Bluezooaquatics.com Very Annoyed with Customer Service

[BenitaSolo]

I having a bad experience with Bluezooaquatics.com (BZA) customer service and fish description. I will bullet the transaction below:

-I see that BZA has Sargassum triggers for sale. YES! Super excited.
-I contact BZA via email to ask if they have a pair, they say no. No big deal, I'll get a male.
-I reply to email above asking about size of in stock fish
-BZA replies all fish are 3"-4" fish and they tell me to specify that I want a small fish in the comments.
-I order the fish and specify that I want a small fish
-I receive email confirmation!
(Everything is great to this point)

-the day after the order I email asking BZA to confirm they got my note and ask if they could send me a photo of the fish of the 2 or 3 smaller specimens in-stock. I tell them that I prefer health over size. The difference in 3"-4" won't matter that much.
-BZA ignores email
-the next day I send follow up asking BZA to address the issue.
-BZA ignores email
-I call BZA to confirm sizing and health. BZA tells me that they will not send out unhealthy fish. They confirm size and tell me they will adhere to the note. BZA told me none of the fish had been sent out so they will be sending me a small specimen. Great!
-The day the fish is supposed to ship I send another email yesterday afternoon to see is the fish are healthy enough to send out... Ignored.
-I call later in the evening (4hr time difference) and they tell me everything is expected to ship!

-Fish arrives on time! Fish is packed great! THE FISH IS 5-3/4" to 6" long... I specified several times what I was expecting (3"-4") and I received confirmation.... I would be forgiving if the fish wasn't 1/2 to 1/3 again as large as I was told...

I emailed BZA expressing my concerns and I am pretty sure the email will be ignored like always. I'm frustrated.
What would you guys do in this situation? I will wait to see how it is handled and I will follow up...

Thanks,
BenitaSolo

If I am being irrational or expecting too much please let me know what you think. They followed up to my complaint very quickly in the email below. It was definitely a very good mixed with very bad experience.

 

[BenitaSolo]

I received their response via email 5 minutes after I sent-
Here is the transaction-

"Your emails were not ignored at all. We sent you the absolute smallest one we had. All fish smaller than yours died before they got through our QT process and then a couple of them died while waiting to be shipped. We have done the best we can for your requests and we hope you enjoy your new addition.

Blue Zoo Aquatics
Customer Service Department

888-479-2583
[email protected]
www.bluezooaquatics.com


From: BenitaSolo
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2018 9:20 AM
To: Customer Service
Subject: FW: Sargassum Triggers-


Hello,

I received the fish today and have issue with what was sent…. The emails below have been sent you to you since the order was placed and were ignored. Review these first. I am assuming someone is receiving these emails and ignoring them.

The second email is BlueZoo telling me that these fish are 3”-4”. I SPECIFIED THE SMALLEST OF THE HEALTHY OF FISH. The fish I received today is 5-3/4” to 6”. I did not eyeball this measurement I used a rule.

The issue is not whether or not I can house a 6” fish. The issue is the other tank inhabitants and what I asked for and was told I would receive. I am frustrated that the emails I have been sending have been ignored.

I called on Friday to discuss and was assured that none of the sargassums had been sent out yet and that I would be receiving a smaller specimen. This is obviously not true.

Please detail how you suggest we remedy this situation. At this point there is no issue with the health of this fish. It’s a beautiful and seemingly well fed fish. I have no issues with the customer interaction up to the point of ordering (except for the sizing misinformation).

 

[BenitaSolo]

The saga continues-
I follow up with this email

From: BenitaSolo
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2018 10:59 AM
To: Customer Service
Subject: RE: Sargassum Triggers-


What a bad response. Not answering questions you are asked is the definition of ignoring something….

You (bluezoo) told me the fish were 3”-4” long and I reached out several times to confirm. Here is a cut and paste from your email response “All of the sargassum triggers we have right now are medium in the 3”-4” range.” This was obviously important to me. I don’t see how you think this is admissible and I am sure you can respect my discontent with the situation.

I would be a totally different situation had I not expected to get a fish in the 3-4 or even 4-1/2” range. It’s not like I can stick the fish in the closet and wait around until I need it. At any rate I posted a recount of the transaction on the R2R vendor forum and I copied and pasted your email below with the explanation why the fish I received was not as described. Feel free to give your point of view (if you care).

If the fish wasn’t so large it would have been a fantastic transaction. I don’t expect a refund but I want the fish I was expecting. How often do you get these fish in stock?

And I received this response-

From: Customer Service [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2018 2:46 PM
To: BenitaSolo
Subject: RE: Sargassum Triggers-


We don’t get them in very often at all. More and more collectors are giving up and doing something else with their lives and more and more collection stations are shutting down at this point. We are lucky to be getting the animals we are getting and people in the near future will have to be less picky about things like sizes or coloration. We entering a new period for this hobby and nobody in the industry knows what the future holds.

Just look at what is going on in places like Fiji and Hawaii. We also have the temporary ban on coral and live rock out of Indo. Plus the recent scare that United Airlines would stop shipping animals all together which would end Flame Angels on the market because only United has flights from Marshall.

So, sorry for being snarky or not giving you the answer you were looking for. It is a SCARY time in the entire industry right now. Pass that along to your R2R buddies. Only the companies that have been around as long as us and have made as many direct connections with international exporters will survive and all hobbyists are going to have to be happy with the shrinking availability and limited diversity of animals that will be descending upon the industry very shortly. Don’t get me wrong, the sky is not falling. We will all figure it out and survive. But with all the issues in the industry right now and all the people working very hard to shut the industry down completely, it’s little bit hard to swallow people complaining about the sizes of animals they receive when they have no idea how lucky they are to be getting these animals in the first place right now, regardless of size.

Anyway, we hope you enjoy your fish. Yes, it was eating very well before it left so you should have no issues with it at all. The larger ones tend to do better anyway so consider it a blessing that you got something more durable than you asked for.

Take care and God bless.

END

-What... why should I be made to feel bad or act like I should bow down to his grace for doing me a favor? What's hard to swallow is that they straight up lied to me and now are acting like they did it for me..
Am I being irrational here?

 

[BenitaSolo]

I don't even know where to begin and I hate to bad mouth a reputable business when the hate isn't warranted... But I'm going to go on anyway.

-Not a single apology or any repentance for lying/missinforming to me. I told him that I didn't want a refund for the fish but would like to get a fish in the desired size range.
- I would expect an email reply at some point during all of this. The guy finally responds within 5 minutes of my emailed complaints. Real shocker there.
-Mocks me about telling him I am going to post to R2R and wants to chalk it up like it's a handful of people who don't understand the industry....
-They recommend and send a kit with instructions for drip acclimation. Isn't that detrimental for fish that have been bagged for 12-24hrs even with amquel/prime? (serious question)
-Tries to make me feel like he did me a favor

I hate when 'old timers' think they know what's best... From reading around online a little bit this lack of customer service AFTER a purchase is par for the course. If I wanted a big fish I would have asked. Had he told me at any point during the several transaction emails and attempted transaction emails that the fish might be over the 3"-4" that 'all of there sargassum triggers are' then I would have been very clear that I did not want one...
I mean, what else could I have done to make sure it more clear?

This is a cut and dry case of lack of respect for the consumer and lack of credibility and responsibility of supplier.
I am more disappointed that I didn't get this fish I was expecting than I am by the lack of customer service... I have been looking for a sargassum in this size range for about a year.

Owell, I am done with the complaining. I'm worried when I get the fish out of my QT and add him to the DT what there will be serious issues with the other smaller inhabitants.

 

[TheEngineer]

Forum rules:

Negative Feedback Threads:

Outside comments are NOT permitted. The reason for this is to allow the vendor and member work through the negative experience. The staff will remove posts by other parties not pertaining to the transaction.

 

[BenitaSolo]

I will add, observe and assess the situation. It may workout just fine. I have other options. The thing is that I have a female blue throat in the tank now. This is why I was specific about size.

Something tell me that waiting for a specimen of the requested size from this vendor would be futile. I have the feeling that they would not be willing to try to get one in either. They only pretend to have the customer interests in mind.
I am an easy person to please... this isn't about the money. It's only $100 for a fish that I would expect to have for years.

 

[BenitaSolo]

UPDATE:
As of today BlueZooAquatyics still has the Sargassum Triggers LISTED for sale at the 2.5"-4.5". Please keep in mind he told me the 6" trigger he sold me was the smallest left in stock. All other were dead. I emailed them to let them know they are listed incorrectly. Email ignored. IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING PARTICULAR DO NOT BUY FROM BLUEZOOAQUATICS
Pathetic.