Shippers really don’t cover losses due to fed ex delays?

[GlassMunky]

That’s why it makes sense to me to work with company’s that are willing to guarantee live arrival. The holidays have nothing to do with what I’m talking about. I think the vast majority of people choose not to ship when weather or shipping volume creates an unsafe situation. But if I understood correctly, Travis never (I’m using him as an example but many people choose to go this route) never covers shipping delay related deaths while other companies do, I’m not sure why I seem to have hit a nerve with some people on this thread. I’m not saying they are wrong, just that it is not how I personally prefer things to be done.

You don’t seem to understand how this works. WWC isn’t just eating the cost if something dies because of shipping errors, they have the packages insured and get the Money back from fedex by filing a claim.
if fedex themselves won’t gaurentee their timed delivery of overnight actually being overnight, then WWC has no recourse if they ship it knowing it’s not covered.

 

[Hijinks_78]

You don’t seem to understand how this works. WWC isn’t just eating the cost if something dies because of shipping errors, they have the packages insured and get the Money back from fedex by filing a claim.
if fedex themselves won’t gaurentee their timed delivery of overnight actually being overnight, then WWC has no recourse if they ship it knowing it’s not covered.

Why do you think I don’t understand this? Everyone can get this insurance but many choose not to. Why is this such a common practice in aquatics but not in other live animal sales

 

[vetteguy53081]

I WONT EVEN ORDER unless WEATHER IS IN MY FAVOR

 

[GlassMunky]

Why do you think I don’t understand this? Everyone can get this insurance but many choose not to. Why is this such a common practice in aquatics but not in other live animal sales

As stated before it’s most likely because aquatic things do t ship well and there are lots of deaths. But you won’t get a concrete answer

 

[Hijinks_78]

You don’t seem to understand how this works. WWC isn’t just eating the cost if something dies because of shipping errors, they have the packages insured and get the Money back from fedex by filing a claim.
if fedex themselves won’t gaurentee their timed delivery of overnight actually being overnight, then WWC has no recourse if they ship it knowing it’s not covered.

For instance it is a Tuesday in May. All you have to do to insure your package is ship it through ship your aquatics and pay for it. Many small outfits choose not to do so and do not cover deaths that occur due to shipping delays because it saves money. To go back to the fish of hex example, in his video he says he doesn’t cover deaths due to delays. I took that to mean he never covers them. Not that he doesn’t cover them if he can’t get insurance (which in that case the responsible thing to do is to not ship)

 

[GlassMunky]

Just like everyone runs their reef differently, so too do stor owners run businesses differently and for many different reasons. Maybe some don’t have the resources that others do or don’t do the volume that others do (shipping is usually a volume game, the more you ship the better deals you get) or some have more/less overhead.
it most likely comes down to different people do things differently.
The great thing about a free market is you’re free to pick and choose who you want to support and buy from

 

[Hijinks_78]

I WONT EVEN ORDER unless WEATHER IS IN MY FAVOR

That is surely a good practice.

 

[Hijinks_78]

Just like everyone runs their reef differently, so too do stor owners run businesses differently and for many different reasons. Maybe some don’t have the resources that others do or don’t do the volume that others do (shipping is usually a volume game, the more you ship the better deals you get) or some have more/less overhead.
it most likely comes down to different people do things differently.
The great thing about a free market is you’re free to pick and choose who you want to support and buy from

That’s kind of my point I guess, it surprises me that so many people are willing to gamble with potentially large orders, for minimum savings. But at the end of the day, you are right and people can certainly do what they want...

 

[TheOne]

Paypal protection policy does not cover live animals.

They covered mine a few weeks ago when liveaquaria agreed to only give me store credit on three doa fish.

I also agree PayPal policies are a joke. But so far their joke policies have always been in my favor so I'm good with that.

 

[GlassMunky]

They covered mine a few weeks ago.

PayPal is notorious for going both ways on all things policy.
They are pretty laughable as a company IMO.

 

[Hijinks_78]

They covered mine a few weeks ago.

I’ve seen them go both ways. Part of the issue is they don’t have animal experts so it can be difficult for them to know who is right and who is wrong. Imagine being a PayPal person that gets a complaint about someone ordering an extreme snowflake clownfish and getting what they claim is a “fancy mishap” or something and trying to decide who to side with...their decisions can be kind of random on who they side with and they are not going to spend but so much time trying to figure out who is right...

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

Oks, so I have read most of this. For starters, FedEx will not guarantee Live Animals. Yes you can pay for shipping insurance through ship your aquatics for the value of the package, but that isn't to cover DOA's at all. The insurance is more for if the package was damaged while FedEx had it. Good luck getting that even covered as well. A lot of DOA policies state that you have to contact the seller within two hours of receiving the package of any issues. I think the whole insurance part of this thread is misunderstood.

 

[Hijinks_78]

Oks, so I have read most of this. For starters, FedEx will not guarantee Live Animals. Yes you can pay for shipping insurance through ship your aquatics for the value of the package, but that isn't to cover DOA's at all. The insurance is more for if the package was damaged while FedEx had it. Good luck getting that even covered as well. A lot of DOA policies state that you have to contact the seller within two hours of receiving the package of any issues. I think the whole insurance part of this thread is misunderstood.

You have had issues, when using shipyouraquatics, getting doa due to shipping delays covered? This surprises me, as their sister company, shipyourreptiles, pays up immediately. Strange that the same company and owners would act so differently. But I don’t have experience with the aquatics side. With reptiles if the package arrives at 10:35 when guaranteed at 10:30 they reimburse immediately

 

[Hijinks_78]

Oks, so I have read most of this. For starters, FedEx will not guarantee Live Animals. Yes you can pay for shipping insurance through ship your aquatics for the value of the package, but that isn't to cover DOA's at all. The insurance is more for if the package was damaged while FedEx had it. Good luck getting that even covered as well. A lot of DOA policies state that you have to contact the seller within two hours of receiving the package of any issues. I think the whole insurance part of this thread is misunderstood.

And to be honest the insurance aspect was not really my point. My point was, some companies guarantee live arrival even if it is due to a shipping delay that isn’t their fault, but others do not. It is strange to me that as customers we do not demand the former.

 

[TCK Corals]

Oks, so I have read most of this. For starters, FedEx will not guarantee Live Animals. Yes you can pay for shipping insurance through ship your aquatics for the value of the package, but that isn't to cover DOA's at all. The insurance is more for if the package was damaged while FedEx had it. Good luck getting that even covered as well. A lot of DOA policies state that you have to contact the seller within two hours of receiving the package of any issues. I think the whole insurance part of this thread is misunderstood.

Fedex will usually decline any claims when it comes to the delivery of live aquatic animals. The insurance provided by third parties such as Shipyouraquatics covers the shipping costs only and not the contents of the box (live coral). They do cover live arrival of reptiles (i think) but not live fish or coral.

When fedex loses, delays or delivers a box to the wrong address, both the shipper and the receiver lose. Fedex will usually issue a standard statement about why the box was delayed, followed by how they don’t guarantee the live arrival of the box contents - the result is a declined claim. Ups is much the same.

that said, retailers will often eat the loss, (sometimes minus the cost of the shipping/shipping supplies) and will either refund the doa, or send a replacement order out, or issue a credit. In no way does fedex reimburse the retailer for the losses of the live box contents

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

You have had issues, when using shipyouraquatics, getting doa due to shipping delays covered? This surprises me, as their sister company, shipyourreptiles, pays up immediately. Strange that the same company and owners would act so differently. But I don’t have experience with the aquatics side. With reptiles if the package arrives at 10:35 when guaranteed at 10:30 they reimburse immediately

I have only had one issue where fedex admitted they damaged the package during shipment, but SYA would not allow me to use the insurance. I do understand what you are saying about vendors choosing to cover shipping delays or not to cover the delays. I guess some people just think about doing business in different ways is all. I would say that generally there would be no issues though, so it probably doesn't come to mind when checking out.

 

[Hijinks_78]

Fedex will usually decline any claims when it comes to the delivery of live aquatic animals. The insurance provided by third parties such as Shipyouraquatics covers the shipping costs only and not the contents of the box (live coral). They do cover live arrival of reptiles (i think) but not live fish or coral.

When fedex loses, delays or delivers a box to the wrong address, both the shipper and the receiver lose. Fedex will usually issue a standard statement about why the box was delayed, followed by how they don’t guarantee the live arrival of the box contents - the result is a declined claim. Ups is much the same.

that said, retailers will often eat the loss, (sometimes minus the cost of the shipping/shipping supplies) and will either refund the doa, or send a replacement order out, or issue a credit. In no way does fedex reimburse the retailer for the losses of the live box contents

Yes. I didn’t realize shipyouraquatics didn’t insure live shipping the way shipyourreptiles does, but really that’s not my point. I suppose I just feel like with anything more than a few hundred dollars I wouldn’t want to deal with a company that isn’t willing to make it right if I don’t receive what I paid for. I don’t mind taking a hit on the shipping but losing hundreds and hundreds of dollars of coral is too much risk for me when there are other companies who will cover that loss and make it right with the customer...that was my only point, and Im a little surprised that some people seemed to take exception with that basic idea. It just surprised me that it’s not standard to offer a live arrival guarantee regardless of circumstances (other than receiver error). Just my opinion...

 

[Cdipasquale]

As far as I can find, there is no reliable way for a shipper to insure live goods to cover themselves incase of a loss. Sure the big companies like WWC cover DOA's out of their pocket, but remember you are paying 3-4 times the price for these corals than if you were to buy the exact same thing from an ebay seller or some similar small business. At those prices, it's no big deal for them to replace your order several times to keep a happy customer. They're still making a profit off of you when the small seller would be losing money. It's 2 different ways to run a business and both are fine as long as the buyer knows what they're agreeing to.

As far as filing a paypal or cc claim, that's just shady business. If you purchased from a company that specifically says they don't cover losses due to shipping delays, then you accepted the risk by purchasing from them. So if that loss happens, it's time to act like a grown up and accept that you lost some money. Screwing them over after the fact, for something that was out of their control, is just dirty and unfair to the seller who now is out corals and money, and they lost $50-$70 shipping it to you. If you don't like their terms, then don't buy from them. You should be purchasing from the big companies with better terms and pay the premium prices to have that guarantee.

 

[Brian_68]

As far as I can find, there is no reliable way for a shipper to insure live goods to cover themselves incase of a loss. Sure the big companies like WWC cover DOA's out of their pocket, but remember you are paying 3-4 times the price for these corals than if you were to buy the exact same thing from an ebay seller or some similar small business. At those prices, it's no big deal for them to replace your order several times to keep a happy customer. They're still making a profit off of you when the small seller would be losing money. It's 2 different ways to run a business and both are fine as long as the buyer knows what they're agreeing to.

As far as filing a paypal or cc claim, that's just shady business. If you purchased from a company that specifically says they don't cover losses due to shipping delays, then you accepted the risk by purchasing from them. So if that loss happens, it's time to act like a grown up and accept that you lost some money. Screwing them over after the fact, for something that was out of their control, is just dirty and unfair to the seller who now is out corals and money, and they lost $50-$70 shipping it to you. If you don't like their terms, then don't buy from them. You should be purchasing from the big companies with better terms and pay the premium prices to have that guarantee.

Agreed, someone has to pay for it. WWC has insurance built into their high costs......Shipping only when the weather is mild increases your chances of success if a shipment gets delayed. Trying to get something the next couple months is risky. If these small businesses have to cover the livestock and cost of shipping again for reasons out of their control it will be difficult and either costs go up or shipping is possibly $75 to make up for those cases.

 

[EMeyer]

There is some misunderstanding in this thread.

Forget insurance. If FedEx delivers the package after the guaranteed time, FedEx refunds the shipping costs. It isnt an iffy, maybe, negotiable thing - its refunded.

If a seller refuses to cover DOAs for delays, they are pocketing both the money the buyer paid them and the money FedEx paid them. Under such a policy, the seller risks nothing and the buyer risks everything.

Every professional livestock company I've ever dealt with issued refunds for DOAs, regardless of the reason for the DOA. Without exception.

It is frankly very shady to refuse to cover DOAs due to delays in shipping, and sellers who list such a policy should always be avoided.