Hello.
I just saw this thread and wanted to at least post a few things that may help. A wee bit long so bear with me please-
First, if you are ever unhappy with your service, unsatisfied with your product, or feel like we have let you down somehow, and who you are working with here at spectrapure isnt making it "get better", please contact me- ask for Bruce. I am one of the owners and I will respond and try to make it right, or at least explain what happened and how we can make it not happen again.
We do try to operate under the golden rule- treat others as we would want to be treated. If you are ever here and want to chat or tell me whats wrong, or ask whats new, just ask for me. If email is your thing- bruce @ spectrapure. com. If you like to use R/C, post on our spectrapure RC forum with your problem and we will try our best to jump on it. If you look there you can see years and years of this service model with thousands of posts and visits. Service is very important to us, as we understand the role that service plays in customer satisfaction, besides the fact that we all expect the same from where we buy things. We do try to operate our business following this rule. I also acknowledge we probably fall short now and then and need you to speak up if that happens. We do get thousands of email a day, so they do get lost or overlooked sometimes, and worse yet some email accounts are filtered as spam, both incoming and at your end by your ISP.
If you have a technical issue setting up your system or questions on its operation that you feel shy about posting on the forums, or cannot find answered elsewhere, you can always call and ask for Scott (he also is the main voice of spectrapure on four websites forums so he is a busy dude), or email scott at scott @ spectrapure . com or similarly post under the spectrapure forum. Our other super tech is Cosmo, who if you call in on our tech line you will most likely speak with. If nobody answers, please leave a message as they are on the other lines and will return you call in the order it was received. If you do not get a response within 24 hours try again, or contact me and I will get you serviced (we are closed on the weekends, although several of our techs do support the various forums on weekends usually, but not gauranteed. I have been trying to get them to have a life!)
Actually, there are four great resources here at your fingertips for problem solving-
1) Spectrapure's website has downloadable manuals for your system, and a FAQ section. many problems or set up suggestions are shown there. If you cannot find it, please contact us!
2) Spectrapure maintains a large sticky post section of common issues, problem solutions etc on the Reef Central Forum under spectrapure. Chances are we have addressed your problem previously. Also, if all other forms of communications have failed, a quick post saying you need our help will not go unnoticed here !
3) Reef Central in general has many forums and posts that represent years of accumulated knowledge, it not only makes fascinating reading, but you can often find information here difficult to find in the hobby elsewhere.
4) Call us/email us. We have three technicians supporting call in support. They are always busy as we support all brands and makes, and we pride ourselves on being able to help reefers with their specific needs and application questions- thats what we do!
Regarding walk in service. What many people probably are not aware of is that Spectrapure is a manufacturer and distributor of products. We do not have a "store", or a "store front" . What we have done for years is to open our doors at the factory to anyone who insists on buying direct (we encourage supporting your local LFS) or wants to drop by and have the factory service their system, or to check out our reef tank and see whats new. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes awhile to service a walk in customer request , especially if we are slammed during our daily cycle of business. Regarding servicing and troubleshooting your system on site, like an auto repair shop, if you walk in with your system in hand needing repair, we may not be able to get your system immediately fixed as we run pretty hard all the time with the resources we have, and may not have the technicians availible as they are working on other systems that must get shipped out. That said, most of the time (not all) we drop what we are doing and try to help, as we understand you need help and we want to try to help.
We have not changed our business model one lick since 1985, and we value your business. All of our employees truly care about servicing the customer and do their best to do so under the constraints here we do business under. If they did not, those that know me know I would have fired them a long time ago. My office is 10 feet from the main sales desk in the entry so say hi next time you are in. Its nice to meet you all and put a face on the people who post here on the forums. Especially the FRAG group. Charles, our founder has given many presentations to FRAG and we feel a special relationship with FRAG as many of its members have tested products for us over the years and given us valuable feedback on how to improve our products or identify problems that turn into products for us. Thank you.
Again, if at any time normal channels of communciation fail or you feel like you have received less than stellar service, or less than a steller product you can always ask for one of the owners by name (bruce) and get your issue resolved. I will try to make it right or at least tell you why not.
Hope this helps.