drsfostersmith slowest shipping

[smith66]

I ordered 10 buckets of reefcrystals salt from them. It was a "bad known batch" of salt. My magnesium tested at 950 NOT 1300ppm like natural sea water. I was very bummed by their response back to me.

[BigAl07]

Really? What WAS their response?

I had the same problem with them over the same thing and they readily replaced it after I spoke with them in-depth on the phone and we went over all of my test procedures, test results and answered some questions. It was SLOW getting here but it came and was at no cost to me.

[faust]

i've had very good luck with them and their cust service. i do shop rs suppliers but on salt their hard to beat when you add shipping. the longest its taken for an order to get to me is 4 days

[new reefer 03]

i orderred 40 lbs of LS it was a total of $40 and got to me in 3 days, maybe thats just luck = )

[smith66]

Originally Posted by BigAl07

Really? What WAS their response?

I had the same problem with them over the same thing and they readily replaced it after I spoke with them in-depth on the phone and we went over all of my test procedures, test results and answered some questions. It was SLOW getting here but it came and was at no cost to me.

I did not know there was a problem with the salt and used all 10 buckets. Their response is since I used the salt i have "no proof" it was due to bad salt. My magnesium is testing at 950ppm. They say their are "may factors including human error" why the test is so low. They said they will send me "one big bottle" of tech M to help me, but for my almost 600 gallons of tank volume i need 3 GALLONS not one big bottle !!!
We are still "discussing it", but I have spent hours on the phone already ! GRR

[BigAl07]

I hate to hear that. I was fortunate enough to catch mine early one with only about 1/4th of the bucket used.

Good luck.

Allen

[BigJay]

Originally Posted by new reefer 03

i orderred 40 lbs of LS it was a total of $40 and got to me in 3 days, maybe thats just luck = )

the heavy items aren't a problem apparently. But there is a problem right now with items not leaving the warehouse for 48-72 hours instead of the 24 hours. Heavy items stay on a fedex truck lighter items get switched to USPS smartpaq which is basically fedex trucks it to a location and USPS takes it from there and that can easily ad 2-4 days to transit time.

so 3 days to leave warehouse. 2 days for fedex ground to get to USPS sortation center. 2-4 days for USPS ground to deliver. 7-11 days. Thats just not acceptable in my book.

[BN251]

ah i was going to order a MH pendant from them but now im a little iffy about it...

[BigAl07]

BN251 have you checked with our sponsors? Several of them offer an RS discount in addition to supporting us here on RS! That's like a Win-Win situation.

[twtex]

I've recieved great service from the Dr's. Only problem I ever had was with several busted Aquapod 24's. And that was not their fault. They were gracious and relatively prompt with the refund after we finally gave up on FedEx ever getting one here in one piece. btw, I heard somewhere, to compensate for the high price of jet fuel and diesel, FedEx now uses a system of catapults to move most of its freight.

[BigAl07]

Originally Posted by twtex

....btw, I heard somewhere, to compensate for the high price of jet fuel and diesel, FedEx now uses a system of catapults to move most of its freight.

that explains a LOT!!!

[BigJay]

lol.

[familiar1985]

Originally Posted by new reefer 03

i orderred 40 lbs of LS it was a total of $40 and got to me in 3 days, maybe thats just luck = )

You got lucky! I ordered 40lbs of live sand from them and i got it atleast 8 days after and the sand was completely dry.

My other experiences have been good. Iv ordered a lot of stuff, shipping has taken anywhere from 3 to 10 days. Their customer service is great, and they have a good return policy.

[ReefGuy69]

Ive ordered alot through Dr Foster&Smith. usually its the Salt. Like stated above you cant beat their Shipping on heavy items like that. And usually i can throw little items in here and there and the shipping is only like $5.00 per order. Theyve been great to me. Shipping usually takes bout a week. But i usually pre plan and order stuff 1 week before i need it.

[Limpits Reef]

I'll chime in on my experiences with the doctors.
I have from time to time experienced problems with them but those issues have ALWAYS been resolved 100% after I contacted BY PHONE customer service. There are too many details that can be left out when writing an email so I always choose to call.
Doctor F&S's customer service IMO is top notch. I ordered LR from them twice that had issues and both times they more than made me happy with their resolution to the problem.
Another time I found out with two orders that were slow to get here that both times they were sent USPS. After I contacted them about not being happy with the slow delivery (I'm only a 4 hour drive from their warehouse) they made a note in my file to never ship USPS. When they ship FedEx it only takes 1-2 days to get to my door.
They even gave me a $10 credit when a bucket of Red Sea salt arrived with a broken corner of the bucket. The salt in the bucket is still packed in a plastic bag so there was no loss but they gave me a credit anyway.
I also bought that bad Reef Crystals from them a couple of years ago but I contacted the manufacturer instead and received full replacement buckets (10 of them) after I sent the company a salt sample.