Thoughts on Dr. Reef

[SpyC]

we use an automatic convayor belt sealer. Its actually a potato chip bag sealer. It fills Oxygen and seals all bags in a convayor belt setting.. We stole that idea from a very big name brand coral and fish grower. (wont say name as they didnt even want to share any info when I asked them)
So all bags are sealed by a machine. only bags we seal our self are clipped by a susage clipping machine which is also automatic. We twist the bags neck and place it in a machine that clips it automatically.
But point noted and will see what we can do to seal the edges some how.

Double bagging the fish by potting the top in first then closing the new bag gets rid of all corners.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Double bagging the fish by potting the top in first then closing the new bag gets rid of all corners.

Thank you for the feedback we will definitly try it and get rid of the corners.

 

[thedon986]

Thank you for your post.
We ship about 80-100 orders per day so about 500-600 order per week. We may have anywhere from 0 to 3 complaint of wrong fish. And 90% of these fish mistakes are not in the species of the fish itself but likely in gender of the fish.
Highest mistakes on gender is tank bred mandarins. We buy them directly from Biota and they send us them indivdually packed and clearly labelled MALE and FEM on the bags. We put them in 2 spearate system marked Male and Fem on our tanks. They are so tiny sometime i am sure biota cant even distiguish between them and neither can we.
Second biggest gender problem is Ruby red dragonette and 3rd Melanurus wrasse. We were sold lanur wrasse from a wholesaler instead of melanurus and we quit buying from them.
Copperbands have a bad rep of not eating frozen and we changed the wholesaler as well. Now we get them from Philippines and they are the best we have seen in the industry.
Chromis used to have internal uronema and we went to Kenya and import them from Africa and we have not seen 1 case of uronema anymore.
Lastly were lyratail and we found a very good source from Fiji and that issue went away. They do die in shipping so we always sent extra to compensate.

Holy crap I had no idea you were that busy. That’s amazing!

 

[Dr. Reef]

Holy crap I had no idea you were that busy. That’s amazing!

Lol We are shipping Jan orders currently. Thats why we are once again moving in October in a ten thousand sq ft facility. Hopefully that helps push orders out faster. Goal is to get qted fish in customers hands in 3-5 days after ordering.
We have 10 people in warehouse and 6 in call center. Hopefully with new facility we will grow that number to double in warehouse and maybe 2 more in call center.

 

[braaap]

I really like my fish from Dr.Reef and their customer service. I don’t like that they just don’t ship items because they don’t look healthy and they don’t tell you until it’s too late. I’ve corrected that with them and told them ship everything or nothing. I’m not paying shipping again because they left out an item.

All my fish arrived healthy and are still alive and thriving. My corals did not. They were all dead due to poor packaging. I wouldn’t order coral from them again.

 

[TARHEEL78]

Thank you for your post.
We ship about 80-100 orders per day so about 500-600 order per week. We may have anywhere from 0 to 3 complaint of wrong fish. And 90% of these fish mistakes are not in the species of the fish itself but likely in gender of the fish.
Highest mistakes on gender is tank bred mandarins. We buy them directly from Biota and they send us them indivdually packed and clearly labelled MALE and FEM on the bags. We put them in 2 spearate system marked Male and Fem on our tanks. They are so tiny sometime i am sure biota cant even distiguish between them and neither can we.
Second biggest gender problem is Ruby red dragonette and 3rd Melanurus wrasse. We were sold lanur wrasse from a wholesaler instead of melanurus and we quit buying from them.
Copperbands have a bad rep of not eating frozen and we changed the wholesaler as well. Now we get them from Philippines and they are the best we have seen in the industry.
Chromis used to have internal uronema and we went to Kenya and import them from Africa and we have not seen 1 case of uronema anymore.
Lastly were lyratail and we found a very good source from Fiji and that issue went away. They do die in shipping so we always sent extra to compensate.

When did you change your Lyretail supplier? Just wondering if it was before or after the females I got from you about a year ago.

 

[ronsonb]

All my fish and inverts are from Dr Reef. I will only continue to order from them. I have had some losses including a COMPLETE loss on a $500 order of fish in the summer that was a UPS issue (“mechanical failure”) not even Dr Reef’s fault and they re-sent the entire order.

Honestly if anyone has a problem with their customer service it is IMO unreasonable, or just a misunderstanding because I have never had a single issue. All my losses I have been given store credit.

My ONLY issue has ever been having to make another order and pay shipping again for partial losses, but honestly if I have calculated all the overnight shipping I’ve paid in this hobby I’d probably vomit.

Nothing but good to say about this company.

 

[Dr. Reef]

When did you change your Lyretail supplier? Just wondering if it was before or after the females I got from you about a year ago.

This year Jan 2024.

 

[littlefoxx]

Lol We are shipping Jan orders currently. Thats why we are once again moving in October in a ten thousand sq ft facility. Hopefully that helps push orders out faster. Goal is to get qted fish in customers hands in 3-5 days after ordering.
We have 10 people in warehouse and 6 in call center. Hopefully with new facility we will grow that number to double in warehouse and maybe 2 more in call center.

I just placed my first order from you, not going to lie I was skeptical with all the stuff I read about your fish. Seen some refer to you as “Dr Death” which scared the heck out of me to order from as Ive seen how fast velvet wipes fish out. I cant see that again, I cried for days after it took out almost all my fish. But you guys had a good price on a fish Ive been looking for so I decided to try you for the first time. Im honestly still nervous since I cant QT right now. Ive placed two orders before but got nervous and canceled them from what Ive read on reviews. But Im willing to try you guys, nervous, anxious and excited for the fish to come

 

[Dr. Reef]

All my fish and inverts are from Dr Reef. I will only continue to order from them. I have had some losses including a COMPLETE loss on a $500 order of fish in the summer that was a UPS issue (“mechanical failure”) not even Dr Reef’s fault and they re-sent the entire order.

Honestly if anyone has a problem with their customer service it is IMO unreasonable, or just a misunderstanding because I have never had a single issue. All my losses I have been given store credit.

My ONLY issue has ever been having to make another order and pay shipping again for partial losses, but honestly if I have calculated all the overnight shipping I’ve paid in this hobby I’d probably vomit.

Nothing but good to say about this company.

Thank you for your kind remarks.Take the replacement offer versus credit. Then we will ship them for free. If you take credit then it will apply to your next order and if that order is less than $500 it will incur shipping charge.

 

[Dr. Reef]

I just placed my first order from you, not going to lie I was skeptical with all the stuff I read about your fish. Seen some refer to you as “Dr Death” which scared the heck out of me to order from as Ive seen how fast velvet wipes fish out. But you guys had a good price on a fish Ive been looking for so I decided to try you for the first time. Im honestly still nervous since I cant QT right now. Ive placed two orders before but got nervous and canceled them from what Ive read on reviews. But Im willing to try you guys

PM me your order# I will personally see to it.

 

[TARHEEL78]

This year Jan 2024.

Great, I might try again on some. The last batch were slowly picked off by my current females.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Great, I might try again on some. The last batch were slowly picked off by my current females.

How many females do you currently have?
We can send you same amount for free and then you can buy few more to add on, this was you end up with all new females and you can ship your current females to us.
Basically exchange your current to new.

 

[ronsonb]

Thank you for your kind remarks.Take the replacement offer versus credit. Then we will ship them for free. If you take credit then it will apply to your next order and if that order is less than $500 it will incur shipping charge.

I didn’t know this thank you, but even so small issue compared to the overall excellent service you have provided. The fact you even have to defend your integrity is baffling to me.

 

[littlefoxx]

PM me your order# I will personally see to it.

Sent you the order number via PM

 

[Dr. Reef]

Sent you the order number via PM

I replied to your PM

 

[TARHEEL78]

How many females do you currently have?
We can send you same amount for free and then you can buy few more to add on, this was you end up with all new females and you can ship your current females to us.
Basically exchange your current to new.

I have 2 females and a male. I got 5 females from you last April and added them but as I said they were slowly killed off. I believe it was due to small regional differences. Yours looked slightly different in color than my existing crew.

 

[Dr. Reef]

I have 2 females and a male. I got 5 females from you last April and added them but as I said they were slowly killed off. I believe it was due to small regional differences. Yours looked slightly different in color than my existing crew.

I can exchange the Male and 2 females. You can ship them back to us. I can send you 2 females and a male. This way you will end up with all new regional lyretail.

 

[dadnjesse]

I have bought numerous fish from DR Reef. Most have done well some didn't make it. He has given me credit every time I had a problem. I will keep buying from him.

 

[TARHEEL78]

I can exchange the Male and 2 females. You can ship them back to us. I can send you 2 females and a male. This way you will end up with all new regional lyretail.

I don't really like the thought of sending this crew away. I would stick with the only 3 before I'd trade them for new. I do appreciate the offer but I couldn't do it. If I was going to add more at this point I'd just leave them in acclimation boxes for much longer than usual and hope to avoid the aggression.