Worst case of shipping I have ever encountered

[Magnum Man]

1st off, my F-1 angel is here, came sedated, no battles going on… Mrs. Loves the baby Cory’s that came on that shipment…

The other shipment is a total catastrophe… 1st place the box was a 2 day shipment, box was not marked live fish, or even fragile… I was supposed to get 5 fish, they scratched the number to 3… charged my card for 5, and I think they actually put 1 dead one in the bag, from their facility… I have never received a decomposed fish in the bag… 2 of the 3 were dead, but one was decomposing… just don’t know what to say… I’m going to let them explain

 

[Ceez]

Was this from discus madness?

 

[Magnum Man]

No… Discus Madness is my 2nd favorite seller / shipper Mrs. Favorite fish are the baby Cory’s, that came from DM today… the bigger one was one I had for the last year, that survived through my bad water, before the RO… got 5 of the little ones… pictured below

I have ordered from this seller twice… the 1st time, a year ago, I never did get fish, but got a refund… there is just so much wrong with this order, there just isn’t an excuse… do we have a bad seller section… I want to make sure no one else has to put up with this, but I’ll list all the details, after I get a refund, or if they refuse to credit my card…

 

[Back in the fold]

That’s a bunch of bull shipping you three fish and charging you for five . I would definitely let them explain . First time I’ve ever heard of this happening to anyone .

 

[gwand]

This is fishy business. Do share the seller when you’re ready. Hopefully at least you will get a refund.

 

[Colin_T]

Do you have a picture of the bags in the box when you first got them so we can see how they were packed?

How big are the Geophagus?
Did they have the cichlids packed together or in individual bags?

Was the water cold?
Any heat packs in the esky (foam box)?

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Fish should be able to survive 2 days in bags in an esky if they are packed properly. However, you normally put live fish stickers on the box and try to do a 24 hour express shipment.

 

[Essjay]

do we have a bad seller section…

We have a seller review section if you want to use that.

Store Reviews

Review places where you purchase hobby equipment.

www.fishforums.net

We have to be careful with bad reviews as there is the potential for the forum to be sued (that happed to a holiday forum once). As long as you stick with the facts of your experience it's fine, describe your experience with ordering, how the fish were packed, how what they sent was not what you ordered etc. Just a rant with no evidence listed is not acceptable.

 

[Magnum Man]

3 Cupids in the same bag, they were about 3 inches long… they were in a styrofoam lined box, and had a heat pack

 

[emeraldking]

When they are wild caught or coming from a fish farm, there are multiple fish packed in one large bag. But it's normal to have fish of those sizes being packed in individual bags when you buy them from an online store.

 

[Magnum Man]

I got a response from the seller this morning...

"We do not ship out fish that are dead, we have been in business for 36 years, so that is not any way to be. The unshipped fish are being refunded back to you, we are out of them for now and do not have an ETA. We will issue a credit for the DOA fish.

You have a credit on your account for your loss of $24.00. It is available when you log into your account at the same email address"

My response, as I don't think their reply was acceptable...

"The 3rd fish that was alive in the rotten fish soup, died over night… I should have flushed them all…

The Loaches looked fine, but in all honesty, having issues on 2 out of 2 orders, & the fact that you do not label the box as Live fish, or at least fragile, makes me hesitant to order anything from you again… the one fish I posted a picture of was actually decomposing, & the smell when opening the bag, was pretty bad…

I’m a farmer, we raise our own meat, & live on my wife’s family Century farm, so I’m trying to be nice… I think you should be commended for raising as many fish to sell, as it would seem like you do… but if you can’t get them to the consumer, you have failed…

At this point, I couldn’t recommend you, on any of the fish forums I’m a member of…"

Arizona Aquatic Gardens was the seller & shipper in question... suggest thinking twice before ordering... I had problems on 2 out of 2 orders, & will not be ordering from them again...

 

[Colin_T]

3 Cupids in the same bag, they were about 3 inches long… they were in a styrofoam lined box, and had a heat pack

As emerald said, 3 inch fish should have been bagged individually, especially cichlids and especially if they are going to be in a box for a day or longer.

If I buy a couple of 3 inch rainbowfish from a local shop and it takes 20 minutes to get home, it's not a problem putting 2 or 3 fish in the same bag. But 3 inch cichlids being sent by post or courier to arrive 24+ hours later, should definitely be bagged separately.

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The water can smell pretty bad if a fish dies in it. It only takes a few hours for the ammonia to start to build up and make your eyes water when you open it. But the fish should not have been decomposing in the bag, that's just bad. If they had bagged them individually, you might have lost that one fish but the other two should have been ok.