• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

Yellow octospawn

iTzJu

iTzJu

Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
reefsandrotts said:
Check with Paul from Lakeside,just a huge order of corals.
Click to expand...

ericrodriguez said:
Lakeside is the town?
Click to expand...

If you're planning to order from him, I strongly recommend picking up your items in person. I decided to order based on positive mentions from other members and the good holiday sales he had, but my experience so far has been terrible.

I received the shipment this morning, which was already delayed by UPS by a day. I contacted him yesterday to let him know about the delay. Unfortunately, the packaging itself was poor, which made the situation worse. While I appreciate that he used specimen cups and containers, two of them arrived cracked. As a result, the box was wet when it arrived, likely killing the heat packs. The temperature in the box this morning was in the 50s.

Here’s what I received:

  • 2 torches: Both were DOA. One had a cracked container and no water at all. The other is brown, melting, and I’m avoiding it in case it has BJD. These are not in QT due to their condition.
  • 2 trachys: One had a cracked lid and barely any water left. Both were slimed up, and the larger one appears to have expelled its zooxanthellae.
  • Scoly: This might be okay, but it’s too soon to tell.
  • Trump coral: Looks like it has expelled its zooxanthellae as well.
  • Blasto: It might recover, so I have it in QT for now.
I’ve moved everything else to a QT tank to see if any of it survives, but this was an incredibly frustrating experience. I have reached out to him to see what options he can provide to get this squared away.

Will update on my experience.
 
reefsandrotts

reefsandrotts

NJRC Member
iTzJu said:
If you're planning to order from him, I strongly recommend picking up your items in person. I decided to order based on positive mentions from other members and the good holiday sales he had, but my experience so far has been terrible.

I received the shipment this morning, which was already delayed by UPS by a day. I contacted him yesterday to let him know about the delay. Unfortunately, the packaging itself was poor, which made the situation worse. While I appreciate that he used specimen cups and containers, two of them arrived cracked. As a result, the box was wet when it arrived, likely killing the heat packs. The temperature in the box this morning was in the 50s.

Here’s what I received:

  • 2 torches: Both were DOA. One had a cracked container and no water at all. The other is brown, melting, and I’m avoiding it in case it has BJD. These are not in QT due to their condition.
  • 2 trachys: One had a cracked lid and barely any water left. Both were slimed up, and the larger one appears to have expelled its zooxanthellae.
  • Scoly: This might be okay, but it’s too soon to tell.
  • Trump coral: Looks like it has expelled its zooxanthellae as well.
  • Blasto: It might recover, so I have it in QT for now.
I’ve moved everything else to a QT tank to see if any of it survives, but this was an incredibly frustrating experience. I have reached out to him to see what options he can provide to get this squared away.

Will update on my experience.
Click to expand...
Did you opt in for the shipping protection,with the weather we've been having I would hope so?If so there should be no issues,ive never had a bad experience with him or his products.
 
iTzJu

iTzJu

Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
reefsandrotts said:
Did you opt in for the shipping protection,with the weather we've been having I would hope so?If so there should be no issues,ive never had a bad experience with him or his products.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately did not, however, this is within NJ which i have never had issues with and also that is why i advised picking up vs shipping in my initial post. I am trying to work this out with him via email at the moment, but will see. definitely not a vendor i will be going back to in the future so far.
 
DEL

DEL

President
Staff member
Board of Directors
NJRC Member
Moderator
Paul (Lakeside) is a great guy. I see how his shop looks on his IG daily. Hes been making lots of upgrades. Keep us posted what he says. Broken containers sounds more like UPS was not careful in handling the box. I've had broken and damaged boxes in the past with fish inside. Let him know you from njreefers
 
reefsandrotts

reefsandrotts

NJRC Member
iTzJu said:
Unfortunately did not, however, this is within NJ which i have never had issues with and also that is why i advised picking up vs shipping in my initial post. I am trying to work this out with him via email at the moment, but will see. definitely not a vendor i will be going back to in the future so far.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately the shipping delay and weather can't be held against him,he has no co trol over that. I think its awesome that he has a "insurance " policy available to buyers unlike most others and it's more than affordable.
 
iTzJu

iTzJu

Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
reefsandrotts said:
Unfortunately the shipping delay and weather can't be held against him,he has no co trol over that. I think its awesome that he has a "insurance " policy available to buyers unlike most others and it's more than affordable.
Click to expand...

I understand that, and this isn’t the first time I’ve had issues with shipping in general. I also get that UPS isn’t always the most careful. However, most vendors I’ve ordered from take extra precautions, like bagging the specimen or container cup as an additional barrier. This helps prevent leaks or minimize damage in case the package gets mishandled. Gives the package, even during delays, a better chance to make it.

What bothers me the most is that I wasn’t fully aware of the vendor’s DOA policy before making the purchase. I didn’t realize it hinges entirely on the insurance policy. While I appreciate that insurance is an option, I was under the impression the vendor followed a standard DOA policy, like most others, but I was wrong. Essentially, if you don’t buy the insurance, you’re out of luck.

I don’t expect a refund/store credit for any corals that survive (and I’m really hoping they do), but I do think it’s reasonable to receive store credit for the DOAs or anything that doesn’t make it. I’m doing my best to save what I can because it would feel cruel not to try for the sake of the animals.

It is what it is. I’ll do what I have to on my end if this doesn’t get resolved, and if I’m out of luck, then it was a $350 mistake.

I also dont want to continue this in this thread, as i dont want to highjack the original purpose. i'll make a separate thread later with my experience.

DEL said:
Let him know you from njreefers
Click to expand...

I dont think it should matter if im an NJRC member or not, a customer is a customer at the end of the day.
 
E

ericrodriguez

NJRC Member
iTzJu said:
If you're planning to order from him, I strongly recommend picking up your items in person. I decided to order based on positive mentions from other members and the good holiday sales he had, but my experience so far has been terrible.

I received the shipment this morning, which was already delayed by UPS by a day. I contacted him yesterday to let him know about the delay. Unfortunately, the packaging itself was poor, which made the situation worse. While I appreciate that he used specimen cups and containers, two of them arrived cracked. As a result, the box was wet when it arrived, likely killing the heat packs. The temperature in the box this morning was in the 50s.

Here’s what I received:

  • 2 torches: Both were DOA. One had a cracked container and no water at all. The other is brown, melting, and I’m avoiding it in case it has BJD. These are not in QT due to their condition.
  • 2 trachys: One had a cracked lid and barely any water left. Both were slimed up, and the larger one appears to have expelled its zooxanthellae.
  • Scoly: This might be okay, but it’s too soon to tell.
  • Trump coral: Looks like it has expelled its zooxanthellae as well.
  • Blasto: It might recover, so I have it in QT for now.
I’ve moved everything else to a QT tank to see if any of it survives, but this was an incredibly frustrating experience. I have reached out to him to see what options he can provide to get this squared away.

Will update on my experience.
Click to expand...
I only buy what I can see I don’t buy coral or fish online lol
Thanks for letting us know
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top