My Vendor Reviews: Vivid Aquariums

[MixedFruitBasket]

I have decided to start doing vendor reviews. We all know how expensive this hobby is, and while it costs money to grow/sell corals or run a store for dry goods/supplies, I don't think it's beyond reason to expect a level of transparency for vendors. There are things a vendor cannot help, acts of god, stupidity of shipping company, neglect from buyer leading to damage or death of item purchased.
Most of my reviews will be specifically about livestock, because that is where it is mostly the burden of the seller to represent an item as best to their ability and show that item to the best of their ability.


The following is based on my opinion and experience as a first time buyer with this vendor.
I may elect to use photos from their site, my photos from my tank, and screenshots from personal email when inquiry about product representation was made depending on my experience.
Quite often, the lower the vendor score, the more evidence I may post to prove why I gave that score.

My scoring system goes as follows
5* Excellent--Exceeded expectations.
4* Good--Seller did to the best of their ability.
3* Okay--Seller made a valiant attempt.
2* Poor--As a buyer very disappointed with seller's sales practices.
1* Cheated--I feel as if there was no effort made for clear and precise representation and or customer service.

Buy from again ranking:
Yes
Maybe--depends on overall experience such as seller's response to issues.
No

Finally, total amount of losses from purchase: US $$$

Added: I want to make this clear I am not doing any of these reviews to force any vendor to right what I feel like was a wrong. And I will NOT change my overall review if an offer to do so is made or done. I might change whether or not I will buy from again to a *maybe*, but that is the only thing that will be altered with each review experience.

 

[boacvh]

Following all your reviews now. This is awesome! Priceless for newbies like me who have never ordered from these before and have trouble choosing.

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

Following all your reviews now. This is awesome! Priceless for newbies like me who have never ordered from these before and have trouble choosing.

It's important to not just go by one person's experience. It's best to talk to several buyers before drawing a conclusion.

 

[Vivid Aquariums]

Did you ever reach out to us at Vivid Aquariums and give us a chance to fix your problem? We will always take care of our customers given the opportunity. We would not have survived 16 years in business without that.

I gladly would have offered you a full refund had you contacted me. I would never want a customer to be unhappy with an order. That’s one reason we offer one of the longest & best guarantees in the industry.

Call me old school, and maybe it’s because I know the blood sweat & tears that go into running a small business but I would always reach out to a business owner & give them the opportunity to make things right before posting a negative review. In today’s world that doesn’t happen often though. People love to jump online & bash without communicating or giving the business an opportunity to correct a mistake.

Unfortunately mistakes happen from time to time. It’s how we handle them that really counts.

Sincerely,
Dave Burr
Vivid Aquariums

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Did you ever reach out to us at Vivid Aquariums and give us a chance to fix your problem? We will always take care of our customers given the opportunity. We would not have survived 16 years in business without that.

I gladly would have offered you a full refund had you contacted me. I would never want a customer to be unhappy with an order. That’s one reason we offer one of the longest & best guaranteed in the industry.

Call me old school, and maybe it’s because I know the blood sweat & tears that go into running a small business but I would always reach out to a business owner & give them the opportunity to make things right before posting a negative review. In today’s world that doesn’t happen often though. People love to jump online & bash without communicating or giving the business an opportunity to correct a mistake.

Unfortunately mistakes happen from time to time. It’s how we handle them that really counts.

Sincerely,
Dave Burr
Vivid Aquariums

I agree with Dave. The first step should always be to reach out to the vendor to at least inform them and give them a chance to rectify the situation. If you want to post a full accurate review, you should post how the initial delivery was and include any attempts to resolve any issues. If you don't do this, it's unfair to the vendor as many will go to the extreme to make sure their customers are happy if you give them the chance. I understand that you want your reviews to be as unbiased as possible, but in my opinion, the transaction is not complete until either the customer is happy, or the vendor has failed to rectify any issues, and the full story should be relayed in each transaction...

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

Did you ever reach out to us at Vivid Aquariums and give us a chance to fix your problem? We will always take care of our customers given the opportunity. We would not have survived 16 years in business without that.

I gladly would have offered you a full refund had you contacted me. I would never want a customer to be unhappy with an order. That’s one reason we offer one of the longest & best guarantees in the industry.

Call me old school, and maybe it’s because I know the blood sweat & tears that go into running a small business but I would always reach out to a business owner & give them the opportunity to make things right before posting a negative review. In today’s world that doesn’t happen often though. People love to jump online & bash without communicating or giving the business an opportunity to correct a mistake.

Unfortunately mistakes happen from time to time. It’s how we handle them that really counts.

Sincerely,
Dave Burr
Vivid Aquariums

Yes I did. I wrote you an email and politely expressed my observation that no matter what light the corals were under they appeared pink brown. I even asked you what light you had the corals under and you told me ecotech and where to see the settings.

This was your response after I reiterated that the corals did not appear any other color but pink/brown:

You are running a lot of white light on your T5's, a typical 6 bulb set up would run at least 4 Blue plus, 1 purple plus or actenic, and 1 either aquablue special or coral plus. Technically the Coral Plus counts as a white bulb just with a slightly more blue tint to it than the aquablue special. So with the 10k and the coral plus bulbs you are running 5 white lights, the tuna blues will help but is not really enough to counter balance all the white. I can see from the picture sent that some of your mushrooms have turned brown and the zoanthids are more of a natural color. Unfortunately with that color combination anything but the most vibrant and neon corals will tend to look more tan and brown in color. I will include the lighting link from ATI's website on their recommended bulb combinations for a 6 bulb set up. Please let me know if you have any further questions. https://www.atinorthamerica.com/combos-6-bulb-fixtures/ James Thank You, Vivid Aquariums

I sent you photos of the trees under heavy blues and you didn't have much to say.

Why you assumed my mushrooms were brown because of the lighting, I have no idea ( I had just gotten them), but after I had those mushrooms a bit longer, under my white lighting they developed mint green/blue stripes over purple. They got more color with time in my tank not less.



Before I purchased the corals at all, I point blank asked you if the Kenya tree was the actual color it appeared "Is the Kenya tree shown on "Kenya Tree Coral" actually green? Or will it be another color?


Your response:



"
We have them available in green or in whitish/grey I will include links below for you.

Green Kenya tree

https://vividaquariums.com/collections/soft-corals/products/kenya-tree-coral

White/grey Kenya tree

https://vividaquariums.com/collections/soft-corals/products/white-kenya-tree-coral

James"


"Its not so much that they "look" like kenya trees, they "are" kenya trees. The amount that they are open and how they look day to day is dependent on light, flow and health of the coral. During the day a healthy kenya tree will look like a fluffy tree but they go through periods of shrinking and closing on a daily basis.

James"

Picture of tree coral under heavy blue lighting: Not even close to white. Photo enclosed, the same photo I sent you.

If the reason you brushed me off is because I didn't write you screaming, yelling, and throwing accusations, that's your issue not mine. I shouldn't HAVE to get you to realize there is an issue that way. No one should. I pointed out my concerns, I provided you with photos, I made my argument that I felt you were incorrect with your information regarding how color only shows under the blues.

But despite all that---the point is you misrepresented these corals. Because again, I asked you, point blank, are these corals the color they appear in the photo.

If it takes brand X light set on Z settings for the coral to vaguely appear as shown in your photo, then that's not the color of the coral.

I have also enclosed photos of green kenya trees. Sold to me from two different people and under white lighting yet they don't appear brown and it doesn't take blue to make the green.

I am not the type to bash people. I am also not prone to going off half cocked and throwing accusations on the internet. When I have an issue I try to present things in a fair and reasonable manner. Do I get mad, heck yeah, I can get really mad. But having made most my living doing work where I'm judged by reviews of my product, I know that it's important to reach out to sellers if there is an issue. I did. You blew me off on the excuse it was my light.
So do me a favor and please don't pretend I never made you aware of the issue/concern/disappointment.

Your Kenya tree next to a green sinularis. Can't see it? That's because it's brown not green and doesn't turn green under lighting.



Kenya trees from Unique Corals and another seller I can't recall right now.

 

[Vivid Aquariums]

Again I’m sorry to hear you were not happy with the coral we sent or your experience with Vivid Aquariums. We spent over an hour searching today to try and figure out who you are so we could refund your order but could not figure it out.

Please email [email protected] so we can process a full refund. I don’t want you to change your review but I certainly do not want the money of a customer so unhappy that they would go to the extent you did to post publicly.

I apologize that the coral you received was misrepresented and simply want the opportunity to make it right by refunding all of your money. We try hard to accurately represent each coral we sell and understand the importance. On rare occasions mistakes happen and we must try to make it right.

Please think about this fact. Why would a reputable business in today’s business environment not take care of their customers? I spoke personally with David Hammontree about your post today. He knows I care about my customers and that I will always make things right given the chance.

A review/ post such as yours could easily cost a vendor thousands of dollars of lost sales per year for years to come. My idea since the beginning has been to take care of my customers. I could refund a hundred unhappy customers for the same cost as one bad review.

In conclusion if you are going to take the time to post & write this review the. Take the time to email us so I can refund your order because I do not want, nor should I keep, the money of unsatisfied customers.

Sincerely,
Dave Burr
Vivid Aquariums

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

I agree with Dave. The first step should always be to reach out to the vendor to at least inform them and give them a chance to rectify the situation. If you want to post a full accurate review, you should post how the initial delivery was and include any attempts to resolve any issues. If you don't do this, it's unfair to the vendor as many will go to the extreme to make sure their customers are happy if you give them the chance. I understand that you want your reviews to be as unbiased as possible, but in my opinion, the transaction is not complete until either the customer is happy, or the vendor has failed to rectify any issues, and the full story should be relayed in each transaction...

Again: I did reach out and exchanged multiple emails.

 

[Vivid Aquariums]

Thank you MixedFruitBasket for communicating via email. I have refunded your order in full. Sorry that we sent you the wrong coral and did not refund or reship immediately. I have gone over your order & review with all employees to prevent such mistakes from happening in the future.

Dave

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Again: I did reach out and exchanged multiple emails.

I see this now, and the way you have handled this is entirely appropriate. I'm glad to see that Vivid has also taken care of you.

 

[Mical]

I've had nothing but EXCELLENT luck dealing w/Vivid Aquariums. They're stand-up folks and back everything they sell.

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

I see this now, and the way you have handled this is entirely appropriate. I'm glad to see that Vivid has also taken care of you.

Yes, Vivid has given me both a refund an apology. Much appreciated.

 

[bruno3047]

I have decided to start doing vendor reviews. We all know how expensive this hobby is, and while it costs money to grow/sell corals or run a store for dry goods/supplies, I don't think it's beyond reason to expect a level of transparency for vendors. There are things a vendor cannot help, acts of god, stupidity of shipping company, neglect from buyer leading to damage or death of item purchased.
Most of my reviews will be specifically about livestock, because that is where it is mostly the burden of the seller to represent an item as best to their ability and show that item to the best of their ability.


The following is based on my opinion and experience as a first time buyer with this vendor.
I may elect to use photos from their site, my photos from my tank, and screenshots from personal email when inquiry about product representation was made depending on my experience.
Quite often, the lower the vendor score, the more evidence I may post to prove why I gave that score.

My scoring system goes as follows
5* Excellent--Exceeded expectations.
4* Good--Seller did to the best of their ability.
3* Okay--Seller made a valiant attempt.
2* Poor--As a buyer very disappointed with seller's sales practices.
1* Cheated--I feel as if there was no effort made for clear and precise representation and or customer service.

Buy from again ranking:
Yes
Maybe--depends on overall experience such as seller's response to issues.
No

Finally, total amount of losses from purchase: US $$$

Added: I want to make this clear I am not doing any of these reviews to force any vendor to right what I feel like was a wrong. And I will NOT change my overall review if an offer to do so is made or done. I might change whether or not I will buy from again to a *maybe*, but that is the only thing that will be altered with each review experience.

 

[reeferKen]

You message didnt appear Bruno, and Welcome to the forum