Poor customer "care" service

[Hobster]

I also posted this in the Vendor forum.
Why don't you have an 800 number?

So make sure you do not deviate from the "30 day rule"!

On 12/5/06 I placed and order and part of that was a small 20" Coralife Aqualight for my refugium. I did not even plug it in until after the holidays. Around 1/3/07 or so. Well the light just stopped working. Seems like a ballast. Anyway, I send an e mail to MD and they of course say its over 30 days so you need to contact ESU (Aqualight). Well the don't have a 800 number either.

So I go to the ESU Web site and complete the RMA form. It kicks back as an error message. I wrote MD again and asked where is the "customer care" /service. They write back you need to go through ESU. What a pain for a brand new light that's been used for a few weeks.

I realize MD does not make the light but being a few days or weeks over the "30 days"?? Pretty poor quality.

So I need to pay to ship a brand new light to CA which I already paid shipping on to receive it.

Ya that's just the way it goes with on line shopping.

Of course their closing paragraph of their e mails is:

"We pride ourselves in providing you with excellent customer service. If you
have any more questions, please feel more than welcome to contact us
anytime."

Yep, sure

 

[Hobster]

Your lack of any reply or response pretty much sums it up.

Please see my last post in vendor experience. I have tried contacting Coralife or whatever name they now use. No response, so I am left with a dead light .

 

[MarineDepot]

Hello,

Thank you for your post, first of all.. I do want to apologize for the the situation you are in and how you feel about it. We do do our best to satisfy each and every customer.

Yes as our policy states, we can only exchange items that are in with in the 30 days from the original purchase date. On your packing slip it also states to inspect your order when you receive it, we give 72 hours to do this from the time you receive your order.
If and when an item becomes defective after the 30 day period the warranty is handled solely by the manufacturer.

At this time since you have tried to contact the manufacturer and were unsuccessful we will send you a new light at no cost to you. This is an exception to the rule that we at Marine Depot will make for you.
Robert is currently taking care of the details for you.

Please let me know if there is anything else we can do for you.

Walter F
Marine Depot Customer Services Supervisor
714.385.0080 Phone
714.385.0180 Fax
www.MarineDepot.com

 

[SaltyDr]

This speaks VERY HIGHLY of Marine Depot's customer service. I guess (unfortunately) that complaining gets results.

 

[fisheebill]

I'm with SaltyDr

 

[Hobster]

Thank you Walter and to Robert. I understand your policy and warranties handled by the manufacturer. But, if the manufacturer is not responsive and makes it so difficult, what is the customer to do?
We are also taking only a few weeks over the 30 day limit.

In fact I just received another e mail kicked back from Coralife/ESU/central Aquatics.

When I was in retail, there was never a question on returned defective items. The retailer/vendor always had more influence with the manufacturer in returning defective items than the customer.

The situation is resolved and I do appreciate you taking care of this.

Thank you