Hey All, I was asked to review my recent long-distance purchase from Bruce Wright of Fish BolZ, Atlanta, GA. I got four tig catfish and three dorado catfish. This brick-and-mortar LFS has good reviews and generally positive feedback. They carry an unusual stock, I'd say of much interest to MFKers. Bruce seems like a nice, knowledgeable, easy to deal with guy on the phone and I am told in person too.
The cats were priced exceedingly competitively - $125 a tig and $65 a dorado, which is a huge plus too. So my order totaled $700. It was shipped airport to airport.
Overall, my rating would be 3.5 out of 5 stars.
The fish came in alive and have been doing ok so far in my tanks. It's been ~10 days. That's the main thing and the basis for the rating.
There were a few minor wrinkles and one that I'd call significant. The smaller problems hardly need to be discussed - asked for good photos, got one poor photo; was told dorados were 3" or larger, they were 2"; the styrofoam box was busted in pieces inside the cardbox because the styrobox was smaller than the cardbox.
Another problem that I hope is a smaller one or not a problem at all is that 2-3 tigs out of the 4 displayed an S-shaped backbone in acclimation (see first video below). 1-2 displayed it worse. I think it could have been from stress (broken styro provided little sound proofing en route) but can't be sure it is not a defect. Bruce says he doesn't know if the tigs are wild caught or raised in captivity. Neither does he know collection location. The second video below was shot yesterday and the tigs still display a hint of the S-shape to their spines but it is 90%+ gone. So I am very hopeful.
The significant shortcoming (in my view) is that the shipping was quoted at $40 but I had to pay $90 to SWA to get my fish at the airport.
I asked Bruce to repay me the difference of $50, to which he said this wasn't a quote (which I got via SMS) but a guideline for me to have in mind and that I should pursue the SWA to get my money back. I am attaching a photograph of our text exchange where the shipping cost is cited by Bruce and the SWA air bill for you to make up your mind.
I'm not upset whatsoever, nor hung up on $50. It's not a biggie but I can't exclude it from my review and remain fair.
One interesting thing Bruce does is that he insures the animals with the airlines instead of providing DOA warranty from him. If it works like he says, it'd be very smart and efficient but because no other online vendor does it like that (who I dealt with), I'm left wondering how widely applicable would this practice be. We have plenty vendors here and they can chime in. Bruce films a video of the fish being alive in front of the receiving airline personnel and a customer films the fish right upon receiving the box in front of the air cargo worker. All was fine in my case. Bruce said airline pays back double if fish are dead. He had one occurrence like that before. Says he ships a ton and very experienced.
To sum it up, I believe the LFS and Bruce must be great when dealing face to face. I probably would buy from Bruce again over the phone (unless he bans me) but would clarify everything about the fish I am buying much more thoroughly and also pay for shipping to him, not on delivery.
I will fetch the link to this thread to him, so he can defend himself if he chose to and in all fairness point out my shortcomings that he experienced in our transaction, as I am more than sure there were some. I have good will towards him, hope he doesn't harbor hard feelings either.
The cats were priced exceedingly competitively - $125 a tig and $65 a dorado, which is a huge plus too. So my order totaled $700. It was shipped airport to airport.
Overall, my rating would be 3.5 out of 5 stars.
The fish came in alive and have been doing ok so far in my tanks. It's been ~10 days. That's the main thing and the basis for the rating.
There were a few minor wrinkles and one that I'd call significant. The smaller problems hardly need to be discussed - asked for good photos, got one poor photo; was told dorados were 3" or larger, they were 2"; the styrofoam box was busted in pieces inside the cardbox because the styrobox was smaller than the cardbox.
Another problem that I hope is a smaller one or not a problem at all is that 2-3 tigs out of the 4 displayed an S-shaped backbone in acclimation (see first video below). 1-2 displayed it worse. I think it could have been from stress (broken styro provided little sound proofing en route) but can't be sure it is not a defect. Bruce says he doesn't know if the tigs are wild caught or raised in captivity. Neither does he know collection location. The second video below was shot yesterday and the tigs still display a hint of the S-shape to their spines but it is 90%+ gone. So I am very hopeful.
The significant shortcoming (in my view) is that the shipping was quoted at $40 but I had to pay $90 to SWA to get my fish at the airport.
I asked Bruce to repay me the difference of $50, to which he said this wasn't a quote (which I got via SMS) but a guideline for me to have in mind and that I should pursue the SWA to get my money back. I am attaching a photograph of our text exchange where the shipping cost is cited by Bruce and the SWA air bill for you to make up your mind.
I'm not upset whatsoever, nor hung up on $50. It's not a biggie but I can't exclude it from my review and remain fair.
One interesting thing Bruce does is that he insures the animals with the airlines instead of providing DOA warranty from him. If it works like he says, it'd be very smart and efficient but because no other online vendor does it like that (who I dealt with), I'm left wondering how widely applicable would this practice be. We have plenty vendors here and they can chime in. Bruce films a video of the fish being alive in front of the receiving airline personnel and a customer films the fish right upon receiving the box in front of the air cargo worker. All was fine in my case. Bruce said airline pays back double if fish are dead. He had one occurrence like that before. Says he ships a ton and very experienced.
To sum it up, I believe the LFS and Bruce must be great when dealing face to face. I probably would buy from Bruce again over the phone (unless he bans me) but would clarify everything about the fish I am buying much more thoroughly and also pay for shipping to him, not on delivery.
I will fetch the link to this thread to him, so he can defend himself if he chose to and in all fairness point out my shortcomings that he experienced in our transaction, as I am more than sure there were some. I have good will towards him, hope he doesn't harbor hard feelings either.
