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

[jschultzbass]

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.

Exactly what people are missing. If you've been buying fish from them for a decade like I have and then all of a sudden I have a DOA and the won't give me my money back, and I need a picture, and etc without ANY warning that is complete BS and why they lost me as a customer. Yeah it sucks in general they did all this to go from the absolute best to just like everyone else but with higher prices but what irks me is the the rollout. They didn't care at all about the returning, loyal customer like me. If they sent us emails, put plenty of advanced warning on their website that these changes were coming, etc. If you're new to fish purchases then yeah, you know what you're getting and it's all good.

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

My only beef with Live Aquaria lately is the massive mislabeling of corals. And when you point out that they are not the species they claim, they don't fix this issue. I find this very disappointing. Granted, there aren't many but they are there. To make it more frustrating the same corals can be correctly labeled in their general stock list but then incorrect on DD. And it doesn't seem to dawn on anyone there is a conflict of information there.
Last time I ordered off their ORA list everything I got was not what it was advertised as. Not the color, not the species, nothing. I did receive store credit but still it was disappointing.

I've spent a lot of money with them over the years and it's disheartening to see that they aren't doing anything to improve their coral selection or to correctly speciate corals.

I have also bought many fish from them. I've only had one DOA. A few arrived struggling. If I let them know they extended the warranty. When they died (and most do if they were struggling) I received store credit. Although the number of actual struggling fish has been few. I'd say I've lost maybe 5% of my fish from the general stock list. Others have done pretty well.

That in contrast to maybe the 70% of mislabeled corals or incorrectly described corals (Wrong species) or photos on DD that didn't resemble the coloration of a coral one bit--that's only happened twice I think the first time my fault for not reading the description (had right color in the description) the second wrong in the photo and description but they did credit me and I gave the coral away.

 

[shoelaceike]

Saltwaterfish.com is really cheap. I saw they had free shipping @ $79 and free flame angel at $159....never ordered from them though.

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

They have went downhill since petco bought them out.

Petco bought them a LOOOOONG time ago.

 

[jschultzbass]

Petco bought them a LOOOOONG time ago.

So? they still went downhill because Petco decided to make changes.

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

Saltwaterfish.com is really cheap. I saw they had free shipping @ $79 and free flame angel at $159....never ordered from them though.

Saltwaterfish is no where near cheap. They make up for their 79.00 free shipping with INSANE prices on coral and fish. Especially coral.

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

So? they still went downhill because Petco decided to make changes.

They've gone downhill because of typical corporate choices of any big company. I.e. you have to make money for your stockholders over giving the best deal to your customers.
This is sadly the result of corporations making rules based on memos rather than really and truly understanding the product and needs.

 

[shoelaceike]

Saltwaterfish is no where near cheap. They make up for their 79.00 free shipping with INSANE prices on coral and fish. Especially coral.

Fish prices seemed decent

 

[FishyDave]

Saltwaterfish is no where near cheap. They make up for their 79.00 free shipping with INSANE prices on coral and fish. Especially coral.

Plus they charge a $10 box fee, a $7 fee to get your order by 10:30 am and are famous for sending smaller fish than ordered. I would stick with LA before using them.

 

[shoelaceike]

Plus they charge a $10 box fee, a $7 fee to get your order by 10:30 am and are famous for sending smaller fish than ordered. I would stick with LA before using them.

Ok...never tried them. They also offer no guarantee on any free fish so they could technically send you a dead one.

 

[TheOne]

Any other recommendations on where to buy online? The list is pretty slim. Shoot me a PM if you don't want to give away your source.

Already dreaming of a 400 gallon in wall. Just as soon as we can free up another room.

 

[Squidward]

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.

That's false. I've used my credit towards free shipping with no issues.

 

[ca1ore]

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.

Well, there ypu go then LOL. I'd glanced at them a few times, but not ordered yet so did not see the discount.

 

[FishyDave]

Well, there ypu go then LOL. I'd glanced at them a few times, but not ordered yet so did not see the discount.

They have a page explaining how to get the cheaper pricing too. Pretty cool

https://aqualocker.com/arrive-alive-only/

 

[TheOne]

That's false. I've used my credit towards free shipping with no issues.

Not in the past month you haven't. Their policy has changed and they didn't bother to let anyone know about it.

If I hadn't just disputed mine with paypal I would show you a screenshot to prove it.

Alot of people defending live aquaria are in for a rude awakening if you haven't done business with them lately. I know because I use to praise them also.

Ask @Hal3134 to add to his store credit totaling $150 and go to checkout and then post back what he finds out.

 

[miyags]

The price of their fish has gone through the roof.I can still get tangs around here for 39 to 69 dollars

 

[robbyg]

I have never dealt with the company but let me get this straight. In the past you could just order a fish like lets say an Adult Emperor Angel and then call them up a few days later and say that it had died and you wanted a refund?

 

[FishyDave]

I have never dealt with the company but let me get this straight. In the past you could just order a fish like lets say an Adult Emperor Angel and then call them up a few days later and say that it had died and you wanted a refund?

Yes. Our reef club called it the blender warranty. Plus they use to reship the new fish to you for free.

 

[Hal3134]

In the interest of fairness to LA, I sent them an email regarding my warranty claim being only store credit, and the fact that I never saw it publicized anywhere. LA agreed to refund my credit card as a one time courtesy. They noted that any future claims would be for store credit only.

 

[Hal3134]

Also, I just got off the phone with LA customer service, and they said:
1. Store credit counts towards the free shipping minimum. The credit is only applied after your total is calculated for free shipping.
2. Store credit can be used towards any product sold on the LA/DD website. This includes dry goods. LA said it could even be used to cover the cost of taxes.

The customer service rep was "Hunter" if that helps.

It seems that @TheOne had a different experience, so I don't know what to say to that.