Once again attacking the buyer. If a retailer only puts up one photo. Then that's all the buyer can go by. If it's labeled and described as such. Take your theory to any other product. Put a picture of a product any product. Call it a Sony. When it arrives and you get a Panasonic. Is it still the buyers fault.
I'm not attacking the buyer, I'm simply saying that people need to take responsibility for the own actions. If an ad says "Acropora sp. 'blue slimer'" and I get it and it's blue and it slimes, what different does it make to me whether it's A. formosa or yongei? If they send me a blue Montipora or some blue zoanthids, that's a whole different ball of wax, and more akin to your tv analogy above (which is extreme and out of line).
There are so many different levels of hobbyist. Beginners and the less knowledgable should be able to trust the retailer. Sure a experienced hobbyist can ID corals easier, and sift through any decietful marketing. Take a fairly new reefer who goes to someones house and sees a nice mature tank. Sees a coral he likes. Is told by the owner that a certain coral in the tank is X coral. That reefer goes home and tries one of the many retailers online to find X coral. Finally finds one described as X coral, and orders it. Your saying you question the buyer, and it's his fault when X coral never arrives.
This is faulty logic from the start. How does Reefer A, even being a long-term aquarist, know what the coral is when even experts in the field won't make that call?
If I see a coral online and it says "Superman Montipora", and the picture shows a blue with red-polyp monti, then I would expect to get that. If I receive a yellow with blue-polyp monti, then yes, I'd feel slighted. If my "superman" monti shows up a pale purplish color with orangish polyps (as they normally do after shipping) then I wouldn't think I've got ripped off. If someone does, then they're either inexperienced or ignorant, and really shouldn't be ordering expensive corals to begin with, IMO.
I always check and see what lighting a retailer uses, whether it's in a store, online, or a buddy of mine's tank. For me to expect things exactly like the picture is a false hope. People selling corals will almost always tell you what their display parameters are if you ask (most of them tell it up front).
Here's a question for you: if you order a"blue slimer" off a good pictures, and it arrives and it's blue and it slimes, how do you determine if you got "ripped off" and the "wrong species"? If it turns out that it's a formosa instead of a yongei, does that make it slime and less, any less blue, or any less beautiful? Do you demand a refund?
