I am new to mail ordering live animals, but I used Liveaquaria recently and I have to say... Is there anything better than their customer service?
I cannot say that I've been perfectly happy with what I received, but I CAN say I'm extraordinarily happy with the way they handled it. The first time I ordered everything I received came in great shape except one shrimp which of course they immediately refunded. The second time I ordered from them I had more of a mixed-bag. One of the two fish I received looked a bit old and beat up and didn't survive longer than a week, and two of the four corals I received were entirely browned-out -- one appears to be reviving, the other is still up in the air as to whether it will come back to life. An urchin also didn't survive but that just seemed like normal luck of the draw. HOWEVER, without any hassle whatsoever, they 100% stood behind their guarantee and refunded me for all of these items. They said if the one coral recovers, it's mine to keep and they don't need to know -- but, if it does not, they will ship a replacement entirely for free.
I'm not affiliated with them in any way whatsoever, but I just wanted to share that experience. It is really refreshing to deal with a company that handles their customer service in such an excellent fashion. And, FWIW, my experience with DFS on the dry-goods side has been exactly the same. So, despite not being thrilled with my second order overall, I still have no qualms about ordering from them again in the future. It's impossible to be perfect -- they can't always control what happens in shipping. But it is possible to "make things right" for your customers and that they seem to do extraordinarily well.
EDIT: And just to add one last thing: the items that I did receive that shipped well were entirely fantastic. I have a torch and thick-branched frogspawn from them that are HUGE and thriving... A monti setosa and birdsnest that look amazing. Also, a red mandarin and cleaner shrimp that are entirely beautiful. And the one monti cap that arrived brown but seems to be recovering should be quite the looker when it is back. I can already see faint signs of a green body with reddish/pink outter rim and blue polyps.
I cannot say that I've been perfectly happy with what I received, but I CAN say I'm extraordinarily happy with the way they handled it. The first time I ordered everything I received came in great shape except one shrimp which of course they immediately refunded. The second time I ordered from them I had more of a mixed-bag. One of the two fish I received looked a bit old and beat up and didn't survive longer than a week, and two of the four corals I received were entirely browned-out -- one appears to be reviving, the other is still up in the air as to whether it will come back to life. An urchin also didn't survive but that just seemed like normal luck of the draw. HOWEVER, without any hassle whatsoever, they 100% stood behind their guarantee and refunded me for all of these items. They said if the one coral recovers, it's mine to keep and they don't need to know -- but, if it does not, they will ship a replacement entirely for free.
I'm not affiliated with them in any way whatsoever, but I just wanted to share that experience. It is really refreshing to deal with a company that handles their customer service in such an excellent fashion. And, FWIW, my experience with DFS on the dry-goods side has been exactly the same. So, despite not being thrilled with my second order overall, I still have no qualms about ordering from them again in the future. It's impossible to be perfect -- they can't always control what happens in shipping. But it is possible to "make things right" for your customers and that they seem to do extraordinarily well.
EDIT: And just to add one last thing: the items that I did receive that shipped well were entirely fantastic. I have a torch and thick-branched frogspawn from them that are HUGE and thriving... A monti setosa and birdsnest that look amazing. Also, a red mandarin and cleaner shrimp that are entirely beautiful. And the one monti cap that arrived brown but seems to be recovering should be quite the looker when it is back. I can already see faint signs of a green body with reddish/pink outter rim and blue polyps.
