Rae H.
1/5
In this review I will list the pros and cons I had experienced with this company.
Let me start off by saying I unfortunately had to ship my gecko in February.
What went well:
I received clear and easy to follow instructions on how to ship my little guy
In my shipment, I did get everything I needed.
Truthfully, I was not knowledgable enough to do this on my own. I needed help.
What did not go well:
I stated a few times that my gecko had to be shipped on a specific date. I was moving, and this was the only date that worked around my schedule. My gecko's journey started in a snowy Vancouver, and if you know anything about a snowy Vancouver, you know it slows down the whole city. It wasn't snowing the day of the pick up, but it had snowed recently. The FedEx driver decided they were not coming, but I was not aware of this. I had zero access to this information. I had received was the tracking number with the packing instructions. This is only good once the pickup happens. I called FedEx at one point to see if the driver was coming. They couldn't tell me anything without the confirmation number. This number was not provided to me, and thus, I made the assumption that it was being monitored by Reptile Express (R.E.) (spoiler alert, it was not). Side note, I was not aware until much later (the day before everything was to happen) that drop offs and pick ups at the FedEx depots were a possibility. Had I known this was the only way to guarantee that he would have left the day I needed him to, I would have happily dropped him off myself. I trusted the leading of R.E. as that is what I was paying them for. The pick up was to happen between 2-6pm. At 5:55pm I emailed R.E to express concern. I then had to call them (I gave them 25 minutes to respond) to actually inform them that the pick up did not happen. There was genuine shock, which tells me that R.E was unaware that FedEx decided to fore go the pick up. I was on the phone when they looked up the FedEx info online, and that is when they saw an exception had been made. I was promised a few things during this portion of the conversation. The FedEx portion as a refund was the biggest promise made to me. I was told that once I picked up my gecko, that we would make arrangements for the refund. I was told that "this never happens" over and over. R.E called FedEx, and then called me back. I was told what I had anticipated, the driver was for sure not coming. I was also told at that point in the day it was too late for me to do a depot drop off. Then I was asked when my flight to Toronto was scheduled for (that night, as I was in theory meeting my gecko in Toronto the next day). So now I am scrambling. No apologies were made. I was asked to give my gecko to a friend, which I did not have anyone to help me. So I had to do it myself.
Long story short, I dropped the gecko off at the depot the next day. I had to rearrange everything because the ball was dropped. I am now out an additional $150+ because of this mishap. I had to put a friend out to host me when both of our scheds didn't allow it. The heat pack was coolish by the time I get my gecko (it was activated for 48 hours ish by the time I got him). I did not get my refund. I had to instigate that convo too.
Nothing was done to make this right.
When I had tried to address R.E./give R.E. feedback, I stated how things went from my end, in a similar tone to this note. It was direct and informing him on what would have helped me/what I expected from his services. If I was more informed of choices, had the confirmation number.. etc I also assumed it could be beneficial for him to learn for the next time. He was upset at me for being upset when the initial pick up fell thru. I didn't swear at him or anything like that.. so I don't fully get what he was surprised about. I was upset because he knew this had to happen. I was just told, "I am not going back and forth on this any more." Then there was an abrupt end to our conversation. This all could have been prevented. no accountability was made.
