Reef Fishes, Volume 2

[zhenya]

I'm waiting to see how long it takes them to figure this out and correct things. I will need the publisher to contact all of the online booksellers, especially Wal-Mart.com, to give them the correct pricing before I and any other "victims" can request refunds from our respective merchants

George,

I'm sure they'll take their sweet time, and in the end, they'll just send you a next volume instead(since it is the same price ) Mess is an understatement of the year

[Ninong]

George,

I'm sure they'll take their sweet time, and in the end, they'll just send you a next volume instead(since it is the same price ) Mess is an understatement of the year

Gene,

I can't blame Wal-Mart.com for this because they are just going with information they received directly from T.F.H. Publications, the publisher. Now that I have brought the problem to the attention of both Microcosm and T.F.H. it is just a matter of waiting for them to get their act together and inform the vendors of the correct pricing. Once that happens I should be able to get a refund from Wal-Mart.com for the amount of the overcharge.

Right now I'm waiting to see how long it will take T.F.H. to acknowledge that they screwed up.

[zhenya]

Right now I'm waiting to see how long it will take T.F.H. to acknowledge that they screwed up.

George,

I meant to say exactly that, that TFH will take their sweet time to acknowledge the screw up.You are right,of course,the Wal-Mart is not the one to blame and I'm sorry if my post read that way. Language skills is not my stronger point

[Ninong]

It is now two weeks since my last emails to the editor, James Lawrence, and the publisher T.F.H. Publications, Inc. requesting clarification and/or correction of the publisher's suggested list price of Basslets, Dottybacks & Hawkfishes but I have heard nothing further from either of them.

My last response from the editor was that he thought the price was supposed to be $44.95 and my last response from the publisher was that the "correct price" was $89.95 for Volume 2 and $44.95 for Volume 3.

All of the online vendors are still showing $89.95 as the publisher's list price for Volume 2.

I sent another email to the editor today asking if this situation has been resolved yet.

[zhenya]

Hi George,

Sorry to hear things did not progressed in the timely maner.
But, what I really want to say is:
Welcome back!

[Reefland]

How convenient for them to make the same amount of money they were planning for Volume 2 but yet still split it out into 2 volumes and make another 50% profit for the same amount of work!

Scott Z.

[Ninong]

How convenient for them to make the same amount of money they were planning for Volume 2 but yet still split it out into 2 volumes and make another 50% profit for the same amount of work!

Scott Z.

I think this is simply an error that has not yet been corrected. This is what the editor, James Lawrence, told me in his last email some two weeks ago:

"I believe the correct price is $44.95. Based on the suggestions of readers and aquarium shop owners, we divided the original Volume 2 into two more affordable editions."

However, I am still waiting for a reply to my email telling him that T.F.H. is insisting the correct price for Volume 2 is $89.95 while Volume 3 is only $44.95. In fact, I am still waiting for responses from both him and T.F.H. They seem to be ignoring the fact that the two volumes are priced so differently at all of the online vendors right now. Wal-Mart is insisting that their pricing came directly from T.F.H. and my only option with them -- as of right now -- is to return Volume 2 for a refund if I am not satisfied.

It is amazing that things like this can't be corrected in a timely manner. Two weeks should be more than enough time to fix things once the problem has been brought to their attention. Maybe we should email the author to see what he thinks of this situation?

[Reefland]

I'd be interested to see his reponse!

[Ninong]

I'd be interested to see his reponse!

Yes, so would I, but it may be a long time coming.

I shot off another email to Wal-Mart.com a little while ago asking them why they have not yet responded to my email of May 1st. I sent them an email because I was getting nowhere talking to one of their minimum wage "associates" on the phone. Talk about evil empires!

[Ninong]

I finally received a reply to my email to Wal-Mart.com asking them to look into the pricing of Volume 2 and it was exactly the same as the telephone response I got two weeks ago:

Your complete shopping satisfaction is our number one priority. If an item you order from Walmart.com does not meet your expectations, simply return it by one of the methods below.

[zhenya]

Your complete shopping satisfaction is our number one priority. If an item you order from Walmart.com does not meet your expectations, simply return it by one of the methods below.

That is a real crappy way way of saying buzz off, masked as good customer service

[Penguin]

Yes, I'm interested in what Scott Michael would say about this whole thing too.

Don't give up Ninong. The discrepancy deserves an explanation, not just that curt "the correct price is..." response from TFH customer service.

[Minh Nguyen]

That is a real crappy way way of saying buzz off, masked as good customer service

I disagree with you here Gene. What can Wal-Mart do? They were suppose to sell it at 89.95 according to the Publisher. The only thing they can do is to accept the return if you are not happy with it.
I got Reef Fishes Volume 1 and love it. I will get the whole series but as it is I will wait until everything settle down and the dust clear before getting it. The problem here is from the Publisher. If we push the bookstore too hard here, they may not carry anymore book from Microcosm anymore. That would be a disservice to the hobby as a whole.
IMHO,
I am not sure how much of the price go to the author and how much go to the publisher, but I thought that it was a very well written book. I think Volume 2 AND 3 would certainly worth the 89.95 price tag (If this is how they will price it)
Book of our hobby is not popular, and will not be print in large numbers like bestseller. We just have to pay the higher price per page because of this.
Minh

[zhenya]

I disagree with you here Gene. What can Wal-Mart do? They were suppose to sell it at 89.95 according to the Publisher. The only thing they can do is to accept the return if you are not happy with it.
I got Reef Fishes Volume 1 and love it. I will get the whole series but as it is I will wait until everything settle down and the dust clear before getting it. The problem here is from the Publisher. If we push the bookstore too hard here, they may not carry anymore book from Microcosm anymore. That would be a disservice to the hobby as a whole.
IMHO,
I am not sure how much of the price go to the author and how much go to the publisher, but I thought that it was a very well written book. I think Volume 2 AND 3 would certainly worth the 89.95 price tag (If this is how they will price it)
Book of our hobby is not popular, and will not be print in large numbers like bestseller. We just have to pay the higher price per page because of this.
Minh

Minh, I cannot argue with your logic about the book...I do not own this particular book,however, I do not blame or have negative thoughts about wal-mart and,Ninong ahd bought book from them at the advertised price for a certain amount of pages. He were charged correct price but the number of pages was greatly reduced. Telling someone to send it back if you don't like it is a standard proceedure if you don't want to help or if you do not want to hear from the person again. Again, wall-mart is not to blame here for the price or publishing manipulations,however, they could be a bit more helpful to Ninong and not respond with a standard "if you are not satisfied just send it back". I've heard this replies so many times that it makes me ill sometimes.
Also, no one is pushing the store here,I believe, so far most of emails had been sent to the publishers.
I'm going to Chicago fo the IMAC and I'll be sure to ask Mr.Michael why it was decided to reduce pages in the book but charge people the same money.
There has to be an explanation for this,becides greed or whatever by the publishers.
This is just my opinion,of course,but I have a right to it. ;)

[Minh Nguyen]

Gene,
You are certainly entitled to your opinion. I felt that Wal-Mart couldn’t do anything other than accept the return and refund the money.
Living here in the US we take a lot for granted. In most other country, return of the merchandise is not an option. In fact, once the money and merchandise are exchange, that is the absolute end of the transaction in most country.
Minh

[Ninong]

I guess I should update this thread. On June 5th. I noticed that the correct publisher's suggested list price had finally reached the various online vendors. I then sent another email to Wal-Mart.com with a detailed explanation of what had happened and they immediately refunded the difference in price as a credit against my bank card.

I never did receive replies to my last emails to either T.F.H. Publications or Microcosm asking them to clarify the correct pricing. My last response from Microcosm was that they thought it was supposed to be $44.95 and my last response from T.F.H. was that the "correct price" was $89.95.

I'm glad I didn't return the book to Wal-Mart, which was their only initial remedy.

[Ninong]

It appears that T.F.H. Publications puts a high price on lots of things: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...754EDT0783.DTL


:eek3:

[Ninong]

Not much has changed. Most online vendors continue to show incorrect pricing for Basslets, Dottybacks & Hawkfishes that is too high and some show incorrect pricing for Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes that is too low.

It appears that the publisher, T.F.H. Publications, notified Wal-Mart.com of the correct pricing after my several emails to them explaining the situation. There is no evidence that they notified anyone else.

If you look for Basslets, Dottybacks & Hawkfishes on the publisher's website, you may not find it at first because instead of listing it in the section titled "Marine/Mini Reef," they have decided to include it under "Aquarium Freshwater Fish." http://www.tfhpublications.com/defau...prodid=MC22222 Which might explain the picture of a book about freshwater angelfishes that someone provided one of the online book vendors to illustrate what is supposed to be Scott Michael's Volume 3: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...90087696&itm=3

I checked my order status for Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes on Wal-Mart.com today and the order is still "processing" but they have added the comment: "Should have arrived by June 28, 2004." Yeah, right.


P.S. -- You can view a picture of a smiling Dr. Herbert Axelrod, head of T.F.H. here: http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=23921 Probably not a recent picture. :eek3: