OMG! Liveaquaria switched their 14 day guarantee to a store credit!!!

alton

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I posted about this on 8/24, and it went into affect 8/9. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/l...antee-for-marine-fish-is-store-credit.642149/

It is very frustrating. TBH I have seen a few people on here talk about fraudulently filing claims against vendors to get either free goods or money. Liveaquaria is comparable to most online vendors now. I understand the fact they are only store credit for any fish that survived the shipping. Expert only fish are DOA credit, nothing beyond that. I don't understand why their prices are still so high and why they have a box fee associated with each order. I have stopped looking on their website purely due to the change in terms. Now they are no better than most LFS, which may make LFS very happy.
I thought by now the complaining would be over, but I guess not?
LA was the last company to issue a credit back to your card. No one I order from does that.
At the end of the day if a fish that is posted is a fair price I buy it, if its too high I pass, and that includes $9.99 box charge.
LA and DD still get fish in that no one else does.
I have checked out other places and most time they are just as high if not higher.
Michael at NYAquatics is probably the store that gets in good deals, but he has only DOA on some fish and store credit on everything else.
I have been on a waiting list at Aqualocker for yellow belly regal angels for a month now.
I am just glad there are still many choices to get in fish because my LFS will not order expensive fish to hold at the store, if I special order its mine dead or alive no warranty.
And yes I miss the great price like getting a large blueface angel for around $200 with free shipping and it coming in a box that weighed 18 pounds with over a gallon of water. If I tried and shipped overnight it would of cost over $200 for shipping. I am sure someone in the Petco office realized they where losing money and raised prices.
 

Thaxxx

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There is a "catch" to the store credit. Let's say you ordered $300 worth of fish. You had a $50 fish die. You get store credit for $50. You see a $50 fish you want to buy with your credit. Not so fast my friend! $10 box fee. $39 shipping. ($149 minimum for free shipping) my state and county tax total is 7%. $3.43.yes they tax box fee and shipping. So.... We have $10, $39, $3.43. A total of $52.43 for that dead fish, plus the $50 you initially paid for it. So that dead fish cost you $102.43.and the risk the replacement may die.
 

Kzang

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Knock LA all you want but I bought a pbt and blue tang and they died of ick/velvet from my lfs and I paid $100 over what LA would of cost. At least LA would give me my money back, even if in the form of credit
 

TheOne

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Also you can't use the store credit toward free shipping. So you still have to spend another $149 to get free shipping not counting your store credit. I told them to keep the store credit and disputed it with paypal. PayPal refunded my money. I'm done with liveaquaria. They have went downhill since petco bought them out. I was even PM'd on here telling me if I chose to dispute it I wouldn't be allowed to order from them anymore using my paypal account. c'est la vie my friend!

Example, Say you get $145 in store credit so you go online and purchase a fish for $150. Guess what, no free shipping. Now that $150 fish cost $150 +$29 shipping+ $10 box charge + $10 Taxes. So they end up taking back $49 of your store credit . Ask me how I know? Because I just went thru the whole headache with them over it.

I also tried to buy salt with my store credit. Guess what? You cannot use store credit for any goods. Only livestock.

https://aqualocker.com/ gets my vote now! Free shipping at $149, no box charge, no tax and 14 day guarantee.

 
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pdxmonkeyboy

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Knock LA all you want but I bought a pbt and blue tang and they died of ick/velvet from my lfs and I paid $100 over what LA would of cost. At least LA would give me my money back, even if in the form of credit

Can we knock you for not treating tangs with copper even if they don't show signs of illness? A powder blue with ich? shocking!!!
 

Halal Hotdog

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DD animals are at a facility where the are qt'd and watched. Non DD animals are drop shipped from the wholesaler/importer.

Not sure if you have visited their Wisconsin facility, but their ‘QT’ process is no better than any LFS out there. None of the fish receive prophylactic treatment. Most people would be better off at a LFS then Liveaquaria now.
 

ca1ore

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Being "ON PAR" with the rest of the industry does NOT earn a clients business. Being "AHEAD' is what makes you stand out and get not only a client's business but his return business as well.

We're only talking about a small part of what makes a vendor stand out though. Although LA is fairly pedestrian now compared to the rest of the online vendors, DD is still largely unique. I think price and selection are the things that really drive differentiation, and LA/DD still has the best selection IME (we can debate price).

Reading the posts, it looks like hobbyists are quickly abandoning this company in search of someone "AHEAD" of the industry.

Who might that be i wonder. People these days seem to love to get all outraged over stuff. Maybe these policy changes have/will cost LA/DD customers or maybe they won't. i suspect that there is no 'ahead' alternative, at least none that I know of. Just on par LOL.
 

ca1ore

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I always thought it would be interesting for a vendor to offer an 'extended' warranty. $399 for an arrive alive achilles; $499 for 14 days. I wonder if anyone would take advantage of it?
 

Dragon52

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They're owned by Petco so I would guess a lot of these recent changes are from the top.
That seems to be the case. I've spent hundreds of dollars with them because of the 14 day guarantee. that's a new change. Petco has ruined LA.
 

TheOne

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I always thought it would be interesting for a vendor to offer an 'extended' warranty. $399 for an arrive alive achilles; $499 for 14 days. I wonder if anyone would take advantage of it?

www.Aqualocker.com offers a savings of 30% if you choose arrive alive only. Or you can choose 14 day alive guarantee for the normal price.
 
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Hal3134

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What drives me nuts about the credit is I assume most people do like myself and always purchase enough to get free shipping. So when my $150 order only has two DOA’s at $20 each now to get those two fish again I either have to pony up and order more that I didn’t intend to order In the first place or pay the shipping.
Bingo.

So your $40 in fish credit is eaten up by the $30 shipping and $10 box charge. So you really don't have a $40 credit, do you?
 
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To be fair, I haven't seen a decrease in fish quality since Petco took over. Unfortunately, that means I still tend to get about a 20% die off during the 14 day guarantee period. I usually order 4+ fish per order to get the free shipping. For full disclosure, all of my deaths have been "no visible signs" of trauma or disease, which means to me that it was excess stress of just a weak fish. And about 20% of my deaths were DOA or clearly not going to make it upon opening the bag.

I just quickly browsed the Aqualocker website. In several instances their pricing is substantially lower than LA. Aqualocker is looking pretty good for me right now.
 

danieyella

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Meanwhile my order that was supposed to be here today was held by UPS for an extra day, luckily I'm off tomorrow as well to receive it - but I'm worried about what I'll be receiving at this point. Not LA's fault by any means, this one is 100% on UPS.
 

alton

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That seems to be the case. I've spent hundreds of dollars with them because of the 14 day guarantee. that's a new change. Petco has ruined LA.
You have to ask yourselves "Would it have been better if Dr. Fosters and Smith just closed their doors 5 years ago and never sold to Petco?"
 
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Hal3134

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I also tried to buy salt with my store credit. Guess what? You cannot use store credit for any goods. Only livestock.
Ugh. That's a new one to me that I didn't see spelled out on LA's website.

Look, I agree with everyone that if we fully understand LA's policies then caveat emptor. You know what you are signing up for. If you still think it's a good deal, then great, go get it.

What I object to is that I never saw the change from refund to store credit. It wasn't advertised. Customer service never said "be sure to check our new terms and conditions".

Now I have $110 in store credit that I can't use towards free shipping, has to be for livestock, expires in a year, and will be eaten up by $30 shipping and a $10 box charge.
 

TheOne

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To be fair, I haven't seen a decrease in fish quality since Petco took over. Unfortunately, that means I still tend to get about a 20% die off during the 14 day guarantee period. I usually order 4+ fish per order to get the free shipping. For full disclosure, all of my deaths have been "no visible signs" of trauma or disease, which means to me that it was excess stress of just a weak fish. And about 20% of my deaths were DOA or clearly not going to make it upon opening the bag.

I just quickly browsed the Aqualocker website. In several instances their pricing is substantially lower than LA. Aqualocker is looking pretty good for me right now.

To me aqualocker is not your typical big box chain. They even offer up to 45 day QT services. To me that says alot about caring for the actual livestocks well being and not just about turning a profit at the expense of live animals.

 

Thaxxx

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Ugh. That's a new one to me that I didn't see spelled out on LA's website.

Look, I agree with everyone that if we fully understand LA's policies then caveat emptor. You know what you are signing up for. If you still think it's a good deal, then great, go get it.

What I object to is that I never saw the change from refund to store credit. It wasn't advertised. Customer service never said "be sure to check our new terms and conditions".

Now I have $110 in store credit that I can't use towards free shipping, has to be for livestock, expires in a year, and will be eaten up by $30 shipping and a $10 box charge.
I just recently had a $74 livestock credit. They had their frozen foods on sale 20% off. They let me use my credit to by the frozen food. Of course the $29 shipping ate up my 20% off. But I got my money back out of it without having to buy livestock.
 

LobsterOfJustice

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Now I have $110 in store credit that I can't use towards free shipping, has to be for livestock, expires in a year, and will be eaten up by $30 shipping and a $10 box charge.

The fact that your store credit doesn’t count toward the threshold for free shipping is outrageous. Am I understanding that correctly?

Aqua Locker is filling the void the LA has left. They sent out a survey recently asking what was most important to their customers and updated many of their policies based on the results. While LA has raised prices, replaced refunds with store credit, removed guarantee coverage, and added a box charge, Aqua Locker has literally instituted new policies the exact opposite of each one of these in the past few months.
 

TheOne

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The fact that your store credit doesn’t count toward the threshold for free shipping is outrageous. Am I understanding that correctly?

Aqua Locker is filling the void the LA has left. They sent out a survey recently asking what was most important to their customers and updated many of their policies based on the results. While LA has raised prices, replaced refunds with store credit, removed guarantee coverage, and added a box charge, Aqua Locker has literally instituted new policies the exact opposite of each one of these in the past few months.

Yes, the only way to get free shipping is to spend an additional $149. Then you can add on your store credit. It is absolutely ridiculous. Especially if you are given a store credit of $150 because then you have to spend $299 to recieve free shipping.

I just recently went thru this whole headache with them. I even had them pull up my account showing I have spent over $700 with them over the last 18 months and now they are changing all of their policies and will just keep giving you the runaround. I tried every way possible to spend my $150 store credit but ultimately I realized they were just going to end up with at least $50 of it back unless I spent $299 or more on live stock.

Granted I can add that much livestock but what about the person with a nano tank or similar? How are they suppose to add that much in livestock? They can't and liveaquaria knows it.
 
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Hal3134

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Just to be clear Aqualocker gives a refund for DOA. The 14 day guarantee is a store credit.
 
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