SauceyReef
Valuable Member
I was recommended to go through this company from another vendor feedback review here. Sadly I had the opposite experience.
I originally ordered a Mantis shrimp and St.Thomas Bubble. Shipping was perfect and it literally arrived in 16 hours under 70 degree weather. Sadly the Mantis came in dead, and the mushroom was about the size of my thumbnail, and floating in the bag. They had tried gluing it to a frag plug probably right before sending (it was a totally white frag plug). Seemed like a pretty novice move as most of us in the hobby know from experience you dont glue mushrooms with much or any success. Plus if you are going to do that you would think you would wait and make sure it attaches first before sending. Still hopeful at this moment that mistakes happen, so I contacted the company to get a refund and try again.
I explained what happened, showed some photos, and asked a couple questions about how long they hold the items from the wild to shipping. The lady I spoke with was very short, weird and borderline rude with me. I learned they hold the items for an incredibly short period in-between collection and shipping. I also learned that they don't return the shipping price, and if you want the animal sent back you have to re-pay for shipping. The thing is they also added these "bag fees" on top of the shipping prices, AND we had to repay these as well.. So far the experience was not good, but I told myself to try it again and if it goes bad a second time I will be done with them. Second order comes around - my friend added an Aiptasia Eating filefish on top of the order (bad move). Even with perfect shipping it came in DOA, and honestly looked real bad. Had red markings all around it, and a swollen belly probably from a swim bladder problem. The more I thought about it - I realize the animals that came in dead both required those "bag fees" which seemed suspicious to me. I again contacted them, and from their total lack of sympathy and communication skills I wrote a negative review about my experience. The lady than sent me a pretty horrible public reply saying that "my life must suck" etc.. Well my life does suck! But it is not your job to tell me that as an owner of a business and someone who does "customer service".
I am getting some very bad vibes from multiple different angles with this company. It is sad there are not more restrictions, and checks and balances to companies taking these delicate organisms out of the wild. Profiting off the death of exotics.. SaltyBottomReef Co shows the dark side of the hobby, and the negatives of collection & shipping that go down.
I originally ordered a Mantis shrimp and St.Thomas Bubble. Shipping was perfect and it literally arrived in 16 hours under 70 degree weather. Sadly the Mantis came in dead, and the mushroom was about the size of my thumbnail, and floating in the bag. They had tried gluing it to a frag plug probably right before sending (it was a totally white frag plug). Seemed like a pretty novice move as most of us in the hobby know from experience you dont glue mushrooms with much or any success. Plus if you are going to do that you would think you would wait and make sure it attaches first before sending. Still hopeful at this moment that mistakes happen, so I contacted the company to get a refund and try again.
I explained what happened, showed some photos, and asked a couple questions about how long they hold the items from the wild to shipping. The lady I spoke with was very short, weird and borderline rude with me. I learned they hold the items for an incredibly short period in-between collection and shipping. I also learned that they don't return the shipping price, and if you want the animal sent back you have to re-pay for shipping. The thing is they also added these "bag fees" on top of the shipping prices, AND we had to repay these as well.. So far the experience was not good, but I told myself to try it again and if it goes bad a second time I will be done with them. Second order comes around - my friend added an Aiptasia Eating filefish on top of the order (bad move). Even with perfect shipping it came in DOA, and honestly looked real bad. Had red markings all around it, and a swollen belly probably from a swim bladder problem. The more I thought about it - I realize the animals that came in dead both required those "bag fees" which seemed suspicious to me. I again contacted them, and from their total lack of sympathy and communication skills I wrote a negative review about my experience. The lady than sent me a pretty horrible public reply saying that "my life must suck" etc.. Well my life does suck! But it is not your job to tell me that as an owner of a business and someone who does "customer service".
I am getting some very bad vibes from multiple different angles with this company. It is sad there are not more restrictions, and checks and balances to companies taking these delicate organisms out of the wild. Profiting off the death of exotics.. SaltyBottomReef Co shows the dark side of the hobby, and the negatives of collection & shipping that go down.
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