Is this vendor being reasonable?

[Wrasse-cal]

Vendor replied.

Vendor is now willing to refund prorated shipping plus cost of missing items. It’s not ideal, but it’s not worth making a bigger stink about.

 

[User1]

If you placed an order and didn't receive it, and you have a document, invoice, that shows what you ordered. Then they are in the wrong and need to refund. Plain and simple. If they don't then you call your credit card and problem solved. I would also leave a reply on their reviews or FB page if that is your thing and leave feedback. Not flaming rage or anything just the experience.

If on the other hand you don't have a record of what you ordered or the price you paid doesn't add up then mistake somewhere in the process. Take the refund they offer and go from there. Life is too short to rage at something. Factual information wins in the end. If you have it you are gold. If not then it is just a mistake and no one died. Move on.

 

[PDR]

Vendor replied.

Vendor is now willing to refund prorated shipping plus cost of missing items. It’s not ideal, but it’s not worth making a bigger stink about.

At this point you now have all your money back, how is this not ideal? Not to beat a dead horse, but if this is the vendor I suspect, they have a very clear written policy. I fully believe that it is on the buyer to check a sellers policy. You don't like it, don't buy from them, plain and simple.

I don't mean to come across too harsh, but as a small business owner, I know how ridiculously unreasonable customers can be and when I see threads like this where members start to gang up on vendors in spite of clearly written policies, it lights a special kind of fire under me lol

 

[KStatefan]

I would not think there are many businesses that have a written policy on what they will do when they do not send all of your order. I would be upset also it two of the item I paid for were not included in the shipment.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

If you got all you're money back then thats a huge win. Most of the time you end up arguing on the phone/email for an hour and end up with nothing, not saying names either. I had one order from a company and lost almost 75% of it due to it being infected with zoa fungus (It didn't get the chance to infect my corals, it killed them in less than 3 days though). After looking up reviews I didn't even bother contacting the company...lost about $100. The rest of my order looked nothing like it did online. I was in contact with the company a few months ago though, they say they've totally changed and realize that there were huge problems before. I'm waiting to see some good reviews come from them because they have absurdly good prices.

Its not always negative. I ordered from one company (fishnreef, I will mention them because I was really happy with how it turned out) and they accidentally sent the wrong order about 9 sps corals instead of my zoanthids. I got to keep the sps and got a free zoa added to my order. Thanks fishnreef.

 

[Wrasse-cal]

At this point you now have all your money back, how is this not ideal? Not to beat a dead horse, but if this is the vendor I suspect, they have a very clear written policy. I fully believe that it is on the buyer to check a sellers policy. You don't like it, don't buy from them, plain and simple.

I don't mean to come across too harsh, but as a small business owner, I know how ridiculously unreasonable customers can be and when I see threads like this where members start to gang up on vendors in spite of clearly written policies, it lights a special kind of fire under me lol

Well, you’re entitled to your opinion, and as a business owner myself, I am aware of how unreasonable people can be.

That said, this seller, who I have chosen not to identify, did not immediately offer to refund prorated shipping costs—policy notwithstanding. I also think that policy is more appropriate for a situation where someone orders 100 snails and gets 99–not a situation where an entire category of items is missing. That’s not my call though. It is the seller’s right to define his policy.

Moreover, a refund of prorated costs doesn’t mean I get all my money back. I’ll in fact get only a small percentage of the shipping costs back. If I want the crabs, I’m going to have to pay full shipping costs—again when I reorder. As we all do, my intention was to bundle what I needed into one shipment and pay shipping costs once, not twice.

Like I said, it’s not ideal. Like I also said, it’s not worth making a bigger stink about.

 

[chadly1990]

The problem with this is that even though they may be refunded for the forgotten item, they now need to purchase it somewhere else and will need to pay shipping on the new order. That is not fair. They ordered everything together to save money...one shipping charge. If they knew they wouldn't receive the entire order from this vendor, they probably would have ordered from a different vendor. I bet if BRS forgot to include my new powerhead with an order I placed that they would ship it out free of charge the next day.

This has happened to me, I paid for overnight shipping. They screwed up and didn’t ship out the order. I called. They apologized and shipped it out the following day to me regular ups....

 

[Crashjack]

I'm also a small business owner and in my opinion, if the crabs put you in a situation to where you had to purchase overnight shipping vs. 2nd Day Air (e.g. free shipping), I would agree that you should be refunded for the items and the overnight shipping, or you should get the items replaced and shipped for free. However, if without the crabs your order already required overnight shipping, then a refund of the items is probably legit and a refund of some portion of shipping is a good deal.

 

[roberthu526]

It Is the cost of doing business. Lets take myself as an example. I order 10 fish from liveaquaria, 6 of 10 arrive alive. It is not their fault that the fish died, nor is it mine. They must look at the situation and 10/10 times they offer a refund on the cost of livestock. You chose to pay shipping and order from the particular vendor, it is not their fault that the items arrived dead. They should offer you a refund on the cost of the dead and missing items, if it is in their policy, otherwise, it is your loss. You cannot fault the vendor for not giving you more then what everyone else does to their customers, unless it is specifically stated in their policy.

I am not sure I can agree with you. Say you bought a set of furnitures on line with one table and six chairs. However when you unboxed everything you only found four of the six chairs and two of them were broken. If the vender said he would refund you part of the money for the missing and broken chairs, would you think that was reasonable?

 

[PDR]

I am not sure I can agree with you. Say you bought a set of furnitures on line with one table and six chairs. However when you unboxed everything you only found four of the six chairs and two of them were broken. If the vender said he would refund you part of the money for the missing and broken chairs, would you think that was reasonable?

That's not even close to a similar comparison. You are talking about a set vs individual items, apples and oranges imo.

 

[roberthu526]

That's not even close to a similar comparison. You are talking about a set vs individual items, apples and oranges imo.

True but OP did buy a set of specific items too for his own reason. Just because he bought some livestock it doesn’t mean he should be treated in a different way. At least I believe when I pay for something I should get what I paid for.

Also it’s not just some of the livestock were DOA. OP said some were not even shipped. OP probably paid quite a bit for shipping which is why he started this thread. If you paid $30 for overnight shipping on $80 worth of livestock and $20 of them not even shipped would you still consider a partial refund reasonable? It is totally the vendor’s fault for missing items IMO.

 

[andrewkw]

I would be upset but not enough that I'd want them to lose money because of their mistake. Refund for DOA if arrive alive is promised and refund for the 2 crabs would be good enough for me. I'd sigh and move on.

Some people only care about what they ordered and what they pay for, some people care about the sellers too. I'm not saying either is right but that's just the way it is. My feelings would be different if it was amazon vs a small hobbyist who also has a small business.

 

[adam finley]

Well I had a similar situation with the vendor I think you are speaking of minus missing items but maybe not. I really wanted a certain wrasse and they had it. Well you get free shipping if you spend 100 but had to pay 15 extra for Saturday shipping which I did. The fish was only 30 but 75 if that’s all I got, so I added a couple of corals I didn’t need to get to the 100 and get free shipping. Guess which one didn’t make it? Of course the fish the reason for my order to begin with. They refunded my 30$ for the fish nothing for the extra money spent for Saturday shipping. So I ended up wasting 85 bucks. I asked for a replacement of fish and they said nope. They didn’t want to eat the shipping cost I’m guessing. I just wish they would have sent me another splitting the shipping cost. I understand it happens but man it sucks. So I’m back to square one pay 75 for a $30 fish or spend over a hundred and get some things I don’t need and hope the fish arrives alive .

 

[roberthu526]

Well I had a similar situation with the vendor I think you are speaking of minus missing items but maybe not. I really wanted a certain wrasse and they had it. Well you get free shipping if you spend 100 but had to pay 15 extra for Saturday shipping which I did. The fish was only 30 but 75 if that’s all I got, so I added a couple of corals I didn’t need to get to the 100 and get free shipping. Guess which one didn’t make it? Of course the fish the reason for my order to begin with. They refunded my 30$ for the fish nothing for the extra money spent for Saturday shipping. So I ended up wasting 85 bucks. I asked for a replacement of fish and they said nope. They didn’t want to eat the shipping cost I’m guessing. I just wish they would have sent me another splitting the shipping cost. I understand it happens but man it sucks. So I’m back to square one pay 75 for a $30 fish or spend over a hundred and get some things I don’t need and hope the fish arrives alive .

This is exactly why I don’t think the vendor was being reasonable. This hobby is not cheap and most of us are very selective about what we order especially when talking about livestock. In OP’s case case the vendor didn’t even ship the whole order...

 

[HB AL]

**** happens move on from it

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Refund of the doa if the vendor is sending replacements I say no on that. The vendor should do 1 of 2 thing and not both to make this right. Either send you your missing items and replace the doa at their expense or give you a refund for the doa and missing items. Its not reasonable to ask for a refund on the doa along with replacements.

 

[adam finley]

I was just hoping for a replacement in my situation splitting shipping. And don't be fooled large companies that ship a lot get shipping discounts. In this guys situation they should absolutely be responsible for shipping the remainder of his order for free and refund him for the doa. When you run a company your responsible for yours and your employees mistakes. I do agree the end result of his situation was "more fair" but still at first not so much. All companies make mistakes but the great ones do what it takes to make the situation right so they can keep their customers.

 

[paphater]

At this point you now have all your money back, how is this not ideal? Not to beat a dead horse, but if this is the vendor I suspect, they have a very clear written policy. I fully believe that it is on the buyer to check a sellers policy. You don't like it, don't buy from them, plain and simple.

I don't mean to come across too harsh, but as a small business owner, I know how ridiculously unreasonable customers can be and when I see threads like this where members start to gang up on vendors in spite of clearly written policies, it lights a special kind of fire under me lol

So this vendor has a "in case I screw up you are sol policy" ?

If it was just the DOAs I'd agree but he forgot to ship part of the order. Why should the customer take the hit on that? If you payed to have something installed but only got part of it, would you accept paying another install fee for the missing portion? Sure people make mistakes but that doesn't just give you a pass.

 

[Wrasse-cal]

Well I had a similar situation with the vendor I think you are speaking of minus missing items but maybe not. I really wanted a certain wrasse and they had it. Well you get free shipping if you spend 100 but had to pay 15 extra for Saturday shipping which I did. The fish was only 30 but 75 if that’s all I got, so I added a couple of corals I didn’t need to get to the 100 and get free shipping. Guess which one didn’t make it? Of course the fish the reason for my order to begin with. They refunded my 30$ for the fish nothing for the extra money spent for Saturday shipping. So I ended up wasting 85 bucks. I asked for a replacement of fish and they said nope. They didn’t want to eat the shipping cost I’m guessing. I just wish they would have sent me another splitting the shipping cost. I understand it happens but man it sucks. So I’m back to square one pay 75 for a $30 fish or spend over a hundred and get some things I don’t need and hope the fish arrives alive .

Not to beat a dead horse, but this is basically what happened. I really wanted the crabs, but had to pay $35 express shipping. For that reason, I ordered other stuff to justify the shipping costs. I didn’t get the crabs, which was the real point of the order.

 

[Wrasse-cal]

So this vendor has a "in case I screw up you are sol policy"

Pretty much. I should however have read the terms and conditions before ordering. That’s my mistake.

But I won’t be ordering from this vendor again.