GARF Anyone

brifirst · 05-11-2006, 09:53 AM

Has anyonelse had a disappointing experience dealing with Garf ?
I paid 150.00 for their Reef Janitor Package.

Most of the Snails did not move for a day, just laid there upsidedown.
I was told to wait a while "sometimes they take some time to get going"??

Well after 3 days of waiting I got some out and can smell they were definitly dead?

I sent the company two emails and I am waiting for thier response ?

When I ordered them I was told acclimating these guys are not a problem. "They are so tough they sit in the sun all day at low tide,they can take pretty much".
I know these things can happen, I was just hoping/expecting Garf to followup with me.

Doug1 · 05-11-2006, 10:36 AM

Sorry you have had such a bad experience with them. FOr all their "research" they sure fling bull, snails should be acclimated slowly, Hopefully they make it up to you

VWD · 05-11-2006, 10:38 AM

I have never dealt with them and have never heard of them in a negative way. But it can happen to anything that is shipped UPS, USPS or airline for that matter. You are dealing with live animals. I would give them a chance to correct the matter. Give them a call or wait for them to reply to the e-mail.

brifirst · 05-11-2006, 11:39 AM

That is exactly what I am doing. I know these things happen. All I want is some type of coorespondence from them. As I mentioned the last thing they told me was " wait a few days".
Now I have some major water changes to do. That's really why I'm upset.
Oh ya, it has nothing to do with the 150.00 for a couple of hermit Crabs.

Fly Guy · 05-11-2006, 11:44 AM

I almost bought some stuff fromt hem a while back......dont remember why i didnt, but there is a buch of cool information at their site.
I would try giving them a phone call. I would still give them the benefit of the doubt at this point, make SURE they are getting your messages before you lose faith in them.
Their acclimation advice surprises me.......A LOT!! Not that i dont somewhat agree with them.......that snails ARE pretty tough........and they CAN live through a lot. Regardless, that doesnt change the fact that there are many different variables when shipping something and they(snails) can be pretty sensitive to large ph swings. I have NEVER heard of a vendor saying that acclimation procedures are not that important though, and that they shouldnt be done by the book. strange.

Good luck because regardless of why, assuming you put them in an healthy system and followed the acclimation procedures THEY provided you..........they DO owe you some critters.

brifirst · 05-11-2006, 12:03 PM

You see I agree with you as well. I should have known better. I did acclimate them, but not as well as I (now) know they should have been.
So you see, I am not looking to put them down. I really was looking to see if anyonelse could share their experience they had with them.

Thanks

Twitterbait · 05-11-2006, 12:18 PM

From the first post in the thread you said that they sat in the tank upside down, you need to turn the snails over for them to be able to move around otherwise they will just lay there until they die of starvation. I ordered my first reef janitor package from them years ago and i still have some of those critters.

Melissa · 05-11-2006, 12:33 PM

Hmmm...I've had several sets of acclimation instructions from different vendors. Here's one:

Upon receipt of your critters allow their acclimation process to NOT to exceed 15 minutes. They are ready to be in your tank immediately. Giving them a longer acclimation process will stress them. A good process to follow is to add 1/2 to 1 cup of your tank water to to their bags and allow to float for 10- 15 minutes. Add to your tank with a net. Discard water down a drain

One vendor ships with very little water at all, so acclimation isn't much of a process. I think that a lot of times so many vendors put 100 tiny hermits in a bag together with some water and expect that to be ok. That's still 100 living things which can really foul up the water fast. The less time in that water, the better, I'd think. I really can't say anything about GARF because I haven't ordered from them....yet.

Melissa

Fly Guy · 05-11-2006, 01:19 PM

http://www.garf.org/rachel.html

http://www.garf.org/news.html

For those of you that havent heard of this place, check out both of these links. Some super neat information as well as how to build a reef for MUCH less money(and effort) than most of us are accustomed to spending.

I DO hope they take care of you brifirst.....keep us posted

brifirst · 05-11-2006, 04:36 PM

It's true about them being upside down. I did try to turn most over. there were over 50 of them as well as a bunch of empty shells that they send for new hermit homes. So I did turn many of them over, but do you think they should die and smell from first putting them in Friday night till Wed.

Anyways I was told by a very reliable vendor that there is lots of talk about them on another website . Only problem is I dont have enough posts on it to do a search, believe it or not.

I hear some odd goings on ....

Fly Guy · 05-11-2006, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brifirst

It's true about them being upside down. I did try to turn most over. there were over 50 of them as well as a bunch of empty shells that they send for new hermit homes. So I did turn many of them over, but do you think they should die and smell from first putting them in Friday night till Wed.

Definitely do the smell test...if they stink.....throw them out.....You actually want to do that with any snail you think might have died.

Its funny....i just remembered WHY i didnt buy any rock and other stuff from them a while back........THEY never got back to me on my inquiries.

brifirst · 05-11-2006, 08:39 PM

Okay guys,

Just got home and I do have an Email from GARF asking me to call them, "they do care and want to make it up".
They were out of town.
See thats really all that I wanted ......

reefBoyDc · 05-11-2006, 08:47 PM

GARF has been around for a long time. I dealt with them back in 1997 or so and was very happy to get their cyano eating hermits. When I look at their web site now, I feel like it has not changed since then. I think they have failed to evolve. Their "bullet proof" reef method is maybe a bit naive, although, I know a few people who have had success with it. As with a lot of things, it really depends on your particular setup. I think they tend to make things look easier than they are, in an attempt to get more people to join the hobby. JMO

VWD · 05-11-2006, 09:02 PM

Glad to hear they are will to work it out,