I just wanted to share my disappointing experience with Salt Critters. They were having a Spring sale last month and I found the perfect WYSIWYG Ultra Rock Flower Anemone so I decided to give them a shot. The RFA was what brought me to their website, but I also found some corals I liked so I added them onto the order and ended up spending $180 total.
Well, they went and sent me the wrong anemone. I didn't receive the beautiful Ultra RFA of my dreams, instead I got a common pinstripe RFA. I emailed Ryan, presumably the owner, and he responded quickly and basically admitted they sent me the wrong one and offered a refund. Great. But I was still stuck with an anemone I did not want and was without the actual item that was the entire reason I made the purchase.
I followed up thanking for the quick refund and asked if he'd be willing to wave the $25 delivery charge on a new RFA so I could get what I wanted. He responded with a "You're Welcome. Shipping is free over $200." He knew what I was asking, but went with the generic response anyway. So I decided to press and spell it out, I was looking for him to waive the shipping on an order less than $200, after all, this was not a case of DOA, this was a straight screw up by the vendor on a WYSIWYG item and a live animal that I would now either have to take care of or re-home, either way, that's time and money out of my pocket.
He responded, "Sorry but we can't do that. We issued you a refund for the incorrect anemone so you can do with it as you wish". I'm not sure what he was implying here, hopefully he meant just give it away and not throw it out. But there didn't seem to be much consideration for the animal in this response.
So I wrote back: "So be it. I guess my first purchase with Salt Critters will also be my last. You just saved yourself $25 on shipping, but lost a new customer and hundreds of dollars of future business. I'll be sure to share my experience with others too. Take care."
Unsurprisingly he writes back and then offers to cover the shipping, but only if I buy more than one item.
This told me all I needed to know. Ryan at Salt Critters was less concerned about fixing his mistake and making sure a new customer was happy and more concerned with not getting a bad review.
The kicker is, I would have spent another hundred or more had he simply did the right thing from the get go and made up for his initial mistake.
I understand there are unpreventable losses in this industry. DOA's happen. But the entire premise of WYSIWYG is sending the exact item in the photo for people who want to know exactly what they will be receiving. Sending not only the wrong item, but a massive downgrade from what was ordered is just an inexcusable mistake in my opinion and 100% the vendor's fault. It's not like he sent the wrong pair of shoes. This is a live, non-returnable animal.
So I honored what I said and proceeded to spend my next several hundred with WWC and am finally getting to my review.
I'd be interested if anyone else had a similar experience with Salt Critters. PM me if you don't mind sharing.
Well, they went and sent me the wrong anemone. I didn't receive the beautiful Ultra RFA of my dreams, instead I got a common pinstripe RFA. I emailed Ryan, presumably the owner, and he responded quickly and basically admitted they sent me the wrong one and offered a refund. Great. But I was still stuck with an anemone I did not want and was without the actual item that was the entire reason I made the purchase.
I followed up thanking for the quick refund and asked if he'd be willing to wave the $25 delivery charge on a new RFA so I could get what I wanted. He responded with a "You're Welcome. Shipping is free over $200." He knew what I was asking, but went with the generic response anyway. So I decided to press and spell it out, I was looking for him to waive the shipping on an order less than $200, after all, this was not a case of DOA, this was a straight screw up by the vendor on a WYSIWYG item and a live animal that I would now either have to take care of or re-home, either way, that's time and money out of my pocket.
He responded, "Sorry but we can't do that. We issued you a refund for the incorrect anemone so you can do with it as you wish". I'm not sure what he was implying here, hopefully he meant just give it away and not throw it out. But there didn't seem to be much consideration for the animal in this response.
So I wrote back: "So be it. I guess my first purchase with Salt Critters will also be my last. You just saved yourself $25 on shipping, but lost a new customer and hundreds of dollars of future business. I'll be sure to share my experience with others too. Take care."
Unsurprisingly he writes back and then offers to cover the shipping, but only if I buy more than one item.
This told me all I needed to know. Ryan at Salt Critters was less concerned about fixing his mistake and making sure a new customer was happy and more concerned with not getting a bad review.
The kicker is, I would have spent another hundred or more had he simply did the right thing from the get go and made up for his initial mistake.
I understand there are unpreventable losses in this industry. DOA's happen. But the entire premise of WYSIWYG is sending the exact item in the photo for people who want to know exactly what they will be receiving. Sending not only the wrong item, but a massive downgrade from what was ordered is just an inexcusable mistake in my opinion and 100% the vendor's fault. It's not like he sent the wrong pair of shoes. This is a live, non-returnable animal.
So I honored what I said and proceeded to spend my next several hundred with WWC and am finally getting to my review.
I'd be interested if anyone else had a similar experience with Salt Critters. PM me if you don't mind sharing.
