Who should take responsibility for coral shipping delays?

[ctenophore]

It appears that the seller has no interest in working with me on this one. I never expected him to issue a full refund and there are no frags to replace it, but I was hoping for some sort of compromise. All I seem to be able to get is "Sorry for YOUR loss". At this point I don't even know if I was really even sent a My Miami frag. If he had offered something, anything, I would have felt better about this. Now I am just mad. I will sleep on it before I decide how to proceed. Anyone hav any more suggestions?

 

Terribly sorry you've had such a bad experience here. I know I would be pretty upset if I was in your position.

 

My thought is that if the seller really sent you something other than what you paid for and it had arrived on time, it would be alive and you would have full justification for a public flogging. Do you have a photo of the living frag before sending? I would think you could compare the frag shape, frag disk, etc. to what you got in the box.

 

I hate to say it but IMO the buyer really assumes the risk in this situation. Assuming standard packaging techniques are agreed upon and met, it is out of the sellers hands the moment it is handed to FedEx. Proof of the correct piece should also be agreed upon and satisfied prior to the transaction taking place, especially in a case like this.

 

I also think that the seller could do their reputation a world of good if they offered some sort of compromise. You wouldn't be off base IMO to post a "fair and balanced" report of this bad experience on whatever forum(s) you choose. Let other people draw their own conclusions about the result, as long as you make it clear that the seller fulfilled their part of the bargain to the letter (assuming your autopsy of the frag doesn't turn up foul play).

 

What's too bad about the My Miami is that the original grower of this piece lives within driving distance from you. Sucks that you couldn't have gotten a frag right from the source locally.

[bankyf]

The original picture was so close up that you really couldn't identify the disk. The skeleton could have reasonably belonged to the frag in the picture. That is not a major issue at this point, just a thought that went through my head. A bigger concern for me is that his ad claimed the frag had healed for a month, but the bright white edge where the original disk was cut in half is just screaming fresh cut. If the shoes were reversed (and it had healed for a month before shipping) I certainly would not take full responsibility for the loss, but morally I would have to offer up something to help make it right. I would not be able to sleep at night if I didn't.

 

 

Terribly sorry you've had such a bad experience here. I know I would be pretty upset if I was in your position.

 

My thought is that if the seller really sent you something other than what you paid for and it had arrived on time, it would be alive and you would have full justification for a public flogging. Do you have a photo of the living frag before sending? I would think you could compare the frag shape, frag disk, etc. to what you got in the box.

 

I hate to say it but IMO the buyer really assumes the risk in this situation. Assuming standard packaging techniques are agreed upon and met, it is out of the sellers hands the moment it is handed to FedEx. Proof of the correct piece should also be agreed upon and satisfied prior to the transaction taking place, especially in a case like this.

 

I also think that the seller could do their reputation a world of good if they offered some sort of compromise. You wouldn't be off base IMO to post a "fair and balanced" report of this bad experience on whatever forum(s) you choose. Let other people draw their own conclusions about the result, as long as you make it clear that the seller fulfilled their part of the bargain to the letter (assuming your autopsy of the frag doesn't turn up foul play).

 

What's too bad about the My Miami is that the original grower of this piece lives within driving distance from you. Sucks that you couldn't have gotten a frag right from the source locally.

[Amuze]

They might, if I had another $1000 + dollars to spend It was My Miami and 3 other chalices, of course the 3 others are doing just great.

 

Something seems fishy about that...

[Sikryd]

The original picture was so close up that you really couldn't identify the disk. The skeleton could have reasonably belonged to the frag in the picture. That is not a major issue at this point, just a thought that went through my head. A bigger concern for me is that his ad claimed the frag had healed for a month, but the bright white edge where the original disk was cut in half is just screaming fresh cut. If the shoes were reversed (and it had healed for a month before shipping) I certainly would not take full responsibility for the loss, but morally I would have to offer up something to help make it right. I would not be able to sleep at night if I didn't.

 

I would be pretty upset too. Especially if getting that type of response from the seller. Healed for however long, I know that they come super tiny if you aren't buying it from Jason or Victor (or Chris). So even if it is healed for a month, I doubt it would survive any type of shipping delay.

I ask all the sellers of stuff I buy to hold onto things until they have fully developed rims, that way there is no doubt that it is healed and worthy of shipping. I do the same when I ship out.

My frag of the My Miami is sitting until it is fully healed since I know its small and probably wouldn't ship well.

 

At least the other 3 are doing alright. It could have been a total loss.

 

I feel your pain though. To loose anything before you even get it sucks, especially when you shelled out $1000.

 

Hopefully they will pull through for you and you guys can work something out.

Edited January 23, 2010 by Sikryd

[bankyf]

Unfortunately after several PM's back and forth there is no indication that he feels the least bit compelled to help me out. His response was that he has lost several things that were shipped to him and he just accepted the loss and moved on. I seriously doubt any of his losses were this significant. $1000 is VERY hard to just accept and move on. What really bothers me the most is that he feels no responsibility to offer any type of help on this. There is no way I could act like that. I truly feel like any reasonable person should be able to understand the dilema - seller kept his end of the deal and did nothing wrong, why should he be responsible / Buyer never received the merchandise he paid for, why should he have to pay for it. I guess a paypal and/or credit card dispute is my next course of action. I really don't want to go that route, I just wish he had offered up a few hundred dollars or maybe even some frags of something else to offset my loss. I have considered posting a fair report of what happened on the site where the deal was made for others to make their own judgement of the seller, but I just joined for the purpose of purchasing these chalices and I am sure I will get bashed and my post will be meaningless with it being post #1 from me.

 

 

 

 

I would be pretty upset too. Especially if getting that type of response from the seller. Healed for however long, I know that they come super tiny if you aren't buying it from Jason or Victor (or Chris). So even if it is healed for a month, I doubt it would survive any type of shipping delay.

I ask all the sellers of stuff I buy to hold onto things until they have fully developed rims, that way there is no doubt that it is healed and worthy of shipping. I do the same when I ship out.

My frag of the My Miami is sitting until it is fully healed since I know its small and probably wouldn't ship well.

 

At least the other 3 are doing alright. It could have been a total loss.

 

I feel your pain though. To loose anything before you even get it sucks, especially when you shelled out $1000.

 

Hopefully they will pull through for you and you guys can work something out.

[lanman]

Oh, wow... too bad you didn't speak up on here before you ordered.

 

My Miami is definitely worth the drive from F'burg to Baltimore to get your frag, and have it home in a couple of hours!

 

Several of us could have told you how to contact Jason Fox, and get on his list.

 

bob

[rioreef]

If you look at the fedex link listed above and go to the section on "Live Animals and Ornamental Marine Life (Including Live Fish)" FEDEX could deny shipment on all our frags/fish if not a business to business transaction.

 

 

Frags taken from parent colony is a pure profit, plain and simple, no loss of money to him. If it was the only piece and he paid a high price for it, then he would be. However, if this was a frag of a larger colony, he should work a deal with you (refund or replace). He lost no money and if this is the case not a nice person (can't type what I really think).

[zygote2k]

Wasn't insurance an option?

[Sikryd]

Unfortunately after several PM's back and forth there is no indication that he feels the least bit compelled to help me out. His response was that he has lost several things that were shipped to him and he just accepted the loss and moved on. I seriously doubt any of his losses were this significant. $1000 is VERY hard to just accept and move on. What really bothers me the most is that he feels no responsibility to offer any type of help on this. There is no way I could act like that. I truly feel like any reasonable person should be able to understand the dilema - seller kept his end of the deal and did nothing wrong, why should he be responsible / Buyer never received the merchandise he paid for, why should he have to pay for it. I guess a paypal and/or credit card dispute is my next course of action. I really don't want to go that route, I just wish he had offered up a few hundred dollars or maybe even some frags of something else to offset my loss. I have considered posting a fair report of what happened on the site where the deal was made for others to make their own judgement of the seller, but I just joined for the purpose of purchasing these chalices and I am sure I will get bashed and my post will be meaningless with it being post #1 from me.

 

I would still post a fair assessment of the situation. This might help guys get a better idea of the type of person they are dealing with.

Personally I would have expected him to agree to send SOMETHING out. Anything is better than nothing when it comes to taking care of any type of issues like this.

I have sent out replacement frags 2-3x for miscellaneous issues like this. Even though it is the my miami and he was probably cutting a frag of a frag. I would have expected him to at least replace it with something half way decent.

I have done this when selling/trading stuff with other vendors too. I look at it as part of doing business with live animals. You can't just say "eat the loss", when it is a shipping delay and no fault of either person doing the deal.

 

Thats just my feeling on it. Sorry to hear that he's kind of just blowing you off.

 

 

If you look at the fedex link listed above and go to the section on "Live Animals and Ornamental Marine Life (Including Live Fish)" FEDEX could deny shipment on all our frags/fish if not a business to business transaction.

 

Frags taken from parent colony is a pure profit, plain and simple, no loss of money to him. If it was the only piece and he paid a high price for it, then he would be. However, if this was a frag of a larger colony, he should work a deal with you (refund or replace). He lost no money and if this is the case not a nice person (can't type what I really think).

 

He's fragging a frag almost guaranteed. So I doubt he has anymore right now.

 

 

Wasn't insurance an option?

 

No shipper will cover dead loss of live animals like this.

[bankyf]

I was aware of Jason Fox, but this was a pretty good deal on a package of some higher end stuff. That is why I am stating the value as $1000 while WWC still sells them for $1500. This was a two eye frag that he cut in half. Half for him, half for me. So we are looking at possibly months before he could have anything else to offer. The pure profit comment is exactly what has been going through my mind all night. He is really out nothing other than half of his chalice that grew for basically free and will most likely grow back out for free. I get it that he had to make an investment to get that original piece, but he has lost no money out of pocket on this one and still be ahead if he gave me a few hundred dollars back.

[bankyf]

The deal was originally done on R2R and I have posted my story there asking for others input. I still don't expect to get anywhere, but time will tell. The good news is that I will be picking up a new frag from Jason in the morning.