Ordering a Ritteri from Blue Zoo Aquatics

[Keefer]

Last week I noticed that BZA had Ritteri anemones in stock and were offering a 5% discount. On Friday, 3/18 at 1:59 p.m., I placed an order for a medium Ritteri anemone with a delivery date of Tuesday, 3/22. I immediately received an order confirmation by email. On Monday night at about 7:30 p.m., I received a phone call from BZA indicating that due to a larger response to their sale than expected, they were oversold on the Ritteri and would not be able to fill the order. However, he did indicate that he would be checking with their distributers to see if they could get more, and would mark the order to give me a call before they ship so I could be ready to accept the shipment. I agreed and thanked him for the phone call. Yesterday, Tuesday morning, I noticed that the BZA website still showed the Ritteri anemone in stock. I sent them an email inquiring why the anemone was listed as being in stock when I had just received a phone call the previous night that they were out of stock. I have not heard back from BZA. As of this morning, two days later, the website still shows the anemone "in stock" in both medium and large sizes. I am left to wonder why, if the anemone is in stock, the order is being delayed, and if it is not in stock, why the website is not updated to reflect the reality? Does BZA not update their website on a regular basis? Just wanted to bring this to the attention of anyone who might be thinking of ordering an anemone from BZA.

 

[BlueZooAquatics]

Thanks for letting us know. Yes the Ritteri anemones we purchased at a special price for the sale did sell very quickly. Even though they were only marked down modestly, they became a very popular item that week. We do have some Ritteri anemones in stock right now but no more that would be sold at the sale price. What we can do is look into your order and see if it is possible to release one of those to you.

Our inventory is updated in real time with product coming in. Our system shows what we have available and we have the ability to hide inventory until the husbandry department says that it is ready to sell. With some items, like Ritteri anemones, they can look great one day and be listed for sale but then look very bad the next day. If this is the case, we rather hold an order until the animal looks good than try to ship it and it not make the trip. This is not exactly the case in your situation but it is worth noting how the whole process works.

Hope that helps.

 

[Keefer]

Thank you for your response. It is helpful to gain a better understanding as to how your online inventory works. With regard to my order, the difference between the regular price ($59.95) of the medium Ritteri and the sale price ($56.95) is only a matter of $3.00. Since in this case, as you indicate, it is not a question of having healthy inventory in stock, but rather about what you have available at the current price vs. the sale price, and as my desire is more to obtain the anemone, rather than be indefinitely delayed over the matter of three dollars, may I ask that if you have the medium Ritteri in stock that you please get in touch. You can pm me if you need the order information. Thanks.

 

[Keefer]

I now need to give credit to BZA for their excellent follow up. I received a phone call from BZA on Wednesday night indicating that they could ship an anemone for delivery on Friday. I agreed. On Friday morning, FedEx delivered my new Ritteri at around 10:00 a.m. When the anemone arrived, the mouth was gaping as you would expect with a Ritteri which was just shipped. Over the course of the next couple of hours, the gaping increased. At about the six hour mark, the mouth began to close and the anemone began to inflate. At about nine hours the anemone was fully inflated and the mouth almost fully closed. This morning the anemone looks great. Thanks to BZA for their attentive customer service, for the great job in shipping, and for their healthy stock. Here is the anemone as of this morning.