Hey guys, as someone who spent 20+ years in customer-facing positions before realizing I hate the general public, I always appreciate companies with good customer service. In fact, the customer service experience I have with any given company will be one of the most important factors in whether or not I will continue to buy and use their products. If someone tells me about a good customer service experience, and I need something that that company offers, I am even more likely to go to them based on my friend's customer service experience over their competitors, because customer service is that important. So I thought it might be a great idea for people to showcase reefing-related companies with a good customer service experience and celebrate those that gave it to us. Hopefully, other companies can learn from this and do better, because this space is full of companies that have terrible customer service.
Recently, I had an issue with some OceanDirect live sand, it was no fault of CaribSea, partially my fault as a buyer, and partially Saltwater Aquarium's fault as the retailer. Back in October, I ordered some Ocean Direct sand from Saltwater Aquarium.com. Instead of listing the Product Name (Original Grade, Oolite, etc), they list the sand grain size. I guess I ordered .25-1.0mm sand (which I now know is Oolite) back then and received Original Grade (which is what I actually wanted, so I thought .25-1.0mm = Original Grade).
So fast-forward to this past week, I ordered the same sand I ordered before, except this time, I received Oolite, which I know is far too fine of sand for my shallower tank. Noticing the "Oolite" sticker I reached out to SA and explained, and they said it was definitely the same sand I got before. Well, I had 1/2 a bag of the sand from October, so I put it in the bottom of my new tank, and taking their word for it, I dumped one of the new bags on top of the old bag, and low and behold the sand was completely different. There's a clear line of demarcation between the coarser-grained sand from October and the new Oolite sand I received. So, I sent pictures and after some back and forth, I decided to call CaribSea to see if something had changed. The lady who answered the phone was very pleasant, and after some exchange of information, we determined that I was probably shipped the wrong sand back in October (happy accident, but aided in my confusion) and that the new Oolite sand is being bagged in the old Original Grade sand packaging but getting stickers placed over the SKU. So mystery and problem solved, right? Well, instead of making me go back to Saltwater Aquarium, she offered to send me a new 40lbs bag of Original Grade free of charge due to the error. I did not ask for it, but I did kindly accept it...
Something as small as that has strengthened my loyalty to CaribSea, I still won't use Arag-Alive sand, but OceanDirect Original Grade is forever my go-to sand. So CaribSea, if you read this, thank you very much, I appreciate you.
Recently, I had an issue with some OceanDirect live sand, it was no fault of CaribSea, partially my fault as a buyer, and partially Saltwater Aquarium's fault as the retailer. Back in October, I ordered some Ocean Direct sand from Saltwater Aquarium.com. Instead of listing the Product Name (Original Grade, Oolite, etc), they list the sand grain size. I guess I ordered .25-1.0mm sand (which I now know is Oolite) back then and received Original Grade (which is what I actually wanted, so I thought .25-1.0mm = Original Grade).
So fast-forward to this past week, I ordered the same sand I ordered before, except this time, I received Oolite, which I know is far too fine of sand for my shallower tank. Noticing the "Oolite" sticker I reached out to SA and explained, and they said it was definitely the same sand I got before. Well, I had 1/2 a bag of the sand from October, so I put it in the bottom of my new tank, and taking their word for it, I dumped one of the new bags on top of the old bag, and low and behold the sand was completely different. There's a clear line of demarcation between the coarser-grained sand from October and the new Oolite sand I received. So, I sent pictures and after some back and forth, I decided to call CaribSea to see if something had changed. The lady who answered the phone was very pleasant, and after some exchange of information, we determined that I was probably shipped the wrong sand back in October (happy accident, but aided in my confusion) and that the new Oolite sand is being bagged in the old Original Grade sand packaging but getting stickers placed over the SKU. So mystery and problem solved, right? Well, instead of making me go back to Saltwater Aquarium, she offered to send me a new 40lbs bag of Original Grade free of charge due to the error. I did not ask for it, but I did kindly accept it...
Something as small as that has strengthened my loyalty to CaribSea, I still won't use Arag-Alive sand, but OceanDirect Original Grade is forever my go-to sand. So CaribSea, if you read this, thank you very much, I appreciate you.