Please Read: Bad customer service experience (long)

[solitaryensis]

PLEASE READ: Some really bad customer service. (Long)
I am thoroughly apalled and disgusted at the customer service experience I had with Aqua medic. I recently found out that aqualine makes a 6 foot fixture and at the time that I bought my fixture I was told there was only a 4 footer. Since I had a great experience with them before, I thought I would call them and see if we can work something out. Maybe a trade of sorts. I also needed new bulbs as well. So I call and get the V.P. on the line and he says he cant do anything for me as far as an upgrade but hell sell me a 24 inch fixture that I can put next to my 4 footer. So I call him back to give him my credit card information and I find out that the aquastarlgiht was discontinued and that he has no more to sell me. Seeing as how he had gone through some trouble for me I thought I would order one bulb from him for his originally quoted price of 80 dollars.. (Although I needed two I could only fit one bulb in my budget. Bulbs are still putting out decent light). So I balance my checkbook accordingly and yesterday I check my account and find out I have over drafted twice and the bank has charged me 60 dollars. I do some investigating and find out I was charged by aquamedic for 2 bulbs at 95 dollars. So I call them thinking they would realize their mistake and fix it. WRONG! I talk to a woman who tells me if I want I can return the one bulb and they would credit my account but the price is as is and we have nothing to do with your checking's account. Im thinking at this point, "that you guys are 100 percent responsible". She goes on being VERY rude to me, and so I ask if I can speak to a manager or supervisor, she then says "I'm it" and says she's real busy and hangs up on me. At this point im in shock, thinking im the victim here and im getting treated like this? So I find out the presidents name and I call him today thinking he could fix the problem. He starts of by realizing that his company made a mistake by selling to me in the first place. And he says if I want I can return the bulbs. Fine. So then I tell him that as a result of his company's mistake my account went negative. He tells me that "their not responsible for my financial account" and I tell him that in my opinion they are 100 percent responsible because they made a mistake. I'm trying to be nice to the guy and so I tell him that this may be a difficult position for him and I still do need a fixture, so if he can give a good deal, we can forget about it all. So then he does some research and tells me he can give me a 8% percent discount. Yeap you read right, eight percent. I refused and then all of a sudden the guy goes "hey buddy take it or leave it". So im upset now and I just tell him give me a refund for the bulbs and ill make sure I let a lot of people know about this and you'll be sure my friends don't shop with you guys anymore. And he says fine. Im still in shock at the way I was treated. I am attempting to make all the contacts possible to let people know of the service they offer. If anyone has advice to go with this, let me know. I will keep you guys updated.

DISCLAIMER: Im not advocating not shopping with them as I don't want a lawsuit on my hands, but you guys can take this information any way you want.

[saltjunkie]

The disclaimer was good and I appreciate your "opinions" on this company and its service!
Rick

[naser]

i would just dispute the charges at the bank.. at least that would tie up the money for a month or so and piss them off.

[organicreefer]

yes, reverse the charge asap.
opinions like these should be heard...and the disclaimer shouldnt be needed either

[Poseidon]

Absolutely... Speak to the bank, you are a customer to them just like any other store. They can LEGALLY withdraw the amount you were overcharged for the lights, and dispute the whole charge all together!

[Ninong]

Originally posted by solitaryensis:

I recently found out that aqualine makes a 6 foot fixture and at the time that I bought my fixture I was told there was only a 4 footer.

First off, welcome to Reefland!

Where did you buy your fixture and who told you there was only a 4-footer? Since Aqua-Medic does not sell retail directly to the public, I am assuming you purchased your 4-ft fixture from either an LFS or an online retailer. Based on what you say, I am inclined to believe it was an online vendor and would even be willing to venture a guess as to which one, but I would rather you posted that information.

Thanks,

[solitaryensis]

thanks to everyone for the support. Although i am very upset about the money part of it all i realize that it can easily be fixed, but what makes me most upset is that there are businesses out there that can treat their customers like this and think they can get away with it. They obivously showed no remorse for treating me like that and for the situation. Just makes you think a little about companies and their lack of customer service.
Thanks

[naser]

thats why there are alot of compaines that go out of business.. the few with good or great customer service will be the one to survive.

[npaden]

I'm not sticking up for this vendor but find some unusual twists to this story.

#1 - You had enough $ to buy a 2' hood but not enough to buy 2 bulbs?

#2 - If you only have $200 what are you buying a bulb when your others are still working anyway?

#3 - (and probably the most important) Why are you trying to go around the retail channels and buy 1 single bulb directly from the manufacturer or wholesaler.

Most manufacturers or wholesalers will not sell directly to the public. They are not set up for it and I would imagine it would be easy for errors to occur if this is something they don't handle on a routine basis. Add to that the confusion regarding the fact that you first wanted to trade for a product that didn't exist, then wanted to purchase a product that they could no longer obtain, then wanted to just buy 1 bulb although you needed 2 and I would imagine this would be set up for a potential for errors right from the start.

Just my 2 cents. Nathan

[solitaryensis]

npaden,
I was going to spring for the whole pacakge which would have included a 24 inch fixture and two bulbs. My bulbs are still working but i didnt want half my tank to be one color with a new bulb and the other half a different color. Since the aquastarlight was discontinued i didnt have to buy bulbs for my other fixture since the whole point was to get both lights to look the same. Yes i had the money for it all, i would have just used a credit card. Did i want to go ahead and buy two bulbs i didnt really need considering the circumstances. No. Since Brad did go through some trouble trying to find me the light i didnt want to make it seem as if i wasted his time for nothign, which was why i agreed to buy one bulb. I was planning on just buying the other one later when i needed it as bulbs dont really go bad if not used. And no i wasnt trying to go srounf the retail channels. I have bought from the dircetly before. That is why i called them. Yes your right, rom the sound if it there was potential error but in the end of it all it was simple. I said sell me ONE bulb. I dont know how much more simpler it can get. And besides, they made the error not me. The real issue here is customer service. They had the opportunity to remedy a situation they cuased but they didnt. In fact they were blattently rude. I hope that clears up any inconsistencies for you.

[npaden]

Thanks for clearing that up for us. Sorry to hear about the problems. I hope this will end up being an isolated instance as I know Brad has a pretty good reputation and hopefully things will get turned around.

FWIW, Nathan