I will start by saying I get very few days off, I get Sunday and another day during the week, that other day rotates every week. I hardly ever get that other day off during the week, to the tune of, I have only got this day off 4 times in the last 3 years, and we are now one month into the fourth year. Not that I am complaining, all of this over time allows me to buy corals for my tank that I would not otherwise not be able to buy. The problem lies in my being home to take a Fed Ex delivery of these corals.
My answer to this problem has been to work with the vendors, ask the vendor if the coral that I want was available for me to buy, and if it is, if I could buy the coral and if I could get back with them on a shipping date and that it might take several weeks to get that date, I try to be as up front as I can about all of this. If they are ok with this, and all have been so far. I go to work and put in for a vacation day off. I plan this day off several weeks out, its a win win for the vendor and me, the vendor gets to cut the frag if need be, it gets plenty of time to heal up and I get a coral in great shape shipped to me, no down side.
This brings us to Alantis Aquariums "ATL" I wanted to make such a deal with them on several of their corals, to be honest here, I really only wanted one coral, but with shipping cost the way it is, I buy at least 3 corals when I place a order. I emailed ATL asking about the 3 corals, explained my work schedule to them as I have done above, asked them if this was a problem. They replyed that it wasn't and I gave them a shipping date 1/27/15 for delivery on 1/28/15, that was 3 weeks out, and paid for my corals. The reason I was able to give them a shipping date so quick, I had already planned to receive corals from 3 other companies on that day already, and later a 4 company was also added for a total of 5 companies,,, I try to get my moneys worth if I am taking a vacation day
I don't get that many to start with
So, 2 or 3 days after placing my order, had a couple of local reefers want me to see if I can add to my order and order them a few corals. I send ATL a email telling them what the corals were and if this would be a problem. Gave it a day or two, no reply, then I call and leave a message, no reply, send another email, no reply, send another email no reply. I pretty much gave up on the idea of placing the order for my friends, and told them this. Now I am thinking that if the company won't get back to me on something that is going to put more $$$ in their pockets, how concerned should I be that they aren't going to ship my corals on the planned date. I don't try and contact them anymore, I am going to wait until 1/20/15 which is one week before my corals are to be shipped.
So, 1/20/15 rolls around, I send ATL a email asking if my corals were still going to be shipped when we had planned on 1/27/15, if you guessed no replay, you would be right. Call and leave a message, no reply, send another email, no replay. Now I am just going to wait and see if I get a tracking number on 1/27/15. I know it seems like I could have been a pain with all of these attempts to contact this company, 3 min. out of their day would have ended all of this and set my mind at ease.
1/27/15 rolls around yesterday, run home from work, like I have been doing everyday for two weeks, to see if I now have a reply from ATL, you would be right, no reply. Went to bed 8 PM my time, still no tracking number, ATL is 3 hours behind me though. Get up this morning run to the putor, you would be right this time
we have a email, it goes something like this, corals aren't as encrusted as they would like and would it be alright if they didn't ship.
Well, no its not alright, you can't over a three week period contact me after I have tried contacting your company a bunches of times. You want me to trust you to spend another of my vacation days to get a coral shipment from you that you may or may not send. That just isn't going to happen, you can give me a refund of the money I spent on these corals, is that alright with you? To be honest here with you, its not the encrusting part so much as it is, this lack of communication with your company, I just plan don't trust you, you send me a email at 4 PM your time, the day you were to ship, what company does business this way. You couldn't have made this decision days ago, you wait till the day of, yea I just don't trust you or like the way you run your company.
