Dealing with Indo-Pacific Sea Farms

[lightson357]

Who has dealt with IPSF ? What are your Opinions because my dealings have not been positive and I have not Recieved my Items Yet.. The owner has been rude to me, transcribed my account number for my card which added two weeks on my order due to him be overbooked and blamed me for not getting my items in a timley fashion. He Sent me lengthly emails calling me hostile and rude and I did not even curse yell nor scream Because I called him on his mistake and expected good service. Is it just me ? Maybe I caught him on a bad day or week because all those testamonials on his page praising his good service led me to believe had had good customer service.

Should I still deal with him or is there another source for the Items they sell ? I was getting tht 9 for 99.00 worms and snails for my refugium on my old 75 that will all eventually meld in to my 150 with a 6 inch DSB that's cycling

LIGHTSON

[johnny]

not saying this is the case, but sometimes what we write as not being hostile and just informative... other people take as hostile. Whether or not you're at fault I think the best thing you can do is write him a snailmail letter apologizing for the conflict/disaggreements you've had and thanking him for his service. I've heard decent things about IPSF, but good or not, it's usually pretty good to keep up good relations in case you need to order something again. (send him a fruit basket ;) )

Nick

[newkie]

Gerald is a strange guy, I've dealt with him three times. Two times he was super friendly and accomodating but another time I got a cold shoulder and he suddenly didn't allow any substitutions even though he had before. In any case, its best to vary your sources so give http://www.inlandaquatics.com/ a try.

[G-money]

I have experiences with both IPSF and Inland.

I had been planning on adding a det. kit to the new tank for the last 2 months and thought I'd give IA a try first, since I heard good things. Needless to say, after a month and a half of trying to get them to respond to various emails regarding their dets, I never ever heard back from them, not even once. So....

I took my business to IPSF and ordered their 9 for 99 last week. Ordering was a breeze, everything arrived on time, and in perfect health. I was very suprised, as I expected a loss or a few being that I live in cold MN.

FWIW, I cycled my tank with uncured rock, so there was quite a buildup of filamentous algae. After 5 days, the IPSF critters have cut the amounts in half. Cool!

RESULTS-------
IPSF: 2 thumbs way up
IA: 2 fingers up, guess which ones ;)

[bigben]

Howdy,

Like many, I've had nothing but good experiences with IPSF. In fact, I just got an order of Strombus snails and Coral Heaven from Gerald today, and everything was is good shape. I'm sure you and Gerald can work things out. Even the good folks have bad days sometimes :)

Geez: Give up on emailing them for info. I've emailed them several times before without replies. It kinda bugs me, but they still have great products. Give 'em a call and they'll hook you up nicely :)

Ben

[Northern Reef]

I'll agree with the "strange" comment.

I ordered a detritivore kit from him (or whatever he calls it) and it arrived a day early, which fortunately did not turn out to be a problem. In Minnesota, scheduling is everything but I happened to be home. Everything was fine, except that instead of getting spaghetti worms (mama mia?) I got two bags of mini-stars. I posted what I thought was a positive report on AL, indicating that the error had been made but I was fine with it since the ministars were more desirable to me anyway. I never complained to Gerald at all about the order.

The next day I got a scathing email from Gerald, which I can only describe as him going off the deep end. He was very mad that I was "trying to trash his business". To say the least, it was wierd.

I won't order from him again, there are too many people doing business on the 'net that are a little easier to deal with, IMO.

[Snailman]

Larry...I had the very same thing happen to me. Someone asked about the Trochus Grazer snail larvae that he sells and I told them my experence with them. I then received one of his "trying to trash his business" emails. I edited my post to find a kinder way to say he did not tell me the truth.

[lightson357]

Well Gerald And I worked out our Differences after a few post I figured out that , Like many of us has his Quirks and I must struck a nerve...

So we will see .

Thanks
I Love this Board

LIGHTSON

[Jonsey]

I just received my 9 for $99 yesterday. I had ordered last Thursday, they confirmed my order on Friday for delivery on Monday and arrival on Wed. Order received 9am on Wed. Pretty good there.

As far as the product...I did receive many more critters (crabs,snails and amphipods) than what were stated in the deal, but I have to say I was a little disappointed in the macros. Out of 3 types, 2 were rather skimpy...and the anthelia polyps, also skimpy (4 tiny little polyps less than half the size of a dime) arrived dead. If you do order, don't use up one of your choices on the bristleworms - I got about 25 in the sand activator and the wondermud.

Overall, I'd say it would be an okay deal if you don't have a good LFS. However, seing that I could have purchased about the same thing for about half the price (if that) at my LFS (Fish Junction - Westerville, Ohio), I'll probably pass on future dealings with IPSF - or any other mail order - for livestock.

Not trying to slam - just giving my honest opinion...

[Edited by Jonsey on 01-18-2001 at 11:38 AM]

[joeyz]

See today's thread on them

http://archive.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?postid=98216#post98216

[CTrigger]

LOL! This guy sounds like the "Fish Nazi"

[Dr. Mac]

I have purchased from Gerald and did not have a problem. As a matter of fact when I had a break-in at my home and posted it on the BB he e-mailed me with his concern, I'm sure he probably did not even remember me as a customer, but still took the time to personally send a thoughtful message. I have been selling corals on-line for a while and let me tell you that at times some folks can really get carried away. I really enjoy talking with fellow hobbyists and do so for hours a night, but the occasional few are out of line. For example, I have my phone number listed on my web site and say to please be aware that it is my home number and to call only at certian times, well I still get calls at midnight. It's no big deal and I am always pleasant to anyone that calls, but the point is that some people are very impulsive and when they want something they just have blinders on and don't realize that their conduct can be a little over the top. As far as quality of product, I would always communicate immediately with the vendor and in my experience they will usually replace or credit without a problem. I would suggest that rather than a posting here, as that will just cause hard feelings. We are dealing with live animals and there will be some variability and everyone has different expectations. I would suspect that if you express your concerns directly to Gerald that he will make things right. If not, then take your business elsewhere. No matter what, there will always be some people that will never be satisfied despite your best efforts and some vendors that will never satisfy some customers.

[Jonsey]

I'm sorry, Dr. Mac, but I thought this board was the place to give input on our dealings with mail order companies...did I misunderstand the topic "Vendor Experiences"??

I understand that you, being a vendor, can identify with Gerald a lot better than I can, but I am far from an "unsatisfiable customer" as implied in your post. I stated what has happened to date with IPSF so that others can benefit from my experience. It was an honest account of the service and product I received. Is it too much to expect good service and merchandise without having to complain? Can anyone honestly say that they have had more than five experiences in the last year where they were 110% satisfied with their first dealing with a company, or customer service department, or store? That's almost unheard of these days. And when you do have one, they deserve your business and your praise, both on these boards and in a letter.

As far as the 9 for $99 deal, I really wasn't expecting Gerald to fork over his company to me - after all, the boxing and priority shipping (touted as free, but please, you know it's included in the overall deal) would take about $30 - $40 off the value of the order. So looking at it as 9 for $60 , I got what I paid for, pretty much...some average product at a somewhat inflated price, but most of all, a learning experience.

As stated in my prior post, IPSF would be an okay supply for someone without a good LFS. In my situation, I won't be dealing with MO livestock suppliers in the future for multiple reasons - I like to look at stuff before I buy it, I like to ask questions and not be questioned why I'm not buying something, DOA's, etc.

I understand your point that we should contact the merchant to give them the opportunity to make things right, and I agree. If I was completely dissatisfied with IPSF, I would. In this case, it's just not worth the effort. I'm simply saying that I was a little "less than satisfied" with this company and will probably not use it again. Their loss, not mine.

[Dr. Mac]

My comments were not directed to anyone specifically, but the situation in general. I agree that it is a legitimate function of this and other BB to allow opinions about vendors, it is a vital function. I was just trying to say that we should attempt to settle disputes with the vendor whether minor or major, prior to posting here. IME, these types of threads can become either a bashing session or a 50/50 split of opinions with no real winner, just heated tempers. A recent one about Champion lighting turned ugly as so many have in the past. When a company deals with so many hobbyists, there will inevitably be a few dissatisfied cutomers due to the fault of the vendor and/or the customer, we don't know because we don't really have all the facts, but are often lead to believe that the vendor is totally at fault. All I'm saying is that disputes of any kind should be worked out between the customer and vendor and then post the result here, good or bad. At least give the vendor a chance to correct any problems or even communicate with them and say that you were less than thrilled with their product and/or service--if they do or don't correct the situation then post the story-just give them a chance to make it right. I have seen some of these types of posts where people say please don't buy from so and so, without our full knowledge of the whole story it seems to me to be unfair to bash a vendor without their side of the story. For most of us this is a hobby, for most of the vendors it is a livelihood and I think most would appreciate a chance to correct a mistake before having their name posted on a BB. All of us do make mistakes and with the fragility and variability of livestock and the competitiveness of dry-goods, some vendors can be under a lot of pressure to please a diverse hobbyist group-mistakes will be made-the frequency and how these mistakes are handled is what seperates the good from the bad. These are obviously just my opinions and not directed at anyone in particular.