Aquacon and the "JOKE OF THE CENTURY"

[Miza]

I have just had a chance today to read my June issue of Marine Fish Monthy and I am not sure if anyone has heard but the JOKE OF THIS NEW CENTURY is that Aquacon has been awarded Marine Fish Monthy's Readers Choice and I quote "Aquacon is my reader's choice. This E-tailer has a great track record, great prices and is highly recommended by fellow aquarists. They are highly recommended." It is hard to believe that no one at Marine Fish Monthy has never seen or heard all the bad reviews of Aquacons past customers.

I for one will think twice before I renew a subscription to a magazine that gives an award like this to a company that treats its customers like it does.

Anyone care to comment on this "JOKE OF THE CENTURY!"

[clkohly]

Geeee.....I wonder how much that award cost them!!! From my personal experience with the company and everyone elses that I've seen online the only way they could have gotten any award is to Pay for it.


Chris

[SPC]

Same old thing, ethics fly out the window when there's money involved. Thanks for the post, I know what magazine not to buy now.
Steve

[Nitrox911]

I live about 40 mile North of Aqua CON and while i was in that area about 2 months ago i stopped by there storefront and if u seen the store you wouldn't believe they actually have a mail order web site,the store is about 600 sq feet and they have boxes of live rock still in the box !! I checked out some dates on some of the boxes and it was dated 2 months prior to when i was there!! tHEY WERE RUNNING A SPECIAL ON SOME KIND OF nEW australian Rock and i asked where was it and he pointed to a vat with about 200 pounds of rock in it ..People me being in the business of Aquarium Maintenance i get plenty of Rock in and this was Fiji Rock .I suggest you avoid aqua con .

[Snailman]

Miza & Nitrox911




[welcome]

[albe1947]

They are a Joke as we say. But they actually didn't pay for that award. I don't know how they got it.. The store is actually 1000 ft, and I have never seen any rock in boxes over 1week old. they can handle 900 to 1000 lbs in their 2 connected tubs. Sometimes they order 2000 lbs at a time and can't fit all into the tanks. This of course does not mean that they are not jerks, Just get the facts right and flame away, but with correct information.

[SPC]

Now Albee, you were'nt ever going to comment on the Con again, remember?
Steve

[albe1947]

All I want is to get it straight., They deserve what they get, but not lies.

[Nitrox911]

albee you work for Aqua CON ??? You know the exact store size? Theres no way that store is 1000 sq. feet and i dont appreciate being called a liar!!! I WAS IN THE STORE and i PERSONALY looked at boxes of Walt Smith live rock in boxes shipped out of Lax that were send DIRECTLY to Fort Lauderdale that were dated late March (dont know exact date) but it was DEFINETLY March and i was in the store the middle of May. And it wasn't 1 box it was Several !! And no one knows if they paid for the award or not ...but you seem to be confident they didn"t. I owned a store in West Palm in the early 90's and i know what a labor intensive and hourly Extensive job it is to run a retail fish store let alone do mail order.I got out of it for that reason ...no life,but the last thing i am going to do is LIE about someone who is trying to make it work.And as far as the vats go 900 to a 1000 pounds!!! You have got to be joking?? If they could get 200 pounds in their holding system it would be by stacking and jamming the rock in .How do u cure Rock like that??Anyway i suggest you stay away from Aqua Con i went in their store once and ill never return.Albee i see u live in the same city as Aqua con?Since your going to accuse me of spreading lies about these people .Let me make this clear.II Think you either work there or are friends with the owner.Thats my opinion not fact. :o

[chromis]

why would anyone buy something from a company with the word "con" in its name? :confused:

[albe1947]

your right, I did work there part time and i still sometimes go there. but that has nothing to do with this. never have they kept rock out of the tank for month's. The rock tanks (2) easily hold a thousand pounds. They are as you say sort of the company you shouldn't but from, but again I have not told anyone here to purchase fromthem. A matter of fact I have told them not to. It's unfortunate that they cant satisfy some people, they do have a great selection of corals, which I do get for a real low price or sometimes free. Again that does not change my thinking of their low ethics. A company needs to have great customer service, which they don't. They get what they deserve. All Mo business get nailed once in a while but most others have people come to their rescue, Aquacon doesn't. Or at least most people who purchase know enough not to mention that they do. I know of some people on other boards and this one who flame them all the time and then purchase. Go Figure. I just tried to set the parameters straight on the size of their store. and other small details. Flame all you want that is OK, but please flame correctly.


Nitrox, remember I am agreeing with you on the quality of the owners and managers there, We are on the same wave length. I just know more about what they can hold. Unfortunatly I cant do anything about the way they do things. I tried for a while and than gave up.

[Aquamans Reef]

WOW, and I was considering ordering from them...NOT Thank Nitrox

[Pinkskunk]

Well, i am not a subscriber to that magazine. But if you are, then it is your responsibility to write them an email voicing your strong disagreement. Also, give them some links to support your claims. By doing so, you are saving the lives of all those unfortunate animals and saving money for all those fellow reefers. This is not an attempt to put Ron out of business, but to let him know that he should do it right or dont do it.

It is frustrating to pay for all those shipping charges and box charges only to find out later that your animals are dead or in poor health. At the end, you pay far more than the LFS and the stuff are dead anyway.

[bigdogpaul]

I ordered from them a long time ago, maybe as much as 2 years ago. I don't recall all the exact details, but was put off enough from the pricing discrepancies and lack of customer service that I added them to my Do Not Order from list. I'm an easy going guy, and very sympathetic to shipping issues, etc., but I disliked them enough to write them off.
I saw the thing about them winning that award, and thought maybe they had changed their ways and was getting ready to try another order - good thing I like to read a lot and saw this first. Bottom line - order from who treats you good, the lowest price is not always the best price, and listen to what your peers have to say....

p.s. Only other place I've ever had trouble with is FF Express. Like Aquacon, the CS was amongst the worse and that is more detrimental to their business than any other problem could be..

[Aquamans Reef]

jeffs exotic fish is no better. They show you a beautiful picture of a coral on there site once you get the coral it looks nothing like it. :( Joe

[fozzie]

thank god I am a member of reef central I almost placed an order with aquacon. Now I will look someplace else thanks again guys

[albe1947]

If you read all the posts, "look up" all are the same according to our members, Some just worse.

[Tonga]

I have no expierence with aquacon, but jeffs mail order is a complete joke, he saves all the good stuff for his retail business from what I hear.

[Terra Ferma]

Jeff's doesn't save his stuff for local reatail-but it is a walk inplace. Egro local customers can pick the best stuff while the stuff left behind gets shipped out.

[chromis]

I have heard great reviews of Jeff's clams.

[C-Water]

Aquacon. Ordered about two years ago and won't do it again. Sent the order on the wrong date (early). I made it clear when it was supposed to be shipped. They did acknowledge the proposed shipping date when I placed the order. If I wasn't home due to a snafu with my schedule, the order would have sat outside for three days.
Also, the fish were thin, two went belly-up within two days and they didn't honor the discount as advertised. Never again with Aquacon.

[neuroracer]

I've had pretty good luck with Flying Fish Express. They sent 2 healthy fat blue Linkias, and a 4x5 rock that was loaded nicely with purple Distichopora (and I ordered the small). When something I had ordered (over the Internet) wasn't in stock, they called me and let me know. Then due to my scheduling conflict with being home at time of delivery with the altered time of shipment, they worked with me and delivered Saturday for no extra cost, since the order had gotten delayed. I would order from them again. Their website is www.ffexpress.com . I look on the website occasionally from AquaCon but have never ordered. I get kind of nervous about ordering stuff I can't see. But FF Express did fine.

neuroracer
:uzi:

[Just Phish]

Maybe I am just the only one who noticed. But if they don't have the room for 2000lbs of rock, therefor some has to sit out, why do they order 2000lbs of rock?

And for the rest of you who still have not decided if you'll order or not, you just might be the one who gets the rock that has been sitting out. Even if it's a week, it's bad news.

[KenT]

Nitrox911,

Calm down! Albe1947 is not calling you a liar he is simply correcting your missinformation. If he did work there then he certainly knows more about the operation than you do. And if you read his posts again he is not defending Aquacon just giving acurate info. He is right, before you flame someone you should know what your talking about.

[gregt]

Guys,

This thread is months old and albe isn't around anymore, so you are fighting with ghosts here. ;)

[KenT]

Boy are some people dumb!!!:D

[ReefLady]

If this speaks to the *ethics* of the company, at least one of the pictures on their MO site is stolen from a private web page.

Check here: https://www.aquacon.com/specials.html

Scroll about 2/3 down the page to the section titled "Aquacon's Acro Special". See the picture of the "bright fluorescent green acropora"?

Now, check out John Rice's web page:

http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrice/coral_page/bushyensis.htm

Yes, John Rice has emailed them and asked them to remove the picture from their page.

Other thoughts? Goniopora sold as "VERY HARDY - GREAT BEGINNER CORAL
Easy to Keep, may be kept in a fluorescent tank!!!"

Mandarin's (discount if you buy three)

Enough said.

[Just Phish]

LOL, I was wondering how was it possible that he started posting again under his old name all of a sudden. But then again, I have seen stranger things happen.

[KenT]

Actually that photo has been used on other web sites as well. There was a link in another thread to a Japanese(i think) web site and that same Acro was there. So maybe John Rice is using it without permision.