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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Sharing a bad online experience

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13 Apr 2018 18:34 #1 by andrewo (andrew)
Hi fellow reefers, I just wanted to post this to warn others. Last week I bought corals off a crowd in Belfast, a crowd claiming to be run by hobbyists. Anyway to cut a long story short I received confirmation on Tuesday evening around 4pm saying corals have been shipped out to me via '24 hour recorded delivery'. On Wednesday around 2pm when still no sign of it I tracked the package and it said 'out for delivery'; messaged seller who said be patient. Then still no sign of it at 5pm, again informed seller who said no worries corals are bagged well easily last 30 hours so dont worry as tracking said it was out for delivery it might still arrive later. Finally at 9ish same night my neighbours brought me the box. I immedietly opened it saw that the bags were cloudy and water felt cold and corals (sps) were almost all stripped.
Took pictures and messaged seller. No response. I feared the worse but ok maybe it was late. Then next morning seller said the tracking showed parcel was delivered at 1150am. Up till when I picked up parcel system still said parcel was 'out for delivery'. Seller siad they cant refund me as it was 9 plus hours since it was dropped off and their DOA policy which might I add a little unfair states pictures must be sent within an hour of delivery. Told him I wasnt happy and it was unacceptable as it wasnt my fault corals were delivered to wrong address in first place. Also told him as a hobbyist that the cloudy bag is a bad indication that corals were already dead some time.
I have ordered sps corals for delivery few times and always had full refund no questions asked when pictures showed later in the day(some even next day). Most places allow for 24 hours. Feel very very let down as I feel this is a very unfair DOA policy- an hour after delivery. So if you were out for lunch or popped out, no refund. Styrofoam box it was in measured 12 inches by 8 inches diameter, a little small which might contribute to condition of corals too. I dont like complaining but seller has said clearly they wont be discusing this matter any more. And that they got the 'delivery on my behalf' and if anything went wrong with delivery I should deal with the delivery company, not them. I contacted delivery services who asked me for receipt number and details which I dont have. They say they will only discuss with whoever purchased and paid for the delivery services. Seller said they will send me the receipt last Friday but until today still no sign of it. This is what I get for supporting a local hobbyist. Want to kick myself for not ordering from retail shops. Prices I paid were not cheap either.
Anyway rant over, I have warned my friends and local forums which I am a part of to ensure this does not happen to anyone else. Let my case be a warning to others. Have never felt this bad/stressed out over buying corals.....as if the hobby itself is not hard enough. Usually a week later you get over something like this....:(

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13 Apr 2018 23:17 #2 by robert (robert carter)
Wow , sorry to hear this Andrew , i have never purchased anything thats live from an online company really for this reason .

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15 Apr 2018 16:15 #3 by iain54 (Iain Minchin)
grrr people like this annoy the life out of me robbing good folk of their hard earned

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