Canadian Reef Octopus Distributor

[rockworm]

Originally Posted by intarsiabox

Coralvue will answer questions right away but I don't know if they can control what another distributor does. The problem with having to order through the distributor is that they may not just ship single items to their vendors, they will usually wait until there is enough to send a larger order through. If you are going through a pail of salt every 4 days doing 40g daily water changes and losing a fortune in corals would it not be cheaper to just get the skimmer through the US? Even with our dollar, the items I've looked at from the US are still about par with what I pay here in Canada, just no savings.

If I had known there would be such a delay, I would have gone to an US seller. I accepted the distributor's estimated deliver through my local LFS. I trust my LFS and have since discovered that these delays are common with the Canadian distributor. This comes not just from my LFS, but also from others who have contacted me. The LFS contacted the distributor three times after the order was placed. I finally received word today that it is being shipped from Montreal and will be here Tuesday. The distributor was more than willing to charge the LFS an additonal $90 dollars to get it here for today. They did not accept responsibility for the delay and neither I nor the LFS feel that the extra delivery charge was reasonable. This speaks to the integrity of the distributor and in the future I will try to avoid ordering products that they carry.

I do note that the US prices are somewhat comparable to Canadian prices, but once you add the shipping and import charges (broker charges) plus the taxes, you are looking at a 20% higher price. Once you are above $1000 this adds up.

I do have a large system and expecting fast replacement of equipment may not be directly available from Canadian sources. However, distributors should have something in place for timely accomodation. I don't expect them to carry all products, but they should be set to get them in short order if needed by a consumer. Maybe my expectations are too high.