First Algae Barn Order (Kind of)

[mitch91175]

It's been over 2 years since I ordered from AlgaeBarn and I had honestly forgotten why I didn't order again. Personally I am not too ecstatic about the 5280 pods. I received the combo of 5280 and OceanMagik today and let's just say, may 2 bags looked nothing like this picture below:

In this picture above you can plainly see the pods. I think in my bag I could see a few brown spots floating around. They did arrive alive (at least the few that you could see) and the packaging too me was more exciting that the actual 5280 pods.

Shipping took forever to receive and on the site the reason was because of high demand and that they wanted to ensure a quality product. Right now I cannot say that what I received was a quality product. The Ocean Magik is fine, but man the 5280 pods was like looking through clear water. I put the "water" in a 5 gallon tank to see if I can at least salvage something from it, but not impressed to say the least.

I have ordered from another source a few weeks ago and I could definitely see the pods so I wanted to see what the AlgaeBarn hype was all about. Guess I be using my other source because spending $100 and you cannot see them like you can in the image above just isn't right (almost like selling snake oil in a bag). I am sure others have had better experiences, but this wasn't what I was expecting.

 

[mitch91175]

Wish I had taken a picture of it to post here in comparison to the image above. What a total waste of $100 for me really (well at least I have phyto that I can use) .

 

[mitch91175]

Out of respect for AlgaeBarn, I’ll refrain from mentioning another supplier in their thread and wait to see if they have a response. I sure wish I had taken a picture. I literally looked at the bags and was like, well it did arrive alive. I don’t know how you could sell them and say that it’s 10,560 + for the 2 bags but you can only see a few pods floating. If my bag had looked like the image I would have had different things to say. But I honestly think I go a squirt of pods with a bunch of water.

The packaging is amazing I will say that. I think I save it and feel a little better about the burnt money.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Hi,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with your order. We offer a 100% Alive On Arrival Guarantee on every order and are happy to replace anything you are not completely satisfied with free of charge, if you are still not satisfied with the replacement order we will issue a full refund. This policy keeps us accountable to our customers as it allows them to ultimately have the final say on if we went above and beyond their expectations to earn their business which is our goal with every order. It sounds like you may have had a DOA which happens sometimes if the package gets too hot or too cold in transit. The copepods are small and look like tiny little dust specs in the water, the smaller size is intentional because we feel that offering a wide range of copepods of all sizes and life stages is the best way to seed your tank with a healthy copepod population. The best way to see the pods is to gently swirl the bag to shake them off the sides and bottom, then hold the bag up to a light and look through the bag. You should be able to see thousands of tiny little dust specs and they should be actively swimming and lively in the bag. If this is not the case or if you are not satisfied for any other reason with your order please contact us at 772-444-7637, or by email at [email protected] and we promise to make it right for you.

Again, thank you for brining this to our attention and we look forwarding to hearing from you.

Lan

 

[mitch91175]

Hi,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with your order. We offer a 100% Alive On Arrival Guarantee on every order and are happy to replace anything you are not completely satisfied with free of charge, if you are still not satisfied with the replacement order we will issue a full refund. This policy keeps us accountable to our customers as it allows them to ultimately have the final say on if we went above and beyond their expectations to earn their business which is our goal with every order. It sounds like you may have had a DOA which happens sometimes if the package gets too hot or too cold in transit. The copepods are small and look like tiny little dust specs in the water, the smaller size is intentional because we feel that offering a wide range of copepods of all sizes and life stages is the best way to seed your tank with a healthy copepod population. The best way to see the pods is to gently swirl the bag to shake them off the sides and bottom, then hold the bag up to a light and look through the bag. You should be able to see thousands of tiny little dust specs and they should be actively swimming and lively in the bag. If this is not the case or if you are not satisfied for any other reason with your order please contact us at 772-444-7637, or by email at [email protected] and we promise to make it right for you.

Again, thank you for brining this to our attention and we look forwarding to hearing from you.

Lan

Wow that was fast. I will send you an email.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Wow that was fast. I will send you an email.

That would be great and we will be more than happy to help and make this right for you!

Lan

 

[mitch91175]

Email sent.

 

[mitch91175]

Man these guys are fast. Already have a replacement being shipped out on Monday. That is AWESOME service. Let's hope for a just as awesome product.

 

[mitch91175]

Ok so update on my replacement order. The 5280 pods is what I expected to see this go around. Although I did order 2 5280, I received 1 5280 pods and 1 brine shrimp. Overall I'd say that I am happy with the replacement shipment. @AlgaeBarn, that's for the quick response and I appreciate you guys coming through.

 

[mitch91175]

The customer service at @AlgaeBarn is second to none. I had posted about only getting 1 bag of replacement and they saw it and shipped me another bag. Their presence here is 2nd to none. Awesome, awesome job and this is what we as consumers look for when we want to spend our hard-earned money with someone. Kudos to you guys and this is to me what will make me come back again.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Received my bags about 30 min ago- and seem to have a similar experience- for sake of being fair to vendor I can not determine if it is a faulty shipment or uninformed consumer- I have 2 bags 5280 pods and the dozen or so I can see
while scrutinizing the bags clearly ARE alive. So it is not a doa situation- I’m not planning to file a claim or contact vendor. I say I’ll let it slide, however unless I see a sudden jump in pod population- (new tank that has no fish as predators and no current pods at all) I most likely won’t place a 2nd order.

Hoppy,
Feel free to get in touch with me! If you feel like your order was DOA, or even if you were less than satisfied with your order, I would love to do what I can to take care of you!
Send me an email to [email protected], and I will be able to help you from there!
-Kevin

 

[mitch91175]

Thread was moved?

 

[kschweer]

Hey everyone. A few posts have been removed. Please remember feedback threads are limited to the 2 parties involved, outside parties are not allowed to comment. However we encourage anyone to start their own feedback threads for their transactions. Thank you!

 

[Oberst Oswald]

Not to get in trouble with the mods... but how can we help people who would like to buy pods from, I won't mention the name, and go to other pod selling stores who will sell a satisfying amount of product if the mods delete the criticisms of a vender?

 

[kschweer]

Not to get in trouble with the mods... but how can we help people who would like to buy pods from, I won't mention the name, and go to other pod selling stores who will sell a satisfying amount of product if the mods delete the criticisms of a vender?

I would suggest starting your own feedback thread. Feedback threads don’t necessarily need to be negative. A positive feedback thread brings light to great vendors.