Liveaquaria unacceptable practice

[Glass Algae]

Poor little guy. At least youll have a fish most dont. He can be your "finding nemo", just with no fin
This is why im not a fan of using drop shippers. WYSIWYG items or LFS only for me. Hell at least have your own holding tanks LOL.

+100000000 on WYSIWYG or Lfs only

 

[Z-man]

Any policy changes with the new ownership yet?

I missed something...Did they get sold? And to who?

 

[NashobaTek]

Yes and Petco just sold them as well

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

I missed something...Did they get sold? And to who?

The chatter and evidence points towards Biota but I could be wrong lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

Live Aquaria needs to pay attention to what others have stated:

YOU U S E D TO BE EVERYONES' GO TO SOURCE AND IT'S NO LONGER THE CASE.
FIX IT BEFORE YOU LOSE A VERY LARGE CUSTOMER BASE, SUPPORT, CONSUMER CONFIDENCE AND FURTHER BAD REPUTATION !

We KNOW you're better than this !!

 

[Floribraska]

I've generally been happy with LA in the past, but after reading this thread, I placed a note in my order today to call me first and inform me what can or cannot ship if they were unable to fulfill the entire order so I could decide to proceed or cancel.
Almost immediately an abrasive customer service rep called me and said that they can't do that, there's too many moving parts in their supply chain between 2 different facilities, and that my options where to either cancel my entire order now, or just accept that I may get a partially filled order in a couple days. Pretty ****** experience that certainly rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[bsagea]

Happens a lot and LA isn't the only vendor that does it.
IMO, It should be standard procedure to call the customer before shipping if the order isn't 100% complete.

Agree 100%...if you don't have it all, have the courtesy and common decency to let the customer know and see if they still want to proceed. I'm guessing a good portion won't so therefore, "we are desperate to make a sale" so we really don't care if you receive everything you wanted!!! I have had the same thing happen from LA and another online seller. It's very disheartening when YOU DON"T RECEIVE the ONLY fish you really wanted!!!

On another note, I contacted the company selling a bipartus leopard to confirm the size. It was stated at 1 - 1 1/2" since they had (2). I received an email telling me there was a typo. I replied to please confirm the size - it could NOT BE MORE THAN 2" because of other leopards I have. The reply was "the fish is 2" - I just measured it". I had it shipped and what I received was a 3 1/4" bipartus that was blind!!! I contacted them and never did receive a reply. She died on the 15th day, not that I believe they would have done anything about it anyway.
bsa

 

[bsagea]

Live Aquaria needs to pay attention to what others have stated:

YOU U S E D TO BE EVERYONES' GO TO SOURCE AND IT'S NO LONGER THE CASE.
FIX IT BEFORE YOU LOSE A VERY LARGE CUSTOMER BASE, SUPPORT, CONSUMER CONFIDENCE AND FURTHER BAD REPUTATION !

We KNOW you're better than this !!

They have already lost a huge base and honestly don't care. I and others have had numerous conversations with them regarding all the issues. You do not get anywhere with their customer service or their alleged customer service management....SAD!
bsa

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

I've generally been happy with LA in the past, but after reading this thread, I placed a note in my order today to call me first and inform me what can or cannot ship if they were unable to fulfill the entire order so I could decide to proceed or cancel.
Almost immediately an abrasive customer service rep called me and said that they can't do that, there's too many moving parts in their supply chain between 2 different facilities, and that my options where to either cancel my entire order now, or just accept that I may get a partially filled order in a couple days. Pretty ****** experience that certainly rubbed me the wrong way.

Wow!!! Honestly, like I said I’ve never had anything but exceptional experiences with their customer service staff. And be that I’ve never had an issue if that was to be my first ever issue with them I would have told them to immediately cancel the order and walk my butt as far up their chain of command as possible letting each and every one of them know they’ve entirely lost costumer that’s spent well over their CS reps yearly salary in fish and coral over the years.

 

[Z-man]

Yes and Petco just sold them as well

I knew about Petco, didn't hear about the most recent sale.

 

[Twocoralsonetank]

Im not trying to bash Liveaquara, I have gotten some really good fish from them but it just keep getting worse. So the shrimp they forgot to order, they reordered him and he came in today, dead. First time either with coral or live stock I have received something DOA. Maybe its 2020 fault but its heart breaking. The wrasse that came with him did seem health and happy for now.

 

[DSEKULA]

When I started reefing they were really good, spot on customer service. I had a whole order arrive doa and had it replaced when stocking my tank. They asked for some minimal info (pics etc) but it was very little questions asked replacement. My other orders were great. When I upgraded my tank about a year ago I definitely noticed a difference in service I had many more doa claims and many more hoops to jump through to make a claim. I had one issue where I called up to ask them to hold an order (30hours ahead of time) due to our area declaring a state of emergency the person argued with me and told me it would ship anyway and they'd just go through the doa process if anything died because of being held up (the roads were closed for 5 days).. after that experience I didn't shop there for months until the clam incident I mentioned. Honestly they can say I'm banned but it's really not a loss as I completely lost faith in this company anyway. They were good but imo it's slowly gone down hill, hopefully the new owners do better.

 

[NashobaTek]

Before they can do better, THEY have to admit that they have a problem with their customer service.
I have read enough bad reviews about them that personally I will never buy from them. If I ever start seeing positive reviews and hear better things about their customer service and quality, I might be willing to give them a try.

However until they start feeling it in the wallet, cash register or bank account, I wouldn't count on them changing anything. They don't even respond to threads like this about the way they are treating paying customers. When they do it's just to say they're sorry and please contact them.

 

[FlexingFishSticks]

Tough times for LA lol

 

[JoshH]

Before they can do better, THEY have to admit that they have a problem with their customer service.
I have read enough bad reviews about them that personally I will never buy from them. If I ever start seeing positive reviews and hear better things about their customer service and quality, I might be willing to give them a try.

However until they start feeling it in the wallet, cash register or bank account, I wouldn't count on them changing anything. They don't even respond to threads like this about the way they are treating paying customers. When they do it's just to say they're sorry and please contact them.

They must have felt something recently in the wallet to prompt the sale of the business. These stories are so sad to read because at the end of it all EVERYONE suffers including the animals. I hope the new owners can turn it around for the better but it seems a lot of damage has been done already. I find it ironic that all the customer service reps seem to forget that without customers, well, they're out of a job. And while not always the easiest thing to do, working with the customer to atleast a reasonable end is far better than the route they seem to take.

 

[DSEKULA]

Btw idk if I can post this so feel free to remove if I can't mods but found this info.

PETCO Sells LiveAquaria to Holding group owned by Tropical Fish International | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

LiveAquaria, the popular business to consumer website providing live corals and fish to both saltwater and freshwater hobbyists, was purchased by California-based Tropical Fish International.

reefbuilders.com

 

[Twocoralsonetank]

This hobby is so understanding because it’s difficult and expensive. All we do is try to help and give feedback and see people succeed, it’s very unique. The sad thing is some companies ignore this and just want a profit. Other companies such as BRS embraces this culture and give back to the community. I will support LFS and companies that give back the knowledge and love this hobby is know for. I hope Liveaquaria takes the time to make changes and take this feedback to heart.

 

[DSEKULA]

They must have felt something recently in the wallet to prompt the sale of the business. These stories are so sad to read because at the end of it all EVERYONE suffers including the animals. I hope the new owners can turn it around for the better but it seems a lot of damage has been done already. I find it ironic that all the customer service reps seem to forget that without customers, well, they're out of a job. And while not always the easiest thing to do, working with the customer to atleast a reasonable end is far better than the route they seem to take.

I do understand what your saying. If there's one or two poor customer service reps these things happen however those people don't last long in a company that trains to put customer service first. With the way so many issues are being brought up I have to think the company is at fault for encouraging this way of thinking. If the rep is told to apologise and give xyz answer or told to just take as many calls as they can to make a quota that's what happens. If the company support and training was there for customer service there would be an overwhelming majority of those type reps with a bad one here or there and the sales team doing their best to follow up with poor experiences to make it right. Even in this thread there would be many more people chiming in with things like "I can't believe that happened all I have is great experiences" I saw one or two like that but the overwhelming poor feedback leads me to believe the company needs to step back and really look at how they operate not just their phone reps. I really think it will take a big culture change to put them back on track. I know you can't always make everyone happy but there are ways to come across as having empathy for the situation or ensuring that even if something wasn't correct at first your trying to make it right or compromise. I run a business and train my people to deal with tough public situations (water and wastewater) where there are very real consequences that effect daily life. "I understand your frustrations". "I would can look into this" "let me take down your information and send it right to my office (while sending text)so we can get back to you quickly" "I understand the concern for your family" etc etc... We have lists and lists of these type responses that we train our team to use, not everyone will be happy that's impossible but the general tone is concern for the client and their well being instead of rude and uncaring.

 

[badsmitty]

I was a loyal liveaquaria customer for years and spent a lot of money with then, but it seems that ever since petco bought them there livestock has gone down hill
Now I refuse to buy anything from them
I have found better vendors to buy from who do things the right way

 

[Twocoralsonetank]

So they did refund me for all the issues I had. So something are working right. Hopefully with the most recent sale, some knowledge people can turn the company around and we can start getting health and correct orders again.