When to ask for refund?

[Fcamdog]

Say you get some new zoo's shipped to you, a small colony and two full frag plugs. Shipping was less than adequate, very sub par and this leads to some of your zoo's not making it.

One frag plug of zoos makes it just fine, less than half of the small colony make it and off the other frag plug only a couple heads of the most expensive zoos make it.

Question, when do you ask for a refund?

 

[SpankythePyro]

I would ask for a partial refund. Zoanthids can survive crappy shipping very well but that doesn't give reason to pack them without care.

 

[Fcamdog]

After how many days of hoping they magically open do you ask for a refund?

 

[Marchingbandjs]

Whats their refund policy, and thats your answer.

 

[bekindtoyurbuds]

Well you’re going to have to define "sub par shipping” and "they didn't make it" how did they ship them? (Next day, 2 day express, no insulation??), the zoo's are totally missing, melted, munched on, or just not opening??

How long have you had them?

Sometimes zoo's take a while to open, I've bought stuff from the local fish store that didn't open for a week, but were fully open in the store when I bought it. A week later they were just fine. Same as with shipping sometimes it takes a week or more for them to open.

Then again I've had zoo's that opened up after a few hours of putting them in the tank.


Some zoo's are sensitive, some are not. Usually zoo's are pretty tough and it takes allot to kill them.

I would say if your zoanthids still have defined polyps, (meaning when closed, you can still see each individual polyp, and they have not melted or are damaged/munched on by bugs) then there is a good chance that they will eventually open and live.

There are many things that can lead to zoa's not opening

Water parameters, critters in your tank, heat, cold, lighting, it all depends on your tank and the sellers, they need to get used to a different environment, and sometimes this can take time.

This is why most sellers only offer a 2-4 hour arrive live guarantee, its hard to tell (if not near impossible) what the condition is of the tank they will be going into (Don't get me wrong, I am in NO way implying that your tank conditions are sub par)
But a great majority of the time the coral is not going into a tank that is exactly like the tank they came out of (temp, lighting, parameters and so on....)

I would say, unless the seller does have a guarantee and you notified them about the condition of the zoo's directly after you received them (within an hour or so), you’re pretty much out of luck.

Corals are living things and sometimes they don't make it, no matter how good the new environment they are going into is.

Hope this helps, maybe you could post some pics of what they look like, so we can help you further.

 

[Guygettnby]

if this helps you any.... i only offer a guarentee that my corals will arive alive. i do not offer any kind of guarentee once you put them in your tank. there is just simply no way a seller can possibly know what your tank is like.

but i agree with alot of what was said above. alot more really needs to be known about this situation before i could give an honest answer.

but keep this in mind aswell.... sometimes zoas will take weeks to open after being shipped. most of the time it is within a few days but there are times it will take longer.

 

[Fcamdog]

All valid points and great questions. All water parameters are spot on in my tank. All my other corals are thriving.

Here is why I think they didn't make it (are dead). They were shipped overnight USPS in in just the express shipping envelope as an outer pack. The inner pack consisted of baggies with the zoo's and a papertowel saturated with tank water. The bags were very cold to the touch when they arrived. I am blaming the lack on any insulation during shipping, thus the zoo's were exposed to too extreme of a temp swing and are dying/dead.

They were slowly acclimated to my tank's temp by floating the bags. Then received a freshwater dip (ro/di water) for 5 minutes and were transferred to my tank on the sandbed.

I can still see "defined" polyps but they look "soft" (not sure how to describe it but they don't look strong/healthy). I've not had much luck with zoo's that didn't open by the next day. I am very thorough with my acclimation and dip process and cannot attribute a loss ever to my post shipping handling.

Question for you folks, how do you tell if it did in fact arrive alive? Coral that died on me due to whatever reason after shipping 99% of the time still were at least a little bit alive when they got to me. Like someone getting to the emergency room with a bullet wound to the heart. You know they're done, but they're not dead just yet.

 

[mscarpena]

I agree that the lack of insulation probably did them in. I know people use the "damp shipping method" and it works just fine. The fact that there was no temp barrier. I would say they were most likely dead when they arrived at your house, just not decaying until now. I would say for sure that they should give you a refund if and only if that was an option when you bought them. Some people do not offer any guarantee. Also in your first post you say some made it so that is a little confusing still. You have to work it out with the seller based on how long you have had them and what their guarantee is. Good Luck

 

[commonstranger]

Hope you get this worked out. I could see a partial refund if it was preperation of shipping on their part that led to them dieing.