Glasscages or coast to coast? for 400 gal tank

[bauereefer]

Hahaha...ya, Coast 2 Coast told me I could not put the purchase on a card. Only checks...

I wonder why? Few too many charge backs in the past? lol

Oh well, lesson learned.

 

[Kengar]

I, too, was not impressed with my CTC tank. Chipped bracing and ugly fissures in the silicone between the layers of the bracing. In my view, what they told me in advance re the fissures -- calling it "not usually a "bubble" as much as a sort of ripple," -- seriously misrepresented just how bad it would look. See here: http://vid224.photobucket.com/albums/dd264/Kengar/cracking%20video.mp4

I wish I had stuck with Reef Savvy instead of pulling the plug and jumping ship to CTC when the promised delivery date went by.......

I should add that Pat, of CTC, has now advised me, in response to my telling him that I will be posting about my experiences with CTC, that it will be going to his lawyer......

 

[luvreefs23]

I got a tank from them and it was perfect. I do agree that for the $ any tank from them should be perfect all the way around in every way. If you wanted to take a risk on a tank you mise well buy a mass produced tank.

 

[Kengar]

I have been in contact via PMs with two other folks who, according to my communications with them, have both had the exact same experience: ugly fissures in the silicone and crappy looking chipped and/or uneven bracing. I will be posting about it further shortly. (One was a tank installer, who indicated that he will not be ordering from CTC again.)

 

[Kengar]

I got a tank from them and it was perfect. I do agree that for the $ any tank from them should be perfect all the way around in every way. If you wanted to take a risk on a tank you mise well buy a mass produced tank.

What size tank did you get? Was it eurobraced around the top? That is where I and the others have found the quality to be severely lacking and, in my view, misrepresented.

 

[burton14e7]

Dang, a company that sends you to their lawyer because of posting an experience just reeks of a quality company with tons of integrity...

I personally had a glass cages tank and I'll never order another because the seams were not straight and while I didn't have an issue I felt like it would eventually be an issue. Now I have another company to take off the list.

 

[gus6464]

The whole no credit card should have been the time to run away as fast as you can.

 

[gus6464]

Man that is one garbage company. Sorry you had to go through all that.

 

[Kengar]

The whole no credit card should have been the time to run away as fast as you can.

Reef Savvy also requested payment by cash. As noted, I originally ordered from them, but pulled the plug and got my money back when the six-month date came and went and I was told it would be two more months. Had I simply sat tight and taken up Felix on his (contrite) offer to knock some cost off the shipping, I would have had a much nicer tank by now and would have been happy.

 

[joecc]

Wow, that's a terrible story Kengar. What scumbags.

The moral of the story, I guess, is never buy anything that costs thousand of dollars with looking at it first. I know that may have been impossible on this situation but there has to be a way to withhold final payment until a buyer is at least able to see a bunch of photos and accepts the finished product.

 

[GimpyFin]

During conversation with Pat two weeks ago, in which he said he would reinstate the warranty if I bring the tank to NJ -- has to be on the pallet I received it on -- for him to reinstall bracing (this time using Starphire glass as I had originally requested, but had been talked out of by Chris) for $1800, he mentioned at end of call that he will "make it his life's mission" (if I recall the phrase he used correctly) to go after anyone that harms the company's reputation. (That was in response to me having told Chris the day before that I was thoroughly ****ed off at their lack of willingness to help resolve situation and intended to share my information.)

I would think the best way to keep people from talking negatively about your company and it's reputation would be to actually stand behind your products in situations like this. Helping customers out when unfortunate things happen is part of running a reputable business. Especially considering people drop an outrageous amount of money on their tanks. I've read your other posts regarding this tank and the delivery, and all I can say is I'd be pretty fumed if I were you.

 

[Kengar]

I have pulled (or am trying to have pulled) the other post. UPS' poor handling of the crate notwithstanding, I am inclined to believe in view of other people's experiences and documented tank photos that, plain and simple, they delivered in crappy condition and were simply trying to pass it off onto UPS. I'll post links to other posts (on R2R), video showing the crappy glass on mine (when Photobucket goes back online), and snippets from the PM conversations to show that I'm not the only one less than enthused about them.

 

[luvreefs23]

What size tank did you get? Was it eurobraced around the top? That is where I and the others have found the quality to be severely lacking and, in my view, misrepresented.

My tank was a 150, 5x2x2 I believe and it was eurobraced, exactly what you have and I watched your video but mine was perfect. I'll see if I have any pics and I'll post em.

 

[luvreefs23]

I looked for photos but don't have anything directly taken to show the angles in direct comparison to your photos but I assure you they weren't like that. Perfectly level and clear and same eurobracing style. I had a canopy and everything sat flush and even.

 

[luvreefs23]

Here's best pic I have to show the levelness of the eurobracing

 

[Kengar]

For me, levelness of the EB isn't the issue. It's the crappy looking EB (fissures in the silicone and wavy edges, chipping), since my plan is to have the tank open-topped. I'm not the only one to have this. See, for example, http://*********.com/threads/maddyp-400g-office-reef.262157/(the poster there has indicated in PM to me that he wasn't present when the tank was delivered, but would have rejected it if he had been; that he, as a tank installer, won't order from CTC again; but that his client decided to keep the tank and use it as is since he (the poster's client) didn't want to wait for new tank.) Given that I had originally asked Chris for Starphire for the EB (but he talked me out of it, saying it's not necessary since the width of the bracing is so small), it should have been clear that aesthetics were important.

(Well, the link didn't work, as I thought might be the case. Its' on another site, sort of palindromic name with second integer from zero in the middle; poster is MaddyP)

 

[Kengar]

I would think the best way to keep people from talking negatively about your company and it's reputation would be to actually stand behind your products in situations like this. Helping customers out when unfortunate things happen is part of running a reputable business. Especially considering people drop an outrageous amount of money on their tanks. I've read your other posts regarding this tank and the delivery, and all I can say is I'd be pretty fumed if I were you.

If he had just been willing to sell me a couple tubes of silicone so I could do my own repair job (with full acceptance of the fact that there would be no warranty).......... sheesh! I think that, in a nutshell, says it all.

 

[jfingers8]

Coast to Coast is awful. I have a 120 (72x24x16). I paid $4000 and air gaps all over the edges. My LFS tried to contact them with no response and I tried several times with no response. Basically took my money and ran. I'm not a person that complains, but for the money I paid and the lack of customer service I received with a poorly built tank is unacceptable. I went with them because a lot of people say they build awesome tanks, so I didn't mind overpaying. But when you pay thousands of dollars for a tank that has terrible silicon work, you won't be a happy camper. Any questions feel free to ask. Had my tank since February of this year. I drove 4 hours to New Jersey to pick it up and they were extremely shady.

 

[Capt_Dan]

Ive had great dealings with Glass Cages. If I buy another large new tank, I will go through them for sure!