Clean Up Crew

[bneal3]

As for the order. PM with what you would like to do. I will go from there. I will write back a message to Keyscritters and explain what is contained in the PM's.

We were shipped 550 blue legs and only 110 are alive. We were shipped 105 Astrea and 50 are alive. We were shipped 900 cerith and lost over 200. Just a little info on the order.

Crabfan and I have recieved the same typical response. The blame was placed on me and anyone who sent them a message. Just PM and I will send our response.

Bruce

Soory for all the trouble.

 

[1package]

My loss looks as though it was close to 50%, the price was still low overall. Either way, Bruce, thanks for taking the time to put the order together, divide it up, etc... I am sure you put a lot of time into it, guess next time we will just go a different route - it happens, appreciate the effort, I know I did not have the time to take care of it myself. Without mailorder, it is normally 10 for $10 so even at 50%, I still came out OK from where I would have been without the group order, plus they were delivered (thanks Phillip).

 

[crabfan]

Yes...thanks again Bruce!

Yes...thanks again Bruce!

I've privately expressed to Bruce that he is a true friend to everyone for all the effort he has expended putting this group buy together. I'm happy to say it publicly too!

While it is deeply regretful that we collectively experienced an unacceptably high mortality rate on our critters (I try to acclimate carefully and always take it very hard when something doesn't make it) it doesn't take anything from my appreciation to Bruce.

Since more critters were DOA than alive, and what initially wasn't empty shells and seemed to have some movement was split among so many different people that have since experienced loss, who is to blame here? I strongly feel the fault lies with Keyscritters. Just my opinion.

Let's chalk this one up to experience and next time we do a group critter buy lets just go with another vendor. Me and Amy split an order about a year ago from Reeftopia, and had a positive experience. A majority of those critters are still going strong. Their prices are a little more expensive, but if we inquire they may give a discount on a group order.

 

[Reef4Fun]

i will pay that but want cernith snails instead, and i agree ihat it should be sent free, they have a live guarentee

 

[coralreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6854430#post6854430 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bneal3
We were shipped 550 blue legs and only 110 are alive. We were shipped 105 Astrea and 50 are alive. We were shipped 900 cerith and lost over 200. Just a little info on the order.

WOW just read this and Dwights thread in the vendor's forum. I'm dismayed at Key's handling of this problem.
I assumed all week the main problem was the DOA bluelegs which I thought should/would be replaced at no charge once they had the final body count.
Like Essop I only got black ceriths but evidently had good luck with only one empty shell so far. I certainly didn't realize there were so many problems until now.
Bruce thank you again for all the time and effort you've had to devote to this.

 

[WVfishguy]

As far as algae control goes, you cannot beat a Kole's tang, (Ctenochaetus strigosus). I have one which eats ALL the algae in my 75 gallon reef tank. I'm not kidding; there is no algae in that tank. Before the addition of the Kole, you could not see through the sides.
After keeping a Kole, snails are a joke as far as algae control. Just keep a Kole for a while and see what I mean. They feed constantly, they never touch inverts and don't fight with other fish (except maybe other Koles).
I'll bet the other Ctenochaetus (bristletooth) tangs are just as good, but Kole's tangs also look good.

 

[firefish2020]

They should replace the creatures at there own cost if there is a live arrival guarantee, if not it says a lot about the business IMO.

 

[LtPiper]

According to the website they guarantee the livestock but not the shipping.

"* Arrive alive guarantee is on livestock only. No refunds on packing and shipping."

If we are going to get replacements we are going to have to pay the shipping it looks like. Like I said before doesn't matter to me one way or the other I can get what I need locally for about the same cost it would take it would take for them to ship the second set of empty shells (oops did I say that). I just have a problem with the fact that we were shipped so many empty shells that didn't have the animals in them that were supposed to be there. I feel like they should cover the shipping because of the simple fact that they didn't send us anything but empty shells on a good portion of our order.

 

[crabfan]

I agree with Piper

I agree with Piper

You said it Piper. It may be that blue leg hermits don't ship very well, but at least give me some carcasses! It may be that they are being difficult because they know the truth.

Nothing but empty shells and the shaft. Why pay another $50 for that?

 

[mcox33]

Have they been informed that everyone involved will post negative vendor feedback here on RC if they do not send the replacements at their expense.

I really think that could make a difference. Or forget the shipping just refund the critter cost in cash.

I don't know how much it would actually be, but it is probably better than us paying to ship empty shells, again.

 

[MattG]

I wasnt involved with the group order but I'm sorry to hear about the bad experience here with keys.

I just wanted to comment about my experiences with ordering blue legs. I have ordered blue legs from maybe 5 different places and have never had a problem. In fact in my experience i have higher survival rates of blue legs vs everything else.

Customer service is one of the big things that drives my decisions to purchase from a company. Every company is going to have problems but it's the way they handle it that sets them apart from the crowd.

 

[firefish2020]

"I just have a problem with the fact that we were shipped so many empty shells that didn't have the animals in them that were supposed to be there. "

It's just like what happened with us that time we ordered 1000 bluelegs. We got about half alive the rest never moved. Either way that was the last big order of blue legs we made from the place we got them, lesson learned. I agree with Matts last line, written guarantees aside, we deal with this from time to time at the shop. If they want our business they eat the cost 100% and send a new shipment, if not they loose a potential long term customer.

However I don't think these guys care about long term customer accounts or relations, they get newbies everyday to fork over hundreds of $$$ for animals that may or may not arrive alive and if they don't arrive well that was probably something that happened during shipping and they are not responsible bla bla bla. If they really have this high of a mortality rate I personally believe we should not even bother getting a replacement, this could go on for a long time. I suggest we Just post our negative feedback on there forum and make your case clear and without malice, maybe someone else thinking of ordering there wont have to go through this mess.