Snowstorm in CO delayed my order by 3 days, now with a magnifying glass I see no signs of life. Advice?

[klimfish]

Hey all,

I ordered the 5280 combo pack with Phyto + Fritz TurboStart from @AlgaeBarn on Saturday Nov 23. Unfortunately, even though the order was supposed to be "Guaranteed" ship date of Monday Nov 25, with Arrival on Wed Nov 28, I received the order on Nov 29, at no fault of @AlgaeBarn.

The package was given to USPS on Nov 25, according to tracking, and unfortunately never left Denver until Thurs Nov 28. There was a large storm that grounded all the flights for outgoing mail from what I've read. I know the snow isn't @AlgaeBarn 's fault, to be clear.

This means my package sat in a post office (not weather controlled I'm guessing) from around 12pm on Mon Nov 25 until Thursday morning Nov 28, then flew to the East Coast for delivery on Nov 29....when I was supposed to get the package on Wed Nov 27.

The package finally arrived to me on Fri Nov 29. I was able to grab the box from the mailman, and followed the acclimation procedures exactly from their website. Nothing in the pack felt "cool" to the touch, as Fritz TurboStart should be....but the Phyto didn't have a rotten egg smell so I went ahead and used the Turbo Start (Already established tank, just wanted to supplement), and added the pods, and fed the phyto the next day. I have 0 fish in this tank and turned all powerheads off for 1 hour after adding.

Now it's Dec 1, and I see 0 signs of life, even with a magnifying glass, with no pumps on, inspecting the back chamber of my AIO, etc...I think the delayed shipping (which I understand the snow isn't AB's fault, but if it had gone out on Monday this wouldn't be an issue, but that's USPS's fault, not @AlgaeBarn's), effectively ruined my shipment.

All parameters were good prior to adding and are good now:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5ppm
Temp: 78-79
Salinity: 1.025
dKH: 9
pH: 8.0

All of these have been stable since Nov 21. Cycle completed about 3 days prior to this.

I "made a claim" via email yesterday but never heard back, has anyone had experiences similar to mine that can report what I can expect from AlgaeBarn? I know it's a holiday weekend and I can't really expect 24-hours turnaround on an email, but I am wondering if anyone here can chime in.

EDIT:

@AlgaeBarn shipped on time, delayed shipping was due to weather and USPS. I appreciate AB themselves chiming in on the thread, and look forward to doing more business/reaching a resolution

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Hey @klimfish ,

We actually gave your order to USPS on Monday(We were unable to ship any packages on Tuesday). We tried to get these orders out extra early to avoid any shipping delays, but it doesnt look like we were successful in that regard.

We were pretty much a skeleton crew of just me(Sean) and one of our microalgae technicians on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, our support staff does not work weekends, so we will respond to the claim this monday and we can reship your order free of charge.

Cheers,
Sean

 

[klimfish]

Hey @klimfish ,

We actually gave your order to USPS on Monday(We were unable to ship any packages on Tuesday). We tried to get these orders out extra early to avoid any shipping delays, but it doesnt look like we were successful in that regard.

We were pretty much a skeleton crew of just me(Sean) and one of our microalgae technicians on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, our support staff does not work weekends, so we will respond to the claim this monday and we can reship your order free of charge.

Cheers,
Sean

Thanks for the fast reply! I'm not trying to strum up drama, just wanted to know what to expect. I know you guys do your best and the storm is the primary culprit here. I reviewed the tracking and I was wrong, USPS did confirm acceptance on Mon Nov 25. I hope to hear from your team soon and I have edited my OP to show that you guys did indeed get it to USPS in time.

**EDIT: OP is edited, thank you for responding!

 

[Quietman]

See, this is why every time I read a post about how the vendors in the hobby are terrible and just in it for the money I get annoyed. Going above and beyond even when it's not really their fault and it's a holiday weekend to boot. This seems more to be the norm in this hobby. @AlgaeBarn has just earned another customer when I need phyto and pods.