So I've got to say this is an odd thread but I feel I really need to chime in. I don't know how many of the people in this thread or the original have actually dealt with Ben (Shrimplet) or Mike at Sexy Corals. But I have and I'd also say that both are friends of mine. I've gotten a few boxes from Ben and they have always been excellent. The thing is, not only were they great but Ben was a standup seller. He cut one of his rainbows for me and a week later got a text. The frag wasn't doing well and wanted to know if I either wanted a refund or offered a replacement of a few even nicer chalices at the same price. He even replaced a coral that I lost that he had no reason to replace as it died a week later. Ben has been a great person to deal with and always has top notch stuff.
Then there is Mike... There are many people who don't like Mike, he talks funny, smells bad or whatever your reason. But there are a handful of people that just want to throw him under the bus without even knowing the person on the other side of the screen. If you've ever followed Mike's posts or what he does here on R2R than you know he does the reefing community right. That doesn't mean he's always perfect. You can see that in the vendor feedback forums. But what you'll also see is that if something happens either a mistake of his own or not, he does his best to make things right. What I've also seen are the threads people refer to as getting deleted if anyone says anything bad about Mike. I've seen a lot of them when they are first posted and they are typically attacks instead of stating the facts. What I will agree with, is R2R has become over moderated. Too many posts and threads get taken down or edited way too often now. I've been here for almost 6 years now and it's really sad to see. But that's for a different thread and time.
So what does that all have to do with this thread? Well if either Mike or Ben made a mistake, they would make it right. None of us were there that day but the two of them. If there was a miscommunication or error on either of them, these are two guys I know would make it right. Mike has already taken care of the OP and said he'll make it right by anyone who bought it from him previously if they want. Mike has too much skin in the game to sell a fake coral, just doesn't make any sense. There have been some bad vendors in the past (If you've been here long enough you remember the FnF fiasco.... that was bad). But that's not what happened here. I don't believe either intentionally misled anyone, mistakes happen and it's unfortunate. No one involved in this thread is coming out a winner.
