steelerguy
New member
I have hesitated to post my experience with Marine Depot, specifically my order with marinedepotlive.com, because I truly believe they have good people working for them and they really did try to do the right thing. In the end, I felt it was only fair to post my experience, and let people decide if it is worth taking into account or not when they are contemplating an order with Marine Depot.
I placed an order for 2 Ocellaris clowns, a Flame Hawkfish, and a McCosker's wrasse, and a few Tongan Nas snails. I received the fish the next day and they were all packaged very well. One of the clowns did not looks so hot but he did eat. The McCosker's wrasse I ordered did not look nearly colorful enough, but I though it may just be stressed.
The not so good looking clown continued to looks worse the next day, mucus was appearing on his body. He stopped eating a couple days later and the second fish then started to show symptoms. The first died during the night and I treated the second the next day with Formalin but he did not make it either.
I also noticed that the McCosker's wrasse wasn't one, and sure enough it said on the packing slip Carpenters wrasse. I was of course charged for a McCosker's.
I contacted Marine Depot and they immediately gave me a credit for both clown fish and the full price of the wrasse. I was surprised by this and though it was very good customer service. They also offered to play for half of the shipping on my next order. This was above and beyond what I expected.
I placed another order two weeks later for 2 more clown, medium this time, thinking they may ship better if they were older and larger. I also ordered a coral and a Purple Firefish. My order arrived the next day looking well packaged again. I immediately noticed there was no Firefish in there, and it was not on the packing slip. They were not marked out of stock on the site and I did not receive notice they were not including it. The clowns were both small although they did mark an upcharge for medium. Again one didn't look so good and the other looked fine. The coral looked better than what I was expecting.
It was obvious after a couple days the not good looking one was sick so I started to treat him. He died tonight. The other fish is still looking very healthy and the coral is doing great.
They also only charged me $8 for the shipping, I am guessing since they didn't have the Purple Firefish.
So what I am getting at in the long post is that I think Marine Depot has some good customer service people working for them and I think they do want to take care of you if you have a problem. But I think they have some careless people fulfilling the orders. I got an incorrect wrasse, I got small clowns when I ordered medium, I didn't get a firefish and was not notified they were out. I also think the health of their small size clownfish is poor, and that they may not be quarantined very long (this is speculation) or perhaps I am just unlucky...maybe transfer from California to New York is just too much for small clownfish even overnight.
As you can see, there are good things and bad about ordering livestock from Marine Depot. The fish that have not immediately died look great...even if it is not the fish you ordered. They are willing to give credit if they mess up, but I am more interested in paying full price with no credit or discounts and getting the fish I ordered and have them come healthy. It is just distressing to me to lose 3 of the 4 clownfish I ordered so far and having to start treating them for illness almost immediately upon arrival. Not that is is Marine Depots issue, but my wife is not happy with me for ordering fish that needed to be shipped and then having them die. I have explained that the fish in the pet stores here didn't just swim here and they were shipped just the same but that just got me a dirty look.
I placed an order for 2 Ocellaris clowns, a Flame Hawkfish, and a McCosker's wrasse, and a few Tongan Nas snails. I received the fish the next day and they were all packaged very well. One of the clowns did not looks so hot but he did eat. The McCosker's wrasse I ordered did not look nearly colorful enough, but I though it may just be stressed.
The not so good looking clown continued to looks worse the next day, mucus was appearing on his body. He stopped eating a couple days later and the second fish then started to show symptoms. The first died during the night and I treated the second the next day with Formalin but he did not make it either.
I also noticed that the McCosker's wrasse wasn't one, and sure enough it said on the packing slip Carpenters wrasse. I was of course charged for a McCosker's.
I contacted Marine Depot and they immediately gave me a credit for both clown fish and the full price of the wrasse. I was surprised by this and though it was very good customer service. They also offered to play for half of the shipping on my next order. This was above and beyond what I expected.
I placed another order two weeks later for 2 more clown, medium this time, thinking they may ship better if they were older and larger. I also ordered a coral and a Purple Firefish. My order arrived the next day looking well packaged again. I immediately noticed there was no Firefish in there, and it was not on the packing slip. They were not marked out of stock on the site and I did not receive notice they were not including it. The clowns were both small although they did mark an upcharge for medium. Again one didn't look so good and the other looked fine. The coral looked better than what I was expecting.
It was obvious after a couple days the not good looking one was sick so I started to treat him. He died tonight. The other fish is still looking very healthy and the coral is doing great.
They also only charged me $8 for the shipping, I am guessing since they didn't have the Purple Firefish.
So what I am getting at in the long post is that I think Marine Depot has some good customer service people working for them and I think they do want to take care of you if you have a problem. But I think they have some careless people fulfilling the orders. I got an incorrect wrasse, I got small clowns when I ordered medium, I didn't get a firefish and was not notified they were out. I also think the health of their small size clownfish is poor, and that they may not be quarantined very long (this is speculation) or perhaps I am just unlucky...maybe transfer from California to New York is just too much for small clownfish even overnight.
As you can see, there are good things and bad about ordering livestock from Marine Depot. The fish that have not immediately died look great...even if it is not the fish you ordered. They are willing to give credit if they mess up, but I am more interested in paying full price with no credit or discounts and getting the fish I ordered and have them come healthy. It is just distressing to me to lose 3 of the 4 clownfish I ordered so far and having to start treating them for illness almost immediately upon arrival. Not that is is Marine Depots issue, but my wife is not happy with me for ordering fish that needed to be shipped and then having them die. I have explained that the fish in the pet stores here didn't just swim here and they were shipped just the same but that just got me a dirty look.
