Mr.corals coral.

[mrcoral.com]

The 1st batch we did not allow the 2 week heal time. This last time we gave them all 2 weeks and so far I have heard good things except a few falling off. I sold 40 of these packs. When shipping this many frags if a few fall off that is expected and can be glued with no issues. If something did not make it all I need is a pic. I have not got 1 pic today. Now if you were to tell me Sonny hold my frags for 2 months I would do that. I have no issues doing that of course but people do not want to wait. Any of my packs the customer can tell me when I ship as long as it is pass my deadline. I really think 2 weeks is enough time but that is the customers call after the 2 week period.

[Degener8]

Well I have to say I have never bought from Mr. Coral and it was in part due to this and other threads where quality was brought into question.

 

Sonny has posted in his defense and has admittedly shipped frags that had not atleast healed 2 weeks. He is now holding frags for 2 weeks. He just stated that he could hold them longer at the customers request. I think he has some awesome deals as long as the quality is good and your not losing frags.

 

I honestly think its up to the customers now with the last post he made.

 

Its the customers choice when to ship past his 1st deadline, so now the heal time is in the customers hands.. Are you patient enough to let your frags sit in his tank to heal for 30 days?

 

I would love to buy a pack from him and let it heal for 30 days and see how it ships etc but I just spent my load on fish for the tank unless I can convince the wife to let me buy coral... OH HONEY!!!

 

This hobby takes more patience and persistence than any other I have been involved in. Do you have the patience to let the corals heal before shipping?

 

+1 to what dizzle suggested above though Sonny. Cut a set of packs in advance and give em 30 days before you advertise em. I think if you can do this you would have happier customers as well.

[Dizzle21]

sounds good if you can hold packs for people. that way if a coral dies after fragging you could replace it before you ship it out. i would wait a extra few weeks after paying. you have some great deals i just think your trying to sell more than you can handle a the moment. i'm sure ill be a future customer once i get my new system set up.

[GiantBen]

The 1st batch we did not allow the 2 week heal time. This last time we gave them all 2 weeks and so far I have heard good things except a few falling off. I sold 40 of these packs. When shipping this many frags if a few fall off that is expected and can be glued with no issues. If something did not make it all I need is a pic. I have not got 1 pic today. Now if you were to tell me Sonny hold my frags for 2 months I would do that. I have no issues doing that of course but people do not want to wait. Any of my packs the customer can tell me when I ship as long as it is pass my deadline. I really think 2 weeks is enough time but that is the customers call after the 2 week period.

I see a pack of your I like, but am waiting to buy until I upgrade my lights. Would you really hold for 2 months?

[keeshond9]

The 1st batch we did not allow the 2 week heal time. This last time we gave them all 2 weeks and so far I have heard good things except a few falling off. I sold 40 of these packs. When shipping this many frags if a few fall off that is expected and can be glued with no issues. If something did not make it all I need is a pic. I have not got 1 pic today. Now if you were to tell me Sonny hold my frags for 2 months I would do that. I have no issues doing that of course but people do not want to wait. Any of my packs the customer can tell me when I ship as long as it is pass my deadline. I really think 2 weeks is enough time but that is the customers call after the 2 week period.

 

If something does not make it I need a pic. Just because a Zoa frag that was glued 2 weeks ago falls off in shipping does not mean it is dead. I would need pics of course.

 

Great customer service!!!

[fiction101]

I get a "used car salesman" vibe from him...

[jeremai]

If something does not make it I need a pic. Just because a Zoa frag that was glued 2 weeks ago falls off in shipping does not mean it is dead. I would need pics of course.

 

Great customer service!!!

What is the alternative? Some kid whines on an internet forum about his dead zoanthids, but refuses to send a photo. What is the vendor supposed to do, just take him at his word and send out free replacements?

 

You people are crazy. He is being more than reasonable given the circumstances. Welcome to the real world.

[franklypre]

I only had one dealing with Mr. Coral, I ordered a frag pack, The Japanese Zoa pack, for my wife's mother's day present. I have 2 frags still alive, I ordered the pack well after everyone else as there were only two packs left. I just kinda charged it to the game, when you run a frag and sell operation you can't have a bad rep and expect to stay in business. The Green Hornets I got do look awesome, to bad the fruit loops were what she really wanted.

[coolwaters]

on a brighter note all my acans i got from him survived. 3 of them morphed to the same color but still worth it..

 

i guess i'll stick to only buying sps and acan packs. chalice are good too.

[organism]

The 1st batch we did not allow the 2 week heal time. This last time we gave them all 2 weeks and so far I have heard good things except a few falling off. I sold 40 of these packs. When shipping this many frags if a few fall off that is expected and can be glued with no issues.

 

I think, and this is just a suggestion, that if you offered a 72 hours "opened up and alive" guarantee or your money back it might be a better motivator since that would keep the responsibility and inconvenience on you to frag, heal and ship them as well as possible instead of passing any errors and oversights off onto your customers and making them place more and more orders as a result. Otherwise, and this is just my opinion, it turns into a cycle where someone always has credit they're obligated to spend there because a few frags always die. I only suggest it because although your current DOA policy is good, when combined with high DOA rates it unfortunately works very much in your favor and is something that can be misinterpreted as a sort of exploitable loophole.

 

If you're confident in your fragging and shipping then that would be a no brainer in regaining the trust of your customers, and I think a move towards accountability and a gesture like that would go a very long way. Healthy zoanthids will always open after that much time. I know that if I bought frags from someone and the ones that died were refunded to me then that person is about the corals and they'd definitely get return business from me. You'd be setting a great example in an industry where way too many people settle for less.

 

Just to point out though, you can't put multiple frags into the same bags. You really can't, they'll die. Frags and corals need to be individually bagged otherwise it's like bumper cars in there and they're at their most vulnerable during shipping, not to mention the ammonia in the bags skyrockets with that many corals stressing out in there. I made the same mistake when I first shipped corals actually. I think that with individual bags, a 72 hour opened up and alive policy and a full 2 weeks of healing time you'll see your doa's go from 20-60%+ to the industry's 5% ceiling standard. Again, just my 2 cents.

[naw707]

Well, I was going to stay out of this, but here is my honest review of my Mr. Coral purchase.

 

I ordered one of his SPS packs this past winter. It was a extremely good deal, and I take that into account.

 

I wanted it sent to my local Kinko's for pickup (nobody would be home) and was assured by Sonny via PM that if I noted this in "special instructions" it would be no problem. On delivery day I come home to find my package by my front door...in the rain. I quickly opened up box to find that #1, the heat pack was cold #2 half the frags had broken off there plugs during shipping (I assume).

 

I was not happy and sent out a email with pics right away. Sonny got back to me right away and assured me any frags that didnt make it would be replaced at no cost.

 

So anyway everything did make it and are doing great! When all is said and done im very happy with the deal I got.

[Jacobnano]

I ordered a pack a little while back, it was more of a custom one. I was told super nice acans, got OK ones, got some other nice LPS. I also ordered a blue SPS, got a green one. Ordered some dendros, they have yet to open, it has been two months of so, not dead, but not really alive. I dunno whats going on there....

[guia x]

one of my acans is no longer rainbow, just red orange yellow, the other is the same way and has just lost its green :/

 

To Mr. Coral's defense, all the acans I got from him are all doing well and has nicely colored up. You gotta understand that the rainbows will lose alot of the greens and blues when kept under bright lights. Keep them shaded for awhile and it will color back up. I thought the same thing that all the acans I got from him are all red and orange but now after more than a month I can tell each one apart and see all the different colors. Red, orange, green, yellow, blue. It was disappointing at first but everthing looks great now. I've never really had much problems with Mr. Coral as far as LPS goes. Zoas and SPS are another thing but still most my SPS has been okay. Just the last pack was a big disappointment.

[7digits]

Biggest problem seems to be zoas and palys. And where are you guys seeing these frag packs? I haven't seen them on his site.

[mrbigshot]

hes advertises the packs in the sponsor section

[ponies999]

I ordered from his last acan pack and everything from the pack has survived and is doing well. None of them are the colors advertised in the pictures but none of them are ugly either. The only problem i had was the few sps i added onto the order. A blue acro came and was brown, its coloring up a bit now but its coming back green. A millie didnt make it and 2 other acros havent bit the dust yet but i havent seen any PE yet from either of them and that was about a month ago that i got them. In his defense though for the price its a really good deal and i would order from him again i would probably just be a little more careful what i order and not get my heart set on it looking exactly like the picture.

[XIII]

I ordered a custom/combo pack from him of a few acros, acan, challices, goni, zoas, clove, and alveopora.

 

Two of the items were shipped without plugs/bases (an acro and the cloves) and one broke off its plug ( a mili).

 

Everything is doing well except one of the acros, one of which has turned completely white. It took a few days for the one of the zoas to open, but its fully open now. There is a lot of color in everything, except the acros, which is probably more to do with my inexperience with them than anything (I am still acclimating them to a lighting schedule too).

 

My only real issues with my order was that I had ordered 5 acros, but was only shipped 4, I ordered blue cloves and was sent green, and though I had substituted 2 items for an alveopora, those were included anyway so I didn't really miss the missing acro. I was also given a freebie goni. So for 14 items ordered, 16 were received.

 

I probably won't buy acros and have them shipped again, but I would definitely buy zoas and other frags.

[Reef Chicks]

The 1st batch we did not allow the 2 week heal time. This last time we gave them all 2 weeks and so far I have heard good things except a few falling off. I sold 40 of these packs. When shipping this many frags if a few fall off that is expected and can be glued with no issues. If something did not make it all I need is a pic. I have not got 1 pic today. Now if you were to tell me Sonny hold my frags for 2 months I would do that. I have no issues doing that of course but people do not want to wait. Any of my packs the customer can tell me when I ship as long as it is pass my deadline. I really think 2 weeks is enough time but that is the customers call after the 2 week period.

 

 

I am not jumping on the band-wagon, but I feel compelled to speak up. I have been a long-time customer of Mr. Coral's as I have ordered from him a few times the last couple of years, as well as referred him customkers. The chopping up & shipping right away practice is not new as I have yet to have any coral I ever purchased from him last more than a couple of weeks, at its very longest. I have sent him emails to that effect, accompanied by pictures, all within a day of receipt, and I have yet to have any type of resolution ever offered to me. Ultimately he just stopped replying to me and I just gave up and chucked it to it being the "luck of the draw". But now this thread makes me think this is normal practice for Mr. Coral and so I felt the need to tell others that apparently this is not new.

[GiantBen]

I have yet to have any coral I ever purchased from him last more than a couple of weeks, at its very longest. I have sent him emails to that effect, accompanied by pictures, all within a day of receipt, and I have yet to have any type of resolution ever offered to me.

I have been a long-time customer of Mr. Coral's as I have ordered from him a few times the last couple of years, as well as referred him customkers.

 

Something about this seems off...

 

I bet the people you referred apreciate it...

[reeftankguy]

Biggest problem seems to be zoas and palys. And where are you guys seeing these frag packs? I haven't seen them on his site.

 

 

Why dont you become a NR sponsor so you can give us all "Deals of a Lifetime!"

[naw707]

Something about this seems off...

 

I bet the people you referred apreciate it...

 

^ what he said

[SpankythePyro]

To Mr. Coral's defense, all the acans I got from him are all doing well and has nicely colored up. You gotta understand that the rainbows will lose alot of the greens and blues when kept under bright lights. Keep them shaded for awhile and it will color back up. I thought the same thing that all the acans I got from him are all red and orange but now after more than a month I can tell each one apart and see all the different colors. Red, orange, green, yellow, blue. It was disappointing at first but everthing looks great now. I've never really had much problems with Mr. Coral as far as LPS goes. Zoas and SPS are another thing but still most my SPS has been okay. Just the last pack was a big disappointment.

 

It has been in low light conditions.

[Reef Chicks]

^ what he said

 

Nothing off about it, I referred several people (friends) to him at the same time I placed my orders, without having received them.

 

It's been quite a long time so I'm not looking for neither replacements nor refunds, so my posting here does not have any type of hidden agenda. I'm just warning people, that's all.

[organism]

None of them are the colors advertised in the pictures but none of them are ugly either. A millie didnt make it and 2 other acros havent bit the dust yet but i havent seen any PE yet from either of them and that was about a month ago that i got them.

 

In his defense though for the price its a really good deal

 

I've got a car for you, it'll break down in a week because I haven't taken proper care of it and even though in the pictures it's clean it actually happens to be fully covered in rust and bird poop, but in my defense for the price it's a really good deal. The next one's good though, trust me, if you don't like it I'll give you half off the one after that.

 

I just don't get how everyone is ok with stuff consistently dying and acans being fairly waaaaay off as pictured only because the price is good.

[SpankythePyro]

I'm happy w/ the acans, the coloring back up will happen on my own, and all pics are macros.

 

If I had sps die and zoas fall of frags/melt like other people I would demand my money back, not a "I'll get you on your next order"