Well I received my last order from BZ and I must say I'm really disappointed in this last shipment. In my previous post I felt they did me good the last time I order, however I order from them again, and this order I had several dead fish, and a goby/pistol shrimp pair which the goby was smaller then the shrimp. BZ did credit my money, however I went to place another order to use the credit as they don't refund the money like LiveAquaria does, I order over the shipping limit of $140 ($159), so before I applied the credit I was able to get free shipping, however when I applied the credit they then made me paid for shipping so in turn I did not really received a credit. I wrote to customer service and they replied that I'm responsible for the shipping cost no matter what, which is find if I was ordering under the amount of free shipping cost that they provided. Both orders the original one that I received the credit from and the one I was trying to get my credit back where over the limit. So I guess my advise would to stay away as many of other poster have posted here stated. I will for now on order through Live Aquaria at least they give a refund if a fish is DOA and you won't feel like your getting scam.
Very poor business practice.
- Thread starter LSKreefer
- Start date
Thank you for the post. We are sorry your experience with our company was not up to your expectations.
Here is an excerpt from the email sent to this particular customer. This issue really doesn't come up very often as our DOA rate and overall mortality are extremely compared to other companies in the industry.
There are a couple of issues behind the exclusion of shipping expenses in our guarantee.
Cost "“ To ship an envelope via Priority Overnight, it costs close to $20. To ship even a small box with live fish in it, it costs over $40. Companies like ours do not include shipping expenses in the guarantee because it would simply be too expensive. If we could afford to do it, we would.
Shared Risk "“ Even when everything is done right, there will always be a few fish that die, even if no reason can be determined. We know this, so we are willing to help share the risk and cost of aquarium fish ownership with our customers by giving merchandise credit for qualified losses.
No Cash Value "“ Our livestock coupons may be used for merchandise replacement only, and since they have no cash value, they do not count toward our free shipping promotion.
It is worth noting that all Blue Zoo livestock credits have a one year expiration and this can be extended upon customer request. Usually within a year, customers are able to justify the shipping by ordering a few more things and spreading the shipping cost across those items.
I hope this explanation helps.
In a nut shell, every business has to choose ways to set themselves apart form other businesses. Our choice has been to offer the absolute lowest order total for free shipping in the industry which feel helps folks out tremendously with the overall cost of aquarium ownership. In order to do this though, we have to have certain rules in place and one of those rules is that every order that qualifies for free shipping has to have 140.00 paid regardless of credits, coupons or discounts in order to pay for the FedEx shipping charges. In most cases, if you order from us 140.00 worth of product and receive free shipping, you will not have any issues at all with the order and you will feel like you got a great deal. But problems due arise from time to time whether its because of FedEx or weather or a delivery driver dropping a box which results in animals not making it. We gladly accept responsibility for at these times and issue credit for losses even though we did nothing wrong when the animals were packed at our facility. All we ask in return is for customers to understand that in order for us to continue providing both the exceptional customer support and the lowest order total for free shipping in the industry, there has to be a little give and take and we must collect that full 140.00 to cover shipping on each order sent. We feel this is fair and most customers understand why.
It is worth noting as well that this information is readily available to read in our published policies on the website.
Take care and have a great day.
Here is an excerpt from the email sent to this particular customer. This issue really doesn't come up very often as our DOA rate and overall mortality are extremely compared to other companies in the industry.
There are a couple of issues behind the exclusion of shipping expenses in our guarantee.
Cost "“ To ship an envelope via Priority Overnight, it costs close to $20. To ship even a small box with live fish in it, it costs over $40. Companies like ours do not include shipping expenses in the guarantee because it would simply be too expensive. If we could afford to do it, we would.
Shared Risk "“ Even when everything is done right, there will always be a few fish that die, even if no reason can be determined. We know this, so we are willing to help share the risk and cost of aquarium fish ownership with our customers by giving merchandise credit for qualified losses.
No Cash Value "“ Our livestock coupons may be used for merchandise replacement only, and since they have no cash value, they do not count toward our free shipping promotion.
It is worth noting that all Blue Zoo livestock credits have a one year expiration and this can be extended upon customer request. Usually within a year, customers are able to justify the shipping by ordering a few more things and spreading the shipping cost across those items.
I hope this explanation helps.
In a nut shell, every business has to choose ways to set themselves apart form other businesses. Our choice has been to offer the absolute lowest order total for free shipping in the industry which feel helps folks out tremendously with the overall cost of aquarium ownership. In order to do this though, we have to have certain rules in place and one of those rules is that every order that qualifies for free shipping has to have 140.00 paid regardless of credits, coupons or discounts in order to pay for the FedEx shipping charges. In most cases, if you order from us 140.00 worth of product and receive free shipping, you will not have any issues at all with the order and you will feel like you got a great deal. But problems due arise from time to time whether its because of FedEx or weather or a delivery driver dropping a box which results in animals not making it. We gladly accept responsibility for at these times and issue credit for losses even though we did nothing wrong when the animals were packed at our facility. All we ask in return is for customers to understand that in order for us to continue providing both the exceptional customer support and the lowest order total for free shipping in the industry, there has to be a little give and take and we must collect that full 140.00 to cover shipping on each order sent. We feel this is fair and most customers understand why.
It is worth noting as well that this information is readily available to read in our published policies on the website.
Take care and have a great day.
I would not have any problem with paying shipping, however the order that I was going to place was over the shipping to qualify for free shipping which I got prior to applying my credit, once I put my credit you then added shipping which only gave me a $4.00 credit. I will get something later however it will not be fish from you to get my credit and it will not be the larger order that I would have place with you. I will pay for shipping on what I will get but it will be the last time I will do business with you. I had high hopes when my son and I order our first order from you which was over $400 other then a few fish were very small for what we paid, it was a good order. I realize that things happen and they may be loses but your company should honor the credit that was given and not play games. The order that I was placing to include my credit qualified for free shipping.
Thank you for the additional comments. We are very sorry that you did not understand our explaination as to why covering shipping charges on any order where we are not collecting 140.00 is impossible. We understand your decision and wish you the best of luck with your aquarium.
Take care.
Take care.
phillrodrigo
New member
Something people have to relise is that you place a order for $140 around 40 ofnit goes to shipping. So they already took the loss there. So they ship that order again for you they pay for that fish and that shipping again thats pretty much everything you just spent and they just lost money on the entire order. Most fish stores dont give you anything when a salt water fish dies. They give you 100% back for the fish. We all know there is a big risk in shipping fish. Live aquaria free shipping is I believe 225 or more. So for them to ship a fish twice isnt as big of a deal and they probably have the same rule anyways. I have seen a single place that will ship the fish twice. They also have no idea were the mistake was. It can be acclimation issues could be delivery could be broken bags its not always there fault. Ive had a few die. In my evloving learning of this hobby I found out some were my fault on acclimation issues but always got credit anyways no questions asked
btb72
New member
I disagree, if he payed enough the first time for free shipping, then that is the way it should be even on the credit. It isn't his fault that the fish died or the company but it is the company who is responsible for making sure that the fish arrived safely or fully refund. Saying they won't pay for shipping the second time is not taking care of your customers. If a company treated me right I would go back in a heartbeat but after hearing this I think I will stay with LADD
phillrodrigo
New member
But they paid the shipping the first time. If he paid the shipping it would be one thing. A $140 free shipping is un heard of for fish orders and the ones that do probably have the same rule. If live aquaria will do it its becauee there minimum is alot more.
btb72
New member
The amount of where free shipping is at shouldn't matter. Bluezoo set the price at where it is at to be competitive against LADD and people realize that but if I am going to have to pay shipping if a fish dies. I am the consumer it is the businesses sole purpose to make money and provide for consumers. It isn;t anyones fault that the fish died but the business should make sure that if it happens they take care of the consumer. With this policy I will not be buying from Bluezoo, i feel that it is shady practice to not honor credit even though it is above the free shipping price.
phillrodrigo
New member
Yea but you have to remember if you order a $140 order only a $100 actually goes to them or some were around that. So I feel like there already taking that loss everytime someone orders. If they re shipped every order that had a doa they wouldnt be able to run a business that way. As lomg as its in there shipping policy its uo to you if you wanna deal with them. If itw not there then its not right.
Great discussion guys. Thanks for all the comments and back and forth talk. Basically, the poster was correct when saying that on a 140.00 order, the shipping average will cost us 40.00 which we pay for. We came up with that amount as the bare minimum we could take in and still make a marginal profit on the order. It works because in all honesty, we really don't have many DOA claims because our animals start off healthy, we have complete control of animal before it leaves, we pack the animals ourselves, we use a boxing process that has been refined for 10 years now to result in the least amount of loss and we provide the proper tools and instructions on how to acclimate. If our losses were higher, we would have to raise the free shipping total to cover the animals that we pay for as replacements. Heck, if people really wanted free shipping on replacements, we could do that but we would have to have a much higher free shipping total and because of the volume that we ship without any problems at or around the current 140.00 for free shipping total, it doesn't seem like raising the order total for free shipping would be very popular.
Anyway, it's always good to discuss this type of thing and get new ideas on how to make the buying experience more enjoyable. Thanks again for all the comments.
Anyway, it's always good to discuss this type of thing and get new ideas on how to make the buying experience more enjoyable. Thanks again for all the comments.
Barracuda68
New member
I can see both points. However, i would assume the credit wwould be as good as cash with tat company, so if his order totalled free ship amount, he should have gotten the free shipment. If it were my company i would take the loss to save face and look at how many times this was happening and raise the rate a little to compensate. Somewhere around $175 for instance to make up for some of that.
Just my two cents.
Just my two cents.
dkirchoff
New member
I've heard (Sadly and most unfortunately), both 'shady business practices and playing games'...I have to say, clearly the two opinions can not honestly comprehend the simple mathematics involved and it seems that they don't understand how passionate, dedicated, upstanding and honest Bluezoo aquatics is to its customers. l don't have anything negative to say about liveaquaria but I will say, there is no company out there that can compete with Bluezoo, especially after shopping around to the very edges of the internet and with all the other vendors here on RC for nearly a decade...I'm grateful that here in NJ, I can always count on the crew from Bluezoo to care for my creatures to arrive in great shape (In the unfortunate event something perishes, they DO take care of it) and at unbeatable prices...and the more experienced customers get - the more they undoubtedly agree with me.
