Shipping Charges
 

Just be aware that although my service was top notch when ordering and recieving my product, It's pretty much a fact they overcharge on shipping charges.
I was charged for light bulbs at which they say will split the cost at 50%. As a postmaster when I checked into what the actual cost was, it was twice the amount and i ended up paying not 50% but 100%. Only for them to say it's there computer calculations.

Poor excuse IMO.

You didn't mention what you paid, but to be fair, they need to cover some of their packing materials and labor costs, not just the shipping charges :smile:

Did you remember to put in the dimension of the package?

light bulb weights like nothing, but the dim weight is quite high.

Well for sure I get the packing materials and the personnel that have to pack and process. Given
So here is my scenario, paid $18.00. which was half price. Included $200. in insurance. Expedited, which is regular 5-10 days
As a postal guy, I thought that was kinda high being regional area, BC AB. Usually means cheaper than NS. So thought I'd check it out.
With measurments, which made the package 4.2 Kg, for light bulbs on my retail counter with Ins was $18.00. Which if I sent this package to them reverse.
Now we know all big companies who use Canadapost they give discounts, even with my retail counter at $18, thats telling me they charged me $18. for packaging and a guy to process. So I paid $18 for a box and bubble wrap.
So, i guess really buy local if you can as at the end of the day even with there markup it's probably cheaper than online sales.
At the end of the day, really check into shipping charges, we all know if it says free shipping and you see $18. charge added and then they say well thats for a guy and a box to process it really isn't free shipping is it.

How much did you spend on the bulbs ?
I'm curious to try their shopping cart to see what you saw ...

I dont have the invoice in front of me but it was approx $147. for the six bulbs give or take a buck or two. I thought buy 6 for the half price shipping. Didnt need 6 but made sence. Prices are really good.
Online pricing costs should really include all the add ons, packing material , pers to do the packing and processing now that i think of it.

J&L's business practices are above board. Jeff and co are the vendor of choice for the majority of marine hobbyists in Canada. Quite often I will compare other supplier's prices against J&L just to see if they are competitive because J&L is almost always the cheapest. Your "buyer beware" thread is probably not going to accomplish anything since most of us have ordered from J&L and have had nothing but a positive experience.

+1

I don't know how many times i've ordered from J&L nothing but great service and prices everytime.

agreed!

It is stated in thier shipping that bulbs cost more to ship with insurance and handling. Next time call for exact pricing.

Other than that j&l is my fave online store thier sales are great

Most of they vendors on here are great but bar none J&Ls has been the best

So buying online, s&h fees usually make the great online price not worh while.

Ill order from the states and in the end its cheeper than j&l.

I don't care about anything but my checkout price.

Anytime I have ordered bulbs I have paid exactly what the online invoicing said. OP, are you saying that the charges weren't seen on the online invoicing?

Never had a problem, if the charges were higher I'm sure there was a reason. Everytime I ordered bulbs, there were additional charges, but the website clearly states that.

Hello Everyone,

I thought it relevant to make a posting about shipping charges and how we handle them. Also, I wanted to say that we appreciate all of the kind words that have been shared within this thread. It's feedback like that which keeps us trying hard to continue supplying quality goods at the best prices - with excellent after sale service & support.

Our shipping policies are clearly stated, here, and we do not deviate from them.

Notes:

- We do not charge for boxes & other packing materials used - period, thus they are not rolled in to the shipping price or added after the order is confirmed etc.

- During check out, the customer confirms the shipping charges and they will not be charged more than that. In the rare case we catch a problem, or the combination of courier preference and number of shipment pieces results in a higher rate, the customer will be contacted to confirm before we ship.

- If anyone finds that a shipping charge appears high during check out, we welcome them to give us a call so we can look in to it for them. You can also simply put a special instruction on the order and we will review it and contact you.

As an online retailer we are very sensitive to the issues surrounding shipping charges and we will continue to be so.

Thank you,

Jeff
J&L Aquatics Ltd.

JL Aquatics
 

Nothing but top level service and product from JL. I have been very happy everytime I do business with them regardless if its live fish or product. Outstanding company to work with. Thanks guys.

I experienced poor customer service from JL when a new part I received was broken.

I ended up dealing directly with the supplier.
Likely will not do business with them in the future.

But others have reported great experience with them so maybe my dealings were isolated..

Who knows.

Think I will stick to my lfs

I wish J&L was my LFS.

I've dealt with J&L since they opened. I have had nothing less than 100% from them ever.

New it would be a hard sell. They seem to be well respected.
I got 4 days of zero percent. Then gave up.

ReeferFulton,

Sorry for the less than satisfactory experience you had with us. If you ever need assistance with anything, please feel free to contact me and I'll be happy to work with you.

We make every effort to get back to our customers within 12-24 hours (at the longest). If anyone has issues (of any kind) that are not being rectified by the sales/support team, I invite you to contact me directly and I will be happy to help get things fixed up.

Thanks to all for the continued support!

Jeff
J&L Aquatics Ltd.
604-444-1161
888-840-1146
jeff@jlaquatics.com

+100%

I even bought my Hamilton Belize light fixture, shipped to Calgary was cheaper than anywhere even local... Even cheaper than buying from the USA!

Carriers to have additional fees for overweight and oversized items, bulbs do fall into this area.

Been dealing with them for years, JL gets my recommendation.

This is an opinion related to ones unique experiences and not fact.
It's great that everyone has had good experiences with JL, but that is not really relevant to what this poster is saying.
They obviously have the inside track to what should constitute fair shipping charges and have calculated that JL is likely making money/margin on shipping in addition to the items themselves.

If true, very uncool and well worth knowing about.

I've been going to JL for around 10 years and have had both bad and good experiences.

I actually went into oceanic corals last week (hadnt been before) was was blown away by how much knowledge and time he had for me.
It had been a while since I had that kind of experience in an aquatics store.

To be fair, that's comparing apples to rabbits. J&L is a large store catering to a national market, Paul is a boutique shop with an exclusive clientele.

Personally, I've been dealing with J&L since they opened, and never have I had less than 100%. Although I did get that from Paul as well :)

LOL...
with one being a canreef sponsor and the other not so much.

so are you saying that JL's service is great relative to them catering to a national market and that better service should be assumed at a boutique shop?

Sponsorship is irrelevant. I like both stores, for different reasons. If J&L sucked, I'd say so regardless of their status on the board.

and yes, the level of service is relative to the scope of the business. J&L, as probably the largest national retailer, provides service at a level I would expect of a store that busy. If the staff have 5 customers each, and can manage to satisfy them all, then that's excellent. Paul, when I was there, had two customers..myself and my wife. So the level of service was more attentive. Although, having been to J&L at a slower time, I received similar service.

come on...
I'm surely not saying one store is better than the other.
In fact, when all factors including selection, hours and location are considered, I'd agree JL is hands down the best game in town...

But i do not believe JL being a sponsor is irrelevant.

Why would this site give them mod privileges (had to google spelling for that word) to control what's said about them here if canreef (and by extension, it's mods) thought this was irrelevant?

I mean come on.

It's irrelevant as far as my opinion is concerned. As part of sponsorship, each vendor gets a self managed forum. Board owner made that decision. You need to understand, that for every dollar a sponsor pays the board, I get exactly 0%. So that's how much bias I put towards my opinion of any vendor.
As far as mod privileges go, they can only soft delete. Anything soft deleted that I feel is relevant to the topic, and simply removed for the sake of preserving a self defined reputation is put back into the post. The intention of this ability is not to hide facts. In fact, we've revoked a sponsor's rights for doing just that.

And here we all thought that saying bad things about sponsors was strictly forbidden.

I have been buying from J&L for years.
Their service has always been excellent.

Well, saying bad things takes many forms :). You can be critical of a sponsor as long as there's a level of maturity involved. "I'm displeased with the service/staff/lack of free donuts" vs "store X sucks donkey balls" kinda thing. We don't allow being an ass to sponsors or members alike, but nobody has to kiss butt. Sponsors simply buy advertising space and get a forum to interact, if desired, with their customers. If they're continually bad and generating complaints, we don't renew their advertising. However, if a member is also continually bad, we ask them to leave too :razz:

I have been buying stuff from J&L since their first year. At that time there were only 2 employees, John the original owner and a tall guy with glasses who I forget his name (if anyone remembers his name let me know). Fast forward a decade later they have a much bigger store now with regularly 4-5 people in the fish room and 2-3 people at the front desk. It must be one of the biggest salt water fish store in Canada if not THE biggest in term of employee number.
However, like any big companies, there are excellent employees and and so so ones. Every company claims they have the best employee but the matter of fact is that in the marine fish industry, a knowledge employee and also helpful and customer oriented at the same time is hard to find and probably demands a higher salary as well.
All I am saying is that don't expect every employee in J&L has the same knowledge or be equally helpful. I have talked to all of the current employees and many of the past. I know they are not equal.