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Ordering livestock from The Marine Center
- Thread starter mgranato
- Start date
A few times. Very expensive, well worth it. I've received a radiant wrasse, a Pseudocheilinops wrasse, and a swalesi basslet from them. They packed each of them in enormous bags several layers thick. I think one was bagged 8 times if I remember right. 8O
Having said that, unless you're getting something fairly rare, it's much cheaper to just have a LFS get one.
Having said that, unless you're getting something fairly rare, it's much cheaper to just have a LFS get one.
I've ordered ages ago and things arrived in good shape. Expensive but healthy (not convinced the fish are any healthy then other reputable vendors though). Lately, their service has been lacking - from personal experience and from other people's accounts. I have a hard time buying from them now because they insist on charging me $70 for shipping 10 miles :?
They won't allow you to pick it up or meet you somewhere so you can pick it up? I can understand if they want to charge a nominal fee for the packaging or fuel or something but both those rates sound silly. Well, driving 20 miles does mean the place will have at least a half hour invested into the order.
My experience with the marine center did not go well.
I ordered three wrasses and a blenny. I received a box with one beat to hell but live blenny, and one really dead beat to hell wrasse. There was a lot of empty space in the box and it looked like the guy forgot to put the other two bags of fish in and they rolled around in shipment alot. They were packaged up triple bagged with thick bags, but I was shocked at how small the bags were.
Then I called them and they sent out the three replacement wrasses and told me to send the dead wrasse back in a baggie of salt, which I did the next day. I went and picked my box of wrasses up from the shipping facility on the morning they arrived, and they looked like they were shipped with much more care this time, they had much bigger bags and lots of water, but I still had one dead wrasse, and two barely-clinging-to-life fish. One of those fish died during acclimation, and I did get one living wrasse out of the ordeal.
So I called them and told them about this shipment and the guy was rather rude to me. He got terse and said, "well, we haven't got back the first dead wrasse yet!" Well duh, I did what he asked and there hasn't been time for it to arrive to them yet. There were several comments made that implied I wasn't being truthful, and I found that very unpleasant to have to listen to as I was staring at a dead fish. I am not one of those types that gets harsh with folks over shipment problems, it happens, but I thought he could have had a little more sympathy.
I won't order from them again. My choice to get fish from the Marine center was based on many posts I have read from people saying they do a good job and are worth the extra costs, but I was very polite and calm with them on the phone in every encounter and just did not receive the service I felt that I should have received given the prices they charge.
I ordered three wrasses and a blenny. I received a box with one beat to hell but live blenny, and one really dead beat to hell wrasse. There was a lot of empty space in the box and it looked like the guy forgot to put the other two bags of fish in and they rolled around in shipment alot. They were packaged up triple bagged with thick bags, but I was shocked at how small the bags were.
Then I called them and they sent out the three replacement wrasses and told me to send the dead wrasse back in a baggie of salt, which I did the next day. I went and picked my box of wrasses up from the shipping facility on the morning they arrived, and they looked like they were shipped with much more care this time, they had much bigger bags and lots of water, but I still had one dead wrasse, and two barely-clinging-to-life fish. One of those fish died during acclimation, and I did get one living wrasse out of the ordeal.
So I called them and told them about this shipment and the guy was rather rude to me. He got terse and said, "well, we haven't got back the first dead wrasse yet!" Well duh, I did what he asked and there hasn't been time for it to arrive to them yet. There were several comments made that implied I wasn't being truthful, and I found that very unpleasant to have to listen to as I was staring at a dead fish. I am not one of those types that gets harsh with folks over shipment problems, it happens, but I thought he could have had a little more sympathy.
I won't order from them again. My choice to get fish from the Marine center was based on many posts I have read from people saying they do a good job and are worth the extra costs, but I was very polite and calm with them on the phone in every encounter and just did not receive the service I felt that I should have received given the prices they charge.
They won't allow pick up and will not ship ground service even if we're in the shipping zone (1 day transit times for ground services). But I notice they did away with their fixed shipping costs and now shipping "starts at $39" plus possible packing charges. Still, it's about 3x the price I'd like to pay for shipping 10 miles.
That stinks. I can see them not letting people over to come in and stuff but what's the big deal to meet someone somewhere so they can pick up their packaged stuff. Even if you charge a $10 fee to do so.
Shipping. Ugh. It's unreal. It keeps climbing higher and higher even though fuel seems to have leveled off some. I even heard the other day jet fuel is expected to fall if it hasn't already. Shipping overnight with the usuals is astronomical. What kills me is the excuse for the raised rates is always "fuel". But on top of the newly raised rate is a fuel charge amount to a percentage of each total. Using fuel as the reason twice! The last box I shipped out paid $6 just for a fuel charge.
The only way the flat rate shippers are going to be able to keep offering it is to raise the price of the product. Of course those in the middle of the country have it great. Each coast is no more than probably three zones away.
Shipping. Ugh. It's unreal. It keeps climbing higher and higher even though fuel seems to have leveled off some. I even heard the other day jet fuel is expected to fall if it hasn't already. Shipping overnight with the usuals is astronomical. What kills me is the excuse for the raised rates is always "fuel". But on top of the newly raised rate is a fuel charge amount to a percentage of each total. Using fuel as the reason twice! The last box I shipped out paid $6 just for a fuel charge.
The only way the flat rate shippers are going to be able to keep offering it is to raise the price of the product. Of course those in the middle of the country have it great. Each coast is no more than probably three zones away.
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