Bad experience - reef warehouse

[john1948]

Just a heads up to the forum; I purchased a digital thermometer from Reef Warehouse recently. When the thermometer arrived a few days after purchase, the thermometer was found to be defective. When I contacted Reef Warehouse about the defective thermometer, I was instructed to contact the manufacturer of the thermometer and was supplied with a telephone number to call. I called the manufacturer and was told that I could return the defective item for a new one but I would have to pay for the shipping. When I informed the manufacturer that I already paid for the shipping of this item and that I felt either the manufacturer of Reef Warehouse should bare the expense of the shipping, I was told that neither the manufacturer nor Reef Warehouse were willing to send me a return label and that there was nothing else that they could (would) do. So, if anyone out there is thinking of doing business with Reef Warehouse, make sure you confirm their return policy.

[Ninong]

This sort of warranty policy is really not unusual at all. In fact, it's quite common. The online vendor is not in a position to repair the item themselves, so it has to be sent back to the manufacturer for repair or replacement -- at their option -- if it is defective.

What some vendors will do to maintain good customer relations is to have their customer return the item directly to them for replacement but they usually won't do that if the item has been used. That's sort of the Catch 22. And a lot of times the manufacturer won't take back used products from the vendor under warranty claims. They insist that the customers deal directly with them.

I understand your point entirely, I'm just trying to tell you that it's quite common to have to return defective products to the manufacturer for warranty problems instead of back to the vendor, and every time I have had to do this (twice), I have had to pay the shipping to get the product to the manufacturer. However, I have never had a product with a manufacturing defect that was apparent from the very beginning like yours. Both of the items that I returned failed during the warranty period due to defective pumps supplied by a Chinese manufacturer. The American manufacturer had me return the products and they installed new, better pumps.

[john1948]

I hear you Ninong, However, and as you have stated, if this were a warranty issue I would agree. But, this particular product was delivered to my door defective straight from the vendor. The item never worked right out of the box. If I was able to use this product even a day or so I would not object to paying shipping fees to return the item back to the manufacturer. I just feel that in this case, it would have been better customer relations for Reef Warehouse to simply send a return label as they said the would when I first notified them of the problem. I already paid for the shipping of an item I never received any satisfaction from at all. Anyway, I do feel a little better after reading your response.

[Ninong]

Assuming you charged it to a credit card, call the credit card company's customer service 800 number and ask them if you can file a claim to reverse the charges. I did that about a year ago with American Express. It took me a little over three months but I finally did get my money back. In that case, the vendor had delayed sending me a refund for something I had purchased that they decided to cancel. They promised to send out a refund check but it took them more than three months to get around to it.

The vendor mailed out the refund check the day after American Express had reversed the charge and then they contacted American Express to tell them the check was in the mail. I actually received the check one day before I received the letter from American Express telling me they had given up on waiting for a response from the vendor and were reversing the charge. Then I got a phone call from American Express asking me if I had received the check and if I had cashed it yet. I told them I had deposited the check the same day I received it and just before I received their letter about the reversal. We waited a few days to make sure the check cleared before American Express reversed the reversal.