Terrible Experience with Majestic

[McCrary]

I am posting about my friend Doug Moon's experience with Majestic Sea Life. The tank he wanted to have them move was 7' long by 30" deep and 24" tall, roughly 260 gallons. He had a very nice collection of SPS in the tank as well as fish and a few clams. They tore down the tank and placed his coral and fish in 5 gallon buckets. They then waited a few hours for the truck to come and get the buckets. In the end he ended up losing 17 SPS colonies, 2 fish and a clam. His setup was very high end and the livestock was healthy. Majestic then sent him a bill for $1380, even though they destroyed much of his coral. I feel for Doug and hope that others may learn from his bad experience with this store.



Doug's setup: 260 gallon tank with 40 gallon sump and 125 gallon fuge (DSB with macros)

*H&S 250-2x1260

*400 watt Ushio 10K in Lumenarc III, 2 x 250 watt Ushio 10K in Lumenarc III's (all in a rolling light rock over the tank)

*4 x Tunze 6100 on a 7095 controller

*GEO 624 calcium reactor

*Deltec Kalk reactor

*ReefKeeper 2 with DC8

 

[Kentanner11]

OMG 1380$ to move a tank! wow! I havent really had alot of experience with majestic, as they dont really ever have anything. Sorry for your friend, that really sucks! He should give them a bill!

 

[McCrary]

Yea, it does seem like he got it pretty rough from them. Majestic seems to be a bad operation, John (Scubabum1983) used to work for them and has told me some really bad stories about their ethics and such. When Doug didn't know much about coral Majestic charged him $300 for a frogspawn, he had it for a couple years and it grew, wasn't anything too extraordinary. He was shocked when I told him he probably should have paid $50 for the coral, they really do prey on peoples ignorance. Now he buys his corals online, from sites that are reputable, much better for the tank and wallet. It just makes you realize that there are stores that don't care about being honorable and providing a good service, they just want to make a buck.

 

[Tanque Verde]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11260800#post11260800 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by McCrary
When Doug didn't know much about coral Majestic charged him $300 for a frogspawn . . . they really do prey on peoples ignorance.

I had the exact same experience.

 

[McCrary]

I'm sorry to hear that, its a shame.

 

[cerreta]

Matt, did this just happen recently?

I've seen Doug's tank, it was remarkable, too bad.

This is one of many reasons why hobbyists from Tucson choose to purchase goods online or from different markets. It is difficult to support Majestic when they do not take care of their customers.

 

[oupee]

Several years ago I also had this kind of experience with them. I did not sue, and regret it. They should have a bond to do this kind of work. I don't know what the limit is in small claims court, but consumers need to stand up to this kind of treatment.

 

[McCrary]

Yea, this was just a little while ago. I don't know what he is going to do, the owner of majestic told him that he would "be taken care of", which apparently meant that he would get a discount on future coral he bought from them, absolutely disgusting. I am really hoping that he takes them to court, after hearing some of the responses hear I am going to suggest that he does just that.

 

[phenom5]

I stopped shopping there probably 18-24 mos ago. I was never charged what I thought was an outrageous amount for corals, but you get several aiptasia with every coral you purchase from them...free of charge.

About 3 or 4 mos ago I went in to see if they had cleaned up their tanks...nope, still overrun with aiptasia...no thanks, I'll pass.

I don't know what the limit is in small claims court

I believe it's $2,500 in Arizona. Not 100% sure, but I think that's the limit for small claims court.

 

[McCrary]

Thanks for the info, phenom5, I will pass it on to Doug.

 

[cerreta]

Do they still have that nasty flatworm problem. I love listening to the lady tell me that they are harmless and they never eat the corals.

Funny thing is they are pests, they reproduc like crazy and they are will documented that they do to mushroom corals, that is precisely why they are there. They just don;t cause a significant amount of damage compared to other pests. But they are ugly and ruin the astetics of a nice tank.

 

[Tanque Verde]

^as of May they did. Although in fairness, after a brief population explosion, all the flatworms I imported from them in May had died off (or were possibly eaten) by Octoberish.

 

[Kentanner11]

On my last visit they had this poor yellow tang with its fins SHREDDED it was really really sad!

 

[Tucson Reef]

Haven't been there in 5 years when they were running specials on the $55 cleaner shrimp. They gave me a deal on the flat worms and yes they said they were harmless. Maybe too many people complained about the flatworms and they brought in the aptasia to try and get rid of the flatworms.

 

[prickles]

yeah, they got flatworms as of a few weeks ago. They even have them in their show tank. I inquired before starting my first SW tank as to the cost of a used setup they had in the shop and they quoted me quite a high price. In fact, i went to another petstore and found I could buy ALL the parts of that tank brand new for less than they wanted for it used (by about $800).

The thing that really got me was when I first saw their showtank, I said i wanted a tank that looked like that and asked them what equipment was in it. they told me that was classified information, but if I were one of their maintenance clients, they would give me hints.

I would think they would want to "show" their equipment so I would buy it. I haven't had a "bad" experience with them persay. They just seem very expensive. They can charge whatever they feel like though.

 

[McCrary]

They didn't set that tank up, they bought the whole thing from a guy who had set it up and had been maintaining it for years. But they don't tell you that part, lol.

 

[scubabum1983]

worked there for awhile couple years ago, refuse to support them in any way since i quit.

 

[McCrary]

You should post about your experiences with them John, some of your stories are rather interesting.