Big Al's Online

[noteworthy]

First of all I really like their website and prices! Shipment was very prompt as well.

Anyone in the US buy from them? I ordered about 70 dollars worth of stuff which was shipped out yesterday (3-9-04). I checked their website and it says 'Delivery Date: 3-10-04 2pm' Yet there is no package at my front door.

Besides that they are based in Canada from what I understand. I live in Texas. Surely the 8 dollar freight charge wouldn't allow the package to get here in 24 hours?

I'm guessing the 'delivery date' refers to passage through the border inspection/etc. I'm not sure how educated this guess is but it seems the only logical answer to me. Anyone else seen anything like this?

[QTOFFER]

Their prices ARE very reasonable.

I have ordered from Big Als in the past - I chose the least expensive shipping option and it took about 3 days to get my order.

I read some complaints about their shipping times around the holidays, but what would you expect...

[BrianNY]

Hi noteworthy.......These guys are my preferred choice. For US customers, they ship from Niagara NY. It's 3 biz days no matter how you cut it. I like to think of it as cultivating my patience *LOL*

They are especially good if you have to return something!!!

[William]

Their shipping is horrible.


Items, for me, often arive a week or more later then the expected date.

and I'm not to happy with their business policy, either.

They do not notify you if something is out of stock, So you order something that you need alot, only to find out when you open the package that it was out of stock and never shipped, leaving you..well, The phrase wouldn't be appropriate for this site.


Personally, Their prices do not make up for their poor business practices IMHO.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=9353

Noteworthy, check out this thread in Genaral Retailers, decide for yourself. I'll stick with Drs foster & smith, myself.

Will move this thread to general reatailers tomorrow (thursday)

[puffergirl]

I have never ordered online with Big Als but often visit the store they have in Calgary. They are great for tanks and equipment but I've never liked their fish stock as everyfish I've gotten from them has been sick and passed away shortly after getting them home.

I have ordered online from petsmart and they have great shipping. You can go online and follow your shipment and keep an eye on where it is. Their prices are very good too.

[smilla4]

[quote="corvuscorax"]http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=9353

Noteworthy, check out this thread in Genaral Retailers, decide for yourself. I'll stick with Drs foster & smith, myself.
quote]

I wasn't too happy with my experience with Drs Foster Smith, it wasn't an awful experience or anything. I placed an order online and when I got my order confirmation, something was screwed up so I called customer service. They were very, very nice, but kinda ditsy. I think they have to manually enter online orders into the system, so I guess they can sometimes mistype or leave things out. My order arrived, I got an extra bottle of fertilizer I didn't order and they charged me for it. I called them up and they very kindly offered to refund me for it, but never did. They also didn't give me my $5 off for being a first time customer

I know these are small things, but still... It makes me kinda hesitant to order from them again, despite all the good things I've heard. Perhaps I should just order over the phone next time.

Tho' the order was very well packed and arrived in a decent amount of time.

I also once ordered from thatpetplace.com, I don't know how the order arrived so fast! Everything was well packed and as ordered. (I don't know how this compares to other peoples' experiences...)

[Skaff]

My girlfriend, Sati, ordered $90 worth of stuff from them a couple weeks ago. Shipment was slow as heck, she ordered from another place the same day, and Big Al's shipment took 5 days longer to get here. Also, something in the shipment leaked, and the box was soaked. It also smelled horrible, to the point of making her sick. I refused the shipment, and told Big Al's before I did so. Refund took two weeks, and they tried to keep the shipping charges. I had to call them again to make them refund that as well. While courteous, their phone support reps are pretty inept. Their email support, so I hear, is non-existent.

[grimlock3000]

I have ordered from Big Als and Drs Foster Smith a bunch of times without much of an issue. I will say that with Big Als, they do take an extra day or so to ship, but once they do, it is up to the carrier to get the package to your house I get packages faster from Big Als than Drs Foster Smith, but I like on the East Coast. Big Als is not using ultra slow shipping to tick people off, it is just standard ground delivery. And since Big Als ships from the East Coast, it can take a while to get over to the West.

I will also say that the Big Als phone reps appear to have a clue about fish, while the Drs Foster Smith reps are nice but never seemed to know much.

[William]

I get packages from California quicker than from bigals, and I figure Cali is much further away from me then Big Als.

[Phlegethon]

I wouldn't order from BigAl's again. They take too long, don't notify you if something is out of stock. I placed several orders online, the online order history was never correct or up to date. I got one shipment, missing an item that was out of stock. I called, cancelled the OOS item that was on back-order, and they then cancelled all of my other pending orders without telling me or updating my online order history. Lots of waiting in the dark with BigAl. Good prices though.

The best place I have ever ordered anything form is Arizona Aquatic Gardens.

[rossmort]

I ordered on friday morning around 3am and it came today so I don't have any complaints. The box was really beat up but I can only blame UPS for that. It was funny though since it had "Fragile" written all over it and it was all beat up.

[William]

Originally Posted by Phlegethon

I wouldn't order from BigAl's again. They take too long, don't notify you if something is out of stock. I placed several orders online, the online order history was never correct or up to date. I got one shipment, missing an item that was out of stock. I called, cancelled the OOS item that was on back-order, and they then cancelled all of my other pending orders without telling me or updating my online order history. Lots of waiting in the dark with BigAl. Good prices though.

The best place I have ever ordered anything form is Arizona Aquatic Gardens.

Exactly, and every time I order they seem to have forgotten all my account information, so I have to reregister again, and again and again.


As I said in a previous post, Good prices don't make up for &%$@ poor service.

I have called them several times, as well, and I always get someone who acts like your actually bothering him, or.. more so that he is to good to be talking to you.

The first order I placed with them, I ordered a beautiful piece of driftwood, as well as a python and a few other things.

The only thing that came was the python, and when I called and asked about the driftwood they treated me as if I was an idiot, and were very rude " Well, your items were less than 10 dollars, We don't bother to back order items that inexpensive, Try ordering again and see if your luck improves " is a sentance I have burned into my brain from their rude tech support.

[bobtrop]

I've ordered from both Big Als and Drs. Foster & Smith and have had good luck with both. Big Als may be a bit slower, but their prices are hard to beat. When Drs. F & S have specials they may beat Big Als, but not by much. By the way, I live in Illinois.

[ChileRelleno]

My wife and I order from Big Al's for almost all of our on-line purchases, we have never had a problem and their prices are almost unbeatable. Shipments usually arrive within 5 days and we have yet to have problems with order accuracy. We get notified via E-mail when our orders ship and by phone if some thing is out of stock, we've found their customer service to be on par with other on-line retailers.
We had a filter arrive with a cracked housing, it was promptly replaced.

Perhaps some of y'all have had problems or just got the bad apple in their customer service dept but we're happy as pigs in slop with Big Al's