Comments regarding Arizona Aquatic Gardens

I wish I had researched before buying.. and LOSING over $60.! not a lot of money- but it is when you have to spend it AGAIN from a reputable company (I used Carolina Biologics next time, which are GREAT) a bag of smelly, dead fish, full of nerite (pest) snails and slimy, dead plants. I have this man's HOME address in Phoenix, AZ and his name- contact me if you want it! BBB complaints: [HYPERLINK@www.bbb.org]

This business has a BBB score of:

F!!! (Big surprise - not!)

Class action lawsuit, anyone?

This business is terrible about communication, to begin with.

I purchased 24 conch snails, among other things, and paid $63 for Express shipping. When they arrived, I could not determine if they were dead or alive. I put them in a tank by themselves with a bit of food to see if there were any signs of life. After 48 hours without ANY movement, they were beginning to stink.

I purchased 7 algae eaters which were shipped with the dead conch snails. All 7 were dead within 72 hours.

I have 5 tanks and years of experience. I'm no dummy regarding tropical fish

I'm getting no response to my many attempts to contact this business.

This was probably the worst online experience I have ever had. 80% of the fish died within a day of putting them in my tank and they looked pretty malnourished when they arrived. Not to mention, half of the order wasn't included in the shipment. When I inquired about this, i received a reply days later saying that the other half of my order was back-ordered. I only learned about this when I actually was able to get a hold of them. When I finally talked to Peter and told him that I was dissatisfied with my experience and would be leaving a negative online review if he wasn't willing to help rectify the situation, he completely freaked out and accused me of "threatening him and his family." Buyer beware; really wish I would've read all of the negative online reviews before purchasing. But in all realty, with Peter at the helm, I'm pretty sure this company won't be around in a year from now...

Let me start with this statement "Wish I had researched this company before I purchased from them!" I ordered $168.00 in plants and some snails, ($58.00 was for shipping). I was charged an additional $10.00 - $9.00 for foam insulation which was never used, and $1.00 for ice pack, they only used ice pack and newspaper in my shipment. Needless to say due to this, six plants melted. I wrote this off as stuff happens (a cost of $13.00), and told Pete this via email, but requested he add $9.00 to my account credit, I got no response. In this order there was $26.98 in plants that were out of stock, it was shown on the invoice I received that I would have an account credit. I went to my account on their website and found no account credit, nor any way to get the credit, if I decided to make another purchase. I emailed Pete asking how do I get my credit with a future purchase? I can't get them by phone. I received no response from Pete. Also, one of three snails was dead, and one had chunks out of his shell, I am surprised he made it alive. The plants that did make it are ok. I am upset that between the dead plants, the out of stock plants, and the foam insulation, I wasted about $63.00. I am not a rich person, this company should be ashamed of themselves for basically stealing from customers. NEVER AGAIN!!!

In their shipping information it states "you will receive a email from USPS letting you know your tracking number" I never received a email and my order arrived YESTERDAY and just dropped off at the office at our apartment building. They ignore all phone calls "sorry this mailbox if full" they ignore your customer questions.

My order consisted of 2 Guppie Blue Moscow Male we received ONE! @ $17.98 1 Blue Variegated Delta Pair @ $8.99 I received TWO females that ARE NOT the breed! Gold Cobra guppy pair @ $9.49 The male has his tale eaten off, female is covered in Ick! The ONE Blue Moscow male also has his tale eaten pretty much clean off and the what ever the black and red coloured guppy they choice to send is is bent in the shape of a L no tale AT ALL, fins are eaten clean off and can only swim in circles. Never ordered that one!

12 Assorted Shrimp $29.88 3 lived!
6 BlackCarbon Shrimp @ $29.94 2 arrived alive!
3 Snail @ $11.97 one survived
10 Spiny tricolor Nerite @ $19.90 5 arrived alive!
1 Orange Zebra algae eater @ $12.99 arrived alive!

Of course they REFUSE to refund me seeing that they refuse to reply to emails, and there is no other way to get a hold of them. Seeing that my package arrived YESTERDAY and I was NOT given proper notice ... I am a little more than ANGRY! Never have I seen such a pitiful display of a company and there customer service! I would be ashamed to send the quality of fish to my customers as they sent to me. I will be taking a video of the guppies they sent me and posting it all over the internet just to show the 'Quality loving hand cared for fish" your truly receive from this company!

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM! HORRIBLE RIP OFF!

Ordered medaka ricefish. Peter told me a whole store of their collection location near Tokyo. When they arrived, they were a tropical species of ricefish not the cold hardy species I ordered.

Paypal has a significantly different than describe claims process, through which he could supply the correct species, he didn't or wouldn't, I could only get my money back if I returned them express at my own expense. So now I'm out another $50 and he won't accept the package back so now the poor fish are sitting in a post office in Arizona and I have to try to get them back before I can complete my claim.

Absolutely do not do business with this company, I'm sure Peter is fine to deal with if everything goes as planned but if something is wrong, it's the customers fault.

Hopefully paypal will cancel their job with this uncooperative seller.

I ordered a Lotus Tuber from Pete Yunger of which was okay. And I ordered Lotus Basket from them also. The basket cost $15.99 and the postage was $11.02. I waited and waited for the basket, it took 2 weeks or more to come after the Lotus Tuber. Well in a few days a box came to us with a basket in it. But it wasn't the basket that I ordered. This basket maybe would have cost $2.99. So, I emailed him and asked him to refund my money and he said something to me about him not being able to help that I found the basket cheaper somewhere else. Which wasn't even the problem. I emailed him again and told him to tell PayPal the truth about the basket and he told me something about burning bridges with his company. Well, I filed a complaint with PayPal and it has taken forever for them to rule that he owes me a refund. They want me to send the cheap basket back and send them the tracking number. I told them just to cancel the dispute, it would be more trouble that it's worth to pack up cheapo basket and pay to get it sent back to that man.
But, do not buy from this jerk, I saw the reviews after I ordered from him. And, I wish that I had never gotten involved with this company. It sucks!

I really don't like posting negative reviews and comments. I REALLY LOVE being able to post positive reviews and comments. I have been a BIG fan of AZgardens for years because, though their communication has always been terrible, the stock and plants I have received from them has always been truly impressive in the best possible sense. I am afraid that the frustration of dealing with them has finally outweighed any benefit. I can't tell you how disappointed I am by this. Some of the things I have read have horrified me, and though I have not had a horrifying experience, I have finally had an experience that has tipped me over the edge in the way of ever dealing with this company again. Or should I say NEVER dealing with, or recommending to others to deal with, this company again. I ordered some very special snails for my Mother over a month ago. I did it as per the company's directions and time line. I have followed all their rules, and tried to be patient. I have called and accepted explanations and assurances. I have tried to accept a lack of communication as the price (beyond money) of doing business with this company... but enough is enough. I have been lied to and jerked around for over a month, and I am done now. I have been insulted and taken for granted as a customer, and I have no more patience or tolerance for it. I ordered the special snails for Mom on a Sunday night. I got an email that the shipping label had been printed, and of course, they got their money. I heard nothing else from them. and received nothing at all from azgardens. I waited an extra week before calling as I understand that sometimes things get backed up. I called to see what was going on, and received assurances from Pete that the snails were not ready yet, but would be shipped and received in another two weeks. Ok.. that doesn't make me happy, but you cannot wave a magic wand and make them mature faster. I could wait another two weeks. THREE weeks later... nothing. Not a call, not an email, not a delivery.
I called again. No one was answering the phone. Please understand that when I say I called, I mean I kept hitting redial on both lines for quite some time. There were more than 6 calls involved by now. I got fed up and just went ahead and filed a claim with PayPal. Then I went back to hitting redial till Peter finally answered his phone. Please understand that this was enough time for him to get the email from PayPal telling him there had been a claim filed against him. Uh huh.. k.
I was so pissed off by this point, I had to make an extreme effort not to become inappropriate in my language or manner. There was a great deal of sugar in my tone of voice. He took offense at that. Told me he doesn't respond well to condescension. Well, I don't take well to being lied to and jerked around for over a month. I hung up before I said something I would regret. Not for his sake, but for mine. I then received an email, restating that he doesn't appreciate the condescension, and that "they are just snails, not a cure for cancer".. You are absolutely right Peter. They are just snails. They are just snails that are sold elsewhere, by someone other than you, with a better reputation and better people skills. Well spotted. Namaste...

Needless to say, I replied to the email, canceling my order. I will never go back.

I placed an order with this company requesting that the fish not be shipped until I notified them I was ready. I also spoke to Peter Yunger in person and was reassured that they would hold the shipment until they heard from me. Well, that didn't happen. The fish and prawns were shipped on a Wednesday afternoon and didn't arrive at our post office until Saturday. I didn't receive notification of delivery attempt until Monday and by the time we got to the post office the fish were dead and stinking. I tried several times to get in touch with Peter by email with no response. I initiated a dispute with the credit card company I used and finally heard from Arizona Aquatic saying how sorry they were for the mix up and if I would cancel the dispute they would reship the fish. He talks a really good game when trying to sell something so I did and the next shipment went to New York...?? When I contacted Peter about that his response was "what's the big deal, it's only a few fish." I responded that it wasn't just the fish it was the $237. that I spent without any merchandise received. His text back was "if the 200 dollars was that tight, perhaps you shouldn't have put it toward fish in the 1st place. So now it all makes sense. You are obviously not a reasonable person and choose to be difficult because you have money problems..... Didn't need to be this way. Karma gets the bad people." that is a direct text quote that I still have saved on my phone. Don't do business with this company!!!

I wish I would have seen this last year before I spent $300+ and I could have posted in more detail while it was fresh in my mind.

Some of the plants were dead but most were ok. One of the bulbs was mush and melted in my hand when I took it out of the bag. 5 of 6 Kuli Loaches arrived dead in a brown scum filled bag. Most of the Nerite snails also died within 2 days.

When I complained, I was told I could not get a refund, only more merchandise. I didn't want more from this company if they're going to arrive in this condition. I continued to complain and was told by the owner that he would never sell to me again. Ummmm...don't worry. He finally gave me something like a $23 refund.

The shipping costs were outrageous but I was assured by the owner that they never have problems with their fish and plants arriving in perfect condition so I took the chance.

It's such a shame because they have so many things that you can't find anywhere else.

I have had horrible experiences with this company. I will not be giving them any more money. Is this the company that got an F from the BBB?

//www.bbb.org/tucson/business-reviews/nurseries-plants-trees-etc/arizona-aquatic-gardens-in-tucson-az-4000548

Why does their website claim they are " The Original Pioneers of the Aquatic Industry" and yet does not want anybody to visit their facilities? Could it be that they are home business?

How come there website does not have any pictures of their breeding tanks or ponds that I could see?

What kind of company asks "Please do not email us asking when your order is shipping"? I never got an email from UPS on any of my orders?

They say on their website " they work very hard in the field, in our hatchery, and shipping dept."

Wouldn't it be a great idea for this small family company to show us a video of their hatchery or shipping dept. since so many people are calling them middlemen and transhippers?

Could this be their place of business or nursery? Or are the other pics on the facebook page of nurseries that belong to other companies?

9291 N Camino De Plz, Tucson, AZ 85742-8772 - this place looks like it has a 4 or 5 car garage?

[HYPERLINK@]

Or this place? - the address on the box I received.

1561 West Moore Road, Tucson, AZ 85755

[HYPERLINK@]

THIS IS A SHIIIITTTT FAMILY COMPANY....DO NOT ORDER ANY FROM THEM....BEWARE BEWARE

I'm a fool for returning. However, I will say that the first order of just plants and shrimp was satisfactory, yet not impressive.

The second was atrocious. I received my complete order in a timely manner, a few of the shrimp and fish ordered were DOA. I called their customer service line (they have quite the audacity to claim it to be so) and spoke with whom I believe to be Peter Yunger, the owner, about getting a refund for the dead fish/shrimp.

I have never been spoken to so rudely in my life. He ridiculed me, then refused to give me a refund other than store credit (which is absurd, I'm not returning the dead fish because I changed my mind about owning a dead fish, it's a faulty product in my book).

He hung up on me several times when I demanded to speak to a manager, that was before I found out that this was a small shakedown "business" run out of his garage.

He finally ended the conversation by by saying that I had issues, and told me to "TAKE THEM OUT ON MY WIFE OR GIRLFRIEND ON MY OWN TIME". How despicable.

I later called back to let him know that I contacted the BBB, and disputed a partial charge ( the same amount he offered me in store credit, no more...which now I regret not disputing the whole thing) through my credit card company.

He replied by saying that I was stealing from his family and that I should be ashamed. He began to go on about how I should feel bad every time I look at my fish tank...but his wife quickly grabbed the phone from him and screamed "F*CK YOU" and hung up...

All in all, I will never do business with them again, and I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.

I placed an order with this company on the 12th. After receiving no contact or shipping information I called them on the 19th and was assured that my order would ship the following day and an email with the shipping information would be sent. I was also told that I had missed the previous weeks ship date by a few hours. Thursday afternoon after not receiving shipping info I tried calling to no avail and decided to try email. Friday afternoon after no response I tried their DOA line to see if I could get a response. A few hours later I received a reply saying "What is your name? I'm not psychic. I can't help anyone. Patience or understanding in this hobby is criteria. Also you may want to watch the news as its been a difficult week in Arizona. Sheesh!" I sent my name to the person and a few hours later they replied, "Your order was skipped due to it not being ready. If you chose to take the low road and cancel or do a charge back (which cost us $40) then so be it but you will have burned a bridge with my family's company and never be allowed to order from us again." I told them to do a refund from their end as I'm not trying to cost them money but after being lied to and a severe lack of communication I did not trust their word anymore. They replied, "We need customers that are better understanding anyway. Good luck finding another supplier." They sent the oder to me on the 27th after saying they would issue the refund and i had purchased from another supplier. They charged me for shipping and the package was open and left at my door. They said that i had accepted the package by letting it arrive at my door and so there was nothing i could do to get my money back now. I have filed charge backs through my credit card company and have taken screen shots of all of the text messages as proof of their shady dealings. I made the mistake of placing this order with out looking for review first and have found that they have a 94% negative feedback. I wanted to put my experience up here so that hopefully other can avoid this trouble.

I made an order for 6 (orange) rabbit snails. Only two snails made it alive. The next thing they are not even orange they were white. Those died soon after delivery. I called the owner. 'This is a useless endeavor.'
Not only did he know what my complaint was in advance. He seemed to enjoy sitting on the edge of his set to yell at me. It was like some sort of game for the guy. I listened to a few rants before just having to hang up on the guy.

DO NOT ORDER FROM AZGARDENS.COM

Not only was he not entertaining. I received the wrong dead snails. A $41.94 experience I hope you will not take with this guy.
If he had not been such a rage-aholic. I would have asked him to please send me the product I had ordered. If you only have white (ORANGE) snails, Then name them (cream with no orange snails) I'm sure people would buy them and you could at least be honest about your product. However I do think he enjoys his roll as a troll.

They order there fish and plants from other farms and work out of a garage at there home. i know this first hand. the owner is a rude inconsiderate man. He only cares about money not customers. they are the middle man and need to be checked up on from the AZ game and fish department because they should not be shipping certain fish and plants to certain states. the fish most of which are dead when they get them usually die soon there after if not during 2nd round of shipping! DO NOT BUY FROM THEM! The pics they post are fake from the internet. literally they run there shit out of a garage lined with fish tanks reminds me of a puppy mill for aquatic species. I am one of many that have worked under the table for them, yeah they don't pay employment taxs on there workers just the owner and his wife i believe. So if you buy beware.

Posted on November 28, 2012, updated November 30, 2012
Buyer Beware!!!!!

Third order with this company, first two where for plants, shipped incomplete. The last order was for fish and they forgot to to put the heat pack in and all fish arrived dead. Sent email with no response, called spoke with someone there who said he would have the owner call me and work something out- 2 weeks have passed and still no call - sent a second email 3 days ago and still not response. I wish I had used Dave's garden before I ordered from them, but after reading the reviews it's a wonder that they are still in business after 28 years. Pete is the owner and a nice guy and if he reads this you need to wake up and treat customers right. If you can't fulfill the order than call people, don't ship incomplete orders.

PLEASE BEWARE WHEN ORDERING FROM THIS COMPANY. On Nov. 1, 2012 I received what I thought would be my full order. Upon inspection, three Galaxy Rasboras were not in the box. Also, the Hoplo cat looked suspiously like a Mud cat (brown/gray, no spots). Also, one crab arrived dead in pieces, and serveral snails were dead. The dead arrivals I can chalk up to the harshness of the trip. However, when I phoned AAG to let them know of the missing 3 Rasboras, I was told that they had indeed been packed in the box which was double checked. I explained that I could not find them anywhere in the box, and perhaps a mistake by their company had been made, and couldn't they just ship the missing Rasboras to me? At this point the "gentleman" basically called me a liar (implied) and said that he had no way to prove that I did not receive the fish and I would have to pay for them again plus shipping if I wanted them!! He also insisted that my non-spotted catfish was a Hoplo, not a mud cat. Whatever it was, it was not a Hoplo. He did agree to refund the charge for the 3 Rasboras, but after reading others' testimonials about AAG, I have my doubts. It is so unfortunate that this company treats it's customers so poorly, as I was hoping to order much more from them in the future. I will never order from AAG again...plus I will thoroughly investigate any company I deal with in the future. I give them an "F".

My order was incomplete and the shipping charges where a $150 more than their shipping charts said it should have been.
When I contacted them they apologize for the mistakes and I was promised that this would be taken care of.
Nothing has been done to complete my order or refund my over charges. I have tried to contact them many times but no one will answer my E mails or phone calls.
Now after two months still nothing has been done to fix my problems.
Watch out for this company.

They sent the wrong order a week early. I spent the better part of the day researching what they sent me so I could find homes for the mostly alive fish. The golden severum had terrible ich. Many plants were in terrible shape - brown and rotting. They sent 2 gars (1 dead) to California where they are not allowed according to my LFS. They ignored my timely and informative emails and phone messages about the issue. Now, two weeks later, they're shipping the (theoretically correct) order that I requested to have cancelled long ago, which I only find out from the UPS Quantum ship notification, as they have yet to respond to me in any way. Off to the next review site to let others know.

**WARNING SCAM ALERT** **WARNING SCAM ALERT**

Arizona Aquatic Gardens runs a "BOILER ROOM" operation. I ordered over $60 worth of Water Lilly's from "Pete" and they showed up looking like hell, one died almost immediately and the other two are failing.

They have failed to respond to four(4) e-mail requests for assistance and the same for a voice message I left. NOW they REFUSE to answer either of their two phone numbers. One says their mailbox is full and the other just rings..and rings..and rings..and rings...

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE!! Go to a reputable water garden company and NOT here.

The worst. $75 order was almost all dead, plus $103 shipping. NO response on refund request for instore credit. Total rip off.

Never Again! I really though Arizona Aquatic Gardens had it together. Was I wrong. Their website and their automated emails lead you to believe their company and products are strong and healthy, not so.

I ordered the Easy Life Habitat for a 10 gallon tank plus 3 water lettuce for my small pond. After placing the order I received a call from Peter telling me he needed my credit card info again to finish the shipment billing.

So my order shows up two days later (that was good) but it was incomplete. The 3 water lettuce plants are not in the box. Of the ten items in the Easy Life Habitat, the Ambulia is DOA, the Anacharis is mostly brown and dying, the 10 tall Sagittaria were only about 1 inch tall and half were dead. Finally, the small red-spot Ozelot Sword they sent is actually a monster mother plant. Thank goodness I wasn’t planning on putting all these into a 10 gallon tank the Ozelot Sword mother plant would be at least 50% of the tank.

Now after five emails with no response and five attempted calls, either they will not pick up or you get the message that all voice mail boxes are full and not accepting any new messages, still no reply.

Also note, a $38 order will cost $32 to ship 2nd day Air. Didn’t expect that one.

Stay away from AZ Aquatic Gardens.

I have never had such a horrific Customer experience in my life. These people (Pete) have charged me for an order 4 times, they have shipped horrible quality, and on top of that they have shipped LIVE ANIMALS on 5 day standard freight. If anyone doubts this, I have the documents and pictures to back this all up. It's one thing to defraud a customer, it's another to engage in practices which endanger and kill living animals.

There is no excuse for this. I would sincerely think hard before giving these people your business and credit card number.

Holy cow. Buying from AZ Gardens was one of the worst experiences I've ever had.

I was a little suspect at first, when I saw their strange method of billing for shipping costs. I couldn't find the fish I wanted elsewhere, so I tried them.

All 5 animals showed up dead. They don't include their phone number on the shipping documents. Then I learned that they don't answer phones on Thursdays or Fridays. They don't answer emails, and their voice mailbox is full. All bad signs.

I finally got through on the phone. Pete said that fish die, and I should get over it. He offered me credit on the fish, but not the shipping. When I voiced dissatisfaction with the packaging, he turned into an angry 6 year old. (I won't share what he said.) Then he sent an email threatening lawsuits if I gave them a bad review.

I think the most telling part was in his email. He wrote, "...frankly, we are tired of dealing with nasty customers like you..."

I'lll bet they are.

Don't buy from Arizona Aquatic Gardens! They charged me $54 for 8 teeny tiny microscopic clown loaches (which all died between shipment and 48 hours). The first shipment arrived cooked in a heat pack. The replacement shipment wasn't much better, I only live across town. They won't refund my money and his response was "Get over it already. Fish die, it happens." After I complained with no response (several calls, emails, and a fax) for almost a week, he tells me I'm a negative person and go to walmart! Believe me it will be petsmart next time. So $54 later i still have an empty fish tank (my fish got ich from his and died) ........all Peter Yunger would do was credit me on my next purchase! Really?? AS IF i would give them another penny! really.......UNLIKE! FAMILY OF FISH GRIFTERS & MURDERERS!! To top it all off he tries to tell me how nice he and his family are and his 8 year old wouldn't have gotten as angry as I did. I can only hope it cost him $54 to block me from his website.

I made approximately $150/- worth of purchases from them and am fast coming to the conclusion that they are Scam Artists. (1)They send me the wrong items, despite my clear instructions " No Substitutes, Please" (2) One item was entirely missing. Yet they pocketed the payment for the entire order. (3) They will not answer emails or phone calls. I shall have to report them to Arizona department of Consumer Affairs.Any possible ways to deal with will be Highly Appreciated.

Wish I had read these reports BEFORE I sent over $50. to A-G. Product was unavailable. My credit card was processed. I cannot get through to their phone line - busy any time of day - dozens of tries. My emails are ignored. Horrible, horrible company to deal with - and crooked to boot.
Dale

i'm way guilty of researching az aquatics after placing two consecutive orders, must state my experience has been similar to many here: one order of several fish was completely missing, another order was incomplete by a few fish, many of the other fish were ok tho with my second order (i know i know) 16 of the green neons arrived doa, the other four disappeared in my tank within an hour...with their inflated shipping costs i'm chalking this company up to an unscupulous scam as per the claims on their website...i sent them two detailed emails weeks ago after each order was received, documenting what was missing, doa, etc...i've heard nothing back...i'll proceed to share my experience with this company so that those with the sense to read a site like this before ordering are at least forewarned...shame on az aquatics

Posted on December 15, 2011, updated December 24, 2011
Beyond horrible. Their shipping is expensive and my shipment came in a cardboard box with the dead fish flopping around and a heat pack thrown in. Everything was dead. They do not respond to emails. They do not answer their phone. A total rip off!

This is way beyond a small company that can't keep up. This is just wrong. I can't believe they are still in business.

You don't have to trust me....Do yourself a favor and go to the AZ Better Business Bureau (They get an "F!"):

//www.bbb.org/tucson/business-reviews/nurseries-plants-trees-etc/arizona-aquatic-gardens-in-tucson-az-4000548

Spread the word!

AVOID THIS COMPANY!

Their website states that it could take a week or so delay on shipping because of something not being in stock. It took FOUR weeks for my order and not only did I not receive one of the fish I ordered, the other I got was completely wrong! I ordered a Hillstream Loach and what they sent me was a Freshwater Flunder.

I've made multiple attempts to contact them but they never pick up their main office phone, their secondary line's voicemail box is full so you can't leave a message and they never respond to my emails.

Horrible company with horrible customer service. I'm all about supporting small, family run businesses but this is one of the few that should be driven under because of their horrible communication and customer service.

Posted on July 12, 2010, updated September 29, 2011
Avoid this company, better ones exist. I ordered some fish in May. The prices (for just the fish) were reasonable but they didn't indicate shipping cost...the order indicated this was a TBD at time of shipping. That should have been a bigger red flag for me.

Bottom line: The shipping costs were exorbitant...$80+ (for about a dozen fish)...which I had to check my credit card "hit" to find out about. The fish arrived in an old beat up cardboard box with only newspaper to protect the bags of fish. Several fish were DOA, they said they would replace...but I'd get hit with shipping costs...plus the mysterious $5 special packing fee...for crappy packaging. I decided to cut my losses with these folks and never order from them again.

FYI, I notice that they have now (late May?) gone with a "flat fee" for shipping...certainly better than the old approach but it's still high plus does not change my general negative view of this company and quality of product/service.

Can I, in ANY WAY, post a 0 star review. TERRIBLE.

My boyfriend ordered 2 ranchu (goldfish) - 1 black, 1 calico. 4 Zebra Snails and 4 Ivory Snails. The total was $54.00, (shipping included).

The order was timely... but the day the package arrived. AMEX contacted my bf about AZ Gardens trying to place a charge for an additional $101. Thank you AMEX, for stopping that transaction.

Now - the order. One of the Ivory Snail were dead. The other 7 snails, were OK.

The goldfish however - well, the black one had white grayish spots that looked like ICH, but not exactly. The Calico, we noticed didn't look too great either - turns out the had Oodinium (Velvet), which is pretty fatal apparently. (They are still alive and we are treating them, and their color is coming back.. although now scaly and white in spots).

The clincher? The Calico Ranchu .... HAS ONE EYE. No, really.. ONE EYE. One looks like it fell right out as there is a creepy, gaping orange hole where the eye should be. I can't look at the f*cking fish without getting out a lil freaked out.

After several calls and e-mails about refunding, etc.. there has been no response. AMEX is now on it investigating and trying to get the money back.

Absolutely.. ridiculously.. HORRIBLE.

Their customer service is terrible when you have problem with your order. I ordered some freshwater shrimps from Arizona Aquatic. All the shrimps (cost $130) died when I UPS delivered the package. I do understand that it's not 100% Arizona Aquatic fault. The shrimps died are due to high temperature which was caused by poor packaging and UPS delivery delayed.
I took pictures of the unopened bags of the dead shrimps and emailed to Arizona Aquatic right after I received the package from UPS. I have sent them numerous emails but have never got a respond from them.
I filed a package damage claim to UPS. Hopefully I will hear from UPS.
This is just my experience with Arizona Aquatic. Actually, this is my third or fourth orders from them. From the previous orders there were a few shrimps died when they arrived. I did not even email to claim for the lost.

I should have read the other reviews BEFORE I ordered. Half of my plants were DOA. Arizona Gardens does NOT respond to phone calls or emails. Shipping on a $35 order cost more than the order was worth. Now I'm stuck with dead plants and a visa bill of nearly $100. Live and learn!!

With AZ Gardens, the initial experience was good. My order consisted of 2 Dwarf Babytears, 3 java moss, a 3 pack of rocks and 20 Nerite Snails (god like, supposedly). HOWEVER, when I received the order everything looked ok, except for the brown look of the moss and the Nerite Snails that had a thin layer of water in the bag they were in. I placed the moss in my aquariums hoping the brown would go away but as of yet (3 weeks) the brown has not gone away and it looks dead. The Nerite snails that they "CLAIM" are basically god like and cannot die during transport, only 4 out of the 20 are alive, the others never moved from where they were placed in my aquariums and some of them didn't even have trapdoors on them when I put them in the aquarium (I thought they were small snails and the trap was way inside the shell. I emailed this company and no response. I have called during regular operating hours and the phone simply continues to ring with never any answer. I do regular water changes and weekly check my levels and everything is always good so since there are a few survivors its not my aquariums, it was the quality of the Nerites that AZ Gardens says they will never replace or refund for Nerite Snails, because "They simply will not die." I am very dissapointed in them and have sooner found out that they are rated an F in BBB

All the negative reviews are accurate, I just recently ordered 20 neon, 20 green/fire tetras, 20 blue tetras, some plants on Monday 4/4/2011, they said they shipped out Thurs but I doubt that theyre telling the truth. Friday morning I recieved the package box from UPS directly. Bags were in a box stuffed with bubble wrap and newspaper. Water was ice cold. 1 bag with 20 fire/tetras all DOA and water dirty with plant material which look like it had been decaying for days because the water was brown colored. The other bags had 8 dead blue tetras and some still dying, the bag with 20 neon alive in cold water, and plants did not look healthy. I called and spoke to Pete who said just email the number of DOA. I did and they never responded or gave me credit. I tried to call and they never answered the phone. If your lucky , you will get the fish alive because they survived bad conditions. But theyre method of doing business is unethical to say the least. Oh, did I mention I added 4 killi fishes hoping to get a pair and they sent all males. I'll take the lost and never do business with them again. I have to change my account number because they may try to charge my account again, I dont trust them.

I have purchased from This company and be warned fellow gardeners that this company az gardens does not grow or raise their own plants and aquatic life which they claim on their website.
The high rate of DOA is due to the fact that they have all thier live goods and plants tran shipped to them. They will place a huge order with their supplier who is in California. The supplier or transhipper gets in the live goods from overseas. They are then sent toAZ GARDENS. By the time AZ gardens gets the order form his transhipper in CALIFORNIA, The fish, shrimp and snails have spent at least 3 days in a bag. If you examine their packaging closely you will notice that the materials used is Not of US origin.
Their plants are purchased from Florida Aquatic Nursery. They lie about growing their own plants. They will never allow you to see thier facilities or pick it up locally!! Now you know why

I should have read the other comments before ordering from this company, so I would have known that they were hard to deal with!! I received plants that were frozen. ( I assumed that they froze when they were left outside my door, and that would be the carrier's fault, but the package did not say that it was plants, that they needed to be handled with care, that they could not freeze, or anything for the carrier to know.) The package was a beat up old cardboard box with the plants in plastic bags with a piece of newspaper covering them! Hello, they were being shipped to NY...it is the middle of winter!!! I contacted the company 4 times. I left two voice mail messages, and two e-mail messages. I also in good faith placed 2 more orders asking for a reduction in total of each one as a reimbursement. I received nothing. The reply I received was totally out of line....not sure who the guy is within the company that has been contacting me, but, wow, he is bad for this company's business....he started out by saying he did not get my messages, that "e-mail glitches are common"...after a few e-mails back and forth, he became personal..stating that, "reacting is not healthy", and that if I posted on a forum that I could land in serious legal trouble....I became sooo frustrated. Most companies will work with you, even if they don't think they are at fault to keep a customer. All I wanted was for them to reimburse me half of the cost of the plants. The e-mail that I received was totally out of line, ( he was threatening me, and chastizing me like he was my father). If I had any thought about using this company again, this person made it so there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I WOULD ORDER FROM THEM AGAIN!!!!