Good morning. I recently ordered fish from an online fish store, we will call AFD and have had some major issues and wanted advice.
I was on the search for 3 royal farlowella catfish that were larger due to being added to a ropefish tank. I ended up finding AFD an online store. They had a listing of 1 5-6 cat for $25, or a group of 3 for $70. They did NOT list any other size royal farlowellas (RED FLAG #1, well get to this). This was the entire reason that I chose this store, was the size of the fish. Fast forward to the day before delivery. I get an email AFTER the fist are marked as shipped stating the below.
I immediately (within 7 minuts) responded to this email asking for clarification and stating smaller where NOT ok. but apparently this store likes to ship out the fish before telling you that your order has been changed.
So from this message their apparently only sending me 1 instead of three (RED FLAG #2) ? And they now magically have medium farlowellas (RED FLAG #3). The fish arrived with only 2, 2-3in twig catfish, yes i said twig catfish not royal farlowellas, which I was forced to add to my 150g or go buy a new aquarium on the spot... fast forward to the next day, both twig catfish are dead because they got eaten by my ropefish, because I had no other option for a tank to place them in. So not only did they not send me the right size, they sent me the wrong quantity, and wrong species. At this point all that i am getting is radio silence from email/phone. Personally I feel that this store never even had "large" of these fish, and instead just advertises it and does a bait and switch, after all how do you magically go from only selling 5-6 in, then end up shipping out some 2-3in? They also offered two day shipping on fish.... (red flag #4) but i paid extra for 1 day shipping, which should be the only option for fish.
All in all, what are my options? From my side I feel entitled to a refund on fish AND shipping, as I feel they intentionally sent me the wrong species, size, and quantity with out my consent. If it wasnt fish (IE you bought a 6 pack of ratchet straps, and some one sent you 3 short section of rope) it would be pretty cut and dry, but with fish it seems everything becomes more complicated. It also confuses me that this place consideres it acceptable to just swap out fish and notify some one after they ship. "Oh btw, we know you ordered a ford F450, but instead heres two F150's that are from TEMU".
I was on the search for 3 royal farlowella catfish that were larger due to being added to a ropefish tank. I ended up finding AFD an online store. They had a listing of 1 5-6 cat for $25, or a group of 3 for $70. They did NOT list any other size royal farlowellas (RED FLAG #1, well get to this). This was the entire reason that I chose this store, was the size of the fish. Fast forward to the day before delivery. I get an email AFTER the fist are marked as shipped stating the below.
| Hi Logan. You fish are on the way. I had to sub out the large cat for two mediums. I didn't like the way the tank looked that the large cats where in. I hope that work for you. |
I immediately (within 7 minuts) responded to this email asking for clarification and stating smaller where NOT ok. but apparently this store likes to ship out the fish before telling you that your order has been changed.
So from this message their apparently only sending me 1 instead of three (RED FLAG #2) ? And they now magically have medium farlowellas (RED FLAG #3). The fish arrived with only 2, 2-3in twig catfish, yes i said twig catfish not royal farlowellas, which I was forced to add to my 150g or go buy a new aquarium on the spot... fast forward to the next day, both twig catfish are dead because they got eaten by my ropefish, because I had no other option for a tank to place them in. So not only did they not send me the right size, they sent me the wrong quantity, and wrong species. At this point all that i am getting is radio silence from email/phone. Personally I feel that this store never even had "large" of these fish, and instead just advertises it and does a bait and switch, after all how do you magically go from only selling 5-6 in, then end up shipping out some 2-3in? They also offered two day shipping on fish.... (red flag #4) but i paid extra for 1 day shipping, which should be the only option for fish.
All in all, what are my options? From my side I feel entitled to a refund on fish AND shipping, as I feel they intentionally sent me the wrong species, size, and quantity with out my consent. If it wasnt fish (IE you bought a 6 pack of ratchet straps, and some one sent you 3 short section of rope) it would be pretty cut and dry, but with fish it seems everything becomes more complicated. It also confuses me that this place consideres it acceptable to just swap out fish and notify some one after they ship. "Oh btw, we know you ordered a ford F450, but instead heres two F150's that are from TEMU".
