not happy with vendor
 

Just looking for suggestions.
I placed an order for some coral from a canreef vendor. Box was delivery by fedex the next morning as indicated from vendor. The box arrived soaking wet. I quickly called vendor before cutting the fedex guy loose as I did not want to accept the package. The vendor said quote "just accept the package and anything that is DOA I will replace " I quickly opened the box to find 5 out of 8 bags with corals completely empty of water. The bags were not damaged. ALL the water leaked out of the bags VIA the knott!!!! I could not believe that someone would have really thought that this would have held any water:confused:
I quickly placed corals in a bucket of tank water as I had no water from the bags to slowly climatize them properly. When I opened the first bag the smell was so bad I had to do this out side. And the temprature of the items in the box was really high. Anyways most things died. A few survivors but just hanging in. Sent vendor pic's. Said everything looked alive:surprise: There was nothing he could do. Anyways I'm out a few hundred dollars and the worst part is these poor corals died because someone did not know or care about packing them.
Im out a few hundred dollars. Any suggestions? Please

Did you pay by credit card? Have them reverse charges if you can. Also, expect to receive lots of PMs so you can relate your story with all the particulars.

Rules
 

I believe your best bet at this point is to continue with the vendor, trying to come to a solution. If your very displeased and believe that you shouldn't have to pay for any of it then technically you could contact PayPal or your credit card company and see if they can reverse the charge (of course with this time is of the essence).
Levi

Seems they haven't changed then.. :sad:

I was hoping their packaging had gotten better, I guess it hasnt. Mine arrived in a soaked unlined cardboard box, they were packed in cheap ziplock baggies. What wasnt dead didnt even resemble the pictures that had been posted. I was very dissapointed.

Why is it that a company thats been around a long time and ships frags a lot, can't spend the extra money on elastics?

I also forgot to add. The moon coral was coverd in GHA:sad:

Some times companys focus a little to much on profit and then the customers suffer, it sounds like theres kind of a general dislike for this vendor though so in reality are they not just shooting themselves in the foot?
Levi

Thats just gross!

Its too bad that this particular vendor can't seem to get up to par with some of the other fantastic vendors we have. It only helps us more as a hobby when we have more options.

Holly Cow Guys,
I have over 30pms and everyone is saying the same thing. I cant believe this has happened to so many people here from the same vendor.

Can we not stop allowing this vendor to be a vendor?
I personally have no idea who it is you are talking about and would like to know.
In alot of people's mind (mine included) I am sure that ordering from a vendor here means that you can get what you expected.
if there is a vendor who continually has problems, do we really need to get money from this person to support this board.
if money is an issue. I know personally that I would rather pay a monthly or annual dues instead of allowing vendors to continually profit from unsuspecting customers.
just my 2 cents worth.
Neal

Strongly agree!

Neal, we are currently discussing options.

Until then though, a vendor on this board does not gaurantee quality solely by membership.

Realistically, before anyone sends money to any company for anything, when you haven't done business with the before, they should make some inquiries first.

I have posted that should you want to deal with Vendor X, post asking for PMs relating experiences. In this case, this could have been avoided.

Second
 

I third this idea, in reality can this be done though I guess is the question?
Levi

My post above stated we were discussing options....

Didn't see your post as I was writing mine at the same time as you were writing yours, thanks for the answer though! (Feel free to edit my post) :lol: (and yes that was a good hearted inside joke using sarcasm).
Levi

I'll allow it :)

Maybe if the vender in question wasn't paying " vender dues" they could afford some elastics.

I had the a terrible exp with this vendor as well, it doesn't help living on the island, since the couriers really could care less about the package. But the first time pretty much the entire $300+ order was dead. I was told any DOA would be replaced, so I wentahead with the replacements. this time about half was DOA and two of the frags from the lot that made it where not what I ordered. They were switched out without me being notified. The packaging was a joke and no heat packes were included in the first shipment (early spring). And don't even get me started on the pictures vs. the actual frags. Not even close.

I chose to take my business elsewhere, but I do agree this vendor prolly doesn't belong on the site.

This reflects poorly on all vendors on this site. To know that the moderators do not put as much thought as the members of this site wish to see is disconcerting. Yes, these vendors are sponsers, they pay to have thier wares advertised on this site. But as a member of this site, I would expect the moderation team to take care with selecting vendors. When I see a banner run at the top of a Canreef page, I would think that this would be a reputable vendor. I now know to take the banners that run at the top of this page with a grain of salt. With the rate that this forum charges for sponsership(compared to what other canadian forums ask for) one would think that it would be quite affordable to pass on the occasional sponsership to ensure reputable vendors.

But I guess it's buyer beware. Just becuase Canreef is willing to take thier money, doesn't mean that the vendor is trustworthy.

Can someone tell me, as beginner, who this vendor is? So that there will no future disappointment when ordering. Thanks.

i was planning on doing a frag order next week from one of the vendors on this site, but now I am a little hesitant. Would someone please pm me the name of this vendor so I do not order from them.
Thanks

ps. I wholeheartly agree with Ephraim, being a sponsor should mean something, I thought Icould trust the sponsers on this site, but now I am not so sure.

Don't be too quick to pick on the moderators for letting "bad vendors" advertise here, there are always 2 sides to every story and who wants to be judge and jury to decide which side is right.

I am also pretty sure you could find someone to say something bad about every vendor on this site, it doesn't necessarily mean they are a bad vendor.

Its up to us to research before buying, after all we are (for the most part) all grown up and shouldn't need someone else to look after us.

I would appreciate a PM to know who this vendor is as well. I have a newly set up 90g that I will be looking to stock and WAS going to go through some vendors on this site but I want to be sure that I don't get a bad deal as well.
Thanks

Thanks Marie.

Well, I did my research before I shopped and searched the whole forum for people's experiences with that particular vendor.

Of course it doesn't help if you find positive reviews only, because negative comments aren't allowed/were deleted. It distorts the whole picture.

In my opinion telling people who got burned that they should "research before they buy" only adds insult to injury.

Not all vendors are created equal and should not be painted with the same brush. I for one work very hard to build customer confidence & earn repeat business. :idea: Don't be afraid to inquire of other members about their experiences with who you're thinking of buying something from.

Yes, one must do research before dealing with any online vendor. Sponsership of hobby forums does not give any assurance of quality. That is an unfortunate fact that many people new to the hobby may not realize.

I for one will not be dealing with Canreef sponsers any more until there is some assurance of quality from the person/people taking the payout for the banners.

I have to agree, all the excuses in the workd could be made, but the fact is that the people that use this site are being taken advantage of by a vendor. A vendor who REFUSES to give refunds and will only give you credit for product that arrives dead anyway. I was not aware of negative comments being deleted. That is BS, what kind of business owner doesn't want negative comments? Now it makes a lot of sense why I couldn't find any.

I guess the questions is who is more valuable to Canreef, the memebers or the bad sponsors. It should be posted publicly who the vendor is, there are other sponsors that are great and shouldn't have to deal with this.

So now as an employee of a shop that is a vendor here, I can expect to not get business from some canreefers because of an association with canreef? There is something soooooooo not right about this.I find it sad that anyone with a credit card # can become a vendor here? These forums are here for the hobbyest, not the vendors. This site is here to help people, not steer them towards a bad experience.

I have been following this thread with interest and would like to share, as a person who prefers to shop online. I don't like to spend alot of time driving around. I am in no way affiliated with any vendors and I have in the past purchased from Canreef sponsors. I spend the time to check out posts regarding them and PM other members who have bought from them. If I cannot find any posts about them, I create a thread and ask for opinions.

I regularly purchase from a supplier and when checking them out was told I would have a couple of issues. I do have these issues, and continue to deal with him because I can deal with the issues. In reading posts regarding him, I got what I expected. I have purchased twice in the last two months with another supplier and all my expectations have been met (if not exceeded) by him. In reading posts regarding him, once again, I got what I expected. I purchased from a major supplier in the US and the replies I received warned me about major Customs charges. Once again, I got what I was warned about.

I am currently dealing with another sponsor of Canreef regarding a major purchase. I have done my research, checked references and I am very confident that next month, I shall be posting a picture of my purchase, along with a big Thank You.

It is up to all of us to check thoroughly the places we spend our money. Would we walk into a dirty little shop with dirty tanks and hand over our money? Since you cannot be at the place you are spending your money when dealing online, let the other members be your eyes. I am sure that you will find that the members of Canreef can be brutally honest with you.

First of all, for those who seem to be unhappy with the board, perhaps instead of issuing ultimatums and grandstanding, you could consider running your own board.

It has already been stated that we are discussing what options we can implement for the future. Please feel free to offer constructive advice and suggestions, but please recognize that we can't implement all of them.

As staff here I feel my shins kicked slightly after reading some of these comments. I'll say this: if the thinly veiled attacks of the staff continue, then the response from the staff will be appropriate. Constructive criticism welcome, unconstructive criticism not.

Your kidding right? :lol:

I agree we must offer constructive criticism. Moderation of this site would not be an easy job.

I guess my only feelings on this topic are:

Truth never fears investigation ie if you are a quality vendor most will have nothing bad to say about you so have all the threads you want, and if they do go bad good vendors want to know so they can fix it. Like ebay there will always be a few yoyo's who leave bad feedback but those people are seen for what they are when standing next to everyone else's opinions.

I've seen posts bashing vendors and others are quick to the rescue because the vendor is a good one. That being said I think "vedor reviews" should not be so quickly moderated. The truth will come out, and if its a bad truth that gets deleted researching that vendor quickly become difficult.

I do know that I don't think the vendor fee should buy immunity, and if a vendor has a problem with posts about them not getting deleted they are probably not the kind of vendor we want on canreef.

All fine and dandy until someone threatens legal action. Are the members of the board ready to cough up money for the lawyers needed?

Good for you. That has got to be the stupidest thing I've heard on here all month. What? Now we're the better business bureau? Oh, I guess you don't use yellow pages either? Or read newspapers? OMG, don't listen to the radio or watch TV, there might be untrustworthy advertisers.
Sheesh. I know. I'll call the vendors and ask them if they're stand-up guys? Hello? No, you're not, you suck? Oh, well then, you can't buy advertising space from us then. Thanks for being upfront about sucking.
Christ, I've had complaints about every vendor in town from somebody at some point. We'll kick them all off. Good plan.

Just so you're aware, this is pretty much how the staff feel and are discussing options to add substance to this thought.

you're right. Let's kick Snappy off the sponsor list, he's just some guy selling frags and who owns a credit card. Another wonderful comment.
sigh...

Double Sigh... No Snappy!!! No we can't do that just because he has a credit card. Oh wait, let me check his references from other reefers.

So rather then getting all bent out of shape, pointing fingers and saying "well until people do this or that". Your the buyer, you make the final decision. Not the people running the forum, not the people on the forum, not the vendor.

When I joined the forum I read the rules and had a choice to accept them or not be a member. Yeah sure kick out the banner ads and we can all share the cost of running this site.

Or my understanding of things there is no rule against posting "ANY ONE DEALING WITH VENDOR 'X' PLEASE PM ME"

Is it just me or does that not make more sence then beating the staff of the forum over the rules we all agreed to.