Gem Tang from Reef Lounge USA

[vlad2spinn]

I recently ordered a Gem Tang and zoanthids from Ref Lounge USA, since I they advertised the sale of the fish on reef2reef, I wanted to share my experience. Before ordering, I read the post where Jimmy Tao stated “Just keep in mind that there's no guarantee, but we will send you photo and videos of the fish before shipping!” so I was aware of possible risk of the fish not surviving due to possible shipping stress, but decided to take a risk if the fish was healthy prior to shipping. I also sent following email and followed up with a phone call to confirm my request would not be a problem.
“When you send video of the fish, can you include video of it feeding? Also, if possible, can you send largest specimen that is available, to increase possibility of survival during shipping. Any idea when they will ship? I am not in a hurry, I just want to make sure I arrange my schedule, to be home the day it arrives. Actually, I would rather you hold the fish until it starts eating well after the treatment so it is not too stressed before being shipped.”
I never received any pictures or video as I requested prior to shipping, even though I sent a reminder email two days prior to when the fish was scheduled to ship asking for pictures and video of the fish eating. When the fish arrived, I immediately noticed number of white spots on the fish that looked like ick. Pictures I am posting were taken the day I received the fish. Also, zoanthids I ordered did not arrive. So, I emailed Reef Lounge letting them know f the issues and included pictures of the fish. Since I did not receive a reply, I called Jimmy. He asked to text him pictures and video of the fish. After doing so, he immediately called me apologized and assured me that this would be taken care of and not to worry. I immediately started treating the fish and over the next two days I gave Jimmy updates that the fish was getting worst and would not eat. On day three the fish died. I called and texted Jimmy several times. He never returned my texts or calls.
Again, I was aware there was no guarantee, but I was willing to take a change if the fish was already eating and was healthy prior to shipping. The fish was shipped at 5pm and I received it at 10am next day. Clearly evidence of ick must have been on the fish prior to shipping but they decided to ship fish with active ick. In addition, they never resolved the missing zoanthids. If you ordered fish from them and received a healthy fish, I am glad you did, but I would like anyone considering ordering fish from them to be aware of my experience before deciding if it is worth taking a risk.

 

[vlad2spinn]

I paid with Paypal. Yesterday I opened a dispute with Paypal. All of the years I have used paypal and never had to do this before. We will see how it goes. Wish I did pay with my credit card, few disputes I opened with my credit card always gone my way.

 

[vlad2spinn]

Jimmy (with Reef Lounge) made it sound like there were a lot of people who ordered Gems from them. Anyone here bought Gems form them? If so, very interested how healthy was/is your fish?

I did read many people canceled their orders because of lack of communications. Now I wish I did.

After I already bought my fish, I found NY Aquatics was selling them for $450 and they claimed they treat all of their fish and do not ship fish that has not started eating. Thought about ordering one from them, but now I found this post:

NY Aquatics warning: Super shady behavior!!!!

I've placed 3 orders from NY Aquatics and had problems with all of them. The most recent was just unbelievable. Back around Christmas they had Zebra Tangs for sale on their site; something I've long wanted. They were $899 but there was a Christmas discount so I took the plunge. My tang...

www.reef2reef.com

Hard to find trustworthy online fish place.

 

[vlad2spinn]

I noticed the post I mentioned above Re: NYAquatics was a year old, so maybe they improved.

Before my fish died Jimmy with Reef Lounge suggested I put the fish in my main display so it would be around other fish. I have done everything possible (quarantining and treating all of my new fish) to prevent introduction of ick into my main display, so I was not willing to put fish with ick into my main tank.

 

[vlad2spinn]

I guess I just trust people too much, and if they tell me they will send video of fish eating, and send healthy fish I tend to beleave them. Since clearly that was a mistake, I just want others to know so they consider all the facts before making a decision to order or not to order from them.

 

[evolved]

This thread is in vendor feedback, and per this forum's rules, only the OP and @Reef Lounge USA are permitted to post.
This is to hopefully keep a clean slate for a potential resolution to be met.

If you've had an experience with this same vendor you'd like to share, please feel free to start your own feedback thread here.

Thank you,
Team R2R

 

[vlad2spinn]

This thread is in vendor feedback, and per this forum's rules, only the OP and @Reef Lounge USA are permitted to post.
This is to hopefully keep a clean slate for a potential resolution to be met.

If you've had an experience with this same vendor you'd like to share, please feel free to start your own feedback thread here.

Thank you,
Team R2R

Hunter,
Thanks for stepping in. I hope Reef Lounge will respond and make this right.

I understand your policy of not allowing other members to comment if the post is vendor feedback, but I wish Reef2Reef would reconsider this policy. I feel it would be very helpful to other members to have a single thread where all members could comment about their experience with particular vendor (positive or negative) and allow vendor to respond. This is a perfect example. If there was a single thread where members would have shared their negative (or positive) experience with this vendor, I most likely would not have placed my order with them. It is much less likely that a member considering doing business with a vendor will find all individual complaints or positive feedback if they have to reed multiple threads with a single complaint per thread.

To be honest, I was very surprised to see so many negative comments regarding this vendor and no positive comments in response to my post (note to readers: all comments by others have been removed by reef2reef since they are in violation to their policy. When the post is related to vendor feedback, only the vendor and I can post comments). When I posted my comments I was expecting that many members would step in and share their positive feedback regarding this vendor, but no one did. Number of people commented that they wish reef2reef would do better job screening their sponsors; and, I agree. Whether it is intentional or not, this policy protects reef2reef sponsors even if they engage in bad sales practices. I understand, reef2reef gets money from them and they want to protect them so they will keep giving them money. But, I wish reef2reef would consider best interest of their members and not just their sponsors. If you agree that it would be helpful to you to have single thread where all members could post their positive and negative experiences with a particular vendor, I encourage you to send a message to reef2reef and ask them to reconsider their policy, or start your own thread debating this issue. I feel anything that reef2reef can do to provide their members with all available information regarding all of sponsors/vendors should be done. I also encourage reef2reef to investigate bad sales practices of their sponsors and ban sponsors who advertise sales on reef2reef and consistently engage in dishonest sales practices.

 

[vlad2spinn]

On January 20, Jason from Reef Lounge indicated they would communicate better and respond via email to members who have issues:

FINAL DAY TO ORDER!!

Trying to get a response myself now!

www.reef2reef.com

To date, no one has contacted me. No reply to my emails, texts, or phone calls. Coral I ordered was never received, and as explained above, fish was shipped with bad case of ick and died shortly after arrival. Jimmy first told me he would correct this issue, but as soon as I informed him the fish died, he stopped responding to me.

Anyone who ordered fish from them and their order was canceled, consider your self lucky.

@revhtree please reconsider allowing Reef Lounge from being a sponsor of R2R and advertising sales on R2R.

 

[vlad2spinn]

On January 20, Jason from Reef Lounge indicated they would communicate better and respond via email to members who have issues:

FINAL DAY TO ORDER!!

Trying to get a response myself now!

www.reef2reef.com

To date, no one has contacted me. No reply to my emails, texts, or phone calls. Coral I ordered was never received, and as explained above, fish was shipped with bad case of ick and died shortly after arrival. Jimmy first told me he would correct this issue, but as soon as I informed him the fish died, he stopped responding to me.

Anyone who ordered fish from them and their order was canceled, consider your self lucky.

@revhtree please reconsider allowing Reef Lounge from being a sponsor of R2R and advertising sales on R2R.

Sorry, Jason's post was on February 14, not January 20