Just my Luck!!!

jmcmahon66 · #1 12/02/2006, 05:11 PM

Ordered some micro frags from an RC member that were supposed to come Tuesday or Wednesday, but he waited to ship out on Thursday for Friday delivery. Well as we all know the snowstorm hit and no delivery. Fedex says first thing Monday morning. Always my luck. Does anyone have advice on how to handle this? Should I refuse shipment on Monday as it was declared "perishable"? What a waste. Somedays I feel I can't win with this hobby.

Illuminati · #2 12/02/2006, 05:37 PM

That is rough.

Fed Ex does not accept live animal shipments per their Terms and conditions. You can debate what is a live animal but they will not accept this claim.
Here is a link:
http://www.fedex.com/us/services/shi...bg.html?link=4

Go to the bottom, click on U.S. Money Back Guarantee link.
A new window should pop up, scroll up 1 section and you will see the live animal restrictions.

If it were me- I'd accept the package and get the micro's acclimated and happy ASAP on Monday. I'd also contact the seller and ask him to file a claim for the shipping cost (since it was not delivered when it was supposed to). The seller could then refund you for the shipping cost (probably a drop in the bucket but it's better than nothing).

Also call Fed Ex again tonight and throw a huge stink and see if you can pick up the package at a terminal. Those things have to be staffed 24/7. Crappy thing is you might have to drive for it....

Good luck.

jmcmahon66 · #3 12/02/2006, 07:09 PM

Just wanted to point out that the seller has not responded to the events. I am hopeful that he will be a stand up seller and make things right. He did package them well according to his pms, so I have not lost all hope.

BenjieC · #4 12/02/2006, 11:42 PM

I was reading in the LPS forum about people who experienced the same issue as you. They usually ended up being fine. Those micro's are pretty resilient or so they say. Not sure what time of year those shipping issues were. Good Luck!

paininthewrasse · #5 12/03/2006, 12:49 AM

Hey, how have you been?

Hopefully the micro will be fine.. Theyre very hardy.. but the snow has been killer..

Do you have any new LPS that you can cut me a frag of?

Pain

Racenrich · #6 12/04/2006, 01:31 PM

Jm,
come on by, i'll set you up nicely with all the frags you'll need! And yes VERY reasonable prices....nothing more than $25 per frag....the RARE ones as well!!

Rich K.
Im on the south side of town...159th

jmcmahon66 · #7 12/04/2006, 04:59 PM

Thanks Racenrich. I got the frags today...all dead. Tissue sloughing off, bad smelling water, the whole nine. I contacted the seller, and we'll see what becomes of it. He does not have any more frags of several corals, but I am hoping he is willing to send other things to offset the difference. Thanks to all who have chimed in with helpful information as I requested. Both of you are now on my buddies list. I know this topic certainly isn't as fascinating as "which trigger should I buy", but I was hoping for more experienced reponses. Until the seller contacts me, I am out $600 thanks to a slow shipping seller and Fedex.
Thanks again.

jmcmahon66 · #8 12/04/2006, 05:17 PM

Here are some pics of my latest delivery. As some of you know, I give out really good frags at great prices. Everyone feel free to come by and get some of these babies!!!
As you can see, it was Quality Shipping... It was reboxed.

Anyone want a True Tyree Watermelon? Here is it!!! It's the brown blob, not the pink coraline.

Anyone want a micro frag?

I think this is the last straw for me. I've had enough, and I am done with this hobby.

Pufferpunk · #9 12/04/2006, 07:54 PM

Awww... don't let this sour you from the hobby! Just don't order thru the mail anymore. I decided that a while back, as I can never trust the colors of corals in pics. Generally am dissappointed. My very 1st mail-order (from another RC member) took Fedx 3 days to deliver. It got shipped to 5 different wrong places by the time it got to me. Some guy in a car w/o a uniform, wound up delivering it here. Go figure...

Have you been getting my PMs? I wanted to tell you, the RPE I got from you has a baby!

Catharsis70 · #10 12/04/2006, 08:45 PM

Airborne/DHL used to cover sor a fee but I dont think they do anymore either. Sorry this happened to ya.

jmcmahon66 · #11 12/04/2006, 10:10 PM

Thanks for the feedback. I believe the seller is refusing to do anything to right the situation. His last email stated he sent it, and it was out of his hands. But he did do several things wrong. He was supposed to ship earlier in the week... you know when the temp was 60degrees. He was too busy. His packaging was horrible. Fedex repackaged the box somewhere along the way due to the leakage. But he's got my money, and did his part.This has never been the case with previous sellers, or when I was a seller. This was my largest purchase to date, and one that I was extremely excited about. I finally had a true Tyree Watermelon coming. I have several others, but not the Tyree. It was a major dissapointment, and a major loss of money. It has really soured my attitude.

Pufferpunk · #12 12/04/2006, 10:19 PM

Isn't there somewhere on these forums where you can report a bad seller?

To finish my story of the Fedex debaucle, I'm sorry I didn't get what I had origionally ordered from her but the seller replaced everything I lost w/other items. I'm not sure if Fedex retrurned the $$$ she lost or not. I'm sorry you lost our on that Tyree. I'm sure there's another in your future!

Doubledown · #13 12/05/2006, 09:12 AM

Did you pay with paypal? Can you file something with them?

I don't know if they will help because, technically, he did send you the frags. Might be worth a shot though.

Racenrich · #14 12/05/2006, 09:26 AM

JM,
What a shame...i shipped some corals awhile back and kinda the same issue...i WAS MORE THAN WILLING to offer up new frags, free of charge ....worked out perfect on both ends....and yes it was the UPS that screwed it up, yet i feel that what goes around comes around!

you have not mentioned any particular NAME of the seller....you should post it here or in the feedback forum to stop this from happening again!!!

PS
Come on by......i'll set you up with 3 or 4 frags on the house!

Its the holidays!

Rich K.

jcm1229 · #15 12/05/2006, 10:15 AM

I'm really sorry to see that they didn't make it!

By all means do post your experience in the seller feedback section WITH PICTURES. I'd even post on the thread where they were offered!

Why can't sellers take more responsibility? When I sell my frags I always follow up with a "how's it doing" and "if you have any problems - let me know - I can get you another". I sometimes even follow up months down the road just to see how they're doing!

I've only shipped a couple of time, but it doesn't take a lot of knowledge on how to pack etc ... Had this selller shipped before?

jmcmahon66 · #16 12/05/2006, 10:34 AM

Thanks for the responses. Fedex was really the screw up and they of course take no responsibility for live packages. I have not mentioned the seller and do not feel it is appropriate. I understand that a watermelon frag is not easily replaced, but a partial/full refund would go a long way.

PSam · #17 12/05/2006, 11:08 AM

That's terrible. Understandable that there may not be extra frags of a Tyree watermelon readily available, but no good faith effort? Those pics are awful. Good luck getting at least some resolution out of it.

neyugn0w01 · #18 12/05/2006, 07:46 PM

Alright. I got the last PM from jmcmahon66. I was the person that sold him those corals. I think the story being told by Joe is incorrect and one sided. I have mention to him form the first PM after hearing about the incident that I WILL REPLACE THE MICROS, but can not replace the watermelon since it was my only frag. And about the shipping date, that had nothing to do with it. FEDEX screw up. It could happen on any given day. That is the risk you take with shipped corals. Joe was correct about the shipping date and I did PM him telling him that I was not able to ship it. I PM for a thurs-frid delivery and everything was ok. Now since the package did not arrive on time, I am at fault. One more thing. The packaging was perfect and not once have I had any complaints about the package. I am not blaming Fedex, but Joe did receive a REPACKAGE box by Fedex. I will try to resolve this but can not promise anything.

jmcmahon66 · #19 12/05/2006, 07:59 PM

Lam, I see very few items that we disagree. You did delay the coral shipment a couple days for a Friday delivery. That is risky in itself. You state the packing was perfect, but needed to be repacked by Fedex. Obviously it was leaking badly for them to do that. It is my opinion that the corals would have faired better if packed properly. As I stated earlier, it IS Fedex's fault. That does not mean you are off the hook. A good seller tries to make it right and compromise. You have failed to do that. Your few PMs to me have indicated that: "you did your part, and it was out of your hands, why should you suffer". I ask the same question, what did I do wrong to be out that much money with nothing to show for it? In addition, you offered to replace SOME of the micros. Do you really think that is enough to satisfy a buyer? Your last sentence sums up your PMs to me "you cannot promise anything." Thanks.

snookhunter · #20 12/05/2006, 09:36 PM

Who would ship something on Thursday for Friday delivery with a huge snowstorm on the horizon and 22 different States under weather advisories?

Joe, best of luck getting everything worked out.

neyugn0w01 · #21 12/06/2006, 02:06 AM

Go figure. You are right. I should have waited until summertime to ship the corals. Such a thing as heat pack.

jmcmahon66 · #22 12/06/2006, 09:50 AM

Lam, I wsih to thank you for replying to this thread. Your responses show your complete disregard for rectifying a bad transaction. I initially refused to give out your name on the off chance that this was one bad deal. Your attitude and lack of concern to fix the problem has come through in your responses and needed to be shared with the group. Thank you very much. I have privately asked for 1/2 the money to be refunded. This seems fair to me. I have not received a response publicly or privately. Merry Christmas.

PSam · #23 12/06/2006, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by neyugn0w01
Go figure. You are right. I should have waited until summertime to ship the corals. Such a thing as heat pack.

What a stand up guy. Sorry for your loss mcmahon...

jmcmahon66 · #24 12/06/2006, 11:08 AM

Thanks PSam. It kills me that this guy thinks he right. His posts on here say so much more about his attitude than my words can. By the way, I have posted in the Feedback forum, with a link to this thread.

snookhunter · #25 12/06/2006, 11:21 AM

Sure heat packs work for shipping in cold weather but they don't do much good when flights are cancelled, trucks are stuck and packages sit idle in terminals for who knows how long.

They were already announcing flight cancellations in Chicago on Thursday afternoon. At that time OK was having a blizzard, MO had interstates shut down and when it hit here Interstate 80 was shut down for 60 miles with trucks and cars stranded.

The storm carried from Texas up to Michigan, right through the middle of the country. So I'd guess no matter where you were shipping from the storm would have affected shipment. Turn on the Weather Channel or local news and you could see it plain as day.