[roadracn]

I know this will be a long read, but I feel it’s worth it…


Most of the people on Reef Central can probably be compared to one of the fish in our tanks. Some are happy just to see the lights come on in the morning, some are happy to see them go out at night, some are really picky, and all of us are busy bodies. I went in on the first Hawaii order about 18 months ago, and it was a complete pain in the butt. It took forever to get everything in order and the guy that did It, I was grateful for doing the order. Everybody was changing things the order kept getting pushed back, but it was going to be worth it because I was going to get some fish that I had never seen before, and second get fish that I would never buy at a local fish shop even if I did happen to find them. I was new at this hobby (and heck even in the last week I feel like a newbie again) and didn’t know what to expect. I looked at each fish off of the price list that I was given, and selected a few fish that I really really wanted. I stayed away from the overly exotic fish that were for more advanced guys, but at last I did finally place my order. When the order came, for the people that remember it, the flight didn’t go the way it was supposed to, and our fish sat in Salt Lake for a lot of extra time, and probably contributed to the demise of some of our new additions to the tank. When it came, not all of the fish that I ordered were on the shipment, and I ended up buying stuff that I didn’t even order because people backed out at the last minute. All of this in the hotel out by the airport in the early stages of a snow storm. After thinking this all through I even wonder what I was thinking about doing a group order again…

I also reflected on the people that were out there. We were all so into our tanks, little side jokes about how much we spent, and how we had hidden it from our spouses, and in basic denial of our addiction of the perfect tank with the perfect fish and a great story of how we had a diver get it for us and that’s why it looked so great! I would totally do another group order. My first contact with Alex was at the end of October, and I basically asked if he would be interested in doing another group buy. He was ecstatic, and really wanted to do have another group sale, as our orders are pretty large, and we are usually a happy customer. (I have almost all of the emails that I sent to Alex regarding this matter) I also had a couple ideas on how to make it easier on Alex, and also be willing to take the burden of putting the order together. In the beginning it was great, Alex was loving our order, and was really quick to answer his phone, emails, and PM’s off of here The original post for the Hawaii Order was on the day after Thanksgiving, and our interest in the order grew rapidly.…until he got a call from Front Range Aquatics. Suddenly our perfect plan for our group buy through Alex had hit a snag. Suddenly there was a problem with pricing because he sent the wrong price list, suddenly there was a problem with shipping, and this was after several emails and phone calls quit being returned. Alex now wanted to run the order through a store that was “15 minutes north of Denver” In a phone call with Alex it was stated that a LFS (no one specific at this time) “had thrown a fit” that he was selling to us direct, and that we were costing him Business on his grand opening. Also that the order needed to be run through this other shop…after informing Alex that front range aquatics grand opening wasn’t being affected and that Denver wasn’t even his market, he said he would send over a new price list that reflected our real group buy pricing. We as a group had no issues with that.

Several days went buy and several emails and phone calls went unreturned. I would later find out that there was no additional list, and that the LFS store was basically trying to figure out what was fair. I understood Alex tough position of being between a group buy and a regular customer. Neither of us understood what the problem was with a shop that was so far away…I did everything as Alex asked me to do, I closed the order by the time I said I would, I sent him the updated lists, and offered to do anything that I could to help him out. The new price list never came, I assume because there isn’t one. I asked several times for this updated list and never got it. I was finally told that it would be a strait 50% above the current price list that we had, and this was agreed upon by the Front Range. I asked Alex point blank if the extra $$ was for him or the shop. His only reply was “I wish I was making an extra 50% on this one”

As of 12/9 Our order was closed, and sent to Alex. It took a few more days to get total confirmation from people but Alex had our order, and it was still in line to go. He was still getting pressure form not only Front Range and now it had grown to pressure from other LFS across the US, and asked me to delete the thread with the price list off of RC ASAP. I did as asked and patiently waited for the order to get ready to ship. I asked Alex what the next step was to be and waited. Next real message that I got was on 12/17 that the weather had been bad and that he was unable to dive, order was going to be pushed until after Christmas, and would ship the week of 1/5. I told the people involved in the order and waited…

New years went buy and I sent him an email on 1/3 asking about the order, finding out if he needed money yet, and what the game plan was as we were to be getting our order on 1/5…nothing, no messages returned, no emails, no PM’s, basically ignoring us. Finally on Wednesday 1/9 I got the response that was in the last thread from Alex. Again you will notice that he is pushing us to go through Front Range. I immediately called Front Range to get some sort of answer on the issue of our order, and several calls to his main number just give us his hours of operation. What a waste, why have a telephone if your not going to answer it during your business hours. I searched further, and finally found a cell phone for him. The conversation Went something like this…