Buucca January 29, 2009 Share January 29, 2009 I just purchased 250 feeder shrimp, 50 nassarius snails and a ricordia from these people just before New Years. When the package arrived at my shop the morning of 12/30/08 at 9:20 AM it was placed in my office. I was late getting to work because of a catastrophic house fire at my home the day before. I lost all my fish, seahorses and most corals. Anyway, I arrived at work that morning at 10:40 AM and opened the pkg. to acclimate the contents. I immediately saw that all the bags containing the shrimp had no movement in them only several swimmers at the most. I opened the first bag and got a whiff of a very putrid odor. I then turned to the bag containing the snails and saw no movement or syphons sticking out. I called "Christina" at Reefs2go and all she said was "I'll have to call you back". At that time our power was flickering off so I told her to call back on my cell number. The return phone call never came! I felt the water temp in the bags and it was quite fridgid. After an hour the snails warmed up and started moving. I took pictures and waited to here back. I had my daughter call again to get some kind of instruction, all we got was voice mail so we left another message. After several days I recieved an email requesting the picture again. My daughter sent them immediately. After several more days "Christina" claims I'm not telling her the whole story, but is refunding the cost of the shrimp. After several more days My wife and I tried calling numberous times but no one answers and says mail box full. Called Piece of the Reef and "Christina" answers. We told here there was no credit on our PayPal card. She said she would do it right away. Well, it's be three more days and NO REFUND!!! What is with this double business anyway? How come she doesn't honor her words or warranties? Why would they only put 1 small heat pack in a box this time of year - Do they not know what they are doing? Spend you hard earned money with a more reputable company. I'll keep you posted on my progress with my PayPal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Ward January 29, 2009 Share January 29, 2009 I just purchased 250 feeder shrimp, 50 nassarius snails and a ricordia from these people just before New Years. When the package arrived at my shop the morning of 12/30/08 at 9:20 AM it was placed in my office. I was late getting to work because of a catastrophic house fire at my home the day before. I lost all my fish, seahorses and most corals. Anyway, I arrived at work that morning at 10:40 AM and opened the pkg. to acclimate the contents. I immediately saw that all the bags containing the shrimp had no movement in them only several swimmers at the most. I opened the first bag and got a whiff of a very putrid odor. I then turned to the bag containing the snails and saw no movement or syphons sticking out. I called "Christina" at Reefs2go and all she said was "I'll have to call you back". At that time our power was flickering off so I told her to call back on my cell number. The return phone call never came!I felt the water temp in the bags and it was quite fridgid. After an hour the snails warmed up and started moving. I took pictures and waited to here back. I had my daughter call again to get some kind of instruction, all we got was voice mail so we left another message. After several days I recieved an email requesting the picture again. My daughter sent them immediately. After several more days "Christina" claims I'm not telling her the whole story, but is refunding the cost of the shrimp. After several more days My wife and I tried calling numberous times but no one answers and says mail box full. Called Piece of the Reef and "Christina" answers. We told here there was no credit on our PayPal card. She said she would do it right away. Well, it's be three more days and NO REFUND!!! What is with this double business anyway? How come she doesn't honor her words or warranties? Why would they only put 1 small heat pack in a box this time of year - Do they not know what they are doing? Spend you hard earned money with a more reputable company. I'll keep you posted on my progress with my PayPal. I've received snails, shrimp, etc from them before (via Kevin Garrison) and didn't have any problems. I believe it's a 2-person operation and her husband has been sick. Not really an excuse, but I would expect she'll take care of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Garrison January 29, 2009 Share January 29, 2009 I've never had these issues with Christina, the reason for the double business is because Piece of the Reef is associated with Ebay and due to having too many problems with Ebay she is trying to migrate away from that by going with the Reefs2Go website. Anytime there was an issue with the order she was always helpful and willing to replace anything that was DOA or missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Ward January 29, 2009 Share January 29, 2009 Buucca, Definitely let us know what happens here. I was quite satisfied with my last order. Great prices and the product was great as well. I'd definitely be sad to hear that she didn't take care of you. ~Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buucca February 17, 2009 Author Share February 17, 2009 (edited) Well, Christina reniged on her promise to refund me for the DOA shrimp. She even posted some less than professional comments about me and some other buyers that complained about missing items and DOA's on the RC vendor experience site. There's like 3 different threads going on there about her and her shabby business ethics. PayPal finished their investigation and ruled in my favor and gave me a full refund back to my card. Then she disappeared from the sponsor list on RC for a few days and now she's listed as a sponsor again, so I don't know what that's all about. But, again I reiterate "BUYER BEWARE OF THIS VENDOR" I hate to see our members lose out on their hard earned money as I was fortunate the credit card company got my money back. Edited February 17, 2009 by Buucca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnybv February 17, 2009 Share February 17, 2009 solve the problem, buy local..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiCurtis February 18, 2009 Share February 18, 2009 +1 solve the problem, buy local..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesbuf February 18, 2009 Share February 18, 2009 solve the problem, buy local..... agreed. I used to look for the absolute best deal out there, but I've learned my lesson with purchasing livestock online. There is much to be said for seeing the fish/livestock before you buy it. Don't get me wrong, I've had some good experiences, but its a cluster-F when things arrive dead and things go wrong. Our LFS come pretty close now to online prices, so I just buy there now. Unless it's something I can't get locally, or an amazing deal like .15 snails or hermits, its just not worth the hassle anymore. Is it worth the headache to save $10-20? Not for me anymore. Plus the LFS really need our business now. We're gonna be really sad if/when our LFS are gone because we didn't support them enough :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang February 18, 2009 Share February 18, 2009 agreed. I used to look for the absolute best deal out there, but I've learned my lesson with purchasing livestock online. There is much to be said for seeing the fish/livestock before you buy it. Don't get me wrong, I've had some good experiences, but its a cluster-F when things arrive dead and things go wrong. Our LFS come pretty close now to online prices, so I just buy there now. Agreed. When you consider shipping and the risk of DOA, I believe it is more economical to buy local in the DC area than to go to the 'net - and I'm a big internet buyer (even purchase my clothes/shoes online). I'm also not one for brand/store loyalty, but some of our LFS'es around here have earned my business - and that's saying something, because my wife generally describes my standards as "impossible" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Garrison February 19, 2009 Share February 19, 2009 I am sorry you had the fire that delayed being able to home things, which caused them to stay in the bag longer and likely causing the death of the animals. However having spoken with Christina the part of this that is not being told is that when you reported it to Paypal, after she agreed to refund, you tied her hands until paypal finished their investigation. So where you are saying she reniged on her promise to refund, you actually took her ability to refund away. In the end you got what you wanted with was a refund, be happy and go your seperate ways. I've never had a problem with Christina and will buy product from her again. I'm tired of seeing vendors getting abused and the whole story not being told. When there was a problem with my last group buy and some of the items were either missing or doa, she readily replaced the doa items and missing items. Even the items that were doa because UPS dropped one of the boxes and crushed the box, breaking the styrofoam inside and popping several bags. That was not her fault, yet she replaced the items. There are always good and bad experiences with all vendors, even LFS (though I've not had any with our LFS personally). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buucca February 19, 2009 Author Share February 19, 2009 (edited) I am sorry you had the fire that delayed being able to home things, which caused them to stay in the bag longer and likely causing the death of the animals. However having spoken with Christina the part of this that is not being told is that when you reported it to Paypal, after she agreed to refund, you tied her hands until paypal finished their investigation. So where you are saying she reniged on her promise to refund, you actually took her ability to refund away. In the end you got what you wanted with was a refund, be happy and go your seperate ways. I've never had a problem with Christina and will buy product from her again. I'm tired of seeing vendors getting abused and the whole story not being told. When there was a problem with my last group buy and some of the items were either missing or doa, she readily replaced the doa items and missing items. Even the items that were doa because UPS dropped one of the boxes and crushed the box, breaking the styrofoam inside and popping several bags. That was not her fault, yet she replaced the items. There are always good and bad experiences with all vendors, even LFS (though I've not had any with our LFS personally). I'm sorry you didn't read the information correctly Kevin. The package from Christina was shipped and delivered to MY OFFICE and placed in my office by my assistant. I don't know why she keeps harping about my house fire as that tradjedy is a different issue entirely.The fact that her response to me when I called and reported the DOA all she could say was "I'll have to call you back". That's when I informed her not to call back on my house phone number but instead call me back on my cell #. She also had almost 2 months to rectify the refund and thats a fact and enough said. Please read http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...hreadid=1569712 http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...hreadid=1559870 As far as buying locally I'm a big fan and do buy most things locally. For health reasons I can't always drive the 2 hours round trip to the Va. stores and my last check most do not offer the coastal feeder shrimp my seahorse eat, so I'm forced to buy online. But now I know that cheap prices are not always the best deal!!! Sorry the links didn't work. You can read them at RC vendor experience. Edited February 19, 2009 by Buucca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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