Despite some negative reviews I decided to chance my arm and placed an order for a number of items for an aquarium, delivered the following day without any problems and offered excellent value. Cannot fault the service.
I bought from Arkpetsonline as their advertising was everywhere, the prices were great, and I liked the idea that they personally delivered, rather than use a courier. However once the order was placed I got very little information from them, which prompted me to email them, and I got a bit scared by some of the reviews, then all of a sudden they confirmed a delivery date (Sunday morning which was great), and the personal delivery worked very well - they opened all the packaging to confirm it was all OK. It took 9 days from order to delivery - was fine with this, but a bit more information and expectation setting along the way would have been ideal.
So I've just received my 2nd order from this company in a week. I was so impressed with not only the prices on their website - what I ordered cost me 37% LESS than I could find it anywhere else, but also the superb speed of delivery. Used them for the first time when I placed an order on Sunday; it arrived Tuesday morning. After adding the bits and pieces to my tank I decided to set up another I had in the shed; ordered on Wednesday - one item was out of stock but was added to my basket and paid for ready for when it came back in stock - so imagine my surprise when the WHOLE order arrived on Friday morning. That's what I call service.
I place an order for fish food 5 week ago and still have not received it. Have tried phoning and emailing and they don't answer. Have taken my money and I don't have the goods! Now going to pursue legally.
Have tried these guys on several occassions now and they have NEVER picked up the phone - just seen other reviews and wonder if theyre even open?
Tried ringing the all this morning, emailing Jo Hammond - no response. I then found another company Pet Planet, phoned them and got through to someone, asked them if they had the Fluval Roma and cabinet in stock, they checked both items and confirmed they had 3 of rack, I asked about delivery time and they explained their position, should be here basically within 5 days. Checked their reviews and they seem very good, and they reply to the reviews if there are complaints, which is a good sign. Emailed Jo Hammond and cancelled the order - no reply, sent email from their website, still nothing 4 hours later from Jo Hammond stating that they couldn't get a driver on Sunday and apologising for that and that they plan to deliver the Aquarium tomorrow and asking for my phone number, which I have emailed her several times asking her to contact me, replied to email cancelling the order. I have also contacted my Credit Card company to open an dispute, as I don't trust them to return my money, as per other reviews.
I placed on order with Ark pets for an aquarium filter. 2 days later I realised that it was not going to be any good for my tank so I cancelled. I emailed them and received a confirmation email confirming the cancellation and informing that it was to be refunded. This was on the 27 th of February it's now the 31st of March and I've just had to contact my bank to today to file a dispute to get my money back, even though I further contacted Ark pets on the 20th of March and asked why it was taking so long? and was told it had been chased up with accounts, and I would be contacted in the next couple of days to confirm the refund. This did not happen. In my opinion they are either chancing their arm that people will not check the bank for the refund. Or they really are that poorly organised they cannot perform a simple refund. Looking at the other reviews this seems to be a common practice for them so either way they are untrustworthy and I will not be using them again.
My son ordered a fish tank cabinet with his Christmas money and the money was quickly removed from our bank account on 20th Jan 2014 even though an email sent by them stated that the item was out of stock ... He cancelled the order in February after waiting many weeks and received an email acknowledging this cancellation and saying that they would refund his money...Guess what! No refund, No replies to several further emails sent to them and we cannot contact them by telephone; they just do not answer. I think that this company is fraudulent and I will now try and pursue them through the legal channels. DO NOT THINK TO USE THEM AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS... DON'T END UP OUT OF POCKET
paid £340 for a fish tank,,,,not delivered 10 days later,,,,cant contact them or should I say,,there not answering.....if your reading this and on twitter or facebook,,GET IT POSTED TO WARN OTHERS.......THIS COMPANY HAS TO BE STOPPED.
Bought a very large tank from them - they refused to deliver after 1 month because they had no other deliveries in my area, then ignored all my emails and I only got my refund on the very last day of the allowable period after final notice of court proceedings.. Such an awful company! AVOID.
ARK PETS TAKE YOUR MONEY AND DO NOTHING , CREDIT CARD COMPANY TO HANDLE
Ordered tank and stand from these "people", following day received an update advising order for goods in stock was pending! Waited a couple of days but no change or update. Tried phoning both numbers but a waste of time as the line is the same single line, it rings for ages before its picked up and IMMEDIATELY put down to cut you off. Tried for several days, email went unanswered, finally referred them to credit card company as I had no confidence the good would arrive. I email advising the action I was taking which did get a response "sorry we are short staffed and busy, if you want to cancel we can arrange a refund", accepted their offer but still awaiting refund and case via credit card company continues.
i ordered from these guys on the 18th feb (before reading any reviews) after 3 days i got an email saying my order was pending which i thought it really should have been sent by then anyway. i then decided to read the reviews written by others........i was immediately worried. id only spent 36 quid but 36 quid is 36 quid. i tried to get in touch with ark pets via telephone only to find each time there was never any answer, the phone would just ring and ring forever. then id try 10mins later for them to be engaged.....i waited for a free line and again, it just rang and rang. i did this numerous times during my breaks at work. I decided to send an email which bounced back to me, i tried again and it was stuck on "sending" i was going to go to my bank this weekend (today being the 28th feb) and try and get a refund from them that way as i stupidly paid via debit card. however last night i got an email from them confirming my item had been sent. i got home from work today to find my item waiting for me. Bottom line is this.......the customer service and i dare say any after care support is/probably will be non existent, you simply cannot get hold of these guys! however my item DID arrive albeit 10days after i placed my order. i dont think this company is fraudulent but just very very poorly staffed who have no idea or care about whether or not people get their items or not. people on here are complaining they never got their goods. mine came standard royal mail.....didnt need signing for or anything...which means anything could have happened to it.
I placed an order with this company on 8 February for a canopy light and bulb for my terrarium. I rang them on 12 February to ask where my order was only to be told that it wasn't in stock and they had no idea when it would be in. The person on the phone obviously hasn't been on any custmer service course, as he was really rude and couldn't care less I cancelled my order the same night, and had an email back saying they would refund me. To date, no refund received and no response to emails. Some emails are failing to be delivered; they obviously don't like to answer the phone on any day after 16.00. I have contacted my bank to do a charge back, as I have evidence that they will refund me, but obviously aren't going to. Tempting to contact Trading Standards as they are happy to take your money, just not give it back when they can't fulfil the order. My advice to anyone wanting to use this website PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION!!!!!! You could be out of pocket for some time by an obviously fraudulent company.
DO NOT USE THIS SITE I placed an order. Status showed "Pending". I have now tried both phone numbers, they are not answered. I have sent email to their stated contact email address [email protected]. It bounced! Now I have to get my money back... update - Suddenly my order arrived, 8 days from order. Not bad. If only the communication was better. Upgrading from 1 star to 2.
If you want your product and want to effectively spend your money. Do not use this site. Do not ignore the bad reviews as you will quickly regret the decision as I have. It has been almost 3 months since and no refund. Completely unacceptable.
Sent me four tubes for my fish tank, two were labelled the wrong colour and one did not work. I returned the faulty tube, when they eventually replied after many ignored attempts to contact them. They said would send out a replacement a week and a half ago. Nothing has turned up and have Emailed them again several times, no response, phoned them, no answer. I even got failed delivery messages to some emails. Will have to contact my credit card company for a refund. I would avoid this company if I were you!!! UPDATE 1 Now got a replacement tube after many emails. They said "send it back and we will refund your return postage" That was over a month ago and still no refund. They only seem to reply if you mention disputing the transaction and requesting a chargeback with you credit card company. Excuse for long delays is "staff sickness". Must be an epidemic down there as they are ignoring my emails again!! If you are thinking of buying from them, telephone them first. If you get no reply, bear in mind this is what you will be faced with if you have any problems with them !! I have now formally raised a dispute with my card company and await my refund. UPDATE 2 I only got my money back once my credit card company took money back off them.
Have used Ark as they are very good value v's other web sites for the items I am after for my fish. Delivery was once again on time and service was very good. Will have no quibble with ordering further items in the future.
THEY WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY BUT WHEN IT COMES TO A VALID REFUND THEY DO NOT RESPOND. TERRIBLE COMMUNICATIONS. STAY WELL CLEAR.
Liam Price
Jun 01,2014Despite the mass of negative reviews I went ahead and ordered a Rio 180 aquarium and stand. I called up to try to arrange a delivery date and managed to get through first time, both times I called. Eventually their delivery team called me back and we arranged a time, sure enough, everything turned up on time, and was perfect. The driver was lovely too. Overall I cannot fault them with their service, and I'm surprised so many people seem to have had trouble with them. I'd like to see what happens if a problem was to occur with the new tank though. But for now, all is perfect, and they deserve the 5 star rating.