Whatch out if you use Paypal!!

[GainesvilleReef]

........ this is hopeless, you literally could have resolved this by now if you had just called CS. How is waiting for them to PM you any faster? Especially considering that the person who runs the R2R account is very unlikely to be in the CS department.

There is nothing for customer service to resolve. They don't owe me anything. I placed an order got what I paid for and I am happy for what I received.

What I am not happy about that they set up open-ended reoccurring payments. That is wrong and also a bad business practice. A CSR will not be able to help me stop them from doing this in the future. The only way to get this stopped is to make everyone aware that it is going on. A lot of times the management is not even aware things like this are happening. A lot of times CS is contracted out and the chance this type of feedback reaching the appropriate person is nil.

I have been a long-time customer of LiveAquaria. And I hope I can be one in the future. The industry needs LiveAquaria. But this is still wrong. My motives and intentions are good.

 

[Shep]

Can you post a screenshot where you see this charge and tell us what you bought? If CS can't do anything for you...what do you expect a social media person to be able to do?

 

[Ezeke1]

Can someone at least correct the “Whatch” mispelling in the title? I look at that and wonder if this thread is a joke..

 

[GainesvilleReef]

It is not a charge. They set it up like a subscription service would be. They would be able to charge me in the future without my prior approval. That is very inappropriate and unnecessary. And no I am not going to screenshot my Paypal account.

All I would expect a social media person to do is pass it along. I don't need anything personally fixed. I have canceled their ability to charge me.

I am posting this for two reasons.

First, everyone should be aware that this is going on and they can make their own decision as to whether they want Liveaquaria to have that unnecessary and inappropriate ability.

And two, Due to some personal issues I have not been on top off the industry the last couple of years like I used to. The first thing that I noticed coming back is dwindling hobby participation. My LFS is not doing so well. Local Reef club is struggling. There is just not the same enthusiasm anymore. And as I have been rehabbing my tanks, I have noticed a few things that are making this hobby more difficult today. Things that have nothing to do with the quality of the products or services. Things like shipping and payment. Today there are a lot of outside factors, like doorstep package stealing, alternative payment methods as well as regulatory issues that companies like LiveAquaria have to navigate and deal with. And as they adapt their existing business processes sometimes not all angles are considered. Talking to CSRs about these issues is pointless. They are just not the right people. I literally spend more time figuring out how to receive my dry goods and livestock than I do on maintaining my tank parameters. Now I have to check my payment account every time I use it to see if reoccurring billing was set up. These were not issues two years ago. But now they fall through the cracks between operations and accounting at these companies and our experience suffers. This is an expensive and tough hobby, to begin with. It does not need to be harder.

So, what is the first step to fix something?

The first thing is to find out about it. Someone has to say it's broken. If we do not tell these companies that they are messing up it's our fault as well. I am hoping posting these types of issues will help.

Lastly, as hobbyist, we need to stick together and be civil to each other. Bullying and censorship will hurt us all.

 

[Silver14SS]

Sounds like you know how to shut it off in your PayPal, so the goal of the thread is to get LiveAquaria to stop the practice? Microsoft, Valve, Apple, Sony, and countless others do this, is your concern PayPal allowing it at all or not providing you enough notification that it occurred?

 

[Shep]

It sounds like you signed up for a subscription, LA offers those for certain goods. Again, what did you buy on this order and why not post a photo of the charge?

 

[ESAYARKAY]

"I literally spend more time figuring out how to receive my dry goods and livestock than I do on maintaining my tank parameters."

My thought is that considering that the problem had been resolved and contacting the source was not an option willing to be taken, it wasn't time well spent. Rather, instead of all the posting back and forth, the time could have been used to taking care of tank parameters and maintenance.

 

[puffy127]

For those interested in checking your own PP accounts, it's under Settings, Payments, Manage Automatic Payments. I did not even know this setting was there. I did not have an entry for Live Aquaria, but did find other vendors in there where I never authorized automatic payments for. To be fair, they never automatically withdrew anything, but it is odd that these other vendors are set up for automatic payments when I never authorized them.

It has nothing to do with Auto-Deliveries, signing up for subscriptions, faster future checkouts, etc. I am glad he brought this issue up.

 

[TheHarold]

Lol.... You won't take a screenshot of the issue you are complaining about either? Nobody is asking for your PayPal password, just trying to understand what you are saying.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Probably something that is worth checking, not much about LiveAquaria as I believe that they are a reputable company but I read on the internet that some companies use this to take payment from PayPal without your permission. There is a lot of companies out der trying to make a few extra $ out of this. the one I read was connected to a website provider that kept taking the renewal fee without permission.

 

[Aardvark1134]

Really think a mod/admin should just delete this thread. The person does not have a valid complaint and they don't want a solution, nor did they even try to resolve the issue. They just want to sit here and complain about a company that did nothing wrong.

 

[siggy]

 

[JMM744]

I agree, delete the thread.

Really think a mod/admin should just delete this thread. The person does not have a valid complaint and they don't want a solution, nor did they even try to resolve the issue. They just want to sit here and complain about a company that did nothing wrong.

 

[JasonK84]

Here is a screen shot of my PP. Not like anyone can get a thing from this picture. I don’t think anything fishy is happening but LA is on there as is Reef2Reef (this would be a recurring $25 yearly charge for being an R2R supporter). When the reoccurring R2R charge was started PP alerted me.

@GainesvilleReef is this what you are complaining about?

 

[puffy127]

Here is a screen shot of my PP. Not like anyone can get a thing from this picture. I don’t think anything fishy is happening but LA is on there as is Reef2Reef (this would be a recurring $25 yearly charge for being an R2R supporter). When the reoccurring R2R charge was started PP alerted me.

@GainesvilleReef is this what you are complaining about?

I think that is what he is referring to. Do you know why or how LA was added to your automatic payments?

 

[JasonK84]

I think that is what he is referring to. Do you know why or how LA was added to your automatic payments?

Not a clue. Nothing sketchy in any dealings with them or any unknown charges and have ordered many times.

 

[Opus]

Drs Foster & Smith is there also, so if the OP has been ordering from them for a long time he should have seen this a long time ago.

 

[Cassian]

never had a PayPal issue with them, but heres my experience with @LiveAquaria
This business has really disappointed me lately. I would use caution when buying from them

This is the last time I buy from LIVEAQUARIA

ok, so I usually don't leave bad reviews on places, but I think this needs to be said. I've been a loyal customer to LiveAquaria for about 7 years now. Ive spent thousands at their store over the years, and have dealt with many incidents. I just recently got back into the reefing hobby after...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[motortrendz]

Have they ever charged you anything without your consent? I'm really confused. Did you sign up for a subscription or did you just allow them to save your info for quicker check out on next purchase? I'm not really sure what the problem is?

 

[2Sunny]

Your attitude about this is kind of weird. I GUARANTEE they wouldn't charge you automatically for absolutely nothing. They asked you to call them so they could straighten out what's wrong and you are refusing. That's really fishy. You definitely should have talked to them first before starting a thread for what is most likely a non issue.

Couldn't agree more.