OC Aquatics Two BIg Thumbs Down

[LarryV]

I ordered a bazooka Joe watermelon chalice frag from them for 89.00 plus shipping. I had them send the first one with there regular shipping which is USPS. The frag was shipped on Thursday I recieved it on Monday. It was so small I could not even tell if it was alive. I emailed them and first they tried to blame my post office for the problem but than decided they would send me another frag. I recieved frag Tuesday after paying an additional 30.00$ to go fedex this time. This frag is so small you can not tell if it is alive or dead. I will post pictures of it later this evening when I get home. I emailed them to let them know how dissapointed I was with them and this is the reply I got from them. Larry,

Your lucky to get the size that you got for $89. You got exactly what the description says "Extra small frag". We even sent you two.

Post whatever you want online and see what people say.

OC Aquatic

I know 89$ is cheap for this frag but I at least expected to be able to identify the piece as what I ordered. The frag may be a 32nd of an inch by a 32nd of an inch I dont know if I have anything to measure that small. It is totally unrecognizable as even being a chalice. They must cut them with nail clippers. I order frags regularly from Atlantis, Ultimate, Reef Exotic Etc... and have never recieved anything even remotely like these frags. Look at the picture of the frag they have on their website and compare it to the pics I will post later and you tell me if I got sqare deal. I wonder if all their corals are like this? Beware when ordering from these guys.
LarryV

 

[LarryV]

Here is the pic of the frag I recieved.

 

[LarryV]

Notice the Miami Hurricane chalice to the left that piece is about 3/4" that should give you an idea how small the other piece is.

 

[AlexStinson]

that is obscene it's so small

 

[coral88]

They have Green Palythoa grandes for $120 a polyp I thought that was funny but I didn't see the extra small bazooka Joe

 

[reefsandrotts]

is that a coral or 2 pods getting ready to wrestle..:hammer:

Man I would P****D to say the least.

 

[surfn]

that is a "frag"???

i've gotten extra small frags before, that were 3x the size of what you got (including tyree watermelon chalice).

does it even have any mouths/eyes?

i have a HARD time believing a chalice cut that small will even survive.

and who ships USPS on a Thursday? anyone who has a decent amount of shipping experience will tell you thats just not smart....

 

[LarryV]

You guys should see his reply on the reef central venders board. I got a larger frag than I should of got according to them. Here is a portion : Larry,
Our website clearly states extra small frag during the time you ordered. It now reads 1-2 eyes as I have change the price. I’m not sure what you were expecting but you got what was advertised. Our website also clear states no live guarantee for order not shipped via FedEx Priority Next day. I think that shipping you a free frag after your first was more than generous. If USPS takes 4 days to ship something that was expressed, how is it our fault? That’s the risk you take to save $20-$30 on shipping.
I’ve also paid much more for much less from private collectors so I’m surprise you feel that the frag was too small. I actually think its bigger then what you should have gotten for $89.00.
From our FAQ page
I would hate to of seen the size of the frag I was supposed to get. I honestly am not sure if it is alive or dead. Lets hope.
LarryV

 

[coral88]

If it makes you feel any better I will never buy from them after seeing and hearing about your joke of a frag. I've spent over $400 on coral just this month and was looking at a few things they have for sale. So at the very least you have cost them more than they made from your unfortunate transaction.

 

[jonbar1]

Wow they have Ruby Reds for $1.00 a polyp

 

[Pitcom]

That frag (if thats what you can call it) is really sad. Sorry about your luck.

 

[ReefDoctor]

WOW That is Absolutely OBSCENE... it is what gives online vendors a bad name

 

[OCAquatic]

We were just gonna let this thread die but since its back up we have a couple of things to say.

• The customer paid for USPS Express shipping not FedEx Express on the first frag we sent. Our policy clearly states there are no live guarantee on any non FedEx shipments; its in plain English. This is the risk that the customer take to save $35 on shipping. For zanthids and hardy soft corals, USPS Express is okay. The customer complained and we sent him a replacement frag for FREE eventhough we do not generally do that. The second frag was a lot bigger than the first one just to keep the customer happy. We only request that the customer pay $30 to upgrade the second FREE frag to FedEx Express which actually cost a total of $65 to ship.
• The second free frag that the customer complaining about was FREE and he still file a claim with PayPal to get his money back on the first frag? This is unethical.
• The item description clearly stated “extra small”, what was he expecting? Not extra small? The frag size he got is average size from experience with this type of limited edision corals (LE). We by a lot of LE corals like this from collectors and growers and this is the size we get them when we first grow them out. The customer paid half of the going rate for this coral on the market and expected a larger than average size? We’ve sent out smaller frags before and he was the first to ever complain about frag size. Also the picture he took online is out of context and seem a lot smaller than it actually is. Taken from far away and out of context it may look small but actually has two "eye" which is all a coral needs to start growing. The frag was actually a 1/4 of an inch in diameter. Those are 1.5" frag disks we mount on.
• Next time please read the description; it’s very short and clear about what he will be getting.

Sorry but we do not simply turn over and take it from bad customers that try to pull a fast one on us.

Thanks,
Kevin
OCAquatic.com

 

[ReefDoctor]

I would not have initially posted this if I had seen the date :( BUT since we are here :)

It is good of you to have offered and shipped a replacement.. this shows that you are making an effort to stand behind your product, KUDOS :D

It is totally unethical of the client to file a paypal complaint while you are still attempting to resolve this Agreed.

Yes, you do list it as "Extra small" for me I would see that description and picture about 1/4" perhaps even 1/2" as this is the size frags I have received of LE chalice, similar category and description, ie; A MARKET STANDARD SIZE the size that I see in those pictures is borderline nonviable :confused:

But if you will accept advice.........

1. NO quality vendors ship or offer to ship high $$ LE LPS pieces by USPS especially near a weekend, (maybe zoos or palys? but still) Forget the danger of a $$ loss it is simply unethical to endanger that 1/32" piece of life that way, Gaurantee or not it IS life. I have clients all the time ask for shipping via USPS.. LOL... You need to say "NO". These corals deserve overnight shipping Kevin you know this :)... the client simply must pay for it.. no option... that whole USPS things is just cheap people (this client) attempting to undercut true shipping costs... sadly very expensive today.
2. The pictures of the frags LOL say more than anything typed :hammer:

3. You are right, some clients will simply attempt to "Take you" understood but feedback and pictures like this do far more financial damage to your company than...
A. Charge more and just ship via a dependable overnight carrier.
B. Dont even offer or cut frags that small...Provide frags that your peers and clients will respect.
C. Always be sure that your clients are pleased... you really cannot place a value on this point.

I hope this helps rather than hurts.. but "points" are "Pointy"

 

[LarryV]

Just for the record this is what is posted on there homepage:
OCA is currently offering $6.99 flat rate shipping on all dry goods order small or large. Shipping is currently free on live good orders more then $199. Live orders below $199 shipping rates are as follow: $19.99 for orders within CA and $29.99 for orders outside CA. All live good orders are shipped USPS Express Overnight unless a different method is selected during checkout. If you would like your order to be shipping on a particular day please contact us at 714-965-7888 or email us at CustomerService(at)OCAquatic.com prior to making your order.

On the homepage it does not state anything about not guaranteeing items sent USPS. You have to go to Second paragraph under "Return Policy to find this information. It also states Express overnight to me that means I will recieve the next day. What is the difference if I get it post office next day or fedex? Obviously one, I would have recieved it, but it was the shippers fault not checking with the post office if next day was guaranteed. When I checked the tracking number they told me it was not it could be 2 days. Package was not delivered for four days. I did pay an extra 30$ fedex for the second frag which is also dead. I emailed them before I did a paypal claim to see if they did want to resolve the issue and got arude reply. I have dealt with Rommel at Ultimate, Mingwee at Atlantis, Richard at Reefexotic and you can ask any of them about my ethics, I think these are a little bigger names than this joke. I was going to let the paypal thing die as I did recieve two dead "corals" but after there last post I think I will file a full claim now.
LarryV
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