Ripped Off by Elite Reefs

[Pitcom]

I would like to express to everyone my displeasure and ordering experience from this vendor, which was very disappointing.

I originally ordered the Technecolor chalice from these guys. Low and behold the shipping method was not adequate for ambient temperatures. My water came in the 50's and the coral dead. I photographed and sent a picture to ER about the problem. It took 4 days to get a firm response from this vendor that he would replace the coral. My order was placed on November 1st. The coral came on November 12th, and he responded to me on November 16th.

I did not feel like getting stiffed on the shipping charges by this vendor since his shipping methods are amature at best. I ordered the Dawn of the dead frag, figuring they would send it then. During the time of November 16th, to December 1st, I sent ER messages on both here and in email asking about the Chalice replacement. Finally, the day before DOTD was shipped i was responded to and told my chalice would come.

I received my package and once again, it was a shoddy shipping method. This time the water was 67 degrees which was much better than last time. The corals were alive, bt low and behold, no technecolor chalice. I was sent a frag of another chalice which i never ordered, and would never order. I went back through previos ER postings and fond it to be a LESSER VALE frag he was selling of another chalice. I sent ER an email asking what happened. NO RESPONSE AS USUAL. I filed a dispute with Paypal. 4 days goes by and NO RERSPONSE. Today ER declined the dispute and raised it to a claim with paypal to have it denied.

Keith from Elite Reefs, has horrible communication practices for his company. The shipping methods that they employ for cold weather and sub-freezing temperatres does not cut it. I would never do business with this vendor again. Even if it was for something free. Everytime i come on here this vendor claims to making all orders right, its hogwosh. Save your money and go with a more trusted vendor. At least by from a vendor who knows how to adequately use and pack a heat pack.

Anthony
Ps, sorry for errors, my keyboard is on its last leg.

 

[Cuda]

All the corals I ordered I received just fine. Also when I had a death in the family and was not home I requested he canceled two orders and he did and refunded all my money and I never even told him why I was canceling.
PS my Dawn of the Dead is doing great!

 

[EliteReefs]

I would like to express to everyone my displeasure and ordering experience from this vendor, which was very disappointing.

I originally ordered the Technecolor chalice from these guys. Low and behold the shipping method was not adequate for ambient temperatures. My water came in the 50's and the coral dead. I photographed and sent a picture to ER about the problem. It took 4 days to get a firm response from this vendor that he would replace the coral. My order was placed on November 1st. The coral came on November 12th, and he responded to me on November 16th.

I did not feel like getting stiffed on the shipping charges by this vendor since his shipping methods are amature at best. I ordered the Dawn of the dead frag, figuring they would send it then. During the time of November 16th, to December 1st, I sent ER messages on both here and in email asking about the Chalice replacement. Finally, the day before DOTD was shipped i was responded to and told my chalice would come.

I received my package and once again, it was a shoddy shipping method. This time the water was 67 degrees which was much better than last time. The corals were alive, bt low and behold, no technecolor chalice. I was sent a frag of another chalice which i never ordered, and would never order. I went back through previos ER postings and fond it to be a LESSER VALE frag he was selling of another chalice. I sent ER an email asking what happened. NO RESPONSE AS USUAL. I filed a dispute with Paypal. 4 days goes by and NO RERSPONSE. Today ER declined the dispute and raised it to a claim with paypal to have it denied.

Keith from Elite Reefs, has horrible communication practices for his company. The shipping methods that they employ for cold weather and sub-freezing temperatres does not cut it. I would never do business with this vendor again. Even if it was for something free. Everytime i come on here this vendor claims to making all orders right, its hogwosh. Save your money and go with a more trusted vendor. At least by from a vendor who knows how to adequately use and pack a heat pack.


Anthony
Ps, sorry for errors, my keyboard is on its last leg.

why is there nothing here about the note i put in the paypay dispute where i clearly said that i have no email from you about receiving the wrong item and to just send me a picture so i could take care of it?

funny how that was left out. but we all handle things in our own way guess.

 

[Pitcom]

why is there nothing here about the note i put in the paypay dispute where i clearly said that i have no email from you about receiving the wrong item and to just send me a picture so i could take care of it?

funny how that was left out. but we all handle things in our own way guess.

There is absolutely NO MESSAGE in the paypal message field, it is 100% blank. Yes we all do things our own way, and i clearly see how you conduct business. Only when a person posts on the public forum, you respond ASAP. Yo ignore emails, but reply at R2R almost instantaneously. I have been talking to several other members on this site with the same problem. Some have voiced it in your dotd thread, and some asked to not mention names. Buyers can decide for themselves. but please, be truthful when posting. I wanted to keep this off of the boards and give you credit since many people liked your services. It was your lack of communication that brought this here.

 

[EliteReefs]

There is absolutely NO MESSAGE in the paypal message field, it is 100% blank. Yes we all do things our own way, and i clearly see how you conduct business. Only when a person posts on the public forum, you respond ASAP. Yo ignore emails, but reply at R2R almost instantaneously. I have been talking to several other members on this site with the same problem. Some have voiced it in your dotd thread, and some asked to not mention names. Buyers can decide for themselves. but please, be truthful when posting. I wanted to keep this off of the boards and give you credit since many people liked your services. It was your lack of communication that brought this here.

sure thing I can be as honest as you would like. here is a drect copy and paste from paypal. i i wanted was a picture.


12/8/2009 06:32 PST - PayPal: PayPal escalated this dispute to claim.
12/8/2009 05:43 PST - Seller: i have no contact from you about receiving a wronge item as a replacement? the proper course of action would be to send picture of said coral so it can be reviewd for acuracy.

 

[Pitcom]

sure thing I can be as honest as you would like. here is a drect copy and paste from paypal. i i wanted was a picture.


12/8/2009 06:32 PST - PayPal: PayPal escalated this dispute to claim.
12/8/2009 05:43 PST - Seller: i have no contact from you about receiving a wronge item as a replacement? the proper course of action would be to send picture of said coral so it can be reviewd for acuracy.

My field shows 2 post.

• 12/8/2009 05:43 PST - PayPal: Elite Reefs denied Anthony Bellosi's request for a $49.00 USD refund.
• 12/4/2009 13:47 PST - Buyer: This order was for the purchase of live coral. The shipping method did not work and the animal came stressed and dying. This was photographed and documented and emailed to the seller. The seller agree to send a replacement after 5 days of communication. I patiently waited 17 days to received a replacement and was sent a different item than originally purchased. Emailed seller, and received no response. I feel that 30+ days has been PLENTY of time to rectify the problem. Since this seller sent me an incorrect replacement, i will be more than willing to agree to pay 21.00 which was the original shipping charge as i feel that is fair.

And look, i even agreed to pay shipping.

12/3/2009 2:11:03 EST
Sent from AOL

Greetings Elite Reefs,

I recieved my order today from you gys for the Dawn of the dead coral and the replacement frag of Technecolor chalice. The heat pack was warm this time and the water was at a temperatre of 67 degrees. Everything looks much better. However, i did not recieve a frag of the technecolor chalice, but something different. I am a bit puzzled. Thanks for your time.

Anthony

 

[EliteReefs]

My field shows 2 post.

• 12/8/2009 05:43 PST - PayPal: Elite Reefs denied Anthony Bellosi's request for a $49.00 USD refund.
• 12/4/2009 13:47 PST - Buyer: This order was for the purchase of live coral. The shipping method did not work and the animal came stressed and dying. This was photographed and documented and emailed to the seller. The seller agree to send a replacement after 5 days of communication. I patiently waited 17 days to received a replacement and was sent a different item than originally purchased. Emailed seller, and received no response. I feel that 30+ days has been PLENTY of time to rectify the problem. Since this seller sent me an incorrect replacement, i will be more than willing to agree to pay 21.00 which was the original shipping charge as i feel that is fair.

And look, i even agreed to pay shipping.

yup you sure did which is something i would not ask you to do. i dont know why yours would not show my message but i can even send a screen shot of my side if needed. just like any other place. if you have a problem you email pics and the problem gets taken care of. in this case the only email i have is from you is from about 15 min ago offering to spread the word about how terrible i am. well sir the most i can say is i'm sorry you feel that way and at this point i clearly have no incentive to help you out and you have made up your mind. good luck to you and all of your future endevors

 

[chris goetz]

FWIW:
I purchased the DOD frag from Keith and it did not make it due to the problem with the packaging/faulty heatpacks and some below freezing weather in MN.

I too was not impressed with the packaging, but it's not uncommon and sounds like it is usually effective at keeping costs low and risks minimal.

Keith offered to refund my payment or put it towards a future purchase. I would have absolutely taken it towards another purchase, but since the temp in MN won't likely be above 20* for the next few months, I opted for the refund.

WRT the poor communication, I would say Keith's response time is no different than most other vendors, especially those who don't do this full time.

FWIW: I will definitely do business with ER again.

Chris

 

[Pitcom]

yup you sure did which is something i would not ask you to do. i dont know why yours would not show my message but i can even send a screen shot of my side if needed. just like any other place. if you have a problem you email pics and the problem gets taken care of. in this case the only email i have is from you is from about 15 min ago offering to spread the word about how terrible i am. well sir the most i can say is i'm sorry you feel that way and at this point i clearly have no incentive to help you out and you have made up your mind. good luck to you and all of your future endevors

I expected nothing less than a response like this. I was curteous to you. I was understanding in my emails to you and i never came off as upset or demanding. I even placed a 2nd order with you to show i had faith in your word. I sent you an email 15 minutes ago stating that i will post my review of this experience at the other forms i freqent, which i have every right to. I stated i asked my cc company to hol the charge and conduct an investigation since paypal does not dispute charges when the wrong items are sent. I also have the right to do this. This is the first time i have ever had a bad experience with a vendor.

 

[EliteReefs]

I expected nothing less than a response like this. I was curteous to you. I was understanding in my emails to you and i never came off as upset or demanding. I even placed a 2nd order with you to show i had faith in your word. I sent you an email 15 minutes ago stating that i will post my review of this experience at the other forms i freqent, which i have every right to. I stated i asked my cc company to hol the charge and conduct an investigation since paypal does not dispute charges when the wrong items are sent. I also have the right to do this. This is the first time i have ever had a bad experience with a vendor.

Whats wrong with my responses? I simply say that I don’t have this email you are referring to and all i wanted was to resend the pics. I have no idea why but according to you this information is not on your paypal dispute. I would say that’s something to take up with paypal. Those things are your rights to do and I never said you can not. what else can i do but apologize for the way you feel and wish you the best. You were not rude to me nor have I been to you. Not sure where this correlation is coming from.

I have been doing this a very long time and the amount of problems have been VERY few. the biggest problem i have ever had was from this last batch of frags and i have taken care of every person that has emailed me. You have your opinion here and clearly have made your points. you are entitled to them and i respect that.

in turn i am also entiled to my own.

 

[Pitcom]

yup you sure did which is something i would not ask you to do. i dont know why yours would not show my message but i can even send a screen shot of my side if needed. just like any other place. if you have a problem you email pics and the problem gets taken care of. in this case the only email i have is from you is from about 15 min ago offering to spread the word about how terrible i am. well sir the most i can say is i'm sorry you feel that way and at this point i clearly have no incentive to help you out and you have made up your mind. good luck to you and all of your future endevors

No screen shot is needed. Your comments just showed up in the paypal center. Thank you for being honest about them.

• 12/8/2009 06:32 PST - PayPal: PayPal escalated this dispute to claim.
• 12/8/2009 05:43 PST - Seller: i have no contact from you about receiving a wronge item as a replacement? the proper course of action would be to send picture of said coral so it can be reviewd for acuracy.

 

[EliteReefs]

No screen shot is needed. Your comments just showed up in the paypal center. Thank you for being honest about them.

• 12/8/2009 06:32 PST - PayPal: PayPal escalated this dispute to claim.
• 12/8/2009 05:43 PST - Seller: i have no contact from you about receiving a wronge item as a replacement? the proper course of action would be to send picture of said coral so it can be reviewd for acuracy.

Thank you for revising that. Honesty is important to me and i never lie just to try and make myself look good. if i screw up I own up to it and try to learn from it. Simple as that.

Anyways now that you see my note and that I’m not the one that closed the dispute my statement still stands. if you still want to send me the pics of what you did get i have no problem still trying to get you what it was your ordered. I always do my best to make every purchase a good one before during and AFTER every sale. My communication will sometimes be slower depending on what i am doing that week but as a general rule if you don’t have a response from me within that same day its a good bet that i missed it or did not get it and your should resend. I never flat out don’t respond no matter what the problem is. I don’t like being left hanging and i don’t do that to my customers. Just because I am the cheapest and don’t do this for a living i still try and offer the very best service I can. I also feel this is proven by my popularity and track record. will i goof sometimes? Of course I will. Its what I learn from that goof that matters IMO

 

[Pitcom]

Thank you for revising that. Honesty is important to me and i never lie just to try and make myself look good. if i screw up I own up to it and try to learn from it. Simple as that.

Anyways now that you see my note and that I’m not the one that closed the dispute my statement still stands. if you still want to send me the pics of what you did get i have no problem still trying to get you what it was your ordered. I always do my best to make every purchase a good one before during and AFTER every sale. My communication will sometimes be slower depending on what i am doing that week but as a general rule if you don’t have a response from me within that same day its a good bet that i missed it or did not get it and your should resend. I never flat out don’t respond no matter what the problem is. I don’t like being left hanging and i don’t do that to my customers. Just because I am the cheapest and don’t do this for a living i still try and offer the very best service I can. I also feel this is proven by my popularity and track record. will i goof sometimes? Of course I will. Its what I learn from that goof that matters IMO

That is a very respectful message, thank you.

 

[moto826]

well taken care of elite

 

[Breakin Newz]

Nice too see this getting squared out...

 

[droblack]

I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now. Nice resolution.

 

[JuniorMC8704]

This matter has been resolved. It has been moved to the proper location, and has been closed.