My final order from Aqua Cave

[MGM_]

My order went fine and support is abt 50-50 getting back to me. Ordered a booster pump w/psw. PSW went out after 3 weeks. 7-10 emails to aquacave, 3 phone calls to aquacave, 3 phone calls to Aquatech (Aquacave directed me to aquatech support) I finally received an RMA number to return and sent it in. Almost 3 weeks later I have still have not rec'd replacement. It is a 25.00 part! I have since purchased a replacement as I need the switch! If I ever get the replacement I will use it as backup. Thankfully it was not a pump or something expensive. When I have a defective component I don't have time to call multiple times then speak to their vendor when I have a tank full of livestock waiting for a needed component.

 

[Roggio]

There's a good explanation to this; it will also explain why it only happens on some orders.

The tracking numbers and the email are automatically generated. However, if you order a product that is not in stock they immediately have it shipped from the manufacture. When shipped from the manufacture- there's no tracking number generated.

When you have issues like this arise; call and speak with Albert. I always have my orders arrive in a timely manor.

 

[Alex T.]

I sympathize with the people in this thread that have had issues with Aquacave.

I have actually had nothing but good experiences with this vendor over the years. A few days ago I had a question about a skimmer's availability and was told that they would call me back to let me know how long it would be since they had none in stock. The call was received within the hour and I was treated courteously and professionally. I didn't like hearing that it was back ordered and would be up to 6 weeks, but they don't make them...they sell them when available. Honesty trumps my impulsive "gotta have it now" nature anytime, and I can respect that. They could have easily said that it would be a couple weeks, taken my money and let me sit waiting.

I've ordered many bulbs, ballasts, skimmers and other high ticket items over the years and never had any issues receiving tracking numbers of my shipments, poorly packed goods or rude service and comments like the ones I'm reading here. In fact, everything I've received from them was timely and well packaged. Anytime I've called, I've always been able to get through. Someone stated in a previous post that they are going to give their business to BRS. Just last week I wanted to order some of their Eco Rock and had some questions and wanted to request certain sizes. I was on hold listening to music for over 13 minutes. Yes, I looked at my watch and remembered. I hung up. Marco Rocks got my business...not BRS.

Again, I feel for the ones that have had bad experiences, but from what I've encountered I would not be hesitant in dealing with them again. Sometimes only the bad experiences see these types of posts, but I think it's only fair to the vendor to list the positive ones as well. In fact, most importantly, about a year ago I was in the market for metal halide reflectors and wanted the Lumenarc minis for the price point they offer. They didn't have any in stock and said that they wouldn't have them for a couple months. They offered me the Lumenmax Elite reflectors for the same price, even though they are $30 more per reflector. If that's not taking care of a customer then I don't know what is.

And no....I do not work for Aquacave.

 

[JGard911]

Aquacave = Aqua"scam"

Aquacave = Aqua"scam"

I ordered a Neptune Systems product from Aqua"scam". My order was paid for instantly thru Paypal. I then started receiving emails from them indicating that my order would not be processed until I advised them if a delay of 3-5 days in processing the order was acceptable. I kept getting these email 8 days after I placed my order !! That made a lot of sense.

So basically they charged my credit card, and then started sending me emails asking me if I wanted the product.

Eventually got my money back thru Paypal.

 

[AquaCave]

James,
Thank you for your feedback.
Please note that after sending these emails we have not hear back from you. Some customers prefer not to wait and cancel the order. Others are OK with the delay.
You did not reply to any of our emails so we did not know if you want to proceed with your order.
All you needed to do is to email us back with "ship it" or "cancel my order" note. We can not make that decision for you. Unfortunately you decided to ignore all our emails.


Albert
www.aquacave.com

 

[James77]

So basically they charged my credit card, and then started sending me emails asking me if I wanted the product.
Eventually got my money back thru Paypal.

Did you ever.....respond to those emails? Sometimes popular items go on backorder, happens to every company at some point. Some shopping carts charge automatically, again, plenty of stores do this.

 

[Roggio]

James, what would you expect? You payed through a third party and Aquacave inquired about the wait time. What would you have done different? Most venders wouldn't bother; you would just receive a generic message like, they're on there way." save your cute nicknames and slander for the companies that deserve it.

 

[James77]

Its just an irritating mindset that people have that if their order is charged instantly, as alot of shopping carts do, that it should be instantly shipped. If the above poster did not even bother to return an email from aquacave asking what he wished do do with a backordr, how can you fault them for that. He actually just let the emails pile up, then files a PP claim? I dont get it....

What would I have done? Well I know since it has happened before with other companies. I will usually reply that its cool, Ill wait a few days for the order. If I really need it or the BO is too long, I simply ask to refund the order and I find another place. As pain free as it could possibly be .

 

[chrisv]

it sounds like a lot of these issues could be solved if the company kept an active up to date inventory and did not sell things that they do not have on hand. give that we live in a world of electronic inventory systems and electronic sales, this should be incredibly easy to manage.

Its simple. Dont offer for sale an item that you do not have. Don't take money for an item you cannot deliver. These are basic "right from wrong" lessons that most children learn when running a lemonade stand on the street corner.

 

[chrisv]

it sounds like a lot of these issues could be solved if the company kept an active up to date inventory and did not sell things that they do not have on hand. given that we live in a world of electronic inventory systems and electronic sales, this should be incredibly easy to manage.

Its simple. Dont offer for sale an item that you do not have. Don't take money for an item you cannot deliver. These are basic "right from wrong" lessons that most children learn when running a lemonade stand on the street corner.

 

[Gundo5000]

Ive spent over $500 with AC in the past month and have had excellent service. What i did was call and make sure everything was in stock, and then ordered over the phone. Both times I got my package within 2 days... Sorry this happened to some of you but I never trust the inventory to be up to date online. Just call to place the order in the future...

 

[James77]

it sounds like a lot of these issues could be solved if the company kept an active up to date inventory and did not sell things that they do not have on hand. given that we live in a world of electronic inventory systems and electronic sales, this should be incredibly easy to manage.

Its simple. Dont offer for sale an item that you do not have. Don't take money for an item you cannot deliver. These are basic "right from wrong" lessons that most children learn when running a lemonade stand on the street corner.

Not every company has an up to the second cart system, not is is feasible for them to incorporate one. Aquacave did zero wrong here, items go on backorder all the time all over the world. They emailed the buyer, who seemed to refuse to answer several emails. Then the buyer files through PayPal to get it resolved. How about communication 101 and responding to the emails?

 

[JGard911]

Your missing the point.
They were continuing to ask me if a 3-5 day delay was OK, 8 days after the order !!! If they had just processed the order, I would have had it by the time they sent the email.
Your acting like 3-5 days is a lifetime. If I don't pay for expedited shipping, like i didn't in this case, I wouldn't have even noticed 3-5 extra days.
So MAYBE it is appropriate to try and confirm shipping times if someone has paid for expedited shipping.

Also
Dont charge my credit card and then ask if I really want the product.
If you want to hold off charging my credit card before you get confirmation on my order, that is fine. But by accepting a payment, you HAVE already processed the order !!!
No excuse about 3rd party billing.

I just ordered it from Premium Aquatics. Same "drop ship" policy. They just simply note that some items are drop shipped, which may cause a 3-5 day delay, on the products which this affects.

Maybe Aquacave (note no "scam" reference) was trying to do what they felt was in the best interest of the customer. But I'm telling you to do something different.

 

[James77]

They were continuing to ask me if a 3-5 day delay was OK, 8 days after the order !!!

Did you ever answer any of their emails from the 1st day to the 8th day?

Dont charge my credit card and then ask if I really want the product. .

They were asking if you were going to mind waiting until the product comes in. What is the big deal, just say yes or no!

 

[JGard911]

Their emails orginally went to my spam folder. But I just checked them.
I ordered and paid for my item on 1/31/2012 9:45:03 A.M. Eastern Standard Time

The FIRST email I got asking me if I really wanted my order was sent on 2/3/2012 6:01:45 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

That was already 4 days later !!!!
Hmmmmmm Again 3-5 days was already over !!!!

 

[JGard911]

...

 

[James77]

The FIRST email I got asking me if I really wanted my order was sent on 2/3/2012 6:01:45 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

That was already 4 days later !!!!
Hmmmmmm Again 3-5 days was already over !!!!

DID YOU REPLY TO THE EMAIL BEFORE YOU USED PP TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK?

Why can you not simply answer if you replied to their email or not?

AquaCave always takes 2-3 days to process an order, they are not the fastest with that end. So when they processed your order a few days later on 2/3, it was backordered and they sent an email to you asking if you minded waiting for it. I am assuming by your unwillingness to answer a simple question of if you replied or not that you did not reply back with an answer. Had you actually -GASP- replied that you wanted the item, it would have shipped out a few days later when they were restocked. Or you could have replied and asked to refund, and AquaCave would have refunded you.

Whatever, move on from the company. But to say they scammed you is pure nonsense.

 

[JGard911]

Whatever, move on from the company. But to say they scammed you is pure nonsense.

Bottom line.
Took 4 days to tell me its gonna take another 4 days to send my order after already charging my credit card.
Your right. Already moved on from the company. I have spent over $5000 on my tank. This $49 order wasnt that big of a deal.
Just trying to point out a poor business practice.

Why can you not simply answer if you replied to their email or not?

On 2/4/2012 8:29:49 A.M. Eastern Standard Time I responded
"3-5 days is acceptable, as long as you have not been holding up my order, waiting for my response to your email and those 3-5 days are already over. (Today is the 4th day since I ordered it on 1/31/12)"

and on 2/6/2012 10:37:57 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
ANOTHER 3 days later, I got this email
"Before we will process you order we need your agreement to the delay.
Please let me know how to process your order and also let me know if the 3-5 days delay is acceptable"

AquaCave always takes 2-3 days to process an order.

and they DONT take 2-3 days to process an order. They get paid INSTANTLY.

 

[James77]

By the way.
On 2/4/2012 8:29:49 A.M. Eastern Standard Time I responded
"3-5 days is acceptable, as long as you have not been holding up my order, waiting for my response to your email and those 3-5 days are already over. (Today is the 4th day since I ordered it on 1/31/12)"

and on 2/6/2012 10:37:57 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
ANOTHER 3 days later, I got this email
"Before we will process you order we need your agreement to the delay.
Please let me know how to process your order and also let me know if the 3-5 days delay is acceptable"
.

There you go......Now it falls onto AquaCave for dropping the ball and not following through. You could have easily pointed out that they failed to respond after you replied to their email. It would still be up to whether or not they had the item instock, not all companies have control over that. AquariumSpecialty comes right to mind where that happened to me, though they are faster to respond and let people know than AC is.

and they DONT take 2-3 days to process an order. They get paid INSTANTLY.

Yes, they DO take 2-3 days to process an order. But I am not about to digress into semantics with you. When you place an order through some shopping carts, they charge immediately and forward the order to picking and shipping. You used PayPal, THEY process and send the payment immediately...just as AquaCaves shopping cart system would.

 

[JGard911]

Suggestion to Aquacave.

1. When someone places an order, assume they want it.

2. Don't charge a credit card until the order is shipped.

3. Clearly note on the website if an item is backordered or is a "drop ship" item and there will be a delay in processing the order. That way you already know whether or not they are willing to wait for an order.

4. Only question an order if someone has paid for express shipping and clearly wants the order in a hurry.

5. Hire James77, unless he already works for you.