There are 2 horrible outlets out of Florida I will personally avoid forever, no matter how enticing are their offerings, prices or promises of atonement: reef2go (or whatever name of the day) from Clearwater, FL and saltwaterfish.com from Vero Beach, FL. I don't know if these business are related, however they employ almost identical scammy business tactics. I am going to describe their modus operandi based on previous personal experience.
They offer very enticing items on their web sites at almost too good to be true prices and free shipping for orders of $150 give or take. They both give you a "DOA refund" and a 2 weeks guarantee for a store credit but NOT A REFUND in this instance (this is an important part of the scam). In addition the store credit is only redeemable with a second order. If there is a dead animal in the order where a credit has been claimed, they will deduct the price of the dead animal from your claimed credit money before giving a refund.
So here is how the scam works:
You are a first timer there, you love their offering and their incredibly "competitive" prices. You place an order for corals/fish high enough to get free shipping. They will ship the order with some decent animal, but they will make sure there are at least some in such a bad shape that will not survive.
These animals as expected will die, you are disappointed but report the loss, claim the credit and they will happily give it to you.
These store credits usually expire within 18 months, so this is usually the time frame you will place a second order to redeem your credit. Your purchase will be high enough to cover free shipping.
Again you will get a shipment of a few decent items plus some of the dead/almost dead animals they have in their tank. You will get some DOA on this subsequent order and the price of the DOA will be deducted from your claimed credit.
I suspect this is how they unload their sick/dead fish/coral to cut their cost and their losses.
In addition to the DOA you will get some almost dead items that will die within 15 days. You claim the credit and their cheerful customer service representative will again happily give it to you.
You are more than disappointed, maybe mad but... you hate to let the credit go, so you will place a new order after some time when the burn hurts less...
Bad psychology at work here...
Before you know you are hooked on an endless chain of credit/new orders until you realize that the animals you thought you were getting at incredibly low price, if they even survive, they are costing you a lot more than if you had bought from reputable places in the first place.
At this point you decide to say hell to them and the credit and hopefully you cut your losses and never return there.
In short: They do not care or have no regard whatsoever for the animals they sell/ship. They kind of count on part of the order not surviving. In this regard the ridiculous 3 days free shipping plays right into their scheme. They try to hook you up in a chain of credit-new order that never ends until you start adding your losses and you realize that those advertised great prices were just a bait.
My personal advice: Stay Away!! Don't get tempted by those nice pictures and too good to be true prices. Who will be paying the price will be you and those poor animals kept and sold with no care or regards by these unscrupulous businesses
