Fragalot!

[The Grizz]

Well I must say that I have had a good experience with customer service from Fragalot just recently. I did a group order for a few of us here in Red Deer, everyone was happy with what they received, my order was a little messed up but today I received 9 more frags of Zoas & acans that where really really nice.

On a personal note in regards to CanReef. I think of this site as a great place to gain knowledge of the hobby, meet some good people and find the things we all like to have in our tanks. Wether it's a paid vendor or not I PERSONALLY think that we should be able to discuss the service form them. All the mods have a hard job to police all the threads and I take my hat off to them for the great job they do but with discussion comes conflict & it sometimes gets really rediculas with some of the things that get posted. I will be the first to admit that I sometimes have a very strong opinion & if you know me personally you know I don't sugar coat my words, I say it like it is & if you don't like it to damn bad but on here I try to keep that in check, pass on info that I have learned to other new to the hobby. I will also say that there are some people here that really should stay quite for the simple fact that they are rude & sometime really misinformed but still think there right no matter what.

Just my 2 cents worth & that is it.

[Nano]

Well said Greg.

[jjntm]

Originally Posted by The Grizz

Well I must say that I have had a good experience with customer service from Fragalot just recently. I did a group order for a few of us here in Red Deer, everyone was happy with what they received, my order was a little messed up but today I received 9 more frags of Zoas & acans that where really really nice.

On a personal note in regards to CanReef. I think of this site as a great place to gain knowledge of the hobby, meet some good people and find the things we all like to have in our tanks. Wether it's a paid vendor or not I PERSONALLY think that we should be able to discuss the service form them. All the mods have a hard job to police all the threads and I take my hat off to them for the great job they do but with discussion comes conflict & it sometimes gets really rediculas with some of the things that get posted. I will be the first to admit that I sometimes have a very strong opinion & if you know me personally you know I don't sugar coat my words, I say it like it is & if you don't like it to damn bad but on here I try to keep that in check, pass on info that I have learned to other new to the hobby. I will also say that there are some people here that really should stay quite for the simple fact that they are rude & sometime really misinformed but still think there right no matter what.

Just my 2 cents worth & that is it.

+1... I wasn't a member of canreef when things were going sideways with fragalot I guess... but I can honestly say EVERY dealing I have had with Burc have all been very pleasant. He has always responded promptly, been very easy to deal with, replaced any doa's/missing items without hassle and never charged for shipping. I am curious to hear what exactly happened with your experiences brad and shelley? did burc not resend out proper corals or issue a refund?

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by jjntm

+1... I wasn't a member of canreef when things were going sideways with fragalot I guess... but I can honestly say EVERY dealing I have had with Burc have all been very pleasant. He has always responded promptly, been very easy to deal with, replaced any doa's/missing items without hassle and never charged for shipping. I am curious to hear what exactly happened with your experiences brad and shelley? did burc not resend out proper corals or issue a refund?

problem was, it wasnt just a handful of people that had problems.....it was probably dozens of people over a few years.....

[jorjef]

Originally Posted by fishytime

problem was, it wasnt just a handful of people that had problems.....it was probably dozens of people over a few years.....

And this is where I have to throw up my arms, shake my head and yell at the screen "then who's fault was it" (not at you Fishy just the situation)

No one had a gun to their head and was made to order from him, everyone was likely seeing the bad reviews and must have thought "won't happen to me" and for this to be happening for years makes my eyes just glaze over in wonderment when I hear complaints. So where does someone lay the blame, I would say 75% to the person ordering. Every vendor has DOA'S but when Burc does it's a heinous crime. Everyone I'm sure has had a vendor or LFS say "oh well sorry" with no compensation. In my opinion to ask Canreef to fight on your behalf or to punish him is wrong. I don't know what the code of conduct is for vendors on this site but I'm pretty sure it doesn't say the vendor has to conduct their business with canreefs code of customer morals and values, I could be wrong. I hear that this site if more open to free speach and has a family feel to it but that leads to more of a personal opinion form of policing because of freindships, and that is a slippery slope.

I could go on but I haven't had any coffee yet and I'm starting to loose focus, as a matter of fact I can't remember why I even started this post..lol oh well, it took me long enough to type this so I might as well "submit reply"

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by jorjef

And this is where I have to throw up my arms, shake my head and yell at the screen "then who's fault was it" (not at you Fishy just the situation)

No one had a gun to their head and was made to order from him, everyone was likely seeing the bad reviews and must have thought "won't happen to me" and for this to be happening for years makes my eyes just glaze over in wonderment when I hear complaints. So where does someone lay the blame, I would say 75% to the person ordering. Every vendor has DOA'S but when Burc does it's a heinous crime. Everyone I'm sure has had a vendor or LFS say "oh well sorry" with no compensation. In my opinion to ask Canreef to fight on your behalf or to punish him is wrong. I don't know what the code of conduct is for vendors on this site but I'm pretty sure it doesn't say the vendor has to conduct their business with canreefs code of customer morals and values, I could be wrong. I hear that this site if more open to free speach and has a family feel to it but that leads to more of a personal opinion form of policing because of freindships, and that is a slippery slope.

I could go on but I haven't had any coffee yet and I'm starting to loose focus, as a matter of fact I can't remember why I even started this post..lol oh well, it took me long enough to type this so I might as well "submit reply"

The problem back then was that he was the guy who wouldn't send what you ordered and then refused to refund you or replace frags for you when you did not get what you originally paid for. Then if you came on here to post a complaint about it, it quickly got deleted since he was a paying sponsor. So numerous people were getting ripped off for years because no one was aware of what was really going on.

After awhile people started pm'ing each other, so then word of how much he would consistently mess things up and rip people off started to get out. But it was all behind the scenes, new members had no idea and would fall victim to his cheep prices. Wasn't until enough fed up members banded together and constantly harassed the mod's, and people started lawsuits against him that he finally was removed as a vendor and the truth came out for all to be aware of.

Even now that the truth is out there I still hear people saying "I had a good experience.....he messed up my order" all in the same breath. How is someone who constantly messes up orders a "good experience"???????? Sure it's nice that at the moment he sends replacements, but most of the replacements aren't what you ordered in the first place! If I pay someone for XYZ coral I want XYZ not XTR.

[jorjef]

Touche.... Still waiting for my coffee to kick in.

[chris121277]

I wasn't going to comment on this thread....but I decided I had add my 2 cents

I had no idea about this vendor when I ordered from him, I just happened to come across a group order thread that some people over from the island were putting together....So I went over to his site to check. So..ya allowing these threads is giving him advertising....and unsuspecting members are still going to him because of these.

I'm not going to get into all the details but I'll just say that after 2 attempts at my friends and I's order nothing was right, alive or refunded. In my opinion...if you burn me once I'll never use you again.....even if they were grade A frags for a buck each.

But hey.....if you all feel like playing Burks Lotto....give er

(just my 2 cents on the topic)

[FitoPharmer]

Originally Posted by jorjef

And this is where I have to throw up my arms, shake my head and yell at the screen "then who's fault was it" (not at you Fishy just the situation)

No one had a gun to their head and was made to order from him, everyone was likely seeing the bad reviews and must have thought "won't happen to me" and for this to be happening for years makes my eyes just glaze over in wonderment when I hear complaints. So where does someone lay the blame, I would say 75% to the person ordering. Every vendor has DOA'S but when Burc does it's a heinous crime. Everyone I'm sure has had a vendor or LFS say "oh well sorry" with no compensation. In my opinion to ask Canreef to fight on your behalf or to punish him is wrong. I don't know what the code of conduct is for vendors on this site but I'm pretty sure it doesn't say the vendor has to conduct their business with canreefs code of customer morals and values, I could be wrong. I hear that this site if more open to free speach and has a family feel to it but that leads to more of a personal opinion form of policing because of freindships, and that is a slippery slope.

I could go on but I haven't had any coffee yet and I'm starting to loose focus, as a matter of fact I can't remember why I even started this post..lol oh well, it took me long enough to type this so I might as well "submit reply"

I think there are two different point to this thread.

Is there anything wrong in people posting their great experiences with fragalot, IMO no unless it comes down to the staff wanting it removed. Since this is a private board, there is nothing you can do about that other then go to another or start your own fish forum.

The second point comes back to Brads comment about industry boycott, which I totally agree with. If someone screws many people in our hobby, repeatedly, and still has sponsorship on lesser saltwater forums where he continues the practice of deleting any posts of bad customer experiences likefishoholic said is bad for our hobby and others in the online frag industry.

Is it just me or do people have a kind of bad vendor stockholm syndrome?
If I run a frag company, and I list frags with pictures for you to buy, tell you there is replacement on all DOA's, then once a problem comes up I cut off all communication, delete your comments on my forums, and refuse to honor the agreement on my website. I would be committing what the courts consider FRAUD! Sadly the few hundred dollars you have lost out on is not worth the time and effort for most to take it to court. Thought I am a big proponent of "buyer beware", I feel little blame is left on consumer when the owner used and still uses his advertisers benefits (deleting negative posts in his forum) to hide and distort his real reputation.

And yes I do realize replacing every frag DOA or mixed up is dumb. But I am sure if Bruc offered to replace what was missing/DOA/mixed up on the next order or offer a credit people would not be seriously ****ed off.