Problems with Liveaquaria.com and FedEx

Hey everyone, first time posting long time visitor. I just needed to vent and maybe get some feedback to my issue at hand. I've been purchasing from Foster and Smith/ Liveaquaria.com for quite a few years for supplies and more recently for livestock. Supplies have always been a no-brainer as their selection and prices are quite good. Livestock however is another story. Don't get me wrong, their specimens look great and are a great price, however their DOA rate is horrible in my opinion. Wheather it's their fault or not is to be detrmined. FedEx is their only shipper due to exclusive deals they have with them. Therein, lies the problem.

My most recent incident occured this week. My order was picked up on Monday afternoon in the LA area for a delivery to me by 3PM the next day in Detroit. Well, here it is 2:30PM on WEDNESDAY and my fish and inverts are STILL in Indianapolis, and probably frozen to death. I HATE to see this because I am helpless in the fight to save those animals lives. And FedEX is the the prevoker of the fight. I understand the the weather was bad in the Midwest yesterday, but if this shipment was expedited hence the EX in their name, this could have been avoided. If I could have shipped via the USPS then this order could have been shipped directly to Detroit from LA and for $10 cheaper. The worst part about it all, is that I recieved the second part of my order TODAY at 11AM that was shipped just yesterday afternoon, Tuesday.

I guess my problem as stated before was regarding the exclusive shipping agreement between Dr's Forster and Smith/ Liveaquaria.com and FedEx. If customers were offered an option to ship (i.e. UPS, or the USPS), then the avoidable death of the animals could be made possible. But because FedEx is a backwards company in some regions, we must suffer. How many other customers and animals are suffering the same horrors as I just mentioned? How often does this happen in general? Please pass this on to others and maybe with enough awareness and outcry this issue can be somewhat resolved. Also, let me know if you have any good ideas for alternative suppliers that have a better record at shipping these animals we love collecting.

Thanks,
Todd

 

Todd,

Welcome to 3Reef!!! I wish it was under better circumstances.

This has happened many times before sadly and that's why I never buy livestock online anymore if it has to fly. The ice and snow that we got from St. Louis to Indianopolis was pretty bad.

FedEx Ground (a subsidiary of FedEx) works excellent whenever shipping to somewhere fairly close provided you get to know your driver. If you do, they'll take good care of you. FedEx Ground drivers are not employees of FedEx....they've purchased a route from FedEx and they are running their own business so they like to keep their customers pleased.

 

Yes, I agree. If I buy online for live animals it is always from an in-state company. UPS and Fedex are all next day delivered in Florida at the ground rate. Unfortunately it looks like you don't have that option. Feel free to rant a little and then post a couple of your opinions to help someone else out.

Jim


Welcome to 3Reef!!!

 

Just to shed a different light (and to be a bit of a devils advocate) I ship with Fedex, UPS, DHL, Eagle, and a few others every day that due to the weather UPS may not have made it either. Most flights in the area were cancelled or diverted and that affects not just the midwest but the rest of the country as well. Yesterday I put out about 10 orders for overnight and only 4 actually made it to their destination. I told everyone overnight will most likely be 2 day shipping and you will not be able to recover overnight fees with myself of the shipper. I guess a good lesson to learn when shipping with live stock is to check the weather No one can play god to change weather and guarantee shipping. I would put it on live aquaria as well because they probably should have not shipped at all and made all the customers wait an extra day or 2.
Sorry to hear your fish most likely won't make it.

 

You bring up a valid point jtReef. I had a person try to ship something to me as a hurricane was 12 hours away from hitting the state. I told them not to ship it and they did anyway, needless to say nothing survived. Liveaquaria and other shippers should share some responsibility and check the destination and weather between here and there. I bet there is a piece of software out there that does this already......

J

 

Not so much when it comes to the software because all shipping is typically calculated automatically by box weight and size. I would say the weather issues would be more of having an idea on what is going on in the world. Then again, if you don't do it every day for your job (as I do) you would never think about it. My ex-wife used to get mad all the time over shipping and it was just becuase she never looked at the big picture and only thought about herself. But then again we all do it time to time

 

Listen man, I can definitely sympathize. No one like to bash the shipping companies as much as I do, however some things just aren't in anyones control.

First, what happens at one airport has a ripple effect and affects any other airport that is tied to it even if only with one flight.

Second, USPS. Such a risky way to ship. First, it's not overnight everywhere. Usually you don't find out until the AFTER you were supposed to get your stuff. Also, I don't remember which way it goes...USPS items travel on FedEx planes or FedEx stuff travels on USPS planes but either way, they are tied into each other. If you didn't get it from FedEx because of weather than chances are you would have had the same result via USPS. I wouldn't recommend shipping via USPS for anyone. Sure there are successes. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. No to mention USPS must have your overnight package in hand by 1500. Anywhere in this state anyway. FedEx you can drop off a package until they are open. In some places around here that's as late at 9pm! Huge difference especially during this season.

I have tried every shipping service out there and they all have pros and cons. It just so happens that the pros of FedEx outweigh their cons. You know, the lesser of all the evils kind of thing.

It sucks the animals have to lose their life. I'm pretty confident that liveaquaria will take care of you as far as monetary loss is concerned. However regardless of who you used, they would all cite weather problems/acts of God and not refund you for your shipping. If LA does it's straight off their back.

As far as livestock and DOA's go....well that's another story altogether. They have a facility in WI though little is actually shipped from there. Seeing as how your package originated in LA, they are probably still dropshipping livestock. I have no idea as I haven't kept up on them in a while, but if they are that's part of the problem. They don't have positive control over the items they are sending you. You place an order and someone goes scurrying around the wholesalers trying to fill it. If you called LA and asked them how big X was, or if they have one of Y in this particular color, they probably can't even tell you as they might as well be worlds apart.

Like I said. It sucks all around. I definitely do my share of venting on shipping companies but there are just times when you have to realize there was nothing that could be done and things happen. Afterall, the LFS, whether online or next door all have to get their stuff shipped to them as well. So do the wholesalers. There's a ton of shipping going on before you even get your stuff. FedEx IMHO is the company best suited to handle the gems we pass back and forth.

Good luck and sorry to hear.

 

I have ordered from LiveAquaria many times.

I've ordered corals, fish, and inverts.

The corals I have had no problems with, all still alive, and arrived in descent condition.

Most inverts I have ordered have been ok, there's about a 10% DOA rate on my invert orders.

The fish I order, never make it, I have ordered a couple of fish from them. My Yellow Tang was the first thing I ordered, and its still doing quite well in my tank. Everything else I ordered has died within 48 hours, if its not DOA.

I ordered 3 cardinals, 1 was almost DOA, the other 2 died within 20 hours in the QT. The water was about 55 Degrees F when I got the package.

I also recently ordered a firefish, it died in 2 days in QT. The water was also very cold when it arrived.

With the firefish I also ordered a Jawfish, it was basically DOA, I saw it move a little, but after introducing it to the QT, it just sank to the bottom and died shortly after.

I ordered a Watchman Goby about 5 months ago, it was almost dead when it arrived, it died after 12 hours in QT.


I will never buy fish from LiveAquaria again, and I don't suggest you do, unless you live very close to them.

I blame FedEx for the problems, but I blame LiveAquaria for not preventing these problems.

Most of my fish orders have not included any sort of heating packs, and there packaging is always damaged. Once again FedEx is the one damaging the packages, but LiveAquaria should be changing there package designs to compensate.

I always drip acclimate, and have had 100% success from store bought fish, so I know its not me or my QT.

 

Sorry to hear about your loss. IMO this is a no brainer - anyone in the northern areas just shouldn't order livestock during the winter months. It's a total crap shoot. Weather, cold, ice, what have you. Unfortunatley most places are probably sending out 100s of orders a day & can't take the time to check the weather in every city they are shipping to. Some of the responsibilty also lies with us to have a little smarts when it comes to ordering.

 

Thats why I find what I am looking for on the net then go to a local fish store and have them order it yes it takes a little longer but if it dies durring shipping its on them not me also I think they have a little better shipping methods then we can get they have always had what I wanted alive and well waiting for me. sorry for the losses never good to have pets die.