I bought a new 220 Perfecto tank last month during a special they were running.
I drove almost 4 hours to the business that ordered it for me. (I could have gotten it at a closer reef store, but wanted to throw these guys my business as they are way more supportive of our reef club than the one closer.) Got to the store where they loaded it into my trailer and strapped it down and I went on my merry way (after impulse buying a few more corals. HA!).
Anyway, I was buying early to take advantage of the sale and was not ready to set the tank up as the steel stand was not made yet, so the tank, still strapped to the trailer, went straight into the shed, and wasn't touched again.
Last week it was looking like we were finally ready to start rocking and rolling, so I backed the trailer up to the house, took off the plastic and cardboard in preparation to bring it in the house and discovered that the top black plastic frame is cracked on two back corners by the overflows.
I immediately sent pictures to the store owner and he seems to be trying to deal with Perfecto for me to get me another tank, but apparently Perfecto is insisting the "damage was caused by the customer".
I would love to know how they can immediately default to it being my fault when there are so many people in contact with and moving a tank before it finally reaches the customer, but whatever.
The bottom line is, I very, very stupidly did not inspect the tank before I left the premises, and if I had, I would have discovered the damage and I wouldn't be in this mess right now.
The idea that Perfecto might not honor the warranty and I might be out this money is making me ill, and honestly, I am kinda mad at the store that they didn't check it out, either. The manager told me over the phone that they hadn't and added in a huffy way that he guessed that now they would have to unwrap and inspect every tank like it was my fault and not something they should have to do. (I didn't even know what to say to that!)
From now on, I am doing a complete unpacking and inspection of every item before I walk out the door. I don't care if it is inconvenient for me and I don't care if the store finds it annoying, it is happening. If a manufacturer or a store is even going to THINK about not honoring damage simply because they think they can get away with it because a few weeks have passed since purchase, we ALL need to be doing this.
I mean, we all have bought something that we didn't use right away, right? I have several pieces of equipment that I have bought one at a time over the last 6 months in planning for this tank. Return pump, lights, algae scrubber, skimmer. None of these have been tested and a couple haven't even been opened. Now I am kicking myself for not inspecting them in the store and not testing them immediately upon getting home. Hopefully nothing is wrong with them.
The bottom line is, don't give a manufacturer or LFS the opportunity to screw you over. Inspect stuff in store and test it out immediately when you get home, even if you aren't ready to use it right away.
Don't be stupid like me.
