How do they stay in bussiness?

[dugg]

I placed an order with Dr. Foster's on the 12th. for 4 T-5 bulbs, a heater, and various food items. So far this order has had 5 shipments, and 1 return shipment, and there is still one more light coming lol. The first shipment had 2 lights only, and one of those were defective. They sent out another bulb, and it too was defective. They then sent out another that finally worked, (different brand). Then the heater and food items came in and was all there. Then today i recieved what i thought was the final 2 bulbs, only to find out that they forgot one of them. I called, and they are now shipping out the other bulb lol. They have to have spent as much on shipping by now, as the order cost me to start with, and that is assuming that the last bulb is not defective.

Thier customer service is outstanding though. They upgraded me on the bulb that had 2 defective in a row from a $15 bulb to a $30 bulb without charging the extra, and are shipping the one that was missed from the order i recieved today and not charging me for the bulb or shipping. I think if i owned that place, the unemployment rate would be going up by a few people real soon lol. I appreciate the great customer service, but if this is the norm for them, i don't see how they stay in bussiness.

 

[bychance]

Yikes. What a PITA.
I hope you didn't need the bulbs right away

 

[dugg]

It just got even more fun. When the lights were going off last night i heard a pop. I tried to turn them back on, and the ballast that i had tried the two bad bulbs on blew up. No idea if the ballast already had a problem, or if the bad bulbs caused it to short out, but it is fried now lol. It's a Tek fixture about 1 1/2 years old, so i'm guessing the bulbs had something to do with it. You can bet i won't be ordering a ballast from them though. I still have lights, just half of them will be working for a week. I'm sure everything except my wallet will be ok.

The defective bulbs that were sent would come on when i installed them, then after about 5 seconds pop and go off. I guess i should have taken them out on the first try instead of trying to get them to work lol. They were the slimpak actinic bulbs by the way .

 

[cur10u5g30rg3]

reefgeek sells some nice ballast or you can always run an icecap ballast. I have a fixture you can borrow if you need it. I am just around the corner in Eustis.

 

[firebirdude]

Sucks you've had that much trouble. But at least they've been decent towards you. More than you can say for most online sellers.

A common reason for multiple shipments is that different items come from different warehouses. Maybe one item you ordered is only stocked in Ohio and another item you ordered is out of stock there, so they pull from their warehouse in Texas.

 

[dugg]

Thanks cur10u5g30rg3, but i'll be ok until my new one gets here. I still have 2 55w 12k bulbs working fine, and it's mostly softies anyway. Only one sps, and i can move him to the 30g with the 250w MH if he starts looking bad.

 

[dugg]

Got my next replacement bulb in today . It was in about a million pieces this time . Shipment #6 now overnight air. They packaged it like it was a tungston steel rod. There was no way it could have arived in one piece even if they had hand carried it. The tape on the box was only attatched at each end. I could tell when the fedex driver stepped out with the box that there was no way that there was going to be a bulb in there that wasn't broken. The packing peanuts were falling out of the box on the way to the door. I will never again place an order with them for anything that could possibly be broken or defective. One order, 6 shipments, and still trying. What a joke lol.

 

[dacro]

Yikes! We have never had any issues using Dr F&S...

Yes, ReefGeek is a good supplier!

Good luck!

 

[chrisstie]

If you can't go locally I also recommend reefgeek. They ship their bulbs in cardboard, bubblewrap, and a hard tube so they dont get broken during shipment. Its like the tubes you'd keep blueprints or other important documents in. Never had a broken bulb from them before. Good luck getting your stuff with the doctors fixed and working!!

 

[dugg]

6th try was the charm. I finally got the order completed. The fedex guy stepped out of his truck with a box with a fist size hole in it and i about had a fit. I made him stand there while i opened it to see if the bulb was broken, but it made it in one piece. With 1 normal shipment, 4 expidited, and this last one overnight air, i would think my $135 order was a good profit for them lol.

 

[firebirdude]

Tried it out yet? LOL

 

[dugg]

Yeah, it actually worked too lol.

 

[BLUEHIPPOLOVER]

Hey I had no promblem from foster and smith order 4 stragight 4 pin bubls and then 4 round tubes dual pin they all came fast and I just got done hooking them up and everyone works fine now going on 3 hours

 

[troyman]

i always had excellent service from them there prices are the best never had a problem i only buy from them seems odd so many light were broken makes one wonder

 

[dugg]

The first 2 were defective, only the 1 broken due to VERY poor packaging, and yes, as i posted at first thier customer service was great. It was just a nightnare of an order. Even at the rates they probably get, i would think they spent as much on shipping as the order cost me. I would have expected that after the first defective bulb that they may have checked the next one before shipping it out. As far as thier prices go, they are generally the same or higher then most on most of thier items. I originally ordered from them because i needed media bags, and thier F&S media bags with the velcrow seal tops are the best i have found anywhere, so i figured i would just place the entire order of stuff i needed with them. I could have gotten the same heater i bought for almost $10 less at premium aquatics. I will order from them again just because they treated me so well during this whole ordeal, but i will never again order lights from them. I will just spend the extra $ and buy my bulbs local from now on. It is just to risky to have to have my tank running on insufficiant light that long over senceless mistakes.

This thread was really not meant to bash them, only because it really makes me wonder how a company can stay in bussiness when it spends more on replaceing broken and defective items due to shipping then the order costs. They are a good vendor as far as customer service goes on the phone and getting problems fixed quickly. I know i can't be the only order that they have turn out this way.