Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/27/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have been a customer at this online fish store for years, and recently whenever I place an order there seems to always be a problem. This ranges from my order being canceled because they ran out of fish, to having dead arrivals, to bring charged for fish that just don't even come in the box. On July 15th I placed an order for $331.92 and when the order arrived fish were missing again. When I called to try to get answers as to why the business had seemed to be doing so poorly lately I got excuses, rude responses, and was continuously interrupted and talked over by ******, the call center supervisor. I want to mention that the first employee I talked to, Cinnamon, was perfectly polite and as helpful as she could be. I was offered a refund, but I wanted the fish. They said that was not possible since they were all out. I believe they are routinely overselling the amount of fish they have in stock, knowingly doing so, and doing it to maximize their profits while people have to wait for refunds as their money is being held. This is bad faith in business since they are taking people's money KNOWING they won't have enough product to fulfill the order. Additionally, ******, the manager, threatened to hang up on me when I asked her if I could finish a sentence without her constantly interrupting. She accused me of yelling at her when I never even raised my voice, told me I shouldn't be a customer there, and then hung up on me. I had to call back to make sure the refund was going to be issued. Cinnamon said it was processed that day, July 19. I had to call my bank, then liveaquaria because I had received the refund even though they emailed a receipt.They said there was a technical error, but I believe this was done on purpose by the supervisor because she's vindictive. They said they will issue the refund today, but I don't trust them to do so. I want an explanation for these extremely poor business practices and accountability for the company and ******.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/28/2022

  Customer contacted us via phone on 7/19 stating she did not receive all the items she ordered. Customer was missing qty 10 of the Clown Loach Tiny, totaling $35.00 + tax. Customer was offered a replacement ********************** for the specimens that were not shipped.  However, the item was out of stock. We apologized & offered her an instore credit until the items came back into stock. At which time the customer could contact us, and the missing fish would be sent using the credit & we would not charge a box fee or shipping charge. Customer wanted us to ship a different size of the same fish at no additional charge. Due to the price difference (over $300), we told customer we would not be able to do this and offered her a refund instead. Customer continued to insist that we make this right and was transferred to a supervisor.

  
   The supervisor apologized to the customer and explained the above options. Customer went on to say that she would not have ordered if she knew that the missing items would not be sent. When dealing with live animals they can perish or not be suitable for shipment due to health concerns. The supervisor explained to the customer that we do have a 75% fulfillment policy (see document attached) and that we did fulfill that obligation. Customer continued to insult us and was not respectful in her tone or manner. At this time the supervisor did explain to the customer that we would refund her for the missing items and the other fish she did receive, totaling $114.95. Customer was still insisting that we send her the other fish which would have been a price difference of over $300.00. At this time the supervisor made the decision to explain to the customer if she is not happy with our policies, we recommend that she not order from in the future. We did everything we could to try to satisfy the customer, but she was being unreasonable.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/28/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  [Please type your response here.] I repeatedly stated that I was not asking for the more expensive fish (over 3 times in the call)  I asked if they could send different ones and they informed me that the ones they had were a much higher price so I said nevermind. However the supervisor kept hammering on this point no matter how many times i said that wasn't what I was asking for.  Additionally, I called yesterday about my refund, was told they were processing it again and I would get an email shortly with a confirmation number and the refund should be in my account within 24 hours.  I never got an email with a confirmation number, the money still isn't in my bank account, so now I have to open a claim with my bank to get money back that they said they refunded.

   

  Livestock may die, but they should have known the fish weren't included when they shipped it, but they charged me for them anyway knowing they weren't included if they were truly out of stock from deaths. Additionally, I doubt I'm the only person this happened to, if you have so many fish die that you can't fill multiple orders (or even 10 fish for one order) you're doing something wrong. You're either overselling or having massive amount of death which means the fish are highly diseased.

  The fact that ****** is still trying to say that I kept demanding fish what were 10x the cost of the originals is an outright lie. So I will state it AGAIN, when she said "well the ones we have are $35 each instead of the $3.50 for the smaller ones and were not going to give you $300 with of fish when you spend $35 for them." To which I said REPEATEDLY "that's not what I'm asking for."

  This hyperfocusing on one fact, blowing it out of proportion, and refusing to hear me keep saying "that's not what I want" says volumes about liveaquaria's customer service. It's obvious they're trying to make me sound unreasonable so they can look better, and going so far as to lie to do it. 

  So again,  where is my refund and my email with a confirmation number saying is been done like I was told I would receive "shortly" after my phone call to liveaquaria yesterday. 

  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************************

  Business Response

  Date: 07/29/2022

  Refund has been issued on 7/19/2022. See attachment.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/04/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  

  Firstly, I would like to state that this company, or at a minimum, one of its representatives has absolutely no problem telling actual falsehoods, i.e. actual lies in order to trash their customers. After seeing that they literally lied to state that I Insulted them (Its cute how they gave a vague statement that I insulted them without being able to state specificsbecause it didnt happen).

  Secondly, this absolutely tracks with their F BBB rating,which I think tends to side with my experience of the company, rather than their statements of what happened. You dont get an F rating from the BBB for no reason. In fact, there are full blown debt collectors (whom nobody loves) that have a higher rating than this business.

  Thirdly, the extent to which this company will go to try to make themselves look good is amazing. What ****** has failed to mention is that I told them that I am hard of hearing due to my previous work at a sawmill and that my voice may appear loud when I dont intend it to. However, the second I may have inadvertently spoken a little loudly she accused me of yelling and hung up on me. She is dishonest and obviously doesnt care about accommodating even minor disabilities if shes decided shes having a bad day.

  Thirdly, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, they are violating actual statutes with their behavior. They acted like they were going out of their way when they were barely doing what the law requires. Here is the relevant section:

  Section **************************************************** the form of overselling and overbooking. Overselling or overbooking is the sale of goods or services in excess of a suppliers actual supply. This is common practice in the airline and hotel industry, to allow for seats or rooms to still be filled,in the event of consumers being unable to make a flight or check in to hotel rooms.

  Section ****************************************************************** services unless the supplier has a reasonable basis for believing that he or she will be able to supply those goods or provide those services. The supplier may not supply goods or services that are materially different from the goods or services paid for. A supplier must honor a commitment to supply goods or services on a specified date or at a specified time.[1]

  If the supplier fails to provide goods or services or comparable goods or services, due to insufficient stock or capability to supply those goods or services, the supplier must refund to the consumer the amount paid. This amount will have to be paid, with interest and the supplier will have to compensate the consumer for costs directly incidental to the suppliers breach of contract.

  There is however a defense or remedy for suppliers. If the shortage of stock/services is due to circumstances beyond the supplies control and the supplier took reasonable steps to inform the consumer of the shortage of stock or capacity, as soon as it was practicable to do so in the circumstances, the supplier is liable only to refund (with interest) the consumer but not to compensate the consumer for directly incidental costs.

   

  The excuse they use  for this is that this is standard in the industry. I can attest from personal experience ordering aquatic life from over 20 individuals on ***** and over a dozen companies (Aquatic arts, for instance. Incidentally,they have an A+ BBB rating, so this obviously isnt standard in the industry).LiveAquaria is the ONLY one that has ever cancelled a first time order (not a replacement due to deaths) because well after you order they are out of stock,or sent the wrong fish entirely.

  I can guess they are going to state that they took the reasonable stepssuggested in section 47 to inform me because the trend seems to be to make excuses for their behavior. However, I would contend that charging me for the fish, sending me an email stating that they were shipped, and them being included on the packing slip in the box that arrived with other fish, but not the clown loaches, then me having to call about the problem, is not taking a reasonable step to inform me.

  I have already reported this behavior to the proper governing agency in ********* and will shortly do so in ********** as well.

  I hope that being rude and lying about what happened, rather than just answering polite questions about why this kept happening, was worth it. Had ****** simply said You know what, we could, and should, do better, I would have been perfectly satisfied with their response and would still be a customer. However,what I got was This is normal, our ********* facility doesnt know what the ********** one is doing so there will be mess *** and thats fine, accept it, and if you dont you probably shouldnt order from us.

  This company should really look into this employee because they cannot behave appropriately or provide even a modicum of professional customer service. I doubt they know how she is treating their customers. I will close this matter when I can confirm on my bank statement that the refund has gone through. I will not respond to or read any further communications unless I cannot confirm that the refund was received.

   

   

  
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************************

  Business Response

  Date: 08/05/2022

  The supervisor was never informed by that the customer had any disability either by the previous agent or the customer themselves. We did the best we could to try to assist the customer offering a full refund.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/14/2022

  Type:Delivery Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased an Arrow Crab as part of a large order from Liveaquaria (Order A4126699, screenshot attached). It died a few days after arrival. Their website advertises a 7-day guarantee (screenshot attached). As you can see, it does not specify anywhere in this guarantee that you would only be allowed a store credit and not allowed a refund. When I filed a claim, they only offered me a store credit and have stopped responding when I pressed them for a refund instead. The reason I do not want a store credit is that they would charge more than 3x the cost of the crab in shipping/fees (screenshot attached) if I try to get a replacement from them. Considering their misleading advertisement, I believe I am entitled to a refund if I so choose. I would also be happy to place the order for the replacement crab if they agreed to waive the exorbitant shipping cost.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/15/2022

  We do state under our Returns Policy  "Once the details in the claim form are reviewed, you will be issued a store credit for your loss. Store credit expires one year after date of issue." Please see attached screenshot from out website. Customer was given a refund as a 1 time courtesy since there were not aware of our policy.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/21/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  i have not received the refund they mentioned. if i do receive it - maybe it just hasnt reached credit card yet - then i will accept their response to resolve complaint
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************

  Business Response

  Date: 07/22/2022

  Customer's original method of payment was issued a refund of $18.05 for the cost of the Arrow Crab as a one time courtesy. Customer was informed on 7/13/2022 that a refund would be issued but made aware of our return policy.