I Feel So Sick

[dmarie04]

Back on the 18th I won an auction on aquabid for some betta tanks. I am planning to breed some bettas I recently purchased and am getting all set up and ready for the loads of fry I (hopefully) will have soon. The seller of the auction also had an auction up for an albino bristlenose plec. I've been wanting one so I emailed the seller and asked some questions about the plec. She replied that if I wanted one, she had another one that was identical to the one in the auction and if I added $16 to my total when I paid for the betta tanks, she'd ship the plec to me when she shipped the tanks. I paid for the tanks and plec that day. This past Saturday I got an email from the seller stating that the tanks and pleco should arrive to me either Monday (today) or Tuesday. Today I called my husband as I was leaving work and asked if the fish had arrived (he has strict instructions on caring for the plec if it arrived while I was at work). He said, no, all that came was a box of betta tanks! I said, well the pleco was suppose to be shipped the same time. He put the phone down and I heard him rustling through papers and what-not and then I heard him say, "OH GOD! THAT"S GROSS!!" My heart dropped. He came back on the phone and said that inside one of the betta tanks (which was in it's original box...crammed inside the priority shipping box) was a wad of paper and inside the wad of papers was a fish bag...with a dead ROTTED pleco! I hurried home and sure enough. The seller had put the fish in a plastic bag, wrapped it in paper, stuffed it into the betta tank, put the betta tank back in it's box, and packed it with the other tanks in the priority box. This poor fish is rotted and just disgusting! I feel so bad for the fish. I keep thinking it was my fault. I should have asked more questions as to how the fish was going to be shipped. Although, how could I have known it would be treated so carelessly? Oh, god. Poor little fish. I wanted one so bad, too I emailed the seller to let them know the fish was dead and rotted and I was very upset about this whole ordeal. I just now received (as I was typing this) an email back saying that the fish probably died due to the weather and admitted the fish could have been shipped better (DUH!). The seller said that she could send me another fish or give me a refund and I opted for the refund. *sigh*
RIP poor little bristly pleco.

 

[aquaticadmirer]

That's pretty ridiculous...I'm sure she just didn't want to pay the extra money for live shipping! The things people will do for a buck...

 

[demonmagus]

if I've got the story right, that's more than sick, was the plec just in some tissue? no water? either way that's gross

 

[dmarie04]

if I've got the story right, that's more than sick, was the plec just in some tissue? no water? either way that's gross

No, the plec was in a bag (with water), the paper was around the bag and was stuffed inside the betta tank. I got the refund..but I still feel really bad about the poor little fishy.
The thing is, if she wanted to charge me extra for shipping, I'd have paid it. No problem. Ugh. I just don't want to think about it.

 

[PlecMama]

That's really horrid, poor him and poor you. Glad you didn't opt for another one, I bet that would have come the same way.

One of the good folks on here shipped me live fish once, for free, she just needed to rehome them to a sand bottom tank, and they were so well packed, you could tell it was done with nothing but love. If you ever need fish shipping advice I'm sure Bloo will help

xxx

 

[Breeze7050]

dmarie - if you are still interested in a BN plec, drop me a pm. Im pretty familiar with aquabid and can let you know who the good shippers are. Sorry for your loss.
Im actually expecting a plec today from a shipper Ive never used, so Im a little nervous now!

 

[Ravenwing]

Omg that is sooo sad!!!! Poor lil baby pleco!!!! Why not take the time to ship it correctly??? Yeeesh! (to the seller)

lil buddy!

Edit: Any chance you could let us know who it was so we don't make the same mistake?

 

[Teelie]

I've had plenty of fish mailed to me before with other stuff but never seen or heard of anything so careless as that.