Illuminati
Premium Member
I sent a message asking this to be locked, since my problem is resolved no need in beating a dead horse.
Like I said, no ill will.
Like I said, no ill will.
Sharkys - Bad Deal
- Thread starter Illuminati
- Start date
- Status
Howdy all..
No reason to lock this thread at all. Any problems we want to know about them. We have said it before and still stand behind it today. Please contact us with any experiences with sharkys that has been less then great. Either give us a call, email or PM. We do not provide customer service in a public forum for several reasons. However, please contact with any of the methods above. We WANT to know.
Has it been a tough couple months yes. In fact its all over our website. Look in the announcements. Alot of complications have resulted in our move of servers and our expansion.
** We have had email problems no doubt. This happened because of the server upgrade. Many of the ISPs were not letting messages to or from our new server. As posted in the website this affected all emails between 10/12 to 10/27.
** We have been operating very thin lately because of everything going on. This is why we posted on website "a best way to contact us" and "we shut down local walkins". In fact I think only 5 people have been allowed to pick up in the last two months. This is a dramatic cut down.
** Then we still were fighting a losing battle so we basically shut down sharkys on 10/31 as posted on the webpage. This was the first time we have done this since we have started this venture several years back. We even operated thru the births our children in the past.
It’s been tough. Have their been problems. Yes... Have we not been able to provide the same level of service .. Yes.. This is why we took the steps above... We apologize for this and promise sharkys will be back better then ever... We might not be able to do anything to accommodate you now however, once we are back up we will.
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Colin-
I apologize for the frustration. There has been no lying I promise you and mistakes made were honest mistakes. Anita even offered to drop the frag off at your house (or your work) due to some of the mix up. When you have a billion things going on unfortunately mistakes, mix-ups, and forgot toos are common. Is there any excuse? No..... Can we do anything for you now? Unfortunately not. Would we take care of you once we got a chance? Like before and always.. Of Course!!
Also since you have been with us for quite some time and I am shocked this occurrence would steer you away. You know how sharkys operates. Yes the last two months have been very out of character. However, you know we would take care of you when got back up and able. It’s just a little hard right now.
Policies are policies and there are very good reasons behind them. Sure we might have had to charge you six percent on your chargeback but you know we would take care of you on the next transaction like always. I am sure you can understand the reasons for integrity in store policies. I promise you all policies have very good reasons behind then and no we do not make a cent on any of them.
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Drew-
Thank you for the comment. Please contact us in the future if you have a problem. We cannot remedy any problem we don't know about..
I spent a few minutes reviewing you communications with us. I unfortunately do not see any unanswered communications. If this is the case please contact us and help us find the root case. Your order was picked up 2 days after it was made and all emails we have we answered. I see several emails going back and forth and all answered within reasonable time. Usually same or one day later.
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I invite both of you to come on out to the store. Let us show you and remind us all what Sharkys is about.
Dennis
No reason to lock this thread at all. Any problems we want to know about them. We have said it before and still stand behind it today. Please contact us with any experiences with sharkys that has been less then great. Either give us a call, email or PM. We do not provide customer service in a public forum for several reasons. However, please contact with any of the methods above. We WANT to know.
Has it been a tough couple months yes. In fact its all over our website. Look in the announcements. Alot of complications have resulted in our move of servers and our expansion.
** We have had email problems no doubt. This happened because of the server upgrade. Many of the ISPs were not letting messages to or from our new server. As posted in the website this affected all emails between 10/12 to 10/27.
** We have been operating very thin lately because of everything going on. This is why we posted on website "a best way to contact us" and "we shut down local walkins". In fact I think only 5 people have been allowed to pick up in the last two months. This is a dramatic cut down.
** Then we still were fighting a losing battle so we basically shut down sharkys on 10/31 as posted on the webpage. This was the first time we have done this since we have started this venture several years back. We even operated thru the births our children in the past.
It’s been tough. Have their been problems. Yes... Have we not been able to provide the same level of service .. Yes.. This is why we took the steps above... We apologize for this and promise sharkys will be back better then ever... We might not be able to do anything to accommodate you now however, once we are back up we will.
-------------------------------------------
Colin-
I apologize for the frustration. There has been no lying I promise you and mistakes made were honest mistakes. Anita even offered to drop the frag off at your house (or your work) due to some of the mix up. When you have a billion things going on unfortunately mistakes, mix-ups, and forgot toos are common. Is there any excuse? No..... Can we do anything for you now? Unfortunately not. Would we take care of you once we got a chance? Like before and always.. Of Course!!
Also since you have been with us for quite some time and I am shocked this occurrence would steer you away. You know how sharkys operates. Yes the last two months have been very out of character. However, you know we would take care of you when got back up and able. It’s just a little hard right now.
Policies are policies and there are very good reasons behind them. Sure we might have had to charge you six percent on your chargeback but you know we would take care of you on the next transaction like always. I am sure you can understand the reasons for integrity in store policies. I promise you all policies have very good reasons behind then and no we do not make a cent on any of them.
--------------------------
Drew-
Thank you for the comment. Please contact us in the future if you have a problem. We cannot remedy any problem we don't know about..
I spent a few minutes reviewing you communications with us. I unfortunately do not see any unanswered communications. If this is the case please contact us and help us find the root case. Your order was picked up 2 days after it was made and all emails we have we answered. I see several emails going back and forth and all answered within reasonable time. Usually same or one day later.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I invite both of you to come on out to the store. Let us show you and remind us all what Sharkys is about.
Dennis
Colin,
Regarding the mushroom and looking over the order notes. You ordered that mushroom 9/24. The blue tonga mushroom was not bagged up when you came to pick it up. Anita noticed the mushroom had lost some color since the picture so she showed you the mushroom in the tank and gave you the option of taking it or not and pick something else instead. You decided to take it anyway. It definitely did not look that bad on the pickup date.
We have never have the corals bagged ahead of time for you. This time you wanted to come pick them up during a shipping time (normally we allow no pickups during the week espically at shipping time). Then you requested to have them already bagged up. This was the first time and only time we have done this for you. Anita was running behind schedule so she did not have all the corals bagged when you got there. Espically the blue tonga mushroom since she noticed an issue with it. Whenever anything looks different then the pictures the customers are always contacted regarding it.
This is the reason there are two sides to every story. Facts get overlooked or forgotten.
Regarding the mushroom and looking over the order notes. You ordered that mushroom 9/24. The blue tonga mushroom was not bagged up when you came to pick it up. Anita noticed the mushroom had lost some color since the picture so she showed you the mushroom in the tank and gave you the option of taking it or not and pick something else instead. You decided to take it anyway. It definitely did not look that bad on the pickup date.
We have never have the corals bagged ahead of time for you. This time you wanted to come pick them up during a shipping time (normally we allow no pickups during the week espically at shipping time). Then you requested to have them already bagged up. This was the first time and only time we have done this for you. Anita was running behind schedule so she did not have all the corals bagged when you got there. Espically the blue tonga mushroom since she noticed an issue with it. Whenever anything looks different then the pictures the customers are always contacted regarding it.
This is the reason there are two sides to every story. Facts get overlooked or forgotten.
Swamp Donkey
New member
I pm'd Dennis about my problem. I hope the rest of the move goes smooth. Best of luck!!!
Illuminati
Premium Member
That is 100% not true!
Yes I did pick the order up on a Wendsday when she was busy.
Everything was bagged up already except for 2 items. The Tiger Pistol Shrimp because it could not be found and the neon goby because the one I bought died between the time I ordered and the time I picked it up.
I got another neon goby and 5 peppermints as a substitution, both the neon goby and peppermints had just come in that same day and were still in the styrofoam shipping boxes.
Ask Anita if she remembers that, maybe it will jog her memory about how that afternoon really played out.
The entire order was:
1 x 918162 Tiger Goby Pistol Shrimp $25.00
1 x Copepods 500 in bottle $25.00
1 x 9106110 Blue Tonga Mushrooms $65.00
1 x 90106132 Peppermint Shrimp $7.00
1 x 80622121 Neon Goby - Elacatinus oceanops $25.00
1 x 90206124 Sharkys Made Custom Frag Rock $60.00
1 x 911133 Zoanthus Colony $25.00
The mushrooms, zoa frag, zoa rock & copeopods WERE bagged when I got there. Right before I left I saw a blue mushroom in one of the tubs and said to her "Is that another blue tonga?"
She said "No that's a Rhodiactus" (killed the spelling on that)
She then went over to the steps where my order was boxed up and pulled out the mushroom. She said "It's a little stressed but it's an amazing blue".
NEVER once did she say "This looks crummy, lets get you something else" or anything to that effect.
Go ask her if this is how it played out and reply here.
I will have to go back and find a picture of the mushroom, I bet I have a shot of it from soon after I bought it. The picture provided was from a full tank shot I cropped, I will post a new picture with a date code on it.
Dennis, don't you remember when I came there on my next visit and we were talking upstairs and I told you about how my pseudochromis took out the 5 peppermints within a day. I mentioned the bleached mushroom then and asked if it would color up. You said it would and I'm still waiting.
Illuminati
Premium Member
Again, for the record she did offer to deliver it but then we decided on meeting Sunday at the warehouse in the same conversation instead of her dropping it off. It was the Sunday I wasted waiting for a call that never came.
Illuminati
Premium Member
Here Dennis, I have this pic. The date code is from 10/1, 3 days after I brought the mushroom home.
It's a full tank shot, you can see the mushroom in the back left corner. 1 shroom you can see, the other is hidden by a rock.
In this picture you can see both mushrooms, both are white.
Would you pay $65 for this?
And some other points.
I find it funny that you said Anita offered to exchange this for me. Obviously you 2 spoke about this last night, if she can remember that conversation over a month ago then why didn't she remember to call me twice to meet up last week? Trust me man, she never offered to swap this for me. What you see is what I got.
She did recently swap out a florida ric for me. The one I ordered looked rough when I got there and she did offer me a nicer ric, maybe she is confusing the 2?
It's a full tank shot, you can see the mushroom in the back left corner. 1 shroom you can see, the other is hidden by a rock.
In this picture you can see both mushrooms, both are white.
Would you pay $65 for this?
And some other points.
I find it funny that you said Anita offered to exchange this for me. Obviously you 2 spoke about this last night, if she can remember that conversation over a month ago then why didn't she remember to call me twice to meet up last week? Trust me man, she never offered to swap this for me. What you see is what I got.
She did recently swap out a florida ric for me. The one I ordered looked rough when I got there and she did offer me a nicer ric, maybe she is confusing the 2?
Illuminati
Premium Member
Oh yeah, I forgot, Dennis post the pic of these that was on the website so people can compare them.
REALLY, customers are always notified when their purchases look significantly different from Sharky's pictures????
I find that a little hard to believe and this is why......
I ordered a Catalina Goby ($30) and a Pineapple coral ($65 ) a few months ago. It was almost a month before they could fit me in to pick up after several attempts.......NOT ONCE, during that month, was I given a status update on my items . Finally, a pick up time was agreed on and I went there to pick them up. (remember now, these items have been there for almost a month). After looking around for a few minutes, I was told that my pineapple coral was not doing well.... I was then shown a 1/2 dead and rotting looking thing that in NO WAY looked even remotely close to the picture on the website. Ok fine, things happen, so I pick out another coral that was about the same price. THEN, I am told that "Unfortunately, the goby died because he never acclimated". If he never acclimated, that tells me that he was dead within the first few days of being in Sharky's possession. Yet, I was never told any of that prior to my pick up and I had been in contact with Sharky's several times while trying to set up a pick up time.
While I have not spent $650.00 there over the past few months, I have spent quite a bit over the past year. I won't be spending another cent there now though, there are just too many good stores in our area to choose from.
Sounds like there are some communication/ livestock health issues there and unfortunately, that will kill a business pretty fast.
Colinadam, if it's any consolation, I too, have had some Sharky's mushrooms bleach totally white and a few died off but about 4-5 of them did make it and color up again. It just took like a month for all that to happen.
:rollface:
I find that a little hard to believe and this is why......
I ordered a Catalina Goby ($30) and a Pineapple coral ($65 ) a few months ago. It was almost a month before they could fit me in to pick up after several attempts.......NOT ONCE, during that month, was I given a status update on my items . Finally, a pick up time was agreed on and I went there to pick them up. (remember now, these items have been there for almost a month). After looking around for a few minutes, I was told that my pineapple coral was not doing well.... I was then shown a 1/2 dead and rotting looking thing that in NO WAY looked even remotely close to the picture on the website. Ok fine, things happen, so I pick out another coral that was about the same price. THEN, I am told that "Unfortunately, the goby died because he never acclimated". If he never acclimated, that tells me that he was dead within the first few days of being in Sharky's possession. Yet, I was never told any of that prior to my pick up and I had been in contact with Sharky's several times while trying to set up a pick up time.
While I have not spent $650.00 there over the past few months, I have spent quite a bit over the past year. I won't be spending another cent there now though, there are just too many good stores in our area to choose from.
Sounds like there are some communication/ livestock health issues there and unfortunately, that will kill a business pretty fast.
Colinadam, if it's any consolation, I too, have had some Sharky's mushrooms bleach totally white and a few died off but about 4-5 of them did make it and color up again. It just took like a month for all that to happen.
:rollface:
Illuminati
Premium Member
Good to know about the mushroom coming back (and that I'm not the only one). I just put it in the new tank today so we'll see.
That is poor customer service, both items you wanted and ordered were not available when you went there. What a waste of a trip. Don't worry, your not the only one this has happened to.
I have never had a flawless transaction there. I have lost 1 blasto welsi, got a PPE Blasto that had tissue recession on 1 side that you couldn't see in the web picture and a zoa frag never open and crap the bed. This zoa frag I bought that was just refunded was a replacement zoa frag, that's what really burns me up. I go and spend $25 for this zoa, it never opens and withers away. I order a bigger frag of the same zoa for $35 (Never once did I ask for a refund for the zoa that never opened) and I have all these problems with a replacement.
I would advise people to check the livestock very carefully before buying.
That is poor customer service, both items you wanted and ordered were not available when you went there. What a waste of a trip. Don't worry, your not the only one this has happened to.
I have never had a flawless transaction there. I have lost 1 blasto welsi, got a PPE Blasto that had tissue recession on 1 side that you couldn't see in the web picture and a zoa frag never open and crap the bed. This zoa frag I bought that was just refunded was a replacement zoa frag, that's what really burns me up. I go and spend $25 for this zoa, it never opens and withers away. I order a bigger frag of the same zoa for $35 (Never once did I ask for a refund for the zoa that never opened) and I have all these problems with a replacement.
I would advise people to check the livestock very carefully before buying.
I recently made my first purchase at Sharky's. I had heard many good things and the pics of thier livestock looked good. My order came proptly and was shipped overnight. I orderd blastos, a lobo, pipeorgan, cynaria.Pipe organ looked great in the pics, fully expanded, no dead polyps observed. What I got looked vastly differant. Half of the polyps were dead and it did not look near as nice when it did expand on the remaining polyps.Blasto's where fair. The looked like there was a yellow center to them. There may be a pinhole of yellow, but nothing noticable. Lobo seemed to have less color and was smaller than I expected.Cynaria also alot less color. Appeared much more varigated on the website and I also expected a larger pice for the price. First and last time ordering from a picture. Will have to see my stuff in person form now on.Seems that this must of been a bad time for an order from them.Not trying to flame and I did not contact them, figured I'd chalk it up to the pic's not being what I thought. Just wanted to share my experiance as well.
colin -
3 questions
1) Why are you still unhappy? What is your purpose for all these posts? You said you were mad about $1.75 fee for chargeback. We against our policy (now publicly thank you) waived it. We wont do that again. No ill will no harm remember?
2) Were you not given the option by Anita to not take those bleached mushrooms? When she mentioned it was stressed out?
3) If you never received a flawless transaction why did you spend $650 over the time frame? If there was a problem we offered a fair sub and I know personally we gave you plenty of deals and freebies? I think we are being a tad negative right now aren't we? Even some of the points you mention above seems like good customer service to me.
I guess we have learned our lesson. No exceptions made for loyal customers. We do NOT allow local pickups during shipping days. We made an exception and all it does is back fire.
We are an online store. Local pickup was more of a favor we did for our local customers so they do not have to pay shipping. We were letting people in our personal home and go clearly out of our way to schedule time for our customers on weekends.
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tang
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For local pickups we do not check livestock prior. Sorry I know this a hassle but we just don't have time. Also usually is not a problem at all because 85% of the time a customer changes his/her order once they get to sharkys because we always have unposted items. I am sorry if you feel this is an inconvenience. Will this be changed in the future yes but at the time we were operating on a skeleton crew to provide the best prices we could. All corals are checked before leaving sharkys shipped or not.
The bottom line is still true. You did not go home with "bad" corals. We did notify the customer of corals not doing well. It just happened to be in person. Most of our business is online.
As far as the Catalina goby. Good luck finding one that does well in a reef aquarium. This is why we no longer get them in. They like colder water.
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Reef Greener
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We can not fix any problems we do not know about. If you would have contacted us we would be more then happy to fix the issue.
The vast majority of our business is repeat customers. We always aim to please.
-------------------------------------------------
As far as anyone else and the people above are also included. Please contact us via our email, phone, or PM if you are serious about finding a resolution to your problems. We do not provide customer service in a forum for several reasons. If you contact us I am sure things will be worked out to your satisfaction.
3 questions
1) Why are you still unhappy? What is your purpose for all these posts? You said you were mad about $1.75 fee for chargeback. We against our policy (now publicly thank you) waived it. We wont do that again. No ill will no harm remember?
2) Were you not given the option by Anita to not take those bleached mushrooms? When she mentioned it was stressed out?
3) If you never received a flawless transaction why did you spend $650 over the time frame? If there was a problem we offered a fair sub and I know personally we gave you plenty of deals and freebies? I think we are being a tad negative right now aren't we? Even some of the points you mention above seems like good customer service to me.
I guess we have learned our lesson. No exceptions made for loyal customers. We do NOT allow local pickups during shipping days. We made an exception and all it does is back fire.
We are an online store. Local pickup was more of a favor we did for our local customers so they do not have to pay shipping. We were letting people in our personal home and go clearly out of our way to schedule time for our customers on weekends.
--------------
tang
-------------
For local pickups we do not check livestock prior. Sorry I know this a hassle but we just don't have time. Also usually is not a problem at all because 85% of the time a customer changes his/her order once they get to sharkys because we always have unposted items. I am sorry if you feel this is an inconvenience. Will this be changed in the future yes but at the time we were operating on a skeleton crew to provide the best prices we could. All corals are checked before leaving sharkys shipped or not.
The bottom line is still true. You did not go home with "bad" corals. We did notify the customer of corals not doing well. It just happened to be in person. Most of our business is online.
As far as the Catalina goby. Good luck finding one that does well in a reef aquarium. This is why we no longer get them in. They like colder water.
-------------------------
Reef Greener
-------------------------
We can not fix any problems we do not know about. If you would have contacted us we would be more then happy to fix the issue.
The vast majority of our business is repeat customers. We always aim to please.
-------------------------------------------------
As far as anyone else and the people above are also included. Please contact us via our email, phone, or PM if you are serious about finding a resolution to your problems. We do not provide customer service in a forum for several reasons. If you contact us I am sure things will be worked out to your satisfaction.
Illuminati
Premium Member
3 answers
1.This comment is a LIE:
"Regarding the mushroom and looking over the order notes. You ordered that mushroom 9/24. The blue tonga mushroom was not bagged up when you came to pick it up. Anita noticed the mushroom had lost some color since the picture so she showed you the mushroom in the tank and gave you the option of taking it or not and pick something else instead. You decided to take it anyway. It definitely did not look that bad on the pickup date."
2.No, I wasn't
3.Because you guys were close.
Thanks for working out the mushroom problem to my satisfaction.
P.S. Meeting Anita on her shipping day was her idea.
1.This comment is a LIE:
"Regarding the mushroom and looking over the order notes. You ordered that mushroom 9/24. The blue tonga mushroom was not bagged up when you came to pick it up. Anita noticed the mushroom had lost some color since the picture so she showed you the mushroom in the tank and gave you the option of taking it or not and pick something else instead. You decided to take it anyway. It definitely did not look that bad on the pickup date."
2.No, I wasn't
3.Because you guys were close.
Thanks for working out the mushroom problem to my satisfaction.
P.S. Meeting Anita on her shipping day was her idea.
Colin,
Okay thanks for the responses.. Good to know.
We would have loved to give you store credit for the mushroom. Would have never been a problem at all. Seriously. Our policy as clearly stated on the website is all credits will be handled via store credit.
Another option we would have proposed is you could bring the mushroom back to us and we trade it for a new bright healthy and better colony. Then we will color up the mushroom on our end.
However, you said several times in this thread alone you are done shopping with us so we know this would have made no difference. This makes it very difficult to resolve an issue.
Colin, we are done talking about your issue in this thread. If you wish to continue this please contact us via phone or in a private matter (as asked before). We will not continue to play this game and respond in a public forum. The options above are still available to you if you wish to act on them.
Okay thanks for the responses.. Good to know.
We would have loved to give you store credit for the mushroom. Would have never been a problem at all. Seriously. Our policy as clearly stated on the website is all credits will be handled via store credit.
Another option we would have proposed is you could bring the mushroom back to us and we trade it for a new bright healthy and better colony. Then we will color up the mushroom on our end.
However, you said several times in this thread alone you are done shopping with us so we know this would have made no difference. This makes it very difficult to resolve an issue.
Colin, we are done talking about your issue in this thread. If you wish to continue this please contact us via phone or in a private matter (as asked before). We will not continue to play this game and respond in a public forum. The options above are still available to you if you wish to act on them.
Illuminati
Premium Member
I never wanted a credit for it, just want it to look good and I asked for tips to bring the color back in my second to last e-mail with Anita. That's when things went downhill.
Care to share the secret to getting the color back so I can just do it myself? I've tried to keep it in low/moderate light always on the sandbed. Would shade do any good?
When I spoke with you you said it takes some time to color up again.
Thanks
Care to share the secret to getting the color back so I can just do it myself? I've tried to keep it in low/moderate light always on the sandbed. Would shade do any good?
When I spoke with you you said it takes some time to color up again.
Thanks
I know no one has asked my opinion but....Personally I find this tread depressing.
Can't we all just get along?
If you want get cheered up check out the below thread....
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=946854&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
Can't we all just get along?
If you want get cheered up check out the below thread....
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=946854&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
Pufferpunk
New member
Sorry to hijack, but could someone (Dennis?) tell me how to color up a bleached mushroom? I have 3 that turned white after going on vacation.
DragonFish
Unregistered Member
Interesting, I posted a nearly identical experience with Sharky's a few months ago, and all I got in response from this forum was being flamed by CMAS members and even a moderator for saying something negative about Sharky's. Really, when it comes down to it Dennis here is the problem. A good store is not judged by how well transactions go, but how well the store responds when the transaction does not go well. In all of the cases I've read about you have pleanty of opportunities to make problems right, but you wait until the problem is posted on an open forum before you do anything. By that time the customer is so upset that nothing you can do will really fix it. Oh, and for the record I find that dosing with kent's iodine can help a mushroom color up faster. Colin I have a bottle you can have. And if I remember it correctly, my exact words were "what is that bleached mushroom looking thing?" No way Colin would have taken that home if he had seen it at the store.
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