dzhuo
Active member
I have bought all the equitments to start a 10G nano so I started to research for live rock. After a lot of search, I nailed it down to Premium Aquatics (PA) Marshall Island rock mainly because:
1. The rock is top quality
2. The price is reasonable
3. PA is a reputable company with good customer service
The following is a time line of what I did:
2/16/2005 Wedesday:
I ordered 10lb of Marshall Island LR from Premium Aquatics. I paid a little extra money for Saturday delivery mainly because no one will be there to pick up the delivery during the weekday.
2/17/2005 Thuresday:
I got a call from PA telling me that there are 2 problems with my orders:
1. The billing address doesn't match the address on the credit card
2. The shipping method is not available for Saturday delivery
Both are my mistakes. I gave PA the wrong billing address and I selected the wrong shipping methods. It's good that they caught my mistakes early on. I called PA and corrected the billing address problem. For the shipping problem, I told them I need to give them a call tomorrow whether I want to upgrade to a different shipping method or not.
2/18/2005 Friday:
I called PA to confirm that I do want to upgrade. All the problems have been solved. I asked them if I wouldn't get my LR on Saturday or not. PA said yes, they will ship the LR now. Sure enough, 30 minutes later after I hung up the phone, I got an email from PA along with the invoice and a UPS tracking number. I was impress.
2/19/2005 Saturday (the day I am suppose to receive my LR):
10am:
Got up and use the UPS tracking number that PA provide to see where is my order. The status is:
7:26 A.M.
OAKLAND, CA, US
DEPARTURE SCAN
Status: In Transit - On Time
So great everything is ontime just as I planned it.
11:25am:
No delivery yet. The departure scan is 7:26Am so it has been 4 hours now. Normally from Oakland to San Francisco (where I live), it only take about 40 minutes. But hey, UPS has lots of packages to delivery so maybe it's running a little late. So I waited.
11:45am:
Started to feel a little nervous. Went to UPS website and track the status again. It's the same as befor: "In Transit - On Time" but I decided to give them a call just in case. Called UPS and UPS told me that my package is scheduled to deliver around 12pm and asked me to wait. I said sure, no problem. I waited.
12:30pm:
Still no delivery yet. Check the UPS status, it's the same as before: "In Transit - On Time". I decided to call them again (second time). I asked them where is my package and they said it's on its way. I told them I called before and someone said it should arrive at 12pm. They sait yes their system does indicates that my package should arrive at 12pm but they are not sure why I haven't received it yet. They asked me to wait a little longer. I said sure, no problem. I waited.
1:15pm:
Still no delivery yet. Check the UPS status, it's the same as before: "In Transit - On Time". I called them again (theird time). I asked them why I haven't received my package yet. They checked the system but they couldn't find out why. I asked them whether they could contact the driver or not, they said they have absolutely no way to find out where the driver is. I asked if the package has ever leave their warehouse and they said it doesn't look like it has even leave the warehouse. I then asked if I can have the phone number of the warehouse but they refused to give me the number saying the warehouse's phone will not be answered on Saturday. I asked if they could call the warehouse for me and they said they couldn't for the same reason. I asked them what's the phone used for if they are not going to pick it up. They said the phone is used only during the weekdays. I then asked if I could have the email address of the warehouse so I could email them and hopefully someone will check email. I know the chance is light but I have to try it. They refuse to give me the email address saying the email address is only for internal use. I asked if they could email it for me but they refused to do so saying no one will be reading the email. I then asked for the address of the warehouse and I am willing to drive there and check it out. They refuse to give me the address saying it's not open for public. I asked what I can or they can do to help me out to find out where is my package. They said they couldn't help me because no one is working during Saturday. I asked them what happen if there is an emergency and you need to contact the warehouse. They said even in emergency, they have no way to contact the warehouse during Saturday. I asked them when will I get my package and they said most likely Monday. I told them my package contains live stock and it might die if I don't get it today. They said there is nothing they can do. I told them if the live stock dies, it's no use to me even if I receive it on Monday. In fact, I might have to ship the whole package back so it's a lot of work. They said sorry but there is nothing they can do. Finally, they told me I should wait until 2pm. I said sure, no problem, I will wait. The UPS rep, by the way, was fairly friendly durin g the whole conversation. She checked the system and acknowledged several times that something was wrong on their end. She just couldn't figure out what went wrong and why my package wasn't deliveried. At this point, I am a little disappointed.
2pm:
Still no delivery and according to the UPS rep, no delivery will arrive after 2pm on Saturday. I called UPS again (fourth time) and told them I have not received my package. They looked up the system and noticed that I have called serveral times, I told them yes I have called 3 times before. They checked the system for the last time and the status of my package is still: "In Transit - On Time". They said they have absoultely no idea why my package has not arrived. The UPS rep apologized to me and said she's sorry about the whole situation. I told them (again) that my package contains live stock. The UPS rep said she knew that from previous conversation but she couldn't really do anything right now. There is nothing she could do to help me out. She then talked to her manager and confirmed that there is really nothing they could do. I told them I have waited for half a day because their reps asked me to wait. They said they are sorry. I asked them why the status of my package always says: "In Transit - On Time" when it's not on time at all. I said if the status ever change, I would notice something and potentially I don't have to waste so much time for one package. They said they don't why and they are sorry for the situation. They apologized for the last time.
11:41pm:
UPS status shows:
Status: In Transit
Of course, I have no package delivered and I don't know where is my package.
I have called (I think it's after the thrid called to UPS) PA but no one was there to answer the phone. This is understandable as PA is closed on Saturday. I then email PA to tell them the situation. I don't know what I can do right now. I hope I can resolve the issue with PA or UPS. My plan as of now:
1. Call UPS and PA Monday morning to straight things out.
2. Refuse the package from UPS.
I think #2 is reasonable given that:
1. I paid a certain amount of money so I expected a certain type of service. Obviously, I didn't got that. To be honest, if those were drygoods, I wouldn't care if they arrive a few days late. But those are not drygoods, it's LR. I paid for second day mainly because I want to have top quality LR to being with. If UPS delivery the package to me on Monday, the LR has been out of the water for 3 days and 3 nights! As a customer, this is not something that will be acceptable to me.
2. The mistake is not caused by me at all. So I shouldn't be accounted for. If I caused the mistake (say, I am not home to pick up the package so UPS has to return it to the warehouse), then there is nothing PA or UPS can do. My mother waked up 7am in the morning, I waked up at 10am and waited until 2pm when UPS told me I will not received my package. So during the whole time, someone will be there to pick up the package if it arrived.
Do you think my reasons are reasonble? This is my first time ordering live stock from the Internet.
My take away:
1. It's not PA's fault but I hope they can work out something for me given their reputation. PA shipped the package and thus they have commited to what they said they will do.
2. It's no my fault either. In fact, I am the victim.
3. UPS's rep are fairly friendly during the whole time. Ackonwledge their mistakes and apolozied for the whole situation. Their inability to find out what went wrong makes me feel that there are area where they can improve to make their system better. The nutshell seems to be that in a perfect world, UPS Saturday delivery is great but if something went wrong, the customer is leave totally in dark.
Like I said before, I hope PA can work out something for me and ship me new LR. I will give UPS and PA a call Monday morning. I will update this thread to let you guys know how things goes.
Disappointed so far
thanks!
1. The rock is top quality
2. The price is reasonable
3. PA is a reputable company with good customer service
The following is a time line of what I did:
2/16/2005 Wedesday:
I ordered 10lb of Marshall Island LR from Premium Aquatics. I paid a little extra money for Saturday delivery mainly because no one will be there to pick up the delivery during the weekday.
2/17/2005 Thuresday:
I got a call from PA telling me that there are 2 problems with my orders:
1. The billing address doesn't match the address on the credit card
2. The shipping method is not available for Saturday delivery
Both are my mistakes. I gave PA the wrong billing address and I selected the wrong shipping methods. It's good that they caught my mistakes early on. I called PA and corrected the billing address problem. For the shipping problem, I told them I need to give them a call tomorrow whether I want to upgrade to a different shipping method or not.
2/18/2005 Friday:
I called PA to confirm that I do want to upgrade. All the problems have been solved. I asked them if I wouldn't get my LR on Saturday or not. PA said yes, they will ship the LR now. Sure enough, 30 minutes later after I hung up the phone, I got an email from PA along with the invoice and a UPS tracking number. I was impress.
2/19/2005 Saturday (the day I am suppose to receive my LR):
10am:
Got up and use the UPS tracking number that PA provide to see where is my order. The status is:
7:26 A.M.
OAKLAND, CA, US
DEPARTURE SCAN
Status: In Transit - On Time
So great everything is ontime just as I planned it.
11:25am:
No delivery yet. The departure scan is 7:26Am so it has been 4 hours now. Normally from Oakland to San Francisco (where I live), it only take about 40 minutes. But hey, UPS has lots of packages to delivery so maybe it's running a little late. So I waited.
11:45am:
Started to feel a little nervous. Went to UPS website and track the status again. It's the same as befor: "In Transit - On Time" but I decided to give them a call just in case. Called UPS and UPS told me that my package is scheduled to deliver around 12pm and asked me to wait. I said sure, no problem. I waited.
12:30pm:
Still no delivery yet. Check the UPS status, it's the same as before: "In Transit - On Time". I decided to call them again (second time). I asked them where is my package and they said it's on its way. I told them I called before and someone said it should arrive at 12pm. They sait yes their system does indicates that my package should arrive at 12pm but they are not sure why I haven't received it yet. They asked me to wait a little longer. I said sure, no problem. I waited.
1:15pm:
Still no delivery yet. Check the UPS status, it's the same as before: "In Transit - On Time". I called them again (theird time). I asked them why I haven't received my package yet. They checked the system but they couldn't find out why. I asked them whether they could contact the driver or not, they said they have absolutely no way to find out where the driver is. I asked if the package has ever leave their warehouse and they said it doesn't look like it has even leave the warehouse. I then asked if I can have the phone number of the warehouse but they refused to give me the number saying the warehouse's phone will not be answered on Saturday. I asked if they could call the warehouse for me and they said they couldn't for the same reason. I asked them what's the phone used for if they are not going to pick it up. They said the phone is used only during the weekdays. I then asked if I could have the email address of the warehouse so I could email them and hopefully someone will check email. I know the chance is light but I have to try it. They refuse to give me the email address saying the email address is only for internal use. I asked if they could email it for me but they refused to do so saying no one will be reading the email. I then asked for the address of the warehouse and I am willing to drive there and check it out. They refuse to give me the address saying it's not open for public. I asked what I can or they can do to help me out to find out where is my package. They said they couldn't help me because no one is working during Saturday. I asked them what happen if there is an emergency and you need to contact the warehouse. They said even in emergency, they have no way to contact the warehouse during Saturday. I asked them when will I get my package and they said most likely Monday. I told them my package contains live stock and it might die if I don't get it today. They said there is nothing they can do. I told them if the live stock dies, it's no use to me even if I receive it on Monday. In fact, I might have to ship the whole package back so it's a lot of work. They said sorry but there is nothing they can do. Finally, they told me I should wait until 2pm. I said sure, no problem, I will wait. The UPS rep, by the way, was fairly friendly durin g the whole conversation. She checked the system and acknowledged several times that something was wrong on their end. She just couldn't figure out what went wrong and why my package wasn't deliveried. At this point, I am a little disappointed.
2pm:
Still no delivery and according to the UPS rep, no delivery will arrive after 2pm on Saturday. I called UPS again (fourth time) and told them I have not received my package. They looked up the system and noticed that I have called serveral times, I told them yes I have called 3 times before. They checked the system for the last time and the status of my package is still: "In Transit - On Time". They said they have absoultely no idea why my package has not arrived. The UPS rep apologized to me and said she's sorry about the whole situation. I told them (again) that my package contains live stock. The UPS rep said she knew that from previous conversation but she couldn't really do anything right now. There is nothing she could do to help me out. She then talked to her manager and confirmed that there is really nothing they could do. I told them I have waited for half a day because their reps asked me to wait. They said they are sorry. I asked them why the status of my package always says: "In Transit - On Time" when it's not on time at all. I said if the status ever change, I would notice something and potentially I don't have to waste so much time for one package. They said they don't why and they are sorry for the situation. They apologized for the last time.
11:41pm:
UPS status shows:
Status: In Transit
Of course, I have no package delivered and I don't know where is my package.
I have called (I think it's after the thrid called to UPS) PA but no one was there to answer the phone. This is understandable as PA is closed on Saturday. I then email PA to tell them the situation. I don't know what I can do right now. I hope I can resolve the issue with PA or UPS. My plan as of now:
1. Call UPS and PA Monday morning to straight things out.
2. Refuse the package from UPS.
I think #2 is reasonable given that:
1. I paid a certain amount of money so I expected a certain type of service. Obviously, I didn't got that. To be honest, if those were drygoods, I wouldn't care if they arrive a few days late. But those are not drygoods, it's LR. I paid for second day mainly because I want to have top quality LR to being with. If UPS delivery the package to me on Monday, the LR has been out of the water for 3 days and 3 nights! As a customer, this is not something that will be acceptable to me.
2. The mistake is not caused by me at all. So I shouldn't be accounted for. If I caused the mistake (say, I am not home to pick up the package so UPS has to return it to the warehouse), then there is nothing PA or UPS can do. My mother waked up 7am in the morning, I waked up at 10am and waited until 2pm when UPS told me I will not received my package. So during the whole time, someone will be there to pick up the package if it arrived.
Do you think my reasons are reasonble? This is my first time ordering live stock from the Internet.
My take away:
1. It's not PA's fault but I hope they can work out something for me given their reputation. PA shipped the package and thus they have commited to what they said they will do.
2. It's no my fault either. In fact, I am the victim.
3. UPS's rep are fairly friendly during the whole time. Ackonwledge their mistakes and apolozied for the whole situation. Their inability to find out what went wrong makes me feel that there are area where they can improve to make their system better. The nutshell seems to be that in a perfect world, UPS Saturday delivery is great but if something went wrong, the customer is leave totally in dark.
Like I said before, I hope PA can work out something for me and ship me new LR. I will give UPS and PA a call Monday morning. I will update this thread to let you guys know how things goes.
Disappointed so far
thanks!
