My First And Last Time Buying Fish From Some Random Internet Guy

[SamUK]

so there was no packing in the box? it was jus how you have shown it?


looks like its been dead for a few days too.


we could atleast email the guy and abuse him for being such a waste of space?

 

[Mr Miagi]

we could atleast email the guy and abuse him for being such a waste of space?

Well I think that is pretty unfare. Ok, he should consider giving you the money back to save face (especially if its a business and not a one off sale), but if there was no "live on arrival" garantee, its up to the buyer, in this case The Raven, to consider the risks involved with live goods transport. There is always the posibilty of death.

Id be interested to know the weather that was transported in? Not many people attempt to ship anything live unless its overnight/ next day delivery in summer months.

SamUK, how can you tell its been dead for a few days? Did it even take that long to transport (IMO a fish wouldnt survive in that size bag more than a few days in even slightly ellivated temperatures)? How many days/hours was it in transport The Raven?

 

[Chri$]

so there was no packing in the box? it was jus how you have shown it?

If the packaging was not adequete you should be offered a full refund. However if the packaging was adequete and he didn't have a live arrival guarantee there isn't a lot you can do.

 

[SamUK]

we could atleast email the guy and abuse him for being such a waste of space?

Well I think that is pretty unfare. Ok, he should consider giving you the money back to save face (especially if its a business and not a one off sale), but if there was no "live on arrival" garantee, its up to the buyer, in this case The Raven, to consider the risks involved with live goods transport. There is always the posibilty of death.

Id be interested to know the weather that was transported in? Not many people attempt to ship anything live unless its overnight/ next day delivery in summer months.

SamUK, how can you tell its been dead for a few days? Did it even take that long to transport (IMO a fish wouldnt survive in that size bag more than a few days in even slightly ellivated temperatures)? How many days/hours was it in transport The Raven?

i didnt mean fully abuse him sorry.

and you can tell its been dead a few days cos of the state of the body. its not like theres been anything in there eating it like in our tanks.

 

[Bloo]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience The-Raven

Thats the problem with e-bay, you dont have any rights once you have paid.

You so absolutely do ! Especially if you look to buy from people with Paypal protection. And I generally only buy from people who have the £500 protection PayPal guarantee, if it's anything over what I consider a significant amount.

And only from people with outstanding feedback.

And even if you didn't pay via Paypal, eBay itself also offer a refund system if the seller goes bust or refuses to refund. It might be a lengthy process, but it can be done.

 

[morgan]

I have read about other people in the US buying fish by mail order. Apparently the warehouses at the airports are unheated/uncooled so Summer and Winter are especially risky times to buy. If your Paypal is funded by your credit card maybe they would get your money back for you? Sorry for your loss anyway. Sorry if these points have been covered, didn't have time to read all the posts.

 

[Lord Zogat]

A lot of people don't seem to read the thread before posting, so I'll cover a few of the points again....

Saw the word ebay in a post, saw you paid with paypal. No need to jump on me was just trying to help.

Perhaps in the future you should use a buying method that gives the buyer more rights and protection against things that can happen while shipping. No guarantee's, I wouldn't even have considered purchasing.

 

[The-Raven]

A lot of people don't seem to read the thread before posting, so I'll cover a few of the points again....

It wasn't an ebay auction...
It was a pseudo Aquabid transaction, although I bought it from him after speaking with him over email instead of through aquabid - using paypal
He said he didn't have any guarantees, but assured me that it would arrive alive since he's done it so many times before.

I threw the fish away - mostly because the moment I got it in my house I could tell it was dead thanks to the horrid smell, so shipping it back is not an option.

 

[joesther37]

Hello, I am the owner of CaliforniaCichlids.com. I have read the posts here by Raven. He has left out some important information about his transaction.

1) he won the fish on aquabid.com ( where I have far more posative feedback then negative )
2) photos of the exact healthy live fish were emailed to him prior to shipping.
3) NO GURANTEES WERE EVER OFFERED IN THIS AUCTION OR TRANSACTION.
4) the customer requested overnight shipping in the middle of winter where the temps in his city were near zero degrees.
5) he waited until the next day after arrival to contact me regarding any DOA, no signature from freight carrier indicating DOA.

6)Even though no gurantees were offered. I DID OFFER THE CUSTOMER CREDIT TOWARD HIS NEXT PURCHASE.
HE AGREED and placed an order for more fish, and I offered to add to his order MORE OF THE EXACT SPECIE
and EXACT QUANTITY which were DOA at no charge.

7) before finalizing his order customer changed his mind, became rude, demanding his money back from original shipment.
using foul language. At which time I decided to uphold our original agreement of NO GURANTEES ON HIS ORDER.

8) paypal was used by customer to make payment and after reviewing paypal ruled in my favor as I upheld my end of the agreement and did nothing wrong. LIVE HEALTHY FISH WERE SHIPPED AS PROMISSED. unfornunately DOA resulted from extreme cold temperatures in customers city.

9) I actually currently have right now 2-males + 4-females all adult breeders of exact specie shipped to customer. It is now almost summer time. Customer could have waited until summer to use his credit toward another shipment and have a much better chance of survival. Instead he chose to loose his temper and insult me and be rude.

he would much rather make these type of attempts at slandering my good name.

I do offer gurantees on shipments but not when extreme temperatures are involved. The customer with any common sense knew shipping in freezing cold temps was very risky and HE chose to take the risk.

 

[MikeD67]

Hello, I am the owner of CaliforniaCichlids.com. I have read the posts here by Raven. He has left out some important information about his transaction.

1) he won the fish on aquabid.com ( where I have far more posative feedback then negative )
2) photos of the exact healthy live fish were emailed to him prior to shipping.
3) NO GURANTEES WERE EVER OFFERED IN THIS AUCTION OR TRANSACTION.
4) the customer requested overnight shipping in the middle of winter where the temps in his city were near zero degrees.
5) he waited until the next day after arrival to contact me regarding any DOA, no signature from freight carrier indicating DOA.

6)Even though no gurantees were offered. I DID OFFER THE CUSTOMER CREDIT TOWARD HIS NEXT PURCHASE.
HE AGREED and placed an order for more fish, and I offered to add to his order MORE OF THE EXACT SPECIE
and EXACT QUANTITY which were DOA at no charge.

7) before finalizing his order customer changed his mind, became rude, demanding his money back from original shipment.
using foul language. At which time I decided to uphold our original agreement of NO GURANTEES ON HIS ORDER.

8) paypal was used by customer to make payment and after reviewing paypal ruled in my favor as I upheld my end of the agreement and did nothing wrong. LIVE HEALTHY FISH WERE SHIPPED AS PROMISSED. unfornunately DOA resulted from extreme cold temperatures in customers city.

9) I actually currently have right now 2-males + 4-females all adult breeders of exact specie shipped to customer. It is now almost summer time. Customer could have waited until summer to use his credit toward another shipment and have a much better chance of survival. Instead he chose to loose his temper and insult me and be rude.

he would much rather make these type of attempts at slandering my good name.

I do offer gurantees on shipments but not when extreme temperatures are involved. The customer with any common sense knew shipping in freezing cold temps was very risky and HE chose to take the risk.

im not taking sides on this but from the sounds of it seems like you warned him all you could about extreme tempatures and also tryed to reason with your customer. but the question i have is why are you posting nearly a year later stating your case? did you just find out about this slandering thread against you?

 

[iairj84]

I haven't yet ordered from californiacichlids.com but know a fair amount of people that have. I'm not saying that the OP is a liar, but you really don't have reason to be demanding a refund. If no live arrival guarantee is offered then the seller is being more than willing to offer you credit. It's also your responsibility to be there when the fish arrive, especially when you're in such a cold climate.
A fish death cannot be placed solely on the seller unless it was gross neglect and it doesn't seem to be the case. It's a shame you are not going to give californiacichlids another chance especially since they are offering you credit for new fish.

Things happen, don't jump to conclusions and don't assume that they're out to get you.


EDIT: Sorry just realized this was 6 months ago... Sorry OP. Seems a little late for the seller to be on the board.