Fragalot = Scamalot

[hexbasher]

Me and two coworkers did an order last week..we ordered on jun 22 and asked for it to show up on the 29th

showed up alright, packaged OK, dry box, styrofoam lined box

no heat pack, nothing labled (i even asked for one particular zoa frag to be marked)

Two LPS were missing all together...4 of the 5 LPS i ordered were wrong (my teal candycane was a green, translucent hammer was a purple tipped frogspawn, purple octo was a green/purple tip frogspawn, and my torch was supost to be a yellow tip, and got a cream brown tip) the picture of the Bubble coral i ordered shows a possibly BLUE BUBBLE but gives no description of color, and i got a white bubble, that is slowly showing green and red colors under the attinics, so im happy about that..and BIG too

we ordered 10 zoa frags...8 of them went home with me to grow and frag...only 3 have opened so far and dont really look like anything we ordered but they;ll change over time...

i sent an email to Fragalot last Friday I believe and havent received a response...(i sent afew questions prior to the order and received responses within 24hrs)


this happen to anyone else? its our first online coral order and we're all sour about it now

[reefan]

Don't paint all online vendors with the same brush. Fragalot has a poor track record that is inconsistant at best but there are others who are good and a few who are outstanding. I try to support the Canreef vendors and do most of my online frag purchases through Coralmaster, great product, great after sale service and everything is always marked what it is on the bags and I always get what I ordered.

[RuGlu6]

Sorry to hear about you bad experience.
However Yes, this did happen, many times before, i wish you have searched this site BEFORE ordering.

How many more pple will be pi**ed of before we all learn?
Time and time again news like that come up and yet still someone else orders from there and surprise! ...one more unhappy customer...

But let me tell you, it could have been Much worse, sound like you at least got something.

If you want corals on line "Snappy" & "CoralMaster" is way to go.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Xns3mMGw2fU/Sbj_IK_QXPI/AAAAAAAABes/mXM5S9kjDLg/s400/scamalot.jpg
.

[hexbasher]

Sorry to hear about you bad experience.
However Yes, this did happen, many times before, i wish you have searched this site BEFORE ordering.


me too.....did a google search for "fragalot" after we got the screwed up order, first or second result was from Canreef saying fragalot sucks donkey balls

we did a fragalot order cus i found their site 2 years ago. My foreman and I jusyt always wanted to do an order through them

ive been a member of site for a while now just started checking it out after afew people I've met at LFSs told me to check this place out

[Reefie]

+1000

There was a reason why f@galot was banned from Canreef. Bblinks and I got burned on a $450 order last year.

Coralmaster is the ONLY way to go in my books!

Sorry to hear about you bad experience.
However Yes, this did happen, many times before, i wish you have searched this site BEFORE ordering.

How many more pple will be pi**ed of before we all learn?
Time and time again news like that come up and yet still someone else orders from there and surprise! ...one more unhappy customer...

But let me tell you, it could have been Much worse, sound like you at least got something.

If you want corals on line "Snappy" & "CoralMaster" is way to go.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Xns3mMGw2fU/Sbj_IK_QXPI/AAAAAAAABes/mXM5S9kjDLg/s400/scamalot.jpg
.

[Claudia]

Is good to know because i have seen group orders here to buy from them and i thought they were a good place to buy.
Good to know so it can b avoided

[paddyob]

It sounds like you got the right corals, just not as vivid as your computer screen.

As for missing. I dont know.

Bad rep for sure. No question.






Me and two coworkers did an order last week..we ordered on jun 22 and asked for it to show up on the 29th

showed up alright, packaged OK, dry box, styrofoam lined box

no heat pack, nothing labled (i even asked for one particular zoa frag to be marked)

Two LPS were missing all together...4 of the 5 LPS i ordered were wrong (my teal candycane was a green, translucent hammer was a purple tipped frogspawn, purple octo was a green/purple tip frogspawn, and my torch was supost to be a yellow tip, and got a cream brown tip) the picture of the Bubble coral i ordered shows a possibly BLUE BUBBLE but gives no description of color, and i got a white bubble, that is slowly showing green and red colors under the attinics, so im happy about that..and BIG too

we ordered 10 zoa frags...8 of them went home with me to grow and frag...only 3 have opened so far and dont really look like anything we ordered but they;ll change over time...

i sent an email to Fragalot last Friday I believe and havent received a response...(i sent afew questions prior to the order and received responses within 24hrs)


this happen to anyone else? its our first online coral order and we're all sour about it now

[wickedfrags]

there are no online stores in Ontario right now I would recommend, which is a shame since we have a tremendous amount of wickedly nice livestock......

you always label the bags and always ship what people ordered....coralmaster is the only reputable true online place to shop in canada to my knowledge.

[jorjef]

coralmaster is the only reputable true online place to shop in canada to my knowledge.

For SPS, what are the non SPS people like me to do. I have had some great success with Fragalot recently, mostly with larger colonies of euphyllias. If you deal with him with respect when issues come up he is more than than willing to fix the problem, trash him online and I wouldn't expect stellar service. Personally I don't think being out a shade or two of color warrants complaining online. I can go from home computer to work computer to my Black Berry and look at the same picture of a coral and get three different representations of the color...Oh FYI, I wasn't referring to wickedfrags about complaining. Just the fact there are very few online dealers for Canada

[MarkoD]

lol i posted a bad review about frag a lot a month ago and people bashed me and defended them.:lol:

[Shifty203]

I've ordered from him twice in the last 3 months, and not had any issues that would make me re-consider ordering from him again.

My first order was for 10 frags I think, and I lost one zoa, and an SPS frag cause I didn't acclimate it to the light properly. I put it into the tank and glued it straight into place at the top of a rock column.

The second order, I ordered 9 frags. I lost two of the zoa frags, and two of the other zoas were wrong, but I didn't mind, as they were still decent colors.

So all together, it cost me about 280, and I have 15 frags that made it and are growing, with 2 of them being not the color I had wanted. I still think thats an acceptable amount versus the cost.

[Dr_Hicks]

lol i posted a bad review about frag a lot a month ago and people bashed me and defended them.:lol:

That happens a lot around here doesn't it ?

[Dr_Hicks]

I've ordered from him twice in the last 3 months, and not had any issues that would make me re-consider ordering from him again.


See I've had a great experience ordering corals online, from every source I've tried; including fragle rock....

[Arok3000]

Most of the fragalot praise seems to go like this:

1. Send Burc money.
2. Receive corals that probably don't really match what you ordered very well.
3. Be excited that you received 8 corals for the price of 8, even if the order wasn't very accurate at all.

[jorjef]

This is the same scenario that most of the LFS. are faced with when they order from their suppliers. They are never 100% percent certain what they will get until the boxes arrive and are unpacked. I don't know how they put up with it!! It would drive me nuts. :biggrin:






1. Send "SUPPLIER" money.
2. Receive corals that probably don't really match what you ordered very well.
3. Be excited that you received 8 corals for the price of 8, even if the order wasn't very accurate at all.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

My frags have done well for me. I have some of the most colourful Acans in the last few GBs and communication has not been a problem. As someone mentioned before, keeping lines of communications open and polite will help resolve the issues far better than publicly bashing the supplier (ANY supplier). IME I find that giving them a chance to work things out to everyone's satisfaction works well.

[Nano]

This is not me defending burc in anyway, but personally I haven't had any bad experience that would warrant a complaint, just recently ordered 2 sps frags from him, asked for 1" he sent me 2 frags with multiple 2-3" branches if you emailed him and told him your concerns with out hostility I guarantee he'd make it right for you at no cost

[reefwars]

ive had very bad and very good experiences with FAL.....i order all the time for the most part im always happy.

ordering from another province has its risks no matter what and i order from all over the country:)

[reefermadness]

This is not me defending burc in anyway, but personally I haven't had any bad experience that would warrant a complaint, just recently ordered 2 sps frags from him, asked for 1" he sent me 2 frags with multiple 2-3" branches if you emailed him and told him your concerns with out hostility I guarantee he'd make it right for you at no costThis is not the droid your looking for....
http://www.adinnerguest.com/wp-content/uploads/jedi-mind-trick.jpg

[Bblinks]

We all can agree that f*agalot does have some nice Acans and other LPS for cheap, but that's not the point here. It's the way how he conduct business and the way how he treats his customer that crowned him the title of scamalot. So you put an order through, and lets say out of 10 items that you ordered 8 showed up and 2 out of the 8 is doa, so you contact him and ask to see whats going on and he tells you indirectly that he is aware of the missing items. Why would you send an incomplete order out to the customer on purpose knowing damn well items are missing. It just bad business practice! btw this is personal experience.

Burc doesn't ever label anything, why you ask?! cause I don't even think he knows what paly or zoa he is giving to his customers. How many times have you heard people complaint about stuff not matching the picture, Burc would be rich if he got a dollar every time some one said that. I think the only reason he gets away with this is because the price he charges, most of us would just shrug it off since it was "cheap anyways", but it's not. $10 bucks for nothing is a huge rip-off. I don't care who you are, money is money, 10 bucks can buy you a nice lunch not to mention if its a 20 or 30 dollar piece.

Shipping doesnt seem to be his strong point either. My package showed up leaky, part of the cardboard box was wet. It had 4 pieces of thin foam surrounding the single bagged corals and of course no heat pack.

All this just shows how poorly Burc treats his customer. Once the money is in the bank then who gives a damn. if he can get away with it he will, and if the customer does complaint, not until he or she threaten to either call visa or paypal to start a formal process of charge back you will be ignored for as long as he can and hoping it will just fade away.

I will NEVER order from him ever!

[Bblinks]

This is not the droid your looking for....
http://www.adinnerguest.com/wp-content/uploads/jedi-mind-trick.jpg

lol Jedi Mind Tricks, I like it.:biggrin:

[ponokareefer]

If he isn't responding to you now, he won't. He either fixes things for people, or completely ignores him. I have no idea why. You have already made it known on this board that he won't fix your problem, now make it even worse for him. Put in a complaint through the Better Business Bureau, https://www.bbb.org/consumer-complaints/file-a-complaint/get-started. It's very quick and simple to fill in the questions. He still won't correct your problem, but when he doesn't, his BBB's rating goes down. People need to know what they are getting into when dealing with Fragalot.

[jorjef]

^^^^^^:lol: BBB... that's really giving it to him....Trashing him here will do ten times the damage.....BBB still laughing about that one...What a toothless attack that would be..

[Dr_Hicks]

Contact paypal or visa or whatever you paid with; let the, know the difference of what was missing; you'll most likely get a refund for the difference....

It's an option.

[ponokareefer]

Contact paypal or visa or whatever you paid with; let the, know the difference of what was missing; you'll most likely get a refund for the difference....

It's an option.

Mastercard wouldn't do anything for me. Paypal has been just as worthless in the past for me as well. Still, I'd give it a try.

[mandyplo]

Sorry to hear about you bad experience.
However Yes, this did happen, many times before, i wish you have searched this site BEFORE ordering.
.
This isn't always true. I asked on this site before about recommended livestock dealers and a number of people highly recommended Fragalot. Then I also mentioned in another thread I made that I was planning on buying from them and another person recommended them and said they purchased from them in the past and the ONLY thing anyone ever mentioned to me about them was that some of their stuff has Copepods and other critters and to be sure to dip the coral before going into your tank.
Even with research and seeking out info it doesn't always help. In fact I just purchased an order of $300 from Fragalot June 29th and i still havent heard from them about whether it's shipped yet or not... And ive emailed them twice about my order and no response.
Live and learn cant blame yourself for trying out what looks to be a good professional site. Sometimes these online vendors don't give a s*** about lifelong customers they just want that one initial buy and they know new people will always fall for their cr@p.

Sorry to hear this and I'm quite worried now, hope my order shows up half decent...

[MarkoD]

No one is going to do anything unless you can prove that what you got isn't exactly what you paid for.

[globaldesigns]

Hence the reason I don't buy livestock online (fish or coral). I buy from reputable LFS's, and then WISIWYG (what you see is what you get)

Just my 2 cents.

I am lucky though, Snappy (Coral Master) is in Calgary, and I have been there a few times, so I have never needed to ship. Greg has good reviews, so I would say give him a try.

[mandyplo]

Hence the reason I don't buy livestock online (fish or coral). I buy from reputable LFS's, and then WISIWYG (what you see is what you get)
.

Sure nice and convenient for you to be able to see what you're buying in person before making the purchase... For some of us who live in say northern Ontario or even southern Ontario no where near big towns like Toronto we don't have that luxury. The only fish store in my town sells tropical fish only. The next closest is in the states and guess who gets in s*** when we try to bring this stuff over the border?...

For us the only economical option is buying online and in this sense it's always a gamble, the value of your purchase is always in the sellers hands, "I have your money now, let's see what you can do about it when I send you JUNK!" most vendors simply just don't care, and it is a SAD truth.

[don.ald]

most vendors simply just don't care, and it is a SAD truth.

most venders?? i would kind of argue this is an overstatement.
not true, not my experience anyway.

received my fragalot order today, best one yet!
thanks Burc:thumb:

[Dr_Hicks]

Mastercard wouldn't do anything for me. Paypal has been just as worthless in the past for me as well. Still, I'd give it a try.

Funny, I've never had an issue with CapitalOne when I needed help; every single time they have come though for me.

I would really have pressed the issue harder with them mate; and I totally agree PayPal is just as much of a scam, I truly despise PayPal and refuse to use them after I got screwed for a $1400 DSLR Canon camera I purchased though ebay...

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

most venders?? i would kind of argue this is an overstatement.
not true, not my experience anyway.

received my fragalot order today, best one yet!
thanks Burc:thumb:

Mine last week was probably the best yet too. Got me addicted to Acan.

[jorjef]

Hence the reason I don't buy livestock online (fish or coral). I buy from reputable LFS's, and then WISIWYG (what you see is what you get)


I really envy that, here there's one shop and well lets say less than impressive to say the least. I have purchased 99 percent of fish and corals from out of town dealers and shops and building a relationship with them is the most important advise I could give to anyone that is in the same boat as me... Luckily Burc is one that I can trust. I have had him ship me colonies sight un-seen and rarely have been disappointed.

[reefwars]

most venders?? i would kind of argue this is an overstatement.
not true, not my experience anyway.



same here for the most part i find its opposite theres usually lots of conversaton and back and forth untill the order is shipped....most vendors will help you all they can to get your repeat business.....which is everything in this business.....just ask burc, hence the "free frag" lol :P

[Nano]

same here for the most part i find its opposite theres usually lots of conversaton and back and forth untill the order is shipped....most vendors will help you all they can to get your repeat business.....which is everything in this business.....just ask burc, hence the "free frag" lol :P

Yup he's definitely not perfect, but I have no complaints, he has screwed up orders for me in the past as well and forgot to ship things, but always makes good by sending more then originally ordered IME.
Like said its always a risk ordering online, but that's the method many of us choose, seems like my frags get bigger each time I order, can't help but feel this is from my repeat business and being polite never hurt.

[daniella3d]

I did order a few zoanthids from them that I thought were wrong but turned out they were the right thing after a few months as they took their rightfull colors.

I bought a eye or rae which was brown on receipt and remained brown until I put it in my 75 gallons under Phoenix MH lamp then they turned out really blue. Give the zoanthids time and the right light to see what they will become.

I often received the wrong things from fragalot anb often corals were brown.

this is one exemple that I did not order and received. I had ordered a blue digitata, received this wierdo piece of I don't know what...but at the end it turned out pretty cute, so I kept it and now it's got a spot of choice in my setup...here is when I received it:

http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy143/daniella3ds/fragalot1.jpg

Ugly isn't? :)

here is what it evolved into...much better and today it's quite beautiful, this is a few months ago:

http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy143/daniella3ds/103_1846s-1.jpg

Just to say that some corals may look ugly but have the potential to become very beautiful if given the chance and the right conditions.

Here is another one...received it brown like that from fragalot. It was labeled "multicolor millepora" but was rather brown.

http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy143/daniella3ds/fragalot2.jpg

Now after a few months under the Pheonix...and it's getting more and more of that powder aqua blue color.

http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy143/daniella3ds/103_1814s.jpg

So sometime we got to give those corals a little time to shine, but it is a very hight risk not to receive what you order when you order from Fragalot, as they like to replace pieces without even asking you if you want them.

Me and two coworkers did an order last week..we ordered on jun 22 and asked for it to show up on the 29th

showed up alright, packaged OK, dry box, styrofoam lined box

no heat pack, nothing labled (i even asked for one particular zoa frag to be marked)

Two LPS were missing all together...4 of the 5 LPS i ordered were wrong (my teal candycane was a green, translucent hammer was a purple tipped frogspawn, purple octo was a green/purple tip frogspawn, and my torch was supost to be a yellow tip, and got a cream brown tip) the picture of the Bubble coral i ordered shows a possibly BLUE BUBBLE but gives no description of color, and i got a white bubble, that is slowly showing green and red colors under the attinics, so im happy about that..and BIG too

we ordered 10 zoa frags...8 of them went home with me to grow and frag...only 3 have opened so far and dont really look like anything we ordered but they;ll change over time...

i sent an email to Fragalot last Friday I believe and havent received a response...(i sent afew questions prior to the order and received responses within 24hrs)


this happen to anyone else? its our first online coral order and we're all sour about it now

[burgerchow]

my orders from the last Vancouver Group buy turned out pretty good.

[Borderjumper]

most venders?? i would kind of argue this is an overstatement.
not true, not my experience anyway.

received my fragalot order today, best one yet!
thanks Burc:thumb:

I got a bunch of mini maxi anemones today and I agree with don.ald, they are really nice, and since no one here gets any in.. Im very happy we had a place we could get them from. if my tank wasnt full i wouldnt hesitate to order more.
I also saw a plate coral that came in today, and it was the brightest green I have even seen, and looked very happy in the bag. It glowed without lights!

I think if you do a small group order or a one on one order it works out much better. I think I exchanged 50 emails and a bunch of pictures with him over the last 2 weeks, so nothing was left to chance. I was happy and we each were given a free coral.

just remember when you buy his 10$ frags you are basically getting a fresh cut frag that in a lot of cases is from a newly collected, newly shipped colony.. Talk about a stressed frag. I think that's why he can do $10 frags.. No tank time involved in growing them out, as basically they arrive, are chopped, and shipped. This I don't know for sure, but I'm assuming.

All in all I'm happy with my last three reorders.

[jorjef]

I think if you do a small group order or a one on one order it works out much better.

I have said the same thing before and this makes the success rate much higher. These 10-15 people group orders are ridiculous both for the person organizing and for Burc. Serious if you had three people do a group order and never made free shipping it would still only cost $15.00 per person for freight, no one in this hobby should even blink an eye at that!!

[mandyplo]

I have said the same thing before and this makes the success rate much higher. These 10-15 people group orders are ridiculous both for the person organizing and for Burc. Serious if you had three people do a group order and never made free shipping it would still only cost $15.00 per person for freight, no one in this hobby should even blink an eye at that!!

Makes sense and you are correct there, 15$ is chump change in this hobby...

And you guys are all right I shouldn't say "most vendors". I think I'm just cursed. And also probably worried because I just dropped $300 and don't want it to be put towards hassle and frustration...

I do feel a lot better after reading daniella3D's post she's absolutely right you have to give these animals a chance, theyre put through A LOT and with time and patience they'll make the $ worth it! Yours looked nothing like the original photos. Probably why people freak out when initially getting these orders.

I'll have to take some before and after pics when my order comes in too.

[mandyplo]

In your guys' experience, how long does Fragalot usually take to ship out an order? Does he give you a tracking number?

Like I said I place a $300 order from him June 29 and still haven't heard back from him on whether it's shipped or anything, is this normal? I've emailed him a number of times too

[Shifty203]

In your guys' experience, how long does Fragalot usually take to ship out an order? Does he give you a tracking number?

Like I said I place a $300 order from him June 29 and still haven't heard back from him on whether it's shipped or anything, is this normal? I've emailed him a number of times too

Yes, he normally provides a tracking number.

My first order, I place it on a sunday night. Monday morning I had a tracking number, and the package was already moving.

Second order, placed on a tuesday, I don't think I heard from him until the following wednesday.

It sounds to me like this is a buisness that he runs in his spare time from his house. He could be on holidays, he could have had a family emergency, etc. I wouldn't fret too much.

I know some people may reply to this saying "It should ship the second I order it, or they're a bad company", but poop happens sometimes.

[jorjef]

You "placed" a $300.00 order, have you paid for it? may seem like a dumb question but......



In your guys' experience, how long does Fragalot usually take to ship out an order? Does he give you a tracking number?

Like I said I place a $300 order from him June 29 and still haven't heard back from him on whether it's shipped or anything, is this normal? I've emailed him a number of times too

[gobytron]

You can't blame anyone else but yourself by gettig scammed by Frag-a-lot...

There are SO many reports of the poor business practice there.
One quick search on Canreef and you would have found 80% bad and 20% good experiences with this company.


Do your due dilligence.
Its worth the extra time and effort.

[reefwars]

In your guys' experience, how long does Fragalot usually take to ship out an order? Does he give you a tracking number?

Like I said I place a $300 order from him June 29 and still haven't heard back from him on whether it's shipped or anything, is this normal? I've emailed him a number of times too

How did you pay??

[Borderjumper]

In your guys' experience, how long does Fragalot usually take to ship out an order? Does he give you a tracking number?

Like I said I place a $300 order from him June 29 and still haven't heard back from him on whether it's shipped or anything, is this normal? I've emailed him a number of times too

You should always confirm a mutually convenient shipping date and availability by an email or a phone call with any online dealer BEORE you pay. This just helps to avoid problems with the order.

[hexbasher]

i paided with paypal sent three emails with him weeks prior to the order and told him he had a week to ship

[wickedfrags]

last I heard this was his only job.

It sounds to me like this is a buisness that he runs in his spare time from his house.

[mandyplo]

You should always confirm a mutually convenient shipping date and availability by an email or a phone call with any online dealer BEORE you pay. This just helps to avoid problems with the order.

Too bad he doesnt have a phone number listed anywhere and he rarely replies to emails...? Kinda makes this hard to do.

I payed already with PayPal and yes the "placed" order has already been payed for. Still nothing I've contacted him 4 times now with no reply.

[Reefie]

Maybe he fired himself? I would if it was up to me, fire him that it is.

last I heard this was his only job.

[Dr_Hicks]

Too bad he doesnt have a phone number listed anywhere and he rarely replies to emails...? Kinda makes this hard to do.

I payed already with PayPal and yes the "placed" order has already been payed for. Still nothing I've contacted him 4 times now with no reply.

Open a dispute with paypal and let them know you have not received the product; and/or cannot contact the seller.

You should have no problem getting the money back.

[Cugio]

Your order was only a week ago. Wait and see what happens next week. Either way, you can still get your money back. Also, I do think your order will be coming soon.

[Nano]

Too bad he doesnt have a phone number listed anywhere and he rarely replies to emails...? Kinda makes this hard to do.

I payed already with PayPal and yes the "placed" order has already been payed for. Still nothing I've contacted him 4 times now with no reply.

Always replies to my emails within an hour

[arash53]

Always replies to my emails within an hour

it might be captured by junk filter, it happened to me ,he replied me after a week and told me my email was in his junk mail.

[muck]

Always replies to my emails within an hour
Ok... then email him and ask him where mandy's order is... simple. :mrgreen::mrgreen:

[Borderjumper]

Ok... then email him and ask him where mandy's order is... simple. :mrgreen::mrgreen:
Already done ;)

[Bblinks]

Key word here is CONSISTENCY. I don't care what kind of business you are in, customer service is your top priority. Just because a few customers are not happy with your business and they voice their opinions, that doesn't mean you can just ignore them completely especially when they have a valid complaint.

Some of you guys who got good service from him, awesome. I am glad you did. He does have some nice pieces. I just hope that he can step up his game and keep the same level of service for all his customers and not just a crap shoot. what you see is maybe what you will get or maybe not at all.

[gobytron]

Look...
The guy is a ****ty businessman with inconsistent quality control.

The value is good enough to keep people coming back.

Spin that wheel and order from Frag a alot.

[Reefie]

I think you'd have better luck betting on Black or Red on Roulette, at least you know you have a 50% chance of winning.

This is BUSINESS, and if Burq CHOOSES not to treat it as a business, why do people constantly get suckered in? I guess he is good at photoshop with his pics on his site, maybe he might have better luck photo-editing?

All in all, GOOGLE the reviews people! 80% bad and 20% good, is purely bad business.

I have nothing against him, he's probably a nice guy and all, but I have a simple motto "Treat me well and you will gain a customer for life, screw me once and I'll make sure everyone knows about it."

Look...
The guy is a ****ty businessman with inconsistent quality control.

The value is good enough to keep people coming back.

Spin that wheel and order from Frag a alot.

[mandyplo]

So I filed a claim with PayPal this morning I'm going to try to cancel my order because Burc has still failed to reply to me or send me my goods. I hope the refund goes smoothly, I left him this message in the dispute through PayPal. You guys think its a fair message??


7/9/2012 10:40 GMT-04:00 - Buyer: Sorry Burc but I've given you plenty of time to process my order and my requests but I'm at the point now where I'm canceling my order. After reading many negative reviews about the way you deal with customers and the shipments that you send, I was still willing to give you a chance and see if those were one off experiences and that maybe you were overall a great vendor. But after seeing the lack of commitment to your customers first hand I have decided not to risk my order after all. I am sorry we couldn't do business, but after reading one last bad review this morning I've decided to place my money in more responsible hands.

[MarkoD]

Even then you get screwed by the green zeros

I think you'd have better luck betting on Black or Red on Roulette, at least you know you have a 50% chance of winning.

This is BUSINESS, and if Burq CHOOSES not to treat it as a business, why do people constantly get suckered in? I guess he is good at photoshop with his pics on his site, maybe he might have better luck photo-editing?

All in all, GOOGLE the reviews people! 80% bad and 20% good, is purely bad business.

I have nothing against him, he's probably a nice guy and all, but I have a simple motto "Treat me well and you will gain a customer for life, screw me once and I'll make sure everyone knows about it."

[howdy20012002]

paypal can be very tricky getting your money back.
it is a pain in the butt.
A piece of advice for everyone - use your credit card when using paypal.
when paypal fails to give your money back, charge back on your credit card.
a couple of years ago, I had put a large downpayment on a limo in the states.
flew done to pick it up, the vehicle was crap.
refused to buy it and the guy refused to give me back my money.
paypal refused to give me back my money.
called my credit card company and told them what happened.
they charged back and I got my money back in full.
moral of the story - paypal will not have your back typically unless the seller agrees to give your money back.
Neal

[mandyplo]

Hi Neal, Burc was very cooperative and it's funny, no reply from him since June 29 but as soon as I file the claim this morning he gets back to me immediately asking why I did it, but also refunds me right away with no questions. I am disappointed that I couldn't do business with him because his pieces do look remarkable on his site... But Im happy in the end that he was cooperative and I didnt get hurt.

[muck]

Glad you got your monies back Mandy... :biggrin:

[mandyplo]

Thanks Muck!

So now that this is settled, other than coralmaster.com where else can you get coral frags in Canada? Coralmaster has some AMAZING sps that I'll be sure to be spending my refund money on, but what about LPS and Zoas where can we order these from in Canada?

Is it even possible to order them and have them shipped to Canada from the US? Does anyone here have any personal experience doing this?

[Claudia]

Glad to hear that everything worked out for u :)

[Dr_Hicks]

Is it even possible to order them and have them shipped to Canada from the US? Does anyone here have any personal experience doing this?

Possible? totally....

Painful and excruciatingly long process for the necessary paperwork? YES!
( depending on what you are ordering )

Worth it for a hobbyist? nope....
( not in my option )

Basically what you would need to do is locate a partner/business in the USA that would be willing to help with necessary permits; pay all of the fees and inspection costs; and you'd be set.
( obviously you would need to flip the bill on all of the permit and import costs )

To get someone interested in doing business with you out of the USA I'm sure you would need to place a pretty substantial order.

It's much more cost effective to get help collecting tank mates here and there from vendors online in Canada; call around to some sponsors and see just what they can do for you to win your business.

[Gizmoh]

+1000 on Greg from Coralmaster. You wont regret it

[bluesox68]

I went to see Burc last night being and I must say it was great. His set up was top notch and I got an amazing flame bta and and he gave me some zoa frags just because I said they were cool lol. We were there for 40 minutes and I know that doesn't sound like much but I had my wife with and 16 month old with me and she never gave me the "lets go" look once! I'm not trying to troll and I understand shipping things is a different experience then going to the store but I will be buying of Burc again. Great experience

[Spyd]

That's the thing with Burc. I have had some good experiences and some bad experiences. The thing is, when you go to his place and can see the corals and pick them out, you will have a good experience. With shipping, it is hit or miss.

I had an order where he had everything bagged for me and I didn't look to closely at them. Half my order turned out to be things I didn't order. He made good on them by letting me keep those frags and offering me credits as well. I can only assume this happens to people quite frequently when ordering them online and would be very frustrating.

In person, Burc is a nice guy and he does have a nice setup. But, obviously, for many this is not a possibility to go to his place.

[fragbox.ca]

there are no online stores in Ontario right now...

coralmaster is the only reputable true online place to shop in canada to my knowledge....

say hello to fragbox.ca!

[miuYH]

say hello to fragbox.ca!

March at fragbox is great. Fast communication. Great customer service. Shipping is a+.

[paddyob]

I'm sorry but it sounds like the ones you are talking about colors... Are correct. In fact sounds about right that the colors are not identical.


Frag a lot has been around for years... And based in your problems with the first order in June... Why would you order again?

They say fool me once... Shame on you. Fool me twice....

A search on this forum would have quickly shown you his record.


Edit.... You says you ordered june 22... And said this is first order? I think I missed something.

[paddyob]

So I filed a claim with PayPal this morning I'm going to try to cancel my order because Burc has still failed to reply to me or send me my goods. I hope the refund goes smoothly, I left him this message in the dispute through PayPal. You guys think its a fair message??


7/9/2012 10:40 GMT-04:00 - Buyer: Sorry Burc but I've given you plenty of time to process my order and my requests but I'm at the point now where I'm canceling my order. After reading many negative reviews about the way you deal with customers and the shipments that you send, I was still willing to give you a chance and see if those were one off experiences and that maybe you were overall a great vendor. But after seeing the lack of commitment to your customers first hand I have decided not to risk my order after all. I am sorry we couldn't do business, but after reading one last bad review this morning I've decided to place my money in more responsible hands.



I think this email is going to hinder any further communication. I would have left the feed back until after you got the refund.

Insulting him will not speed up this issue. In fact I bet you get your order now and not the refund. He has no obligation to refund your order once processed.


Best of luck.

[DAVE]

This is a pretty old thread. I doubt the people involved are still paying attention.

[daniella3d]

wow, those prices are ripoff...20$ per polyp for fruit loop? come on...give me a break. I buy full frags of them around here for 15$. The good thing about fragalot is that the prices are fair.

say hello to fragbox.ca!

[Salt2Death]

If I ran FragALot I'd be so proud of all the great I do and how I touch so many lives so positively!


Sent Via The Pirate Ship...

[paddyob]

This is a pretty old thread. I doubt the people involved are still paying attention.

Geez. I never noticed. I thought I was missing something.

[paddyob]

wow, those prices are ripoff...20$ per polyp for fruit loop? come on...give me a break. I buy full frags of them around here for 15$. The good thing about fragalot is that the prices are fair.

Yea no doubt. The rics are the same price as local too. Why ship when they come easier and no shipping. Way over priced.

That was the plus with frag a lot... if you got what you wanted... great price.

[daniella3d]

Some of my best corals come from Fragalot. They were just brown when they came in and took sometime to color up but once they did, they were as advertized.

My main complain with fragalot is that you never know what you will get because they have the bad habbit of switching things for something you did not order. Some of those pieces turned out great though...not expected.

Yea no doubt. The rics are the same price as local too. Why ship when they come easier and no shipping. Way over priced.

That was the plus with frag a lot... if you got what you wanted... great price.

[xenon]

Some of my best corals come from Fragalot. They were just brown when they came in and took sometime to color up but once they did, they were as advertized.

Totally unacceptable.

How does this guy stay in business? I thought reputation was everything. :question:

[Phil]

I've order twice from fragalot and was happy both times. First was for my self second was a group buy I did. Everyone was happy. I also ordered off of fragbox and was extremely happy with what I got and price. And I'm ordering again. As for his prices I think there fair. I've bought stuff of guys on this form and the prices are on par and the end result is I'm happier with my fragbox order than my $300 local buy off another guy.

[Phil]

heres a bleeding apple scoly i got a steal of a deal from fragalot
http://i1338.photobucket.com/albums/o694/Philbuist/Camera%20Awesome%20Photos/preview_image_0_52470682x_zpsfb8ada2a.jpg?t=135447 9411

And heres a bunch of zoas i got from fragbox
http://i1338.photobucket.com/albums/o694/Philbuist/Camera%20Awesome%20Photos/preview_image_0_82075482x_zpsdc4e759c.jpg?t=135447 9438

[Claudia]

That bleeding apple scoly is beautiful :)
I have never order form there before but i wouold like to try. I will get stuff on the next group order

[LoJack]

This guy is a straight up crook. He still owes me $400 worth of coral that he never shipped from June.

The worst part is, he did respond to my emails ... and kept me on the hook just long enough so that my window to open a paypal claim had expired ... "I was in the hosiptal ... I'm having family issues ... I was out of the country and my cell didn't work there" ... etc etc, Yet every Wednesday ... no Delivery guy with a box of frags for me ... and then shockingly never heard from him again.

And one person said " be nice and I gurantee he'll resolve your problem " ... to this I say BS ! ... I have been nothing but pleasant and professional and I still got nothing.

And honestly ... it boggles my mind that people can read this thread, and then still say, "Yup, this sounds like a good idea ... I'll try it"

Best of Luck

I've got a fire pit in the back yard if I want to see my next $400 go up in flames ...

[Northernseacorals]

This guy is a straight up crook. He still owes me $400 worth of coral that he never shipped from June.

The worst part is, he did respond to my emails ... and kept me on the hook just long enough so that my window to open a paypal claim had expired ... "I was in the hosiptal ... I'm having family issues ... I was out of the country and my cell didn't work there" ... etc etc, Yet every Wednesday ... no Delivery guy with a box of frags for me ... and then shockingly never heard from him again.

And one person said " be nice and I gurantee he'll resolve your problem " ... to this I say BS ! ... I have been nothing but pleasant and professional and I still got nothing.

And honestly ... it boggles my mind that people can read this thread, and then still say, "Yup, this sounds like a good idea ... I'll try it"

Best of Luck

I've got a fire pit in the back yard if I want to see my next $400 go up in flames ...

The real lesson for you is that you should never use paypal to pay for anything, there is hardly anything to protect you; always always use your credit card.

[LoJack]

The real lesson for you is that you should never use paypal to pay for anything, there is hardly anything to protect you; always always use your credit card.


lol this drives me nuts. The comments like this.

Whether or not there is a better way to pay, or otherwise, his conduct is absolutely inexcusable.

One person made comments to the OP along the lines of "you should have been nicer and maybe he would have helped you"

That should be irrelevant. If the Original Poster paid for an item ... he should receive it. Regardless of payment method, creed, sex, or politeness

Are you telling me that if you went to a furniture store to buy a couch, and they sent you the wrong one you wouldn't complain ??

And then, because you are upset the store decides that they aren't going to do anything for you ... and you can't have your money back? Thats against the damn law ... its friggen robbery!

Its never the customers fault ... If you pay for goods ... you should receive said goods, plain and simple. If that business person decides he doesn't want to do business with you again, thats well within his right ... but the person is either entitled to what he paid for, or his money back ... not neither.

[reefwars]

I hear the latest Calgary order went as usual lol :p

[Phil]

I don't know but if someone took my money and u can prove it that's what the RCMP are for. Wouldn't be me siting here saying I lost my money . But I havent had a bad experience with him.

[wickedfrags]

i should get into collections :)

[sphelps]

I hear the latest Calgary order went as usual lol :p

Sort of, the blame currently resides with FedEx for shipping ground instead of air. I can't say if it's true or not but it's what I'm told. The current plan is to see what survives when it gets here although I see no point in that personally, the order should just be replaced ASAP. Time will tell how he handles this one, luckily I only gambled a little bit.

[Tristan]

I know he just had a huge "sale" called frag fest. Some pretty good deals it seemed. Personally I have only ever gone to his place to pick out what I want so my experiences are going to be a lot different than any one out west.

[xenon]

I know he just had a huge "sale" called frag fest. Some pretty good deals it seemed. Personally I have only ever gone to his place to pick out what I want so my experiences are going to be a lot different than any one out west.

Does his coloration match the pictures on his website?

[Northernseacorals]

Does his coloration match the pictures on his website?

The frags do after time, takes a bit to colour back up.

[kien]

Sort of, the blame currently resides with FedEx for shipping ground instead of air.

Seriously?? Doesn't he always ship over night? How is that even possible over ground?? But more importantly, how has this thread survived for so long?!? It's a miracle!

[Tristan]

Okay well,

I originally was planning on working on his website and updating it and getting it into a better functioning site but it was too complicated and I was only doing it pro bono and it wasn't really worth my time as I don't have much.

As for colours I do know that they are fairly accurate when they corals come in as I have taken photos and uploaded them myself. I can't speak for them once they have been freshly fragged and shipped though. I do know that the colours come back after time and patience just like any sps.

[xenon]

So the pics on his website are the colors he receives and if he sits on them too long, they loose color and people are ok with this?

[Northernseacorals]

So the pics on his website are the colors he receives and if he sits on them too long, they loose color and people are ok with this?

I've had a mixed bag ordering from him, good, great and OMG what have I done.

I have personally not ever received fully coloured up frags from Burc; however all that I have received have coloured up fine.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Most frags I've ever received that were shipped overnight arrived with loss of colour. Most of the Acan frags from Burc coloured up nicely after acclimating to my tank.

[Tristan]

I think the main reason for loss of colour is based on how they are fragged. They come into his system and are for sale or being fragged the next day. Couple that with shipping issues and you have brown sps.

I have never had any issues with him in the past but I have never had to have anything shipped.