Trying to understand zoa situation. Normal? What would you do?

[FirstCameFish]

Hello! I'm new here. Like new as in, my husband is the hobbyist and I am trying to become more involved.

I have recently found myself in a situation with a vendor and I wanted to know if it's a normal zoa occurrence or how to feel or handle this.

I wanted to surprise my husband with a zoa for as a Christmas present. I looked around and finally landed on one WYSIWYG zoa. It was a 3 polyp frag, I will refrain from the zoa name just in case it is specific to that vendor. I included a photo.

I counted down the days and canceled plans so that I could be home when it arrived. I think I was more excited than my husband. Unfortunately, when the zoa arrived, the frag only had one polyp. The second polyp was floating in the package and the third was just missing.

I immediately reached out to the vendor. At first, they asked for the water package temp but then told me that either way, this is normal and to just glue the polyp back.

Within a couple hours, the frag was empty and polyps were nowhere to be seen. I was heartbroken. I reached out again to the vendor, they said they would replace it. Soon after, they responded that they would not replace it and would refund me for the cost of the zoa. They didn't even include shipping or tax cost. Now they have ghosted me.

I just want to understand. Is this something you have experienced? I'm just so upset that since they sent it to us, already missing one of the 3 polyps, that they already knew this frag was maybe stressed or in poor condition.

Any thoughts? I included pictures of what we purchased, upon opening the package and within hours after.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Macbalacano]

I order quite a bit of coral online and have definitely experienced different dead on arrivals. Non specifically with Zoas. But what I think would be fair (unless they specifically state their DOA policy on their website) is to either get a full store credit to use on another order or a replacement shipped out for free. Worst case scenario is that you and the vendor split the shipping cost on the replacement 50/50. Just my thoughts on what it would take me to be satisfied if I was in your shoes.

 

[Brandont21]

I would argue that you purchased a WYSIWYG frag, that did not come as what you saw. I would fully expect a full refund and 50/50 shipping minimum. Now if all 3 polyps showed up unfortunately dead. I would expect to eat the shipping.

 

[wattson]

polyps that are attached to rock naturally have better survival odds, polyps without any rock or free floating polyps glued to a frag plug have super low survival odds. I never had any luck with polyps glued to a plug or disc..
I have had plenty experience in this topic and will always avoid putting bare polyps in glue..

 

[kevgib67]

All I can do is give you a suggestion, I’ve ordered most of my zoas from Tidal Gardens, always healthy and happy. So sorry for your experience, I hope you get compensated somehow.

 

[mfinn]

Did you ever get the money for the frag?
What does the return/refund policy say on their website?
If it states no refund on shipping then, that's just what it is.

I'm assuming they didn't reship another frag because either they didn't have another like the original, or because they got greedy and figured just refunding the cost of the frag would be their cheapest option.

Must have been a freshly/poorly glued frag.

You should name the vendor.

 

[Dom]

If you are going to order on line, you have to make allowances.

The vendor can't control what happens once it leaves their hands. Personally, I buy everything locally.

Sadly, your story is common. Many on line "vendors" are nothing more than hobbyists trying to offset their costs by selling off some of their collection.

Join your local reef-keeping club. You can buy and/or trade frags with other members.

Dom

 

[AtlantiCat]

If your vendor was Sunnyside Corals, I've ordered from them twice and gotten Zoa frags twice with a cluster of individually glued-on polyps instead of a naturally-growing colony. Each time, a polyp had fallen off still inside the shipping bag. All frags included more polyps than the listing indicated so I technically had no grounds to complain.

Unfortunately, none of these glued-together clusters survived the flow in my tank and all eventually just disappeared, one polyp at a time.

All you can do is live and learn, and make sure to never order from that vendor again. I'd also check to make sure the cluster looks like a colony, something I will definitely be checking in the future on all WYSIWYG frags.

 

[Macbalacano]

If you are going to order on line, you have to make allowances.

The vendor can't control what happens once it leaves their hands. Personally, I buy everything locally.

Sadly, your story is common. Many on line "vendors" are nothing more than hobbyists trying to offset their costs by selling off some of their collection.

Join your local reef-keeping club. You can buy and/or trade frags with other members.

Dom

I appreciate your perspective. I do however think that there are many excellent online vendors that do a great job at handling DOAs. From firsthand experience, I’ve had 3 different DOAs from 3 different orders from 2 different vendors.

I was always either fully credited or sent out a replacement at no charge. In fact the replacements I received were better and more expensive than the ones I originally received/ordered (they were WYSIWYG).

Now I do think of course this varies vendor by vendor. I always read their policies and read their reviews before ordering. I send them questions in advance and try to develop a relationship with them.

I want to support local as much as possible. But the challenge I have is that I live in a midsize city in Canada and while there are a handful of LFS, the selection and pricing is just ok. I find my online experiences to be better value, better price, better selection, better quality, and better service quite frankly.

I think you can receive equally poor or worse service from a local shop. At the end of the day, any business should do their best to keep their promises, do what is fair/reasonable, and communicate well with their customers.

 

[Brandont21]

Did you ever get the money for the frag?
What does the return/refund policy say on their website?
If it states no refund on shipping then, that's just what it is.

I'm assuming they didn't reship another frag because either they didn't have another like the original, or because they got greedy and figured just refunding the cost of the frag would be their cheapest option.

Must have been a freshly/poorly glued frag.

You should name the vendor.

Would you not argue that the return/refund policy wouldnt really apply here? OP got 2 out of 3 polyps. If all 3 polyps showed up sure. If you ordered 3 high end acro frags and only 2 showed up and the vendor said, oooops we forgot the 3rd, mind shooting us an extra 50$ to ship that to you? I would be quite irritated

 

[Cell]

If I ordered a 3 polyp zoa frag from a vendor, I would be rather disappointed to receive three freshly cut single polyps glued to a plug such that they were already falling off the plug during shipping. I avoid single polyp zoa frags for this very reason. Show me a wysiwyg 3 polyp zoa frag and my expectation is that they are all connected by flesh, not 3 single polyps glued to a frag.

 

[mfinn]

Would you not argue that the return/refund policy wouldnt really apply here? OP got 2 out of 3 polyps. If all 3 polyps showed up sure. If you ordered 3 high end acro frags and only 2 showed up and the vendor said, oooops we forgot the 3rd, mind shooting us an extra 50$ to ship that to you? I would be quite irritated

No, I would argue it all the way to contacting my cc company or paypal.
What was ordered was a glued up frag supposedly ready to be shipped.
Not loose pieces floating around in a bag.
Who knows how the polyps were fragged. Did he cut them too shallow and hurt the polyp?
Did he do this the day he put them in a bag?

Any reputable vendor should replace the frag. That's the cost of doing business, especially here with thousands of potential buyers.
I have bought from more than a few vendors here and other forums and have had to let them know something was wrong.
Everytime ( except one private seller) they took care of me.
That's the way it should be.

Now the vendor should have detailed replacement rules. Most these days even have that little place you have to "check" saying you have read the rules and agree.

 

[FirstCameFish]

Thank you all for such informative responses.

I was refunded the shipping cost as well. The refund included a "to be clear" response from the vendor stating their shipping policy and that the 3rd polyp probably came off when the packer grabbed the frag. They apologized about the missing polyp but said they had already refunded me the zoa.
My whole point being that I was not paying shipping for a partial frag. I would have no ground to stand on if all 3 polyps were floating in the bag, nor could I ask for full refund if they didn't specifically use the acronym of WYSIWYG.

Out of respect for the rules for newbies on this site, like myself, I won't be saying the vendors name. Although it was a disappointing experience, the final resolution was satisfactory.

On the plus side, I got to engage with and learn so much from you all.

 

[mfinn]

Glad you are happy with the outcome.
On a different note, I'm not aware reefers new to R2R don't have the same rights when dealing with vendors.
I would think that reefers who have dealt with specific vendors would have a better insight into both sides.

 

[FirstCameFish]

Glad you are happy with the outcome.
On a different note, I'm not aware reefers new to R2R don't have the same rights when dealing with vendors.
I would think that reefers who have dealt with specific vendors would have a better insight into both sides.

I originally wrote a post with the vendor name and was messaged by a moderator saying my post could not be used because I have to be a member for 30 days and make 25 meaningful posts before I can post feedback on a vendor. (I believe those were the requirements) I asked if I could post without vendor name and was told it was ok.
I think it's possibly to avoid someone making a bunch of profiles at once to badmouth a vendor or member?

 

[mfinn]

I originally wrote a post with the vendor name and was messaged by a moderator saying my post could not be used because I have to be a member for 30 days and make 25 meaningful posts before I can post feedback on a vendor. (I believe those were the requirements) I asked if I could post without vendor name and was told it was ok.
I think it's possibly to avoid someone making a bunch of profiles at once to badmouth a vendor or member?

I knew that was a requirement for posting for sale ads, but I understand how your issue is.
Thanks for letting me know.

 

[Tired]

I will say there's a tiny chance it's still alive somewhere. If it blew into a suitable spot and managed to attach, it might be growing somewhere in the back of your tank. Not likely, but possible!

 

[NASAGeek]

I’ve never had this happen, but I’ve always used Tidal Gardens or a semi local Texas company. (He’s in Dallas and I’m in Houston.) I’m sorry you had bad luck.