AH CRAP! My favorite online store has been taken over by...

[SCIronMike]

my least favorite online store. FFEXPRESS IS NO MORE!!!!

 

[Paul A. Ifkovits]

Damn! I bet that means I lost my store credit too....
_________________
American Dad! Forum

 

[King Jason]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[King Jason]

I loved their collectors corner and awesome corals sections...That really sucks!

The collectors corner has already been “generalized” into Dr. Foster and Smiths stupid pictures of fish and coral…This is truly a sad day…

 

[Anonymous]

Jeeze! They are turning into the Microsoft of fish stores.
That sucks. One less place to choose from.

 

[King Jason]

Jeeze! They are turning into the Microsoft of fish stores.
That sucks. One less place to choose from.

Exactly what I was thinking....too many horizontal mergers, and less competition to keep prices down.

 

[Anonymous]

Guess I missed my chance for a $35 blue-spotted jawfish...

 

[Anonymous]

I just emailed them today to tell them my true perc died and they gave me a credit. I assume it is still there, maybe I'll send off an email tomorrow just to make sure.

 

[anthem]

The customer facing pieces may have changed, but the supply really hasn't. FFE was essentially a front for ERI the wholesaler. Drs Foster I believe is heavily supplied by ERI anyhow. FFE was causing a lot of trouble for ERI with LFS, so it was probably in their best interests to get FFE at arms length to ERI. . .

 

[Anonymous]

What happened with FFE?

 

[danmhippo]

Oh, well, guess who's the next buy-out target for Dr. Foster? It's pretty sad that they way retail industry has evolved. It's "who's the biggest" wins.

 

[jeffsdesigns]

I just got off the phone with LA before I came here.

I too have a 52.00 credit for a coral colony that went RTA.
They told me that I need to call them tomorrow and they should have a list of people that has credit.

What sucks is...FFExpress has an Imperor Angle(Changing) that I want and LA don't have any.

Well ****...guess my best chance to get one is thru Saltwaterfish.com or Marine Depot. If I want one before the weekend.

Sad..I was keeping an eye on FFExpress for updated collector corner deals and Awesome Corals section.

Well hell.

 

[Anonymous]

They are the devil, one "doctor" for each head.

In my humble opinion. :wink:

 

[rowan]

Damn! I bet that means I lost my store credit too....

3 years ago i bought that kati and ani ro/di system for my reef from petwarehouse online. only it was too complicated for my feeble brain to figure out. both pieces, never used are still sitting in my stand, close to $300 of useless (to me) stuff.

recently i emailed dr's whatever and whatever that i still have them, unused and can i return for store credit. they said no prob, if i really have never used them (i havent). i plan to ship back soonish.

gael

 

[bradsark]

If you have not yet ordered from Foster & Smith or Liveaquaria.com I wouldn't be too concerned about it. I have purchased a number of things and they seem to do a great job.

 

[Anonymous]

Blue-spotted jawfish have always been $35, quite a nice price. Now they are $69...

 

[King Jason]

My last experience with Dr's and same one with FFExpress:

Looking for a Zebra Moray.

1. Emailed Dr's, very quick response, very nice people, BUT they wouldn't give me a yes or no answer if I could get a specimen around 12". They said I could put that in the comments section WHEN I PLACE MY ORDER and they may be able to get me what I'm looking for.

-Plus: very fast response, nice people
-Minus: no specific information about the animal I wanted (probably because they drop ship it from a facility closer to me)

2. Emailed FFExpress, not so quick response, nice people. They gave me specific information about the Zebra's they had in stock. Giving me size information also. I didn't have to place an order to get more detail on what they had in stock.

Plus: nice people, specific information about what they had in stock (not sitting in warehouses around the country)
Minus: slow response.

In a perfect world, the merger would bring the pluses together and remove the minuses. But sadly I don't see this happening.

I personally like the personal "high-touch" contact with a vender like FFExpress over less-personal "low-touch" contact with a vender like Dr's.

 

[clk2609]

so anybody that had credit with ffexpress should call drsfoster to be sure they still have that credit right? i better do that.

 

[jamesw]

Hi Folks,

I received an email from one of our sponsor Drs Foster and Smith today that I thought I'd pass along to you all. If you have any feedback for them, go ahead and post it here as I'm sure they will be happy to hear from you all. Please try to keep your feedback civil so that we can leave the thread open for others to post after you have. Here is what they sent:

Drs. Foster & Smith’s LiveAquaria.com and Flying Fish Express announced today that the two companies will combine resources to offer aquarists the best selection of high quality freshwater and marine aquatic life in the industry.

The acquisition of the Flying Fish Express business by Drs. Foster & Smith offers numerous benefits to customers of both companies, according to Dr. Race Foster, veterinarian owner of Drs. Foster & Smith, and Don Burdick, Operations Manager at Flying Fish.

“This is a very positive event for both groups of customers, and all aquarists,” Dr. Foster said. “Our current LiveAquaria.com customers will be able to take advantage of a number of features that have been very popular with Flying Fish customers, including the “What-you-see-is-what-you-get” Diver’s Den which we plan on making available very soon.

“Flying Fish customers will benefit from a broader selection of marine and freshwater fish, an easy-to-use web site, and the same high quality of aquatic life our LiveAquaria.com customers have been enjoying for years,” Dr. Foster added.
Dr. Foster also noted that they are extending the guarantee on their aquatic life to 10 days, the longest in the industry, and as a welcome to Flying Fish customers, are providing free shipping on orders of $150 or more through April 1st.

“We are excited to be a part of the Drs. Foster & Smith organization,” said Don Burdick, Operations Manager at Flying Fish. “We have been very impressed with the quality of the specimens they offer, their commitment to aquarists, and their overall management practices. Any Flying Fish customer who has not ordered from their LiveAquaria.com site will be very happy with the quality of service they will receive.”

According to Dr. Foster, Flying Fish Express will be integrated into their LiveAquaria.com business, although some of the clams and corals will be fulfilled from the Flying Fish facility. Visitors to the ffexpress.com web site will be directed to LiveAquaria.com for ordering.

“We look forward to welcoming Flying Fish customers to our web site, and assure them will do everything possible to provide them with excellent service, the highest quality aquatic life in the industry, and excellent information on individual species as well as fish and aquarium care,” Dr. Foster said.

Cheers
James

 

[SCIronMike]

I'll just have to do more of my livestock shopping at that "little" store next door to FFExpress