Sea Life Inc OMG!

[Insane Reefer]

Ok.
I've only ordered coral one time online, and it was a horror story that ended with everything DOA. Several years ago, there was a nasty ice storm that hit Atlanta - shut the city down for more than 24 hours. My order got stuck on the dock for 2 days. The vendor at the time said to take it up with the carrier, the carrier said they didn't cover live stock, so I was out $200, plus shipping cost. I've since ordered fish from a prominent online dealer and that was a frustrating experience.

I haven't ordered online since. But my experiences lately with local sources haven't been so great - either the stuff is unhealthy or has pests, or there just isn't anything to buy that I can or want to keep.

So I browsed around online, and read some reviews, and found a place called Sea Life Inc (also known on eBay as Old.Diver). They do have a sort of limited selection, only local Florida critters, but since I was mainly looking for Ricordea, these guys seemed to maybe be the place to order from.

So I sent them an email, explaining my previous experience, and my fear of the same thing happening. I apologized in advance for being a PITA customer, because I knew I'd be pestering him like a worried mother hen.

Ken, the owner, replied and was very professional sounding. Not overly friendly, but answered my questions in such a manner that I had no doubt where I would stand as a customer. I felt that maybe I could work with him.

So after looking over the stock, I sent another email with questions about a couple of critters, as well as the possibility of requesting certain items. He took a bit longer to reply this time (it was the last week of the holidays and he was in and out a lot), but he replied with the answers to my questions; if he has notice, and the critter you want is a local floridian and legal to collect, he will do his best to find it for you on his next collection dive. After his reply, it sparked another couple of questions and so I sent him another email. I think Gmail lost his reply on that one (it happens), so I resent it and he replied back that day (and said he had sent a reply before hand too).

Poor Ken - he must have felt like he had his own personal stalker, but he handled it well, and it was appreciated

So I finally placed my order - 11 items total, including ricordea, a gorgonia (received 2), a "warty" shroom, a zoa and 2 inverts. I received 14 items - and everything looks AMAZING! I swear I got a purple with yellow tip ric, though it is hard to say without lights. Tomorrow or the day after I will get some pictures of the great stuff I got from this place.

So unless everything dies overnight, which I think is really unlikely considering these critters don't even look like they were shipped - more like I just brought them home from the LFS, I am completely and totally satisfied with Sea Life Inc.

Thanks Ken! I look forward to ordering again