Order fish online? "That Pet Place" = horrible packing for shipment

[kimmisc]

I ordered a Queen Arabesque Pleco online from That Pet Place (That Fish Place) 2 days ago. They shipped it out yesterday evening and it arrived this morning freezing cold and dead.

This was a 2 1/2 inch fish in an appropriate sized bag. They packed it in a styrofoam box which measured about 18"x18"x12" (didn't measure, just eyeballed.... WAY too big for this small bagged fish). There was very little "padding" and the bag was able to slide around the bottom of the box freely. There were 2 small heat packs taped to the top of the box, and given the box size, no heat was reaching the fish at all.

So beware of ordering livestock from this online store. Ordering this time of year is risky enough, but the packers at this particular store need some common sense 101.

 

[southpaw]

Sorry to hear..

Hope you took pics to send to them

 

[Star_Rider]

Did you contact them?

they should make it right for you.
I purchase online fish with no real issues.

this time of year the box should be insulated(always) with heat packs.the bag should be stable.

let them know what happened ..

 

[kimmisc]

Yes, I emailed them with pictures of the dead fish which also had fin rot. I explained the way the fish was packaged. Their policy is to refund the cost of fish, but not shipping. They replied to my email and said they were applying a credit for the cost of the fish and shipping.

I don't know yet if this is store credit or a refund. Hopefully it's a refund, because at the moment I have no intentions of ordering anything at all from them again. It makes me so angry that this poor little fish had to be beaten and frozen to death during shipment. His bag of water felt like it was barely 40F when he arrived, if that. Ugh.

 

[Hooked Newbie]

Sorry to hear about the fish. Usually they will only offer a credit though. I've been personally more impressed by the packaging from people here and those from aquabid over the large companies.

 

[Draal5]

sorry to hear about that poor fish

Your story shocks me that is one of my top 3 that I order from regularly and never had a problem. They have a stellar rep. their employees are the most knowledgeable that I have ever met.
I travel 2 + hrs once a year for their anniversary sale sales reps form every co. you could imagine.
This the first bad thing I have heard about them in over 10 yrs.

sounds like they did everything they could to make it right.

 

[willsher]

I live 20 minutes from this store. They also have a crappy return policy on their merchandise. I grudgingly shop their cause they just happen to have everything.