Reef Lounge USA - Buyer Beware

Pauley

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Just wanted to post feedback on this company. I tried them out for the first time late January, ordering three goni's and an acro frag. The goni's were only $15 each, which is a great price. I received my order on Jan 26th. However, what I actually received was a single duncan head and a bleached favia frag. It was clearly someone else's order mistakenly sent to me.

I've been in the hobby quite a while, and understand that mistakes happen. I reached out to Reef Lounge, and they promptly replied that they would credit my order $110 (the total cost of the frags and shipping). I politely informed them that I would be good with just receiving the frags I ordered. They were sold out on the website, but Reef Lounge indicated they would receive more goni's the following week. They did receive comparable, although the price increased $5 each.

I was willing to pay the difference (as I told them). However, their "credit" couldn't be applied to shipping. I noted that I just wanted my order, and I shouldn't be made to pay an additional $40 in shipping to offset the cost of their employee's error. If they couldn't just ship me the order, I requested a refund. They broke off communication, and to date haven't replied or refunded anything.

A google search (which I should've done before placing an order) found multiple instances of customers receiving wrong products from Reef Lounge - there are some stories about this vendor on R2R as well. I know very few vendors refund shipping, and I've never had a problem paying when there is some act of god (shipment gets lost in mail, fish die, etc). However, when the issue is purely that a vendor's employee was negligent and packed wrong corals in a box, I don't think it falls on the customer to eat the cost. This particular issue is definitely not addressed on their website.

A good company would've just sent the right frags to a customer once available, deleted the credit, and that would've been it. A (mostly) good company would've refunded the customer's money if they couldn't fulfill the order. Reef Lounge seems to be neither. Now I'll have to dispute the charge, which just takes more time. So, in case you're considering purchasing from this company, that's what you may be in for. PS - I believe they were formally R2R sponsors, but I don't see them listed anymore. Could be wrong.
 
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Pauley

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UPDATE:
After Reef Lounge USA stopped communicating with me regarding sending the correct items or issuing a refund, I initiated a payment dispute via my credit card company. The credit card company reached out to Reef Lounge, who claimed that all four items were delivered as ordered. Additionally, they claimed “Shopify sent a confirmation and we have not heard from customer of any problems”.
So, they took my money, didn’t deliver, won’t make it right, and knowingly lied to the credit card company to avoid returning money. Hard to believe these guys are in business. Again, if this happened to me it may happen to you with Reef Lounge USA.
 
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