MasterFisch UK Reviews 57

80 fish ordered, arrived this morning, well packed and all fish where active and healthy and of good quality. Good communication throughout the process. Would definitely use again.

They really do care for their animals, received beautifully coloured blue dream shrimps and snails, their packaging was really good and they were in extremely good health. Will definitely use this company again in the near future.

Awful company. I’m not out of pocket. Money has been taken from my bank. Apparently this stupid place hasn’t received the money and bank are telling me the money has been received by this awful awful company.
Advice to all customers avoid these people at all costs.

I sent x2 emails still no response as ordered fish on 3rd July still no response on when fish will be delivered and if you try to ring number on there page just get a out off country ring tone

Waited a little longer than originally told for delivery.
Received two seahorses. Both were on the skinny side with one dying within 24 hours from malnutrition. Refund was issued rapidly. Two excellent sized and healthy mandarins, and a male and female as I requested.
Unfortunate about the seahorses, but would use again.

first time using them and other than the time it took to ship the fish-5 weeks, presumably because they were out of stock even though the site said they were in stock-im well pleased. 10 chocolate gouramis all healthy and happy and much bigger than i was expecting.
extremely well packed and even had some activated charcoal in each bag.

Ordered two fish and waited to weeks without confirmation of delivery time had to phone and then email to get a reply only to be told they didn’t have the fish they said they had in stock so replaced one with a deferent one and one that I had originally ordered which then arrived dead and the other one died a couple of days later this fish was so skinny when it arrived it didn’t have any chance of surviving they claim to be in England but in fact are in Germany would not use again emailed them to tell them fish was doa no reply

I was not happy with this experience at all! To begin with, the order arrived late, and box in poor condition. Most of the fish that I ordered was carelessly not in the box, and some of them were dead (photographic evidence in possession). I immediately called MasterFisch where no one answered. I then emailed them, and a few days later I received a response telling me that they will check with the acclimatization center, after 3 weeks I got a partial refund. I am not happy at all with this service, as the other fish (neon tetras etc) died a few days after!

I just feel like I should be credited with a voucher for at least half the order value to compensate for my time lost!

MASTERFISH REPLY

YOU DID NOT REFUND IN FULL! You refunded partially! You should compensate in vouchers for my time wasted!!!

I'll start at the start, end with today, and be as fair as I can along the way;

I had been searching for captive bred Chocolate Gourami, no easy task! But having finally found someone with them, I messaged to find out a.) if they were captive bred, and b.) if they had around 10 for me to purchase. The reply came back the next day that yes they are, and yes they do! Fantastic I thought, and within hours, completed my purchase.

A week roles by and I hear no word - odd, given the FAQ's say 7 days to arrange delivery. No apology for delay, no explanation, no word at all. So I message them, and to be fair this time they replied on the same day to say that they would schedule it the following week and that they'd contact me at the beginning of that week. No apology or explanation for the delay.

So the next week comes, I hear no word, and so I have to chase them again. Again, they reply the same day, again no apology or explanation, but then they do then send through an email to tell me that unfortunately only 2 of the fish ordered are available. To my surprise, there's not only no apology, but still no explanation at all! In combination, they offer to let me wait for the rest of the order to be available (with no timeline indication), but then they offer to send out different species of gourami instead. Chocolate Gourami are incredibly sensitive fish, they can live at exceptionally low pH's, even lower than 5! With TDS/water hardness being silly-low as well. These aren't conditions to be throwing many species into, and cohabiting certainly isn't conducive to the health or breeding of either species.

Anyways, the next day I ring them, I had a hard job keeping the guy on the phone, he was extraordinarily keen to finish the phone call before he'd actually offered a solution - that did rub me up the wrong way and so I explained rather bluntly that not only had I confirmed everything with them before even placing the order, but that they'd given absolutely no information or apology ever since. After this he did apologies, and I asked if the fish that they had at the point of ordering, were too ill/weak to travel, or had died. He replied no no of course not, everything's in hand, and they were due to arrive at the acclimatisation centre on the next Wednesday. Somewhat surprised, I asked why I had been told that they were available and in stock when I first contacted them to enquire prior to purchase. Slightly flustered he replied that they were in-fact not waiting for a delivery to the acclimatisation centre, but that the fish had just been too weak to travel, and that they reserve the right to not send send weakened fish. Of course I'm completely on board with such good morals, but I did have to point out that 2 minutes earlier he had expressly said that the fish were not weak or ill, but had not actually reached the acclimatisation centre yet. Now very flustered he admitted that he did not actually know what had happened with my order, and would need to contact the acclimatisation centre to find out. Somewhat annoyed, I asked why, when an order (particularly one pre-confirmed to be ready) is suddenly not available, the reason behind the delay or cancellation isn't found out before telling the customer. He said that he would contact the acclimatisation centre, and ring me back before 4pm that same day to tell me what the situation was.

Of course, no one ever got back in contact with me, and so again (I'm losing count of times), it's me, the paying customer, chasing them up to try and find out what on earth is happening with this order. The same guy answers the phone and explains that they are too busy to be able to phone customers back, I asked why he had committed to doing so if they habitually cannot do so - I imagine simply to hang up. But, good news! The fish are all available, and they will be scheduled for delivery on Thursday, possibly Friday, but that they would contact me to arrange which day would work best.

Today, the big day when they would ring to arrange delivery, at 18.01 (1 minute after they told me they close - no ability to ring and ask), I get an email simply informing me that due to a "technical issue" with my order, it would not be shipped as planned and that a full refund was being made directly back to my account.

Now to me "technical issue" with my order does not have much explanatory power. I see in the reviews here and elsewhere that "the fish are too weak to travel" is often the reason given. If this is the genuine case I think it's absolutely right not to send them. But here's my theory; there was no limit to how many of these difficult to find fish that I could add to my basket - this is why I messaged to ask them if they had the quantity I needed, I could add 100's to my basket. I suspect that they over-sold, and then couldn't get these difficult to find fish back in stock quick enough to meet their orders. The guy on the phone was quite clear they were not in stock but too weak to travel, but instead, that they were waiting on a delivery that following Wednesday, only when questioned did the story change to that they were too weak to travel, but in stock as originally claimed.

I'm not at all keen on the email I received today, I think the customer care has been appalling from start to finish, and I think the perception that these delays I, and others are experiencing are to ensure the fishes' welfare (though I repeat, if it were, I would fully support it), could be too generous, and is instead, hiding over-selling and poor customer service, disguised as fish welfare (again, all for fish wellfare).

As it happens my story has a happy ending, another company I've bought from before has just today managed to source some for me, and I'm very happy to support them instead as I did before. Several weeks on from placing my order, I'm quite happy to recommend for everyone considering using Masterfisch, not to.

First time I’ve used Masterfisch and I must say they were excellent reliable fast delivery fish was very Well packaged and a nice specimen good friendly service I would highly recommend them

corals all ways very good like the service
ten out of ten
yours MR J JOHNS

Brilliant. Lots of items all arrived safe and well. Will use again/ Highly recommend.

Very well packaged. Only issue Is i would like to select a date online when ordering so that I can arrange relevant people to be home considering dealing with live animals

Communication is a bit slow, got my order two weeks to the day of the order. Most importantly though, the marine fish turned up a fantastic weight and in good health

I've ordered a few times now and they are really good. Good choice of livestock, frequent discounts and a choice of WYSIWYG. They phone to confirm delivery. Their fish don't die in my tank.

Good communication and they reply to emails. Very impressed. So glad I found them. Their orders will arrive before 12pm midday 90% of the time which is always good.