Just an FYI: Live Aquaria now only offers store credit for Aquatic Life

[Tamberav]

Just tossing this out as a FYI before people order and get upset about the change as I know we are all used to refunds. The change was made yesterday. I had a DOA come and they told me they only credit... however I pointed out I placed the order before the change was posted so I did end up getting my credit (thank you LA). 

 

I am sad about the change though not really upset. I could see people being mad if they ordered unknowingly.

 

https://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=547

 

[lizzyann]

Wow, good to know, thanks!

[seabass]

I'm impressed with their customer service.  However, they used to refund on your honor; now it's a little more involved.  It's understandable, but I miss the old days.

[jbb]

5 minutes ago, seabass said:

I'm impressed with their customer service.  However, they used to refund on your honor; now it's a little more involved.  It's understandable, but I miss the old days.

Too many dishonest people trying to get free stuff . They ruin the good for the rest of us. 

[Thrassian Atoll]

I will only be upset if I order something from diversden or the regular store and doa without anymore being in stock.  That’s going to suck.  I have had a few doas from them recently.  

[Tamberav]

12 minutes ago, TILTON said:

I will only be upset if I order something from diversden or the regular store and doa without anymore being in stock.  That’s going to suck.  I have had a few doas from them recently.  

That will happen a lot. 

[Thrassian Atoll]

13 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

That will happen a lot. 

I am guessing that as well.  I think I have had 1 or 2 fish doa without there being anymore and I had to order from a different site.  

[devaji108]

oh man that kinda sucks. living in a small town with no LFS online ordering is my go to . so if a place an order for 3 small fish for my nano and one is DOA and they credit me for say $20 for a nano fish it's not worth placing an order for 1 cheap fish and paying $40 in  shipping. hmm might have rethink my online fish store. 😞

 

how long is the credit good for?   

[seabass]

It's actually only $30 for shipping.  The store credit is good for one year.

 

Another nice thing about LA, is that there's free shipping on livestock orders of $99 or more.  That's lower than most; so you can usually pad your order with a few extra items to get free shipping (like adding inverts, or a coral, to a fish order).

 

However, all the items must come from the same place (live food - Florida , DD - Wisconsin, LA - California).  Again, that makes sense; but it'd be sweet if you could add some LA inverts to a DD order (in order to qualify for free shipping).

Edited August 13, 2019 by seabass
Incorrect info on shipping from different locations

[Thrassian Atoll]

5 minutes ago, seabass said:

It's actually only $30 for shipping.  The store credit is good for one year.

 

Another nice thing about LA, is that there's free shipping on livestock orders of $99 or more.  That's lower than most; so you can usually pad your order with a few extra items to get free shipping (like adding inverts, or a coral, to a fish order).  However, all the items must come from the same place (live food - Florida , DD - Wisconsin, LA - California).  Again, that makes sense; but it'd be sweet if you could add some LA inverts to a DD order (in order to qualify for free shipping).

Everytime I order I make sure it’s over $100.  Not all of the items have to come from the same place though.  I think food is the only one?  

[Thrassian Atoll]

Here you go.  I just put these in my cart.  All 3 from a different state.  

 

[seabass]

I guess they've changed that.  That's nice!

[Tamberav]

3 minutes ago, seabass said:

I guess they've changed that.  That's nice!

It's been that way awhile which is shocking because I can add like 1 snail and they would still overnight me it lol

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they changed it to some sort of minimum each but maybe they get good prices with the shipping company.

[Tamberav]

Btw the minimum to hit free shipping used to be like $230 or something quite high. I am praying they don't revert that. I used to use blue zoo more often back then because how high the shipping could add up at Live Aquaria if you wanted things from multiple places.

 

I would not be shocked if they upped free shipping to 150ish because that would put them where the rest of the market is. I also noticed they calculate free shipping before coupon codes and such. There are many little ways they may change to min/max profits.

[Thrassian Atoll]

I just got an order of snails Friday from them.  Probably the smallest snails ever.  Last time they were all big.  I wish they let you know which ones were bigger.  Like cerithes, there’s 3 different origins. 

[seabass]

11 hours ago, Tamberav said:

I would not be shocked if they upped free shipping to 150ish because that would put them where the rest of the market is.

Don't give them any ideas.    Haha, I'm pretty sure they are aware that many people buy from them just because of their shipping policy.  Although Petco ownership does still concern me a little.

[MainelyReefer]

4 hours ago, TILTON said:

I just got an order of snails Friday from them.  Probably the smallest snails ever.  Last time they were all big.  I wish they let you know which ones were bigger.  Like cerithes, there’s 3 different origins. 

Use reefcleaners for snails!  

[devaji108]

yeah I have bought from LA pretty much 100% over the years. they have always been far to me and I will prob. continue.

however fishy business aquatics  sounds great to they have free ship @ $149   and seem to have alot of stock in.

 

good to know LA credit last for a year tho.  

 

happy reefing everyone!

[Thrassian Atoll]

7 hours ago, GraniteReefer said:

Use reefcleaners for snails!  

Thanks!  Just placed an order!

[Tamberav]

3 hours ago, devaji108 said:

yeah I have bought from LA pretty much 100% over the years. they have always been far to me and I will prob. continue.

however fishy business aquatics  sounds great to they have free ship @ $149   and seem to have alot of stock in.

 

good to know LA credit last for a year tho.  

 

happy reefing everyone!

 

I did one order from fishy bis as they have some odd fish now and again. The fish are sent from a wholesaler or such so you can actually see the same WYSIWYG fish on saltwaterfish.com. There is only a DOA guarantee unless you pay/buy extra warranty. Be sure to film the fish dead in the bag... can't open it. I am not sure they would honor an 'almost dead' fish that died hours after being out of the bag. I added some random live stock to my cart and a 7 day guarantee was $14 and a 14 day guarantee was $31 and 21 day was $41. 
 

My order went okay but the customer service is not really on par with Live Aquaria and paying extra for a guarantee is sort of annoying. Reviews are a mixed bag for them. There is also a $10 packing fee that you see when you finally go to check out... it says they don't charge for boxes but apparently a packing fee is different? *scoffs* You also have to buy shipping insurance added on if you want a guarantee for livestock that gets delayed from weather or mechanical failure. I am have seen LA honor delays numerous times without no extra fee to include. 

 

There is no guarantee for store credit... so if your fish is DOA and you get credit and order again... the next one is DOA... you are shit out of luck. They don't cover fish getting stuck to the pump... last I checked, healthy fish don't get stuck to a pump?

 

I will use them for rare fish I can not get elsewhere but otherwise it is just too much red tape imo. Like I said... the order went fine... the livestock I chose was hardy. I did not add any sort of guarantee. 

 

Side-note: I did notice saltwaterfish.com has a free shipping cost at $79 atm. 

[Tamberav]

Free shipping is now $149 and up.

[seabass]

Apparently they've been reading this thread.  Thanks a lot!

 

[Tamberav]

3 hours ago, seabass said:

Apparently they've been reading this thread.  Thanks a lot!

 

I demand compensation for my ideas to increase profit!

[mcarroll]

On 8/10/2019 at 6:08 PM, seabass said:

I'm impressed with their customer service.  However, they used to refund on your honor; now it's a little more involved.  It's understandable, but I miss the old days.

Shipping is tough on fish every time it happens, no two ways about it.  We could list out the associated stresses and it would be a considerable list.

 

Shipping fish an additional time for this last leg of travel to the consumer seems detrimental even to healthy fish compared to the "old fashioned" experience of taking a healthy fish home in your car.

 

Putting a guarantee around that tough shipping experience makes sense to make the online business model work, but it has to be costly for the seller, so it would have to have limits and conditions.

 

(Using 2-3 wild fish to fill an order for 1 wild fish is also not ecologically sound, even if it does make good business sense, so it's not really something that any of us really wants to be very common or popular anyway.  It's something that ought to be considered expensive to all parties, if you know what I mean.)

[devaji108]

On 8/13/2019 at 12:10 PM, Tamberav said:

 

I did one order from fishy bis as they have some odd fish now and again. The fish are sent from a wholesaler or such so you can actually see the same WYSIWYG fish on saltwaterfish.com. There is only a DOA guarantee unless you pay/buy extra warranty. Be sure to film the fish dead in the bag... can't open it. I am not sure they would honor an 'almost dead' fish that died hours after being out of the bag. I added some random live stock to my cart and a 7 day guarantee was $14 and a 14 day guarantee was $31 and 21 day was $41. 
 

My order went okay but the customer service is not really on par with Live Aquaria and paying extra for a guarantee is sort of annoying. Reviews are a mixed bag for them. There is also a $10 packing fee that you see when you finally go to check out... it says they don't charge for boxes but apparently a packing fee is different? *scoffs* You also have to buy shipping insurance added on if you want a guarantee for livestock that gets delayed from weather or mechanical failure. I am have seen LA honor delays numerous times without no extra fee to include. 

 

There is no guarantee for store credit... so if your fish is DOA and you get credit and order again... the next one is DOA... you are shit out of luck. They don't cover fish getting stuck to the pump... last I checked, healthy fish don't get stuck to a pump?

 

I will use them for rare fish I can not get elsewhere but otherwise it is just too much red tape imo. Like I said... the order went fine... the livestock I chose was hardy. I did not add any sort of guarantee. 

 

Side-note: I did notice saltwaterfish.com has a free shipping cost at $79 atm. 

oh good to know. I was excited about them but maybe just stick to L.A? we shall see. they do get in more wrasses than LA.   wish I had a LFS around that was not 150+ miles each way.    

 

when I started out reefing 10+ years ago I only ordered form saltwaterfish.com have not in many many years. can anyone?