Rate your online supplier...

[golfish]

I have only had dealings with PA, Jeff's, MD, FFE and Reeffanatic.

PA- Jason is a good guy and nice to deal with. The only problem is they have never had all the stuff I wanted in stock and I wind up paying extra for shipping if I choose to fill the order later. 7 rating

Jeff's- I like Jeff and have known him for three years. I visit him about 1-2x a month and always spend a few minutes talking to him. He has a good selection of livestock and probably the best deal on LR in town. 8 rating

Marine Depot- I have delt with MD only once. I called them on a Friday morning and asked if I could pickup a few item early that afternoon. I was told all the items I wanted were in stock and to come on down. When I arrived they did NOT have all the items I wanted (250 watt PFO Ballast)Driving down to OC on a Friday afternoon is not fun.I have not delt with them again. I have talked to Ken about this and he offered to make it up to me. He seems like a nice guy but 2 rating.

FFE-I placed an order with them about three years ago and was very happy with what I received. They don't allow walk-ins and I don't buy critters sight unseen anymore so I don't deal with them. 5 rating.

Reeffanatic- Bob is probably the best to deal with, maybe its because he's just down the street. I call him up and he has what I need. He will match or beat anybodys price. No livestock but what the hec. 9.5 rating.

I have orderd form Pet Warehouse and been very happy with what I received. 7 rating

Mark

 

[passthesalt]

I've used 3 of the suppliers,
FFE=10 good service, arrived on time, good live rock.
e-tropicals=10+ (I ordered since new ownership) most excellent service, packaging and free items added to order. Will definitely use again.
reeffanatics= 10 as well. Fast safe shipment for pc lighting, good pricing and good customer service when I had some questions.
So far I've had no BAD experiences with anyone but I'll keep my fingers crossed!

 

[new reefer in michigan]

I have recieved some nice corals from etropicals, they rate a 9.
Reeftopia is a good source for clean up crews. They have good prices and customer service is great. They also get a 9.
I like petwharehouse (think it is called Dr. Foster and Smith now) for dry goods. Good prices and pretty fast service. They also get a 9.
I don't think anyone has said anything about Lonestar corals. I have never order from them but have heard many positive things about them.

 

[Anonymous]

Lone Star Corals

Received an order from them about a week ago. They couldn't have done a better job. 10+

 

[esmithiii]

Inland Aquatics 9- very knowledgeable, dependible
Premium Aquatics 9- very knowledgeable, dependible
Tropicorium 8- Corals a bit small but they are going strong, dependible
Flying Fish Express 6- Livestock did not ship well, some mix up about order
Dr. Mac & Sons- 9- got exactly what I ordered promptly, very knowledgable folks

[ February 19, 2002: Message edited by: esmithiii ]</p>

 

[danmhippo]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by danmhippo:
<strong>Sachs Systems Aquaculture - Yet to be determined, Just ordered live feeds in bulk. </strong><hr></blockquote>

Ha, just got the shipment. Looking good! I lost probably 5% of all the 2000 SW ghost shrimps. Very nice. So are the 2 liter of live nanochloropus culture, very nice quality, price, and packing. I'd give them a 8.5

 

[trybka]

I've ordered livestock from FFE and everything went according to plan and everyone was healthy and happy. 10

I've ordered dry goods from Jeff's and got great service and DIRT CHEAP prices. Plus free shipping so I have to give them a 10

I've also ordered dry goods from Petwarehouse (now Dr. FosterSmith) several times and have only had great experiences so i'll give them a 10 too.

 

[Reefan99]

Flying Fish gets my vote every time. Excelllent staff, best online expert help in the busines, widest selection and you can actually choose the exact coral or clam you want from their Divers Den section. All the rest are pretenders to the throne. 10+

 

[EmilyB]

Premium Aquatics and Reef Fanatics score a 10 for this Canadian. Extremely diligent on the email, very amiable, including returns. Positive experience all around.

(Dry Goods)

[ February 20, 2002: Message edited by: EmilyB ]</p>

 

[Michelle50]

I ordered LR with Marine Depot (10)

Also, I ordered lighting from a place that wasn't listed called www.HelloLights.com just FYI they get a 4. Why? Because I ordered the product (48 inch retro fit kit, bulbs and ballast) in late Dec to early Jan. It was on backorder, I finally got it at the end of Jan. The ballast was not in working order so we phoned the guy, who was extremely nice, and told him about the problem. By, this time they were sold out of the ballast we needed, again, we had to wait. The guy told us he would overnight the ballast to us, first thing, when they got them in. We were "on the top of the list." I noticed on their web-site that the items we needed were available for ordering on the 13th of Feb, so we waited a couple days, nothing, and we called, the guy we talked to was on vacation or something. Don't you love it when that happens?!? Well, we still have not gotten the ballast. I called today and was assured that it was sent on the 15th. At least, they are SUPPOSED to be sending a return label so we can send the bad ballast back free of charge. These people were extremely nice, but I doubt if I would do business with again. Sorry, for the length here.

Michelle

 

[dragon0121]

I only order my dry goods and equipment from Marine Depot. Best prices on the web, free shipping, great customer service! 10 all the way!

Today I received my seahorses from FlyingFishExpress. These suckers were quadruple bagged!

10!

My PE Mysis shrimp will arrive from Premium Aquatics tomorrow. So far they have emailed to let me know they were out of brine shrimp, wanted to know what I wanted to do. I changed order, they promptly emailed back an ok and that there was a special price on my new quantities, saved ten bucks

. Got another email that their software geeked on my credit card number and they wanted me to contact them. Did so. So far customer service has been stellar! 10

 

[Tybond]

Lampsnow.com (8.5)
I order all my lights from them and they always ship the right order. a little slow sometimes but the cs is great. I ordered a set of retros from them and they arrived without the lamp clips so I e-mailed and they sent a set right out. 2 days later I got the original set that was supposed to be with my order so I notified them and they said to keep all and thanked me for my business. now why can't that happen with that ballast order I placed

Inland Aquatics 9
Inland is my LFS and I go in regularly. All of the staff are VERY knowledgable and Morgan Lidster (sorry morgan just kidding) is just to smart for his own good. I ask him a question and by the time he finishes explaining something, I feal I just attended a 1000.00 siminar on marine biology and will need to visit the library to figure out what those mile long words were he used. Seriously, I can say I wouldn't have gotten into this hobby if it wasn't for morgan showing me just how easy a reef CAN be. Thanks Morgan!!!!
ty

 

[LilBugger225]

Marine Depot - 10 (I order pretty much everything from them except for my FW stuff for obvious reasons. I have never had a problem with anything)

That Fish Place - 8 (everything was fine with them until they started backordering a buncha stuff and one item was forgotten about but I was never charged for it so it's ok)

Pet Warehouse AKA Fosters and Smith? - 10 (I order all the FW stuff and plant stuff I need from there, fair prices, good shipping condition, never had a problem)

Tampa Bay Saltwater - 10 (My live rock was superb and I got some free stuff thrown in as well. The only drawback is all the damn crabs and mantis shrimps you have to catch that hitchike in their rocks)

I have yet to order any corals/fish etc. online but I plan on ordering some in the near future.

HTH

Erica

 

[cfood]

Marine Depot-dry goods.The French judge gives them a 10.Maybe they can when the gold metal! OK,I've been watching too much olympics,sorry.

Marine Depot is the only one I have experience with. I was happy with their price,service,speed-----everything.I will order from them again.

 

[Mike02]

dry:
reeffanatic - 10
petwarehouse - 10 for dry stuff.
premium aquatics - 10

livestock:
reefftopia.com - 10 --limited to/the best source for FL livestock
premium aquatics - 10
anchofish.com - 7.5

 

[cyberpanther]

I have tried a few and here is what I think. P.S. I am curious to see the final results.

Reeftopia (10)

Why? ~Great service (I had some of my items die en route because FedEx ended up taking to long delivering my Priority overnight shipment, it took 3 days) and reeftopia not only relaced the dead items but when as far to resend the whole order to ensure that those items that survived wouldn't die from the shipping stress (WOW!!!!)
~ The items I received were huge (on the one's I asked to be)

Premium Aquatics 8.5

Why? ~Good customer service (not the best but definitely better than average)
~ Prices are high especially compared to other online companies

Petwarehouse 2

Why? ~First I have only order dry goods from them because the numerous warnings I have received about this company. I have to say though that their customer service is some of the worst I have ever received. Furthermore, when I finally rec my goods I rec a pond UV sterilizer instead of my protein skimmer I had ordered. When I called to inquire about sending it back the cs agent said that they were going to mail me a return ups label via snail mail and then I could send the item back. Once they rec it they would send the protein skimmer. Obviously this wouldn't work and after many days of arguing they finally agreed to fax over the info and send the item immediately. Definitely won't use them again. Have companies forgotten the need for at least minimum customer service??

World Wide Pet Supply -5 I repeat a negative 5
I had not listened to everyone's words of wisdom and went ahead and ordered what was suppose to be marshall island LR. When I recieved it (I ordered 25lbs) there was only 12.5lbs not the 25lbs I ordered, it was all small pieces and fine sand like pcs (if you would even call that pcs). Also (no lie here) when I initially opened the box the rock was dry and not wrapped in paper or anything. There was no water in site at all. What caught my eye the most were the 5 or 6 gnats that flew out of the package when I opened it. The live rock was not live, it was dead. I tried for several weeks to get a refund and offered to pay for the return shipping but they would not and were extremely rude. In my opinion they should be shut down. This is 100 percent true. Personal opinion don't even think of ordering from this place.

 

[MadMorf]

Marine Depot: 9 - Only dry goods, everything arrived on time and in good shape.

That Fish Place: 9 - Again, dry goods only, but great selection and everything always seems to be in stock...

IPSF: 8 - Have ordered 2 "9 for $99" deals, all critters arrived in good shape. Only an 8 because it looks like their selection is narrowing somewhat and I'd like to be able to order individual iitems rather than packages...

GulfView Aquatics: 8 - Got my initial live rock and sand from them via eBay...

 

[mariner]

Lampsnow.com =10
Fast shipping/great item/great price/item exactly as described on website.

 

[samurai9]

I haven't ordered from them but think this company should be added- www.petswarehouse.com It is different from PetWarehouse and I saw someone above post regarding it.

 

[31-2c]

PetSolutions 10