My first Diver's Den order

[Tamberav]

Petco bought them out a long time ago, like 2015.

The change is probably just because they got tired of dishonest people saying fish died and not needing proof. I always wondered if they would ask for a pic of a candy basslet if one died since it wasn't written in a policy before.

I would be nice if they made prices more reasonable to reflect this change but you used to not get free shipping at $99 either. Was like $250 or something before when drfosterandsmith owned it. So I guess not all the changes are bad, people just don't tend to remember positive things.

 

[JasonK84]

Petco bought them out a long time ago, like 2015.

The change is probably just because they got tired of dishonest people saying fish died and not needing proof. I always wondered if they would ask for a pic of a candy basslet if one died since it wasn't written in a policy before.

I would be nice if they made prices more reasonable to reflect this change but you used to not get free shipping at $99 either. Was like $250 or something before when drfosterandsmith owned it. So I guess not all the changes are bad, people just don't tend to remember positive things.

I was very concerned they wouldn't believe me on the death of the mystery wrasse! It was my very first order and it was a $180 fish on top of that! They didn't even skip a beat. Apologized for the fish not making it and refunded the $180. This was just several months ago and it was already owned by petco. It really made me wonder how many people took advantage of this "no questions asked" policy. I'm an honest person and I've had a couple fish die within the 14 days but didn't claim them for it. If it's eating and been in my care for at least 5 days I don't consider it all their issue unless disease is obvious. I then decide if I'll eat it or call them to take care of it. I've not had a claim since they started requireing pics but I can say nothing but good of their customer service. That being said I wouldn't buy any saltwater fish from my local Petco unless it was to test medication on a known case of parasite or other disease. Other petco stores around may be better but the one near me is horrible. Owned by the same company but managed by different people.

 

[JVU]

It isn’t surprising that it took 3 years or so to make acquisition changes, this is how it works. They leave everything the same for a while, especially after the community uproar that the best place for livestock sold out to the worst place. Then they go through the policies and quietly make changes they hope will increase profitability.

The problem is that some of us have been shopping with them for a long time, and are used to and expect their long-standing policy. When they made this change they didn’t make an announcement or tell anyone, including when one places an order. They have a whole page talking about it and how it makes your purchase risk-free, but no mention of this new restriction. It’s not even an asterisk/footnote by their frequent touting of their alive guarantee on every page. I’m not saying it isn’t somewhere buried in fine print, I’m saying it isn’t apparent to customers.

So when I had a $90 half-inch Biota Mandarin smaller than a fingernail disappear in my tank on day 3, I couldn’t find a body but I didn’t try too hard in my 6 ft tank because I thought they’d have my back. I was surprised when I called and they told me they wouldn’t honor the guarantee. They did honor the guarantee on another item for which I had a pic, so I’m not implying they don’t honor it in general.

So, the point of my posting this is to warn people that this policy has changed to be significantly more restrictive, since the company is not warning people themselves.

 

[Tamberav]

Yeah that sucks it isn't posted everywhere. I do agree it should be. I have been shopping with them for years as well and I admittedly didn't know about the change either in my last order but got a refund since I attach pictures whenever I can. I use a QT tank so it's fairly easy to find a body but I wouldn't be one to QT a biota mandarin either.

Still as long as you have a pic they refund right away and don't give out a stupid store credit, I hate store credits. If they go to store credit then they will probably lose some of my business since I can get the same policy at other suppliers too. I mostly use LA/DD for that $$$ refund. The LFS's here offer no type of guarantee at all although I still do purchase fish from there at times because prices are much better.

This change is going to make me even more hardcore on my QT since I want to be sure I can find the bodies.

 

[ca1ore]

Now that they are owned by PetCo, they no longer honor their alive guarantee unless you have a photo of a dead animal outside of the tank. They used to be great in this regard and now they aren’t in my opinion. It used to be a no-brainer to pay the premium to buy from DD, but now I’ll think twice. When I pay Nordstrom prices I expect Nordstrom service, not Target service.

Typical misinformation I’m afraid. As noted, Petco bought Dr. Fosters & Smith (of which LiveAquaria is a division) back in 2015, but only changed this policy a few months ago. I would note that the majority of the other places that offer a survival guarantee have required a photograph for as long as I can recall. It seems entirely reasonable to me, and only a minor inconvenience. They also no longer do replacement shipments and will only credit your form of payment. Only the Divers Den animals command a premium because they are conditioning the fish for you - it has nothing to do with the guarantee - and in some cases that premium is quite small. Plus DD has fish that you won’t easily find elsewhere. I’ve placed many LA/DD orders, both pre and post Petco ..... and have noticed no difference.

If you really are a long term customer, I’m surprised they didn’t make an exception for your fingernail mandarin, particularly since it’s a recent policy change (and one not well communicated, I agree). I had a similar situation - not saying they made an exception ... not saying they didn’t.

 

[JVU]

You are entitled to your opinion. As am I. And maybe a third person will have a third opinion. I still order from them because as you point out there isn’t much in the way of better options out there. so it’s not like I’m on a vendetta or something.

Nothing I said was “typical misinformation”, I don’t appreciate being blown off as fake news or something. I described my experience, why it made me unhappy as a customer, and that my primary purpose in posting is to inform others of this large and hidden new restriction to their guarantee that I didn’t know before it negatively affected me. I gave more detail (including answers to parts of your post), in a follow up post which you didn’t quote, or maybe hadn’t seen yet when you replied.

It is quite ironic that if I recall correctly you were just posting in a separate thread about how important it is to be supportive and not unnecessarily inflammatory on R2R, which I agree with.

 

[wesman42]

You are entitled to your opinion. As am I. And maybe a third person will have a third opinion. I still order from them because as you point out there isn’t much in the way of better options out there. so it’s not like I’m on a vendetta or something.

Nothing I said was “typical misinformation”, I don’t appreciate being blown off as fake news or something. I described my experience, why it made me unhappy as a customer, and that my primary purpose in posting is to inform others of this large and hidden new restriction to their guarantee that I didn’t know before it negatively affected me. I gave more detail (including answers to parts of your post), in a follow up post which you didn’t quote, or maybe hadn’t seen yet when you replied.

It is quite ironic that if I recall correctly you were just posting in a separate thread about how important it is to be supportive and not unnecessarily inflammatory on R2R, which I agree with.

I believe that he was stating a fact. Petco purchased LA in 2015, not two months ago when they implemented the change to their policy that required pictoral evidence of a deceased fish. Thus, Petco ownership doesn't have a direct correlation with the fact that people were abusing the system, forcing a policy change.

Now, something I'm sure we can all agree on is the fact that it happened overnight and without warning. That's just like a slap in the face to loyal customers. I don't doubt the reasoning, but the execution was terrible.

 

[don_chuwish]

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[roberthu526]

My LFS pinch the corners of the bags so fish can’t get stuck in there.

 

[Perkins]

I ordered a powder brown tang and one spot fox face over the phone at the beginning of the week. The lady I spoke with informed me of the changes when I ordered them but that may have been because I was using a credit from an order almost a year ago. I was concerned about ordering them because of everything I had read lately about LA but I wanted to use up my credit and I was very satisfied with what I received I’ve only had them for four days so far but both are very fat and healthy. They eat like crazy. I know this could just be a one time thing and I got lucky but it really seems that it’s hit or miss anywhere you go

 

[Rctreece]

I ordered three fish from them last week and my trigger arrived DOA. The other two were fine and as soon as I gave them a pic they refunded my money.

 

[ca1ore]

Nothing I said was “typical misinformation”, I don’t appreciate being blown off as fake news or something. I described my experience, why it made me unhappy as a customer, and that my primary purpose in posting is to inform others of this large and hidden new restriction to their guarantee that I didn’t know before it negatively affected me. I gave more detail (including answers to parts of your post), in a follow up post which you didn’t quote, or maybe hadn’t seen yet when you replied.

It is quite ironic that if I recall correctly you were just posting in a separate thread about how important it is to be supportive and not unnecessarily inflammatory on R2R, which I agree with.

Perhaps you mistook me for somebody else. What I wrote on that thread was that 'I agree that civility and writing in a constructive vein is something we should all strive to accomplish (even if I fail sometimes); but I do think that criticism properly provided is often more helpful than blind praise. Some people are so thin skinned that they cannot take even the hint of criticism - but then that is their problem not mine. So I will always be polite and constructive.' Don't see how anything in my reply to you failed this standard. Conflating owned by Petco and a changed set of guarantee requirements is mis-information in my view; so I called it out. There are things that have occurred with LA/DD since the acquisition by Petco that most would probably deem to be unwelcome changes - applying sales tax, changes to policy as two examples - but both of them would almost certainly have happened regardless of whether they are part of a larger corporation or not. LA/DD absolutely should make it clearer that their policy has changed; that I completely agree with. Anyhow, neither here nor there - we are all entitled to our opinions.