AquariumGuys.com

Store: AquariumGuys.com
Website: http://www.aquariumguys.com/
Location: just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phone Number: 866-619-3609
Questions: support@aquariumguys.com

I'll keep this factual,
I placed an order online with this company on April 7, 2010.
According to my paypal statement the payment went to Turn 5, Inc. and will appear on my credit card statement under yet another name "*XOXIDE COM"??

According to FedEx they shipped very quickly (April 8, 2010) & I received everything on April 9, 2010. No issues here, who doesn't like fast shipping!

The problem I encountered was that the aquarium light that I had ordered was not what I had expected to receive. It looked like a cheap knock off...why do I say this?
Because the ends of the acrylic splashgaurd were blackened, the caps where the bulbs should thread into were oddly sloped and loose, and I've owned enough light fixtures that I pretty much know what to expect from the manufacture. Could I be wrong? Maybe, but I highly doubt it given the stores reply about the "darkening/blackening" of the splashguard.

 

I contacted them via e-mail on the 9th

And re-contacted them via e-mail on the 10th providing photos (had to charge the camera)

 

after waiting a few days I went through Paypal and filed a dispute and escalated it to a claim since I never received a reply back from the retailer.

Paypal basically looks at it like you received something (doesn't matter if it's what you were supposed to or not) and gives me this reply

but some good came out of the claim, the seller actually sent a response...of course not until AFTER the claim was filed (this was received on the 13th):

 

Apparently customer support has a comprehension problem...the fixture was never used...simply opened and examined and part of my order was a 30" glass canopy which I had planned on using. Lol!

So here goes my reply back to them (sent on the 13th):

 

Now today I receive a e-mailed fedex label with the information being wrong on it (my name, addy, phone number, no of returns, and value of return).
According to the e-mail I'm to call 717-299-5691 if anything appears incorrectly.

I call this number and it goes to fish.com ?? I explain that I am trying to return a order to aquariumguys.com and that this number was listed as a contact if anything appeared incorrectly on the label...the woman tells me they order from there store, but they have nothing to do with this and I should be contacting them directly. I inform her that her store number was listed as a contact on the fedex label and that the website doesn't list an actual phone number and that I've tried to e-mail them. She then goes and gives me what she believes to be there number (866-619-3609) and tells me to try that number.

I call the number and it goes to them alright, but directly to a voice mail...I leave a message telling them the label they sent was completely wrong and to contact me regarding this because I want to get there products back to them. I also play it safe and send an e-mail stating the same thing.

 

In the meantime,
I contact my credit card company and explain what is going on...they tell me to give it a day or two and if they don't accept the return that the most I will be out is the return shipping of the products and that they will refund me the initial purchase price & shipping that I paid for the order once I provide them with a delivery confirmation showing I returned it to the address they gave me. They said then it will be Paypal's problem to get it back to the retailer (regardless of what paypal said about not being able to do anything).

 

Why wouldn't I buy from them again?

#1 Too many names comes across as shady to me (order from aquariumguys>>payment shows as Turn 5, Inc>> cc statement shows it as being *XOXIDE COM>>contact number going to fish.com).

#2 Not listing a phone number and only giving a e-mail (that shoulda set off a red flag, but I was more focused on saving money...they had the product the cheapest & I didn't have to leave home to get it)

#3 Not responding until AFTER claim was filed, and apparently they didn't read/comprehend the initial e-mail sent because the response that was received made it sound like the fixture was used and that water was causing the blackening of the acrylic splashgaurds ends.
Sidenote: this "blackening" was already there when I received it. If you can't tell by the photos, it looks like someone stained the ends to conceal the fact that the bulbs don't reach fully across the fixture. ...

What I've learned about 30" fixtures:
After all this I've learned there are no 30" L Bulbs, and that the closest you can come to a 30" bulb is this fixture--> http://www.petstore.com/ps_viewitem...se&utm_campaign=pscseggl2&utm_content=ES08601 with bulbs being about 26.5"-27.5" long

 

Your welcome, hoping to save someone else from the headache of this retailer.

 

gonna go with :
C) 30 Inch Coralife Aqualight Dual T5 Lamp High Output Fixture
$97.49 CoraLife High Output T5 Lamp Fixtures Freshwater
(1) 30" 31W T5 HO 10,000 K Lamp
(1) 30" 31W T5 HO 420 nm Lamp
and swapping out the 420nm bulb for a colormax one...bulbs are said to be 27.5"
((3.1 TWPG))...bulbs about $11.77 @ petblvd.

20 Gallon Long Tank, Planted Aquarium

according to the reviews the bulb is the closest I'm gonna get to 30"...and I'll swap out the actnic for a colormax.

 

aquariumguys responded to my e-mail about there label being incorrect...

Mind you, the label information is still showing as incorrect

 

I just printed there fedex label and wrote my corrections over top of it..I got tired of waiting to hear back and have it corrected.
Scheduled it for pickup on monday ... shot an e-mail off to them giving them the tracking and telling them as soon as they receive it I want my money promptly refunded (all of it).

If not, then all I have to do is fill out the cc form with the tracking showing it went back and they received it and they will do the refund.

Can't wait to just be DONE with all this!

 

absolutely,
this fixture looks like a knock off...there is supposed to be NO blackening of the acrylic splashgaurd..the part where the bulb slides into is so loose that you'd have to hold one side up by hand while threading the bulb into the other...and the fixture is listed as a 30" with the bulbs supposedly being 30" (how was I to know there are only 24" bulbs...besides the new 31w ones that are about 27.5 - 29.5" in length).

AND it was already agreed upon that a full refund (shipping included) would be returned if I were to return the entire order.

 

this is one customer that won't be taken advantage of from a shady retailer.