Disappointed To Say The Least With Pieces of the Ocean

[blue.flyzz]

I found POTO on FB and checked out their auctions. I was very surprised to see fish included. I won a Mystery Wrasse for $66, I was thrilled. I also won 2 "add-on"/minor corals, a one polyp zoa and clove which both totaled around $15. Items were to ship today and I get an e-mail late in the day which states my package was shipped and the wrasse was not included and I received a refund for it. No rhyme or reason. I had to call them, spoke with Ken who explained the fish looked sick and they did not want to ship it. While I appreciate that very much, I am stuck paying full shipping on 2 very minor add-on items. Am I asking too much to have been contacted first before they shipped and asked if I still wanted the partial order shipped since they could not fulfill the main item from my order? I would have expected a vendor to at least offer me that option/better communication/contact me to explain the situation, even more so that I was a first time customer (don't LFAs succeed with repeat customers?) I usually stick with the same vendors for the past 5 years and I took a shot with this one since I'm also a NYer (20 minutes north of NYC but it doesn't pay for me to drive an hour + to Staten Island and pay expensive tolls for local pick-up) and I crapped out. Maybe it's me, but with all the vendors that are available to us, am I asking for too much here? Not sure if I'm more disappointed with not getting the fish or the customer service I received.

 

[Pieces of the Ocean]

I found POTO on FB and checked out their auctions. I was very surprised to see fish included. I won a Mystery Wrasse for $66, I was thrilled. I also won 2 "add-on"/minor corals, a one polyp zoa and clove which both totaled around $15. Items were to ship today and I get an e-mail late in the day which states my package was shipped and the wrasse was not included and I received a refund for it. No rhyme or reason. I had to call them, spoke with Ken who explained the fish looked sick and they did not want to ship it. While I appreciate that very much, I am stuck paying full shipping on 2 very minor add-on items. Am I asking too much to have been contacted first before they shipped and asked if I still wanted the partial order shipped since they could not fulfill the main item from my order? I would have expected a vendor to at least offer me that option/better communication/contact me to explain the situation, even more so that I was a first time customer (don't LFAs succeed with repeat customers?) I usually stick with the same vendors for the past 5 years and I took a shot with this one since I'm also a NYer (20 minutes north of NYC but it doesn't pay for me to drive an hour + to Staten Island and pay expensive tolls for local pick-up) and I crapped out. Maybe it's me, but with all the vendors that are available to us, am I asking for too much here? Not sure if I'm more disappointed with not getting the fish or the customer service I received.

Hey Sal,

We apologize for the miscommunication and your less than pleasant experience. You are right we should have contacted you first. And we usually do. This wasn't the norm. We failed to do that this time and for that I am sorry. I can say there is always growing pain when you are one month into opening a new store but it is still no excuse. I hope you will try our auction again in the future and find it to be a better experience. And if you do, email me directly at [email protected] and I'll give you free shipping regardless of purchase amount plus extra to make it right.

Thanks,
Kenny

 

[blue.flyzz]

shipping was $20 since I'm local to the NY area but whether it was $20 or $40 my point was I wish I had been contacted first before the 2 2 frags totaling $15 were shipped.

 

[blue.flyzz]

I wouldn't go as far as "unethical" but poor communication is a better fit

 

[blue.flyzz]

Hey Sal,

We apologize for the miscommunication and your less than pleasant experience. You are right we should have contacted you first. And we usually do. This wasn't the norm. We failed to do that this time and for that I am sorry. I can say there is always growing pain when you are one month into opening a new store but it is still no excuse. I hope you will try our auction again in the future and find it to be a better experience. And if you do, email me directly at [email protected] and I'll give you free shipping regardless of purchase amount plus extra to make it right.

Thanks,
Kenny

Thanks Kenny, but I wish I had received this response when I spoke with you. Again, I appreciate it very much that you didn't ship me a sick fish, but your response was what made me make this post. When we spoke you stated if I still wanted this fish you would offer it to me at a future date and honor the price I won for the auction. I've found that the Mystery Wrasse is a very hard to find species. How was I supposed to know if you got more in? You left me no option other than to check your site frequently, which would have been difficult and an unsatisfactory solution. Thank you for owning up to this on R2R, I will think about it.

 

[blue.flyzz]

Unfortunately, the owing up came on this forum. The solution offered to me on the phone was sub-par.....I'll have to think about it.

 

[blue.flyzz]

My regulars are Aqua Sd, Top Shelf Aquatics, WWC, Cherry Corals, Fraghouse and Joe Knows Reef for corals, Live Aquaria and Saltwaterfish.com for fish....their customer service is second to none. With so many online vendors to chose from, it's the customer service that keeps me going back.

 

[eatbreakfast]

This thread has been moved to Vendor Feedback, so all outside comments have been removed. Links to your own feedback threads are allowed. Thanks for your cooperation.

 

[blue.flyzz]

meanwhile, he still has Mystery Wrasses available for purchase on his website....was the auction just a scam?

https://www.piecesoftheocean.com/co...ucts/mystery-wrasse-pseudocheilinus-ocellatus

 

[blue.flyzz]

What makes you think the fish is WYWISYG? They may have many in stock now.

edit:

Oh if I am not allowed to post here feel free to delete it- my bad. I saw this thread in the news feed, I didnt see that it is only between vendor/customer till after.

When the auction was going on, it was listed as buy it now for $99, plus, in their fish section they had them listed as available for purchase at $99. The auction ended on 9/29. After the auction was over the available for purchase Mystery Wrasse changed to 74.99. Come Thursday, 10/4, when my wrasse was supposed to be shipped I get an e-mail that my package was shipped minus the wrasse. After I called to find out why, since I had not received any communication other than the e-mail stating my package did not include it, I was told that the fish was sick and if I wanted one at a future date he would honor the auction price I won it at. At that time, the fish showed as available on the website, why not substitute it for another? Are they all sick? Does he not have any yet they are listed as available? Is he selling sick fish? I don't know...which leads me to conclude something ain't right here.

 

[blue.flyzz]

This is my final post on this, I do not wish to resolve anything nor do I intend to ever purchase or bid on anything. Please feel free to inbox me if you wish to discuss further as I have already received several messages with folks experiencing similar situations on auctions they won. Auctions end every Friday night, rules state you have 24 hours to pay for your win(s) and if not paid for within 24 hours the auctions go up on his second chance tabs where they are available for purchase at the "winning bid".

Every Sunday at least 20 or more unpaid auctions are available for purchase. How is it that every week there is ~ a 50% non-pay rate? This is one unlucky guy, so many of his auctions go unpaid for every week. I don't have any proof of wrongdoing/fake bids, this is my experience with winning auctions on POTO, this is what I see on his site, take it as you will.

 

[blue.flyzz]

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