For everyone reading this- Hi, I am Peter. I joined this hobby when I was 13 years old. I am currently 16 and going into junior year in high school. I have been taking charge in the selling department of our garage reef tank setup. Over time we have sold hundreds of extremely affordable corals to hundreds of local reefers, and given away just as many. We are not in this hobby to make money. In fact, ever since we joined, we were appalled at the ridiculously high prices of corals, and have priced our corals at just high enough to pay for our hobby, and low enough to the point where nearly anyone can afford any coral we have.
I’ve been letting my partner
@Daddy-o deal with most of the responses as I have been at a loss of what to say or do. After having some time to think of what to say, I’m writing my response to this thread.
Phil, known on R2R as
@Lebreton33 -- texted me after seeing one of my for sale threads. The first one I ever offered shipping on. Immediately after posting I received many orders, due partially to our extremely low prices. After texting back and forth, Phil placed an order for a colony of Rainbow Hornet Zoas, 100+ polyps for $150. On that for sale thread, I made my shipping methods very clear to everyone who viewed it. I also posted my DOA policy at the bottom of the thread, still unedited and visible to this day. I didn’t want any mix-ups with people that would leave customers unsatisfied. On Thursday, July 23rd, a full 4 days before I shipped Phil his corals, I double checked that he was aware that I was shipping USPS Priority mail. He confirmed he was okay with that. I shipped the zoanthid colony on Monday, July 27th and sent Phil his tracking. On that Thursday Phil told me that the colony had not been delivered yet and asked for my DOA policy again. Visible in our text conversation (posted above) I make it clear that, (my words exactly) “to claim you must show coral doa in unopened original packaging within 1 hour of delivery receipt time”. Below this text, Phil tells me that he owns a business that uses only USPS Priority mail and is aware of the shipping delays. In my policy that was posted not only on the for sale thread he contacted me from, but also texted directly to him, I make it clear that I am not responsible for shipping delays. Nor am I responsible for something I could not have prevented. Farther down in our conversation I tell him, “let me know their condition when they arrive and we will move from there. (he then tells me they won’t arrive until tomorrow). After that, I received zero communication from Phil until Monday, and it was just that the corals haven’t opened. Phil then dips the corals another 2-3(?) times (his story has been changing so I am unaware of the truth. First it was because “they are not looking too good” and then his story switches to something along the lines of zoa pox???). On Thursday Phil texts me telling me then tells me that the zoas are starting to smell (after nearly a full week in his system) and asks me what I propose as a fair solution. In my response to him I told him that unfortunately since the corals have been in his unknown system with unknown parameters, subjected to numerous stresses that are out of our control, I would not be issuing a refund. Phil then attacked and attempted to derail not only the sale thread he responded to, but also a completely different sale thread that wasn’t even offering shipping. When his posts were removed for violating R2R policy, he then opened this thread and once again made many hurtful statements about me, my corals, and my shipping methods. He then opened a PayPal claim to try to get his money back, stating that the “coral arrived half dead”, which it didn’t, that the “coral is now dead”, which it isn’t, and that he “didn’t realize” that to claim DOA I must receive a picture of the “DOA” coral within 1 hour, and not within 1 week, which I made abundantly clear to him.
This whole experience has been extremely hurtful to me. My reputation that I have spent years building is something that’s very important to me, as is this hobby and the way I afford it. When someone puts forth this much effort to try to destroy the reputation and the livelihood of a 16 year old high school student doing his absolute best, I see it as a personal attack and incredibly hurtful.
