Saltwaterfish.com

jfoahs04 · Apr 6, 2022

jkcoral said:
Very frustrating, and I’m sorry to see someone else being screwed by FedEx.

Fedex is a complete disaster for the last year, especially for anything going through Memphis. After reading so many stories and experiencing my first ever delayed shipment a few months ago (all corals doa) I stopped shopping anywhere that didn’t have UPS as a shipping option. In fact, I know plenty of retailers that have switched to using ups exclusively in recent months.

For what it’s worth, shipping from FL wouldn’t have mattered. The shipment I had get delayed in Memphis was coming from South Carolina to me in FL. If it goes through Memphis, it’s a gamble bud.

This. It almost certainly would have gone through Memphis even if it's coming from Florida. Miami has one of the few large FedEx airport hubs outside of Memphis, but the OP is near Birmingham which only receives inbound Fedex flights from Memphis. It likely wouldn't have made a difference if the issue was in Memphis. It's a Fedex logistics issue, not an issue with Saltwaterfish.com.

OP, I'm sorry. I've been there before. Most recently a package was bounced around between local (all here in Boston) hubs all day on the scheduled arrival day and ended up missing the truck. It was 2-3 miles away from me and I still couldn't get it which made it somehow more frustrating than if it had been stuck at some hub in the middle of the country. As a result, I avoid shipping livestock with anything other than UPS at this point.

jkcoral · Apr 6, 2022

jfoahs04 said:
This. It almost certainly would have gone through Memphis even if it's coming from Florida. Miami has one of the few large FedEx airport hubs outside of Memphis, but the OP is near Birmingham which only receives inbound Fedex flights from Memphis. It likely wouldn't have made a difference if the issue was in Memphis.

Spot on. Unfortunately for OP, this is all on FedEx. Such a bummer.

ZoWhat · Apr 6, 2022

Maybe It Was Memphis...

jkcoral · Apr 6, 2022

Absolutely top-class meme post.

Spit coffee everywhere haha.

LeftyReefer · Apr 6, 2022

I once ordered some corals from a R2R vendor that happens to be in my state. It was during one of their live sales and they offered overnight shipping at a discounted rate to in-state shoppers like myself. The vendor was 2 hours away from my house. They shipped the package Over-Night and fedex picked up the package that was two hours away from me, flew it to memphis, where it got lost in the Memphis hub for three days.

Fedex turned a 2 hour local delivery into a 5 day ordeal, killing everything.

Having said that, I've placed maybe 5 more orders for corals and fish from various vendors since then, all shipped fedex and not a single problem with the rest of the orders.

With Fedex it really seems like its a total crap shoot if the Memphis hub is in anyway involved. It's where packages go to get delayed or lost unfortunately.

Saying that, as long as vendors are willing to replace delayed/lost orders, I'll keep using Fedex if they wish.

dlh · Apr 6, 2022

jkcoral said:
Very frustrating, and I’m sorry to see someone else being screwed by FedEx.

Fedex is a complete disaster for the last year, especially for anything going through Memphis. After reading so many stories and experiencing my first ever delayed shipment a few months ago (all corals doa) I stopped shopping anywhere that didn’t have UPS as a shipping option. In fact, I know plenty of retailers that have switched to using ups exclusively in recent months.

For what it’s worth, shipping from FL wouldn’t have mattered. The shipment I had get delayed in Memphis was coming from South Carolina to me in FL. If it goes through Memphis, it’s a gamble bud.

Can you pass on who you found using UPS please!

LeftyReefer · Apr 6, 2022

Tankstop uses UPS.
I just ordered 3 fish and a few diff inverts last week. All showed up alive by 10am overnight.

Check them out. The owner, Eric, is a R2R member.

CoralB · Apr 6, 2022

dlh said:
Now what? I knew this would happen! I'd like a total refund

Yes when going fedex everything Ive ordered in the past goes to their hub in Tennessee even if it shipped from Louisiana, go figure and your overnight shipping now is two to three days and on the other hand if they would have used UPS from California you would have had it next day . I just within the year had that happen to me where I ordered from Louisiana and from California on the same day and both was overnight shipping . The California order came next day with UPS and the FedEx from Louisiana came two days . They should tell you where it’s coming from and who their shipping with and regardless what others may say , you are still the customer paying for their product and shipping. If your not paying for shipping they should give you the option for you to pay to ship with the carrier of your choice or at least the option to know so you can decide whether to buy from them .

vetteguy53081 · Apr 6, 2022

dlh said:
This company claims they are in Vero Beach Florida. In fact they are just a reseller, middle man. Their "inventory " is shipped from Hawthorn Ca! Their website is deceiving

Drop ship is not uncommon.
Live Aquaria uses WI and CA warehouses.

Eric Cohen · Aug 18, 2022

LeftyReefer said:
Tankstop uses UPS.
I just ordered 3 fish and a few diff inverts last week. All showed up alive by 10am overnight.

Check them out. The owner, Eric, is a R2R member.

Thanks again for a nice review. UPS has done well for us, and I really appreciate only having a few shipping delays, even so, I like to always pack fish for 48 hours (as required by the FAA rules) so we have had little problems.