LiveHermitCrabs.com

[Rocky]

I agree Honestly I've "gotten over" the hype of alot of exotics, but indos are still on "the list" along with Es and violas
I never knew she had gotten so bad! The customer service used to be amazing (or so I've heard, I'm Canadian, hmph) People got extra crabs, it was efficent, she was friendly.. *sigh*
I'm so sorry you guys had to go through this! Thank god you finally got your crabs. They look amazing

[fluffy]

I hope She might be a little better. I'm going to order E's soon (When I get the Iso completely set up). But I'm glad you guys did get yours and they seem happy and healthy. I'm also hoping by smalls she won't give me mediums, I would rather have micros then mediums Plus I have more small shells then large.

[sugarselections]

Truthfully, I don't think she's bad at all. It took me a couple months to receive my crabs but there were reasons for that that were out of her control. Every email I sent her was responded to prompty. I asked that my crabs were shipped by a certain date to accommodate my schedule and she did as I asked. My crabs were packed with care and safety in mind. She sent me a free crab. There was a care sheet included in my package warning of the possibility of mites and giving details on how to deal with the issue.

It just seems to me that most of the problems people have been having with her lately have been blown way out of proportion. The bottom line is that she was completely willing to offer refunds to anyone throughout this whole process if you simply asked for it. You are not required to give her your business. Exotic crabs are a want, not a need. Bombarding her with emails when it's a situation she can do nothing about is probably just as frustrating to her as it is to you.

I placed my order in August and waited patiently until she sent me an email saying the crabs had arrived and were destressing. She emailed me offering a substitution or refund for my blue and I chose a refund (which I received prompty). She shipped during the week she said she would. All my crabs arrived healthy and active.

Buying a living creature online and having it shipped to you is not the same as ordering a book on Amazon. Even under the best of cirumstances it doesn't always go smoothly.

[Temeriki]

I dont think it was the delay in shipping that was frustrating people, but the lack in communication. I sent a message out wondering if I could request specific delivery dates, got a response 3 weeks later, the whole time I had to worry if the crabs were going to be shipped on a day I was working, we didnt even know there was an issue with her supplier. Honestly the delay in shipping was never the problem, it was the lack in communication. If your emails were responded to promptly you were the exception because it seems a couple of us had to wait weeks for responses to our queries. I was getting updates faster from other HCA members than we were getting from her or her website. Another problem was charging people long before shipping the crabs, you only have 90 day to dispute charges with paypal, in this day of scams you can never be too careful with anyone.

[wolfnipplechips]

Yep. It's the lack of communication that made me mad. The other stuff I can overlook (I should have seen a bad thing coming when I paid before she even had the crabs), but when she doesn't respond to my e-mail requesting a refund because it's going into winter here, but she's continuing to respond to other people, I'm going to get fluffed. I had to send her an e-mail threatening to start the refund process myself before she would respond. She may have been willing to offer me a refund, but I doubt it would have happened unless I sent that other e-mail. I'm a patient person, but I will not be ignored. I never bombarded. I sent one, waited 4 days, and then sent my ultimatum as the date was coming up where a refund could no longer be issued through paypal. I think if she would have responded to people like a normal small business person should, this thread would be a lot shorter and more pleasant.

It's very stressful buying animals online, and her unprofessional way of doing things just made it more stressful for all parties.

[parrothead]

I was making apologies for her on this thread as per HER request only to find out that she DID in fact have her own account with HCA this WHOLE time and could have made those apologies for herself and didn't. If that doesn't peeve y'all off I don't know what will Knowing that she knew the complaints against her (she was following this thread regularly without commenting) and have EVERY opportunity to comment and didn't flies all over me. I thought I was being patient and asking others to do so too only to find out she was playing us all :roll: That's crap! So yeah, I'm mad, and yeah it was wrong, and yeah she's shady, and I don't feel the least bit guilty for thinking so

[fluffy]

It is ridicules but at the same time I think she was afraid of getting bombarded by annoyed buyers. Although she should have explained right there and then of what is going on instead of standing by letting everyone else wonder why their questions aren't being answered

[sugarselections]

Wolf- Obviously I see the problem if you requested a refund and didn't get it in a timely manner. I guess it just surprises me since she was so prompt with my refund. For some reason I've always had pretty good results in dealing with LHC, unlike my experiences with other companies selling crabs which were nightmares.

It seems like everyone here is asking her to be professional yet you're taking your problems with her very personally.

FYI- It's not unusual for an online retailer to charge your card as soon as the order is placed instead of when it is shipped. I ordered a bunch of presents online last Tuesday from one of the largest retailers in the US and my card was charged within minutes but as of this morning my order still hasn't shipped. I run my own small business where a lot of my orders are online and I charge right away even though my product can take a while to ship, especially wholesale because I make product only after and order is placed.

I've emailed with the owner of LHC a few times and ordered from her several times over the years but I don't know her at all and I'm certainly not specifically trying to defend her. Maybe I'm just too logical and seeing this huge thread of complaints from some people who didn't simply cancel their order when they were unhappy with the way she was handling their business doesn't make sense to me. Maybe my expectations have just been lowered from back in the days of ordering from HCV when it was considered a "good order" when you didn't receive the wrong species or a box full of dead crabs. Maybe I'm just not willing to get worked up over a transaction where I got a bunch of healthy crabs and wasn't scammed.

[fluffy]

So dose she charge you right when you place the order or a little bit after?

[patchouliii]

The charge is immediate.

[fluffy]

okay thank you.

[JGoldnSparkleCity79]

I placed my order in mid summer and only just got my crabs last wednesday. Now i know a lot of the wait was due to the supplier... which had a holiday in their country and delayed gathering the shipment and sending it..... not including destress after the round up... the whole process of picking the order in terms of species and such.... destress once they arrive to her and completing the order... Hers is not a huge operation and i figure its run by a select few maybe family and friends... then they have to try and de mite them for a second time because the supplier was in a rush probably.... and because of all of that we're lucky we got beautiful, healthy crabs which in my case my beautiful jumbo straw had mites but no biggie i stress coat bathed her really good and salt water bathed her several more times in a three day period until they were undeniably all gone... She did give me a fairly good size medium/large straw for free which was mite free and still got treated by me for a third time once they arrived... But i think the point some of us are missing is that A LOT goes into making sure these unique, beatiful, sweet, quirky little fellas arrive safe and sound on our doorsteps with adoring owners in tow... waiting patiently.... and no matter how patient you were at the end of the day she is doing a great thing by bringing us our pets and we should try and understand that a little better. I couldnt be happier with my extra crab especially since my other straw needed a same species friend in my crabitat seeing how these are my first straws ever.... and i've only been crabbing six months. oh by the way if anyone wants to see pics of my babies and my new ones that i just recieved that are the most beautiful straws i've ever laid eyes on pictures and all.... just text me and i'll pic text them because my laptop is being a jerk. 857 five four zero nine one nine five. Thanks! Jimi

[JamesR]

I'm begging to wonder if indos modify their shells to make a head notch. One of mine came in shells that were notched that same way, but I haven't seen any do it to their new shells...so... I dunno. Maybe something for peeps to look out for when they get indos in!

Two of mine came in notched turbos. One is still being worn, but here's a picture of the other:



It could be something that occurs over generations of crabs using the same shell, each chipping away in their own time.

Edit: I went back through some discarded shells and found more evidence of such modifications.



A broken turbo with the notch. It could just be a coincidence that it broke into the standard shell-notch shape (if i may be so bold as to go ahead and assert that it's a common practice), but there are markings and uneven spaces on the notch consistent with the other notches.



There's an m-shape chipped into this one where a notch would be. This is most likely from natural wear and tear, but modification is a possibility.






This one has better evidence of modification. The view of the inside gives us a better look. You can clearly see a shallow notch in the shell where the confirmed modded shells' notches are. Perhaps in an early generation of modification?

[Nnnnnnnn]

It seems like everyone here is asking her to be professional yet you're taking your problems with her very personally.

Well, it is their personal money being spent, so I don't see how that is strange.

[wodesorel]

Two of mine came in notched turbos. One is still being worn, but here's a picture of the other:



It could be something that occurs over generations of crabs using the same shell, each chipping away in their own time.

One of my PPs did this to his tulip shell. I thought the shell was damaged, but then I realize he (or whoever had it before) must have modded it so their eyes could fit out comfortably and the legs on either side wouldn't be scraped up when walking.