"This is for the Canadian website. On Wed Jan 26, 2022, I ordered 4 bags of sand from Big Al's that I needed for an upcoming aquarium the following week. By Friday it had not yet shipped, so I called their customer service line to inquire about my order. The man who answered was very clipped with his answers and not very friendly. He informed me they had what I ordered in stock, and it should ship either that day or within the next couple days. By Sunday it still hadn't shipped, so I ordered the same thing from another online retailer (who, by the way, was selling the exact same product for almost 50% cheaper!). That order shipped on Monday. On Thurs Feb 3, 2022, I got an email that I had been refunded in full by Big Al's. On my account it said the order was 'closed'. No other communication from them whatsoever. Nothing to tell me what exactly had happened with my order. Guess they just didn't want my service. I posted this review almost word for word on their website to warn other people and within minutes it was deleted. DO NOT believe their 5 star rating! They only have that because they delete all other reviews. Would not recommend ordering online from them."
"Ordered and invoiced for 5 bags of sand listed in stock on Sunday with 1-2 day delivery. No communication at all and Friday I called because it still was not shipped and the woman said it was "out of stock" and they were supposed to get more that week but it never came in. She said she could refund the order or I could wait, and had no clue when it would come back in stock. No apology offered. I opted to wait and today (Tuesday) I received a refund to my paypal. Again, no communication whatsoever. And guess what? The sand is listed as "In stock" on their website again. Looks like they don't track how much inventory they have and don't communicate at all, nor offer any level of customer service beyond "we can cancel your order"."
"I went to the one in Newmarket
I bought gouramis and I was told if they dont get along with my betas bring them back, so my beta didnt get along with them so I moved them into another tank and they just stayed still for a whole day and a half, they seemed defected so I brought them back to exchange for different ones, the manager came out and said yr not getting new fish theres yr money back and totally disappointed my daughter. These ppl are rude their mean and they dont stand by their word. I will never buy from them again. If u go there make sure u keep track of yr points cuz they dont, they dont honour their word with anything. "
"I placed an order online Mar 4 2021. I received delivery Sat, Mar 13. Shipment was missing 3 of the 8 items I'd paid for ($31.97 worth of merch. missing). I called that day, they're closed on weekdays. I called again Mon, Mar 15, they agreed to send the missing items.
Both times I had to contact the company some days later to get them to send a confirmation email. Today is Mon, Mar 22, and I'm still stuck at home waiting for FedEx to send the missing items. I've tracked the second package since Thur, Mar 18 and initially FedEx said they'd delivery it Sat. Mar. 20, then they changed the date on me. Whether the company got it right this time I don't know. Time will tell. I've yet to receive all of my order 18 since having placed the order. Do not place an online order with this company. This isn't how you do people. What a mistake."
"in store, they're pretty alright! some employees clearly don't want to be there, and the fish aren't always looking too good, but otherwise good.
online? never again.
i ordered 3 sponge filters, along with a couple of other things to get the free shipping ($30 just for the filters) and i'll admit, the shipping was fast and everything else i didn't really care about was in there.
except for the filters, instead, there were 3 cheap little sponges they obviously took out of something else
i'm still waiting for either a replacement or a refund but so far nothing is coming of it."
"After 7 days was sent a email that I received my full order of $437 in goods . Its was a partial shipment. The main shipment was never shipped. Wasnt offered a discount or points or anything. This was my 1st experience."
"Placed a pretty hefty order, over their $75 free shipping requirement. Everything went smooth until I received the package. it had all but 2 items (missing an air pump and some bedding), and I immediately reached out. I spoke with Nick, who was very helpful at first and immediately promised a replacement package. but then that package arrived with only 1 item, which was a duplicate of what I already had!! Nick again sent me another package, this time with the air pump, but only that! both times packing the items in a box 20 times its size (no joke or exaggeration I have pictures). Finally he simply refunded me for the item, but HE REFUNDED ME FOR THE WRONG ITEM THAT HE ALREADY SENT ME A DUPLICATE OF. Beyond a headache this is a joke. Good luck if you order, the product itself is great, but everything else becomes a nightmare."
"I ordered a few items online and even though they charged me for everything I only received 1 item in my package.
It was a week between ordering and receiving my package which was fine and i spoke with a rep and they said they would have my items shipped that were missing.
After I got off the phone i received an e-mail saying the main item of my whole order was out of stock, I did receive a refund however.
Then a week has gone by and the rest of my order has still yet to ship - I figured they would have at least tried to get it out to me in a timely manner since i have already been delayed.
I sent an e-mail to their support team and called again and was told they would contact the warehouse and reach back out to me via phone or e-mail.
I never heard back and my first ticket has yet to be responded too.
I am currently still in the fight with these people and I know i will likely never buy anything from them again.
If you are willing to give interest free loans out to corporations then go ahead and order online with these guys."
"I ordered eleven items and only received one of them in a big box and have not been able to get through to their customer service or email lines to fix the problem. They also charged me twice when I first paid, but I contacted customer service and they fixed it pretty quickly."
"I ordered some product from Big Al's and received an order confirmation. About 5 days went by and I hadn't heard anything else. I called them up and two of the items were on backorder and not expected for a month. They didn't even both sending an e-mail stating the item was on backorder. Were they just planning on waiting it out? They cancelled the backordered items and promised to get the in-stock items that day. Four days later, I still have not received a shipping confirmation. Yesterday, I tried calling them all day long and I sent them two e-mails. Their phone systems seem to be "down" and I have not gotten a reply via e-mail. I am in a dilemma because I needed these items prior to a trip I am taking so my animals will be OK while I am gone. I may be forced to order the same items elsewhere in order to get them on time- not to mention I will have to pay overnight shipping- because I still have no idea if my items shipped from Big Al's yet and their phone systems still aren't working. Total crap!"
"Wanted to just share my latest experience with them and hope none else has to go through the same thing. Wanted to pick up a Eheim 1000 on sale on their website for $28.99. Showed no stock so I signed up for email stock notification. Jan. 7th after I received an email from them stating the the item (Eheim pump 1000) was back in stock, I placed the order 30min. after I got the email. I added various other smaller items to qualify for the free shipping. Jan. 11th they refunded the amount for Eheim pump 1000 even though their website showed they had in stock. I emailed them for clarification on Jan 11th after the refund and again Jan 15th and still no reply to my inquiry. Even though their system said the inquiry was assigned to the manager named Travis. The rest of the order still showed as not shipped and processing 8 days after order placed with no response to my email. Jan. 17, I requested cancellation of order and refund. Again their system sent a email saying they received my request. No response. Jan. 18th receive tracking # without the Eheim 1000 but still no replies to my email. Then I see the shipment was not actually picked up till Jan 24th. Still not a word from them despite a pretty nasty last email from me. Paypal case opened, not expecting much but who knows. Did some more digging online and seems this is common practice for them. They display crazy deals on items with no intention of fulfilling the orders. The same situation happened to an order I placed with them 2 weeks prior with a heater, but I didn't think much of it. They are shady...buyer beware! Hopefully no one gets the same trap."
"Placed an order for two different fish meds, both indicated as being in stock, received notice that they had shipped five days later. In fact, they only created the shipping label, the package did not ship until two days later. When I contacted support through email about the items still being in their warehouse, I received an autogenerated response indicating they would look into it. Three days later I am still waiting to get an actual response and the items have not arrived, although UPS indicates they now have possession of the order and it will arrive the middle of next week, 18 days after it was ordered. Darn good thing I was purchasing the medicine to keep on hand and not treat an existing infection."
"On a Friday, I placed an order from Josh's Frogs, but they were missing a small part that I needed to complete install of my order. I found the part, for $1 more each on Big Al's. I ordered the two, $6 parts, and added another $70 worth to my order, to qualify for free shipping. My Josh's Frogs order was also free shipping.
By Saturday, I had a shipment notification from Josh's Frogs. On Monday,my Josh's Frogs order was delivered. At that point, I had no communication from Big Al's. I contacted their help desk, because part of my order was live feeder insects, and I needed to make sure someone was present to collect the order at the time of delivery. I was told the best place to find my order eta, was the shipping email. I received the shipping email later that day. It said my items would be delivered that Friday (7 days after the order was placed, and 4 days after my Josh's Frogs order). Fine, they don't have to be as fast.
Well, Tuesday, the crickets showed up, separately, and with no notice. It was 500 for $34.99, which is pricey, but I knew that. The box showed up unannounced, on a day when I wasn't available to pick them up. There was no potato, or any other source of moisture for the crickets, but they were all alive! All of them! When I got home, I dumped them into a clean tote, and I just could not believe there were 500. It didn't even look close. So, I shook them all out into an even layer, and took a photo. I painstakingly counted the crickets in the photo. With a margin of error of 50 crickets, I had at MOST 300. That's a BIG difference.
The rest of the order should have come in Friday, but was rescheduled for Monday, and finally arrived on Tuesday. The order was complete and packed well.
I just can't fathom why when I specifically asked about my live shipment, I wouldn't be told that it would be coming separately. I was also severely cheated. I haven't bothered to contact them. I just won't ever use them again. Wish I had checked reviews first and/or just ordered my $12 worth of parts. I could have waited for JF's to get them in stock and ship them out, and they would have arrived faster than Big Al's.
I feel like I ordered from an overseas company that I just shouldn't trust, unless an item is ridiculously inexpensive.
Oh well. Lesson learned."
"They accepted my payment for an item, then 3 days later sent an email saying it was refunded with no explanation of why. I had to call to find out the item was out of stock when they charged me. Could take a week for my refund to show. EXTREMELY inconvenient. "
"shipping was going to be $74.00 that's crazy I would never shop here"