LiveAquaria's Guarantee is crap

[GainesvilleReef]

I am posting this because I have exhausted my patience with LiveAquaria's customer service. This has now happened twice from the California facility. I have never had a problem with the Florida facility. But for them to deny this arrive alive claim is absurd. I have been a very good and longtime customer. So why they would think I was cheating them, I do not know. Below are the pictures I submitted to them and was denied.

 

[LiveAquaria Verified Sponsor]

@GainesvilleReef We would be happy to look into why your claim was denied. At your earliest convenience, please send us a private message with your order details/email address associated with the order. We look forward to hearing from you! Have a great day.

 

[PicassoClown04]

That’s the water that came out of the bag?! That’s nasty

 

[GainesvilleReef]

@LiveAquaria order number is sent.

@footgal that is the water and this is the second time this has happened with them. The smell was unbearable. LiveAquaria is literally stinking up the place.

 

[mike550]

@LiveAquaria order number is sent.

@footgal that is the water and this is the second time this has happened with them. The smell was unbearable. LiveAquaria is literally stinking up the place.

Sorry to see this -- both for you and the livestock. I was about to order from LiveAquaria -- knowing that they've had mixed reviews. Please keep us posted on whether this gets resolved to your satisfaction. It's disappointing that you couldn't have this resolved without having to bring it to R2R.

 

[saltgogi]

I've had this happen before. Funny thing is I had one bag of trochus snails in this kind of water but everything else arrived alive. Except I got 4 hermit crabs and one rock instead of 5. They did give me store credit but I don't want to order from them anymore. Probably shipped a dead trochus snail or two and ended up nuking the whole bag during shipment. Costs more to ship the dead snails with store credit than to just buy at lfs. Also they shipped partial order. Instead of even notifying me that they are out on certain livestock, they just shipped. Store credit does us no good because shipping cost is too much.

 

[GainesvilleReef]

I would recommend not buying from them anymore. The response by @LiveAquaria was that this was my fault that I did not receive a credit. They said I did not display it on a white background. First, the paper towel underneath the tub was put there for that express purpose. Second, did they even bother to look at the picture? My order was a biohazard. Any reasonable person would have given me the credit right away.

@LiveAquaria did give me a store credit. But that is another glaring issue. First, there is nothing to keep track of your store credits. You have to remember it and ask it to be applied in the notes section of the next order. I have tried this before and never received my credits. They purposely want you to forget about it. It's all about making it too hard to get your money back.

 

[Cell]

All you have to do is put the dead animals on a paper towel and take a pic. It would be nice if LA would bend a little at times, but the instructions are clear. A lot of people seem to have problems with this and I dont really get it.

 

[saltgogi]

I never had issue getting refunded. Just the shipping cost outdid the amount of livestock that was dead/missing.

 

[TerraFerma]

The survival rate of snails for their LA warehouse is pretty dismal...I've gotten bags of snails like that many times...as have many others. Not sure whats going on there.

But yea you just have to take them out of the bag and take some pics on a white surface. LA is a big company; not everyone in customer service knows cloudy water means dead snails. They are just going by their playbook, and that playbook says we need pics of dead livestock on a white surface.

 

[GainesvilleReef]

I'm sorry, but a return policy that is so onerous and designed to make it incredibly hard to get your money back is not honest. You have no idea how bad this smelt. I did the best I could to follow their policy without making a big smelly mess.

The white background is just designed to make things difficult. And I provided such a background. According to them, I should be thankful for a store credit that I am never going to be able to get back. I have tried to use them twice before and they never get applied.

 

[Cell]

The survival rate of trochus in general when shipped does not seem very good compared to other snails, regardless of source.

 

[BloopFish]

I'm sorry, but a return policy that is so onerous and designed to make it incredibly hard to get your money back is not honest. You have no idea how bad this smelt. I did the best I could to follow their policy without making a big smelly mess.

The white background is just designed to make things difficult. And I provided such a background. According to them, I should be thankful for a store credit that I am never going to be able to get back. I have tried to use them twice before and they never get applied.

Honestly I think their live arrival guarantee policy is pretty misleading and isn't something I personally would ever count on....

Also their prices are pretty ridiculous considering two things, their live arrival guarantee for 14 days is quite difficult to actually use. For one thing, most things that die in the tank just get eaten by the CuC, and the customer service seem very reluctant to give back credit most of the time anyways. You also have to place another order to even use the credit... another order of at least $150 + $10 shipping fee to get "free shipping" in order to actually use your credit without having to pay full price for shipping. Another thing why I consider their prices quite ridiculous is because other stores have a way lower shipping cut-off with similar or even less price... the price is just jacked up due to popularity and perceived quality of LiveAquaria. The only unfortunate thing is that LiveAquaria does have one of the largest online inventory of saltwater inverts and fish, which is a shame considering their price and service. Lately I have tried a new online retailer called Reef Beauties which happens to also have a longer 15 day policy on most things and lower prices on most goods. I recently received my order and I have to say I am much more satisfied with their service than LiveAquaria (with whom I've bought multiple times from in the past). Also, if you are interested in designer clowns or any clowns, its so much cheaper to buy it from a place like Sustainable Aquatics. If you want clean up crews, its so much cheaper to buy it from John at ReefCleaners... Honestly unless LiveAquaria has a killer deal (which is super unlikely considered their super inflated price lately) or if they have something super rare or desirable, I no longer see the need to deal with them at all. If you like the whole drop shipping service idea... there are also still cheaper sellers out there than LA...

 

[heifinator]

14 Day Guarantee Policy Encourages Bad Husbandry

I wanted to share a story about a recent experience with LA over the last few weeks. I ordered a DD coral (indo torch) on September ~16th which was delivered on the ~18th. When the coral arrived it was beat up from shipping (some torn tissue) but was in a condition I hoped it would be able to...

www.reef2reef.com

My recent story about their guarantee and how it encourages us to kill livestock that arrives in bad shape or is not looking good during warranty period...

 

[kpoj9]

I purchased from LA a month ago. One of my fish died a few days afterwards. I followed their directions and photographed the fish on a white background. Uploaded the photo. Got a refund the next day. No issues. I would order from them again.

 

[rkpetersen]

I purchased from LA a month ago. One of my fish died a few days afterwards. I followed their directions and photographed the fish on a white background. Uploaded the photo. Got a refund the next day. No issues. I would order from them again.

I believe you probably got a credit on your account, which is a whole lot different than a refund.
LA used to give actual refunds, but that also has apparently stopped.

 

[ruegaroo]

@LiveAquaria did give me a store credit. But that is another glaring issue. First, there is nothing to keep track of your store credits. You have to remember it and ask it to be applied in the notes section of the next order. I have tried this before and never received my credits. They purposely want you to forget about it. It's all about making it too hard to get your money back.

Is this true? I was told they gave me store credit on a similar situation and I have gone to use it but didn't see anything so I figured they never gave it to me. How is anybody supposed to know to do that?

 

[IKD]

I recall a few years back when I had a fish die the next day. I called and they issued me a refund with no evidence, just my word. I thought someone with little morals could easily lie and get free livestock this way. I’m sure there were enough unscrupulous hobbyists that took advantage of that and it has swung their policies completely the other way. It only takes a few bad apples to ruin good customer service.

 

[kpoj9]

I can’t imagine how challenging it is trying to run an aquarium business right now. I might be the minority here but I appreciate everything LA does. I like to think that LA as a company has good intentions. Perhaps some of their newer employees are not as competent when it comes to customer service issues. As a consumer it definitely sucks to feel like you’ve taken advantage of. My LFS has a zero return / guarantee policy which really bothers me considering how much marine fish sell for. I got fed up after losing a $70 fish which I recently purchased. At least LA offers something which gives me some insurance / confidence that my money doesn’t go to waste. So far I haven’t had any issues receiving my credit from them.

 

[Gp!]

I hope you get the issue resolved. In my experience the easiest way is to put the dead animals in the white cooler they ship with. That satisfied them the last time I needed to use it