Custom Aquatic.com

[captexas]

I normally don't like to post negative comments about anyone or any company, but I have had a very frustrating experience with customaquatic.com.

On December 14th, I placed an order for a few simple things that all showed to be in stock. Two weeks went by before my order was finally processed and that was only after emailing them. Then they tell me that one of the test kits I ordered is now out of stock after my order had sat there for two weeks. They asked if I would like to wait for it to come in or to just ship what they have. I then asked when it would be back in stock and never got a response. Now, some 23 days after ordering I get an invoice in the mail from them, before even receiving the goods! And to make it worse, only 3 out of the 5 items I ordered are on the invoice. The 2 that are missing were the main items I placed the order for! Well tonight at around 8:30 the UPS guy shows up with a delivery from them, of course with only the 3 items.

This was the second and now the last order I have placed with them. They are the slowest company I have ever seen to process orders and to respond to customer service issues. It is a shame as they carry a large number of dry goods. From now on, I will pay another company more money just for the comfort of knowing my order will receive the attention it deserves and be handled in an acceptable amount of time.

[alexwolf]

i had the worst time getting an order placed from them as well. Very frustrating

[captexas]

To make things even worse, I just opened the box to look through the things I did get and found that a box that was supposed to contain 10 pH calibration solution packets had been opened and had "STORE USE" written in black marker on the outside of it. I opened the box and only found 1 packet! It gets better, the solution expired in 2001 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am ready to call the credit card company and refuse payment.

[captexas]

Meant to update this earlier, but here goes.

After my last, not so nice email to them, I was contacted by someone from Custom Aquatics. I got all kinds of excuses which I could care less for as that's all they were, their excuses. My main concern was getting a response and having things taken care of properly. They apologized and quickly sent out the remainder of my order at no charge. I was even given a coupon to use on a future purchase for my troubles.

The one thing that struck me as odd is they told me they do 95% of their business in person or over the phone so they are not an "E-business". If you go through the trouble and expense to set up an extensive website as they have and take orders online as part of your business, you should have the processes in place to support it. Hopefully my situation was a rarity and this doesn't happen again. They have an extensive inventory of products, much more than other online companies.