Beware of reefscavengers.com!!!!

This website has the absolute worst customer service, and essentially stole my money! I ordered a cleanup crew from them for about $250, and that was the last smooth interaction I had. The order originally wasn't processed in the " normal processing time" due to the earthquake in haiti, ok fair enough I can understand that. 2 weeks later, I emailed them about it and they said it will ship out by wednesday. Wednesday came and went and there was no shipment. So i sent a few more e-mail that went unanswered and finally after another week I simply requested them to cancel my order so I could use the money at my LFS. I got an e-mail back the next day saying they shipped my order. At this point i was frustrated but at least relieved to know that my new cleanup crew was on the way. So i went to my post office and asked them to notify me when the shipment arrived there so i could just come pick it up first thing in the morning so that the box wouldn't be on the truck all day (my mail normally doesn't get delivered till 430 or 5 pm.) I went and picked up my order, got them home, opened the packaging to find no heat packs in any of the specimen containers and water temperatures ranging from 40-46 degrees F ( I live in iowa) Needless to say, over half of everything was DOA, but i still acclimated everything per their website and after all acclimating was done over 75% of my order was dead, or a little more than $150 of my order, most crabs were dead, every scarlet hermit was dead, every starfish was dead, 2 peppermint shrimp, and 62 of my hundred snails didn't make it. I was extremely upset based on the fact of the previous poor handling of my order, and that if packaged properly, how many of these animals didn't have to die? So i sent them pictures of all dead livestock ( i still have every email sent if anyone is interesting in reading the few they replied to), and requested a refund bc i didn't care to keep my business with them. They replied apologizing for the loss and said a replacement shipment was on the way, well that was 2 weeks ago and i have yet to receive any other correspondance from them let alone a new shipment of livestock. I have e-mailed them several times asking for a partial refund of just the livestock that I lost with no response. Finally last week i sent them one last email requesting a refund and once again no response so I am writing this to warn anyone considering using www.reefscavengers.com yes they have the best prices out there, but the livestock they do send are very small, and in my case almost everything was dead. Pair that with their lack of customer service or willingness to do anything to resolve or make right the fact that i essentially gave them $150 for nothing, the end cost is higher than everywhere else. Please keep this is mind when ordering, pay more now, or pay more later, I personally would rather know the total cost upfront.

 

Just curious.....if you paid with a VISA card you may want to check with your bank - i think sometimes in bad situations like yours where you are given a runaround that VISA may be willing to get involved.

Not sure about that but wow...i feel very badly about this.
What a crap operation to have done that.

Definitely google or ask the bank etc to see if you have ANY recourse, especially since you have an email record of your communications.

Best of luck.

 

Thanks for the warning. That's why I use 3reef's sponsors and my LFS for my goods. Cheaper is rarely better in this hobby.

 

thats why we all use reefcleaners.org.. john is awesome, and would have never let this happen..

 

what's going on today, this is the 2nd "this _____.com sucks" thread from a first-time poster, weird but maybe just coincedence or conspiracy?

Here's the other: http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/aquarium-specialty-84542.html

 

Thanks for the tip about visa, i will do that. Yea i just got a new 210g aquarium and have put several thousand into it already and was trying to find a place to cut some corners on cost, well i'll chalk this one up to being a novice. Thanks again for the advice, reefcleaners.org looks pretty good. I'll give them a try next time.

 

not a conspiracy, i will gladly let anyone read my emails with them so that they will know 100% not to order from these people and that I'm not just a bitter customer. Please avoid them.

 

if I were you I would send john an email at reefcleaners and have him custom create an order for your tank based on what he asks.. I have all of mine from him and will continue to use his service as long as I can.. that reminds me that I need some more nerites.. hope to help..

 

This one sounds pretty legit though.

I can completely understand why you're all worked up. I went through this when I ordered a car battery charger (not a cheap one) last year....still haven't seen it :-/

 

sorry to hear about the awful time you had with that other place.

but check out all the rave reviews along with the excellent customer service and knowledge you wil lget with john maloney and crew over at reefcleaners. IMO ,you cant go wrong with them