worst shipment I've ever seen, MDL

[laughingfish]

I ordered my first coral from Marine Depot Live last week. It arrived dead in water so putrid from decay that I am convinced it was half dead before they bagged it. I know shipping in the summer can be tricky but not like this. I owned a store, years ago, and had corals sent half-way around the world in the middle of summer. The only time I've seen corals arrive in such disgusting condition was when I ordered them from dealers who just weren't very good at what they did. Once I found a couple of good, reputable wholesalers I could get corals in even in late July or early August without any issues. Nothing else shipped to me was DOA or even very stressed for that matter. Yet I am told that this was just a routine shipping problem and their policy is to only give credit on my next purchase. Unfortunately they will not refund my money to my credit card. They have repeatedly said that they will give me a "credit" on my next order, but too many people have since told me that they have had repeated bad luck with MDL. I won't use the credit as I am pretty convinced that something else will come in damaged or dead. I now advise all of my friends with tanks to NOT order from Marine Depot Live.

 

[MarineDepot]

Hi,

Thanks for your feedback and we apologize for the trouble you had with your order. Checking up on your order, it looks like it was a SPS coral that arrived DOA. From your description, it sounds like it suffered from RTN while in transit: which can sometimes be caused by drastic changes in temperature or numerous other factors. We also noticed that there was a clam and a number of other snails and inverts on the order that arrived without any problems. Our livestock pickers have been picking livestock for over 10 years. We have 100% confidence in them picking the healthiest specimens possible and not ship out any livestock that look unhealthy. The shipments are also randomly inspected by our livestock manager to ensure quality.

Following up on your shipment, it looks like the package was drop off and left at your door step rather than being signed for. If the package was sitting outside (especailly if it was left in the sun) for an extended period of time, it may have been the cause of this problem. Our stay-alive guarantee usually only covers shipments that are signed for: as we need to make sure that the shipment is received immediated and acclimated in to the aquarium as soon as possible. However, we were more than happy to make an exception for you and cover the specimen under our guarantee. If you would like to give us another try, we will be happy to give you a 50% discount on shipping on your next order.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can help you with.

Sincerely,
MarineDepotLive Customer Service

 

[JustOneMoreTank]

Wow! Sounds like Marine Depot Live customer service is bending over backwards to help make this right. Great job.

 

[Sparkss]

I have placed several orders with Marine Depot Live and have always been happy with the results. The only time I had a bad experience it was due to UPS and not MDL (proof positive by UPS's tracking information -- they notated that it was "left behind in a UPS facility", half way from MDL to me ). Even so, MDL bent over backwards to make things right with us, and they succeeded gloriously.

I worked with Ollie and what could have been a frustrating experience ended up being a whole lot stressful than I had expected (I still lost the entire shipment, but MDL made it right, in a big way).

 

[twkenny]

That's the ticket! It's the shipping that kills you when you get credit to use somewhere...50% off shiping is awesome!
Way to go MDL

 

[Kinetic]

from MDL's response up there, seems like they're super professional about everything =) I got a r2 moonlight from them promptly and without a hitch =)

 

[Sparkss]

from MDL's response up there, seems like they're super professional about everything =) I got a r2 moonlight from them promptly and without a hitch =)

Actually if you bought a moonlight, then it wasn't from MDL, you most likely got it from the dry goods side MD, which is actually a different company (more or less). They have different billing/accounting, different shipping and as far as I know there is only 1 person there that can take orders from both sides, but they still can't be shipped together.

 

[Kinetic]

sparkss: you're right =P

 

[Sparkss]

wasn't trying to be a pain...

 

[dead beat reef]

Things happen. M.D. wants to make it good, be happy. Web site
the best, call up for adv. no voice mail, no phone tag, real folks
real help, in real time. Tracking numbers yes, need help networking with M.D. just call.

 

[Acillaton]

One more + to Marine Depot does not hurt. I just want to say thay I had ordered live stock many, many times from them and never had any trouble. 100 % sutisfied.