, 2007 Share March 31, 2007 I just want to add my review of saltwaterfish.com here. I ordered from them a few weeks ago and came away with very mixed feelings. Cons I bought a group of peppermint shrimp and realized that they were so small that they turned out to be "feeders" for my 4" anthias. Expensive feeders. That made me sad to send them to their death like that. Egads... I guess I would have put them in my frag tank for a few months to let them grow up. I wanted a 'sexy shrimp' - until I realized that they would be nothing but a meal for any self-respecting fish. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Ric April 1, 2007 Share April 1, 2007 I participated in the March 12 Group Buy, and as Alok indicated, they didn't go out of their way to accomodate us. I was one of two of us who ordered a green ricordea. So even though Alok had told them they were for two seperate people, the send a couple small polyps on one rock to fill the order for two seperate ricordeas. I also ordred a 10-pack of Zebra Hermit Crabs. I received 8 live ones, one that looked dead for quite some time, and a completely empty shell. I did not save the dead Zebra hermit pieces, but I did save the shell and the empty shell that was missing a hermit. It's not worth spare change in credit to deal with sending back tiny little hermit parts, and an empty shell wouldn't 'prove' anything to them. The requirement to send dead stuff back is just plain bizarre. My overall impression is that the employee who filled our order did not care enough to even look to see that the ten shells he/she grabbed out of the tank were in fact living hemit crabs. Putting multiple orders into the same bag, or especially on the same rock, also suggests a lack of concerm about the needs of the customer. I would just get the word out not do business with them anymore. If you did business with them, it appears that they respond to Better Business Bureau complaints. They've had 20+, but many say they were resolved. 'Ric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trble81 April 15, 2007 Share April 15, 2007 Has anyone ordered dry goods from them? Experiance good or bad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vatbrew April 15, 2007 Share April 15, 2007 I emailed them immediately wiht pics of the dead critters, as I flushed them since they stank badly. After a day they finally wrote one line back: LOL, Just read the guarantee. I order from them all the time, and they're great! Matter of fact, just placed another order today. I had one death, which was an orange linkia. Put it in salt, sent back and received credit. That what I used for this latest order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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