Worst customer service/policy ever!

[slovan]

I received my Ocean runner 2700 last week and had it plugged into my turboflotor protein skimmer since. I come home today and my gfci outlet(dedicated power from fuse box) has been tripped earlier in the day. The reason I know is b/c the temperature was 73 instead of the normal 77. I reset & plugged back in, same thing. I unplug pump and then plugged it into a regular outlet. Lights out! Hmmm....sounds like the pump shorted out.

I decide to call Marine Depot up and that's when I received the worse service ever. The gentleman told me that I would have to ship the pump back to them to test. If it works, I would have the pump returned to me. Meantime, they cannot send me a new pump unless I placed another order on my cc. After being put on hold several times, I was then told to call AquaMedic at 970-461-0023 and troubleshoot the problem before I return the pump. If they say it's defective, then I should return it to MD.

Whatever happened to taking care of customers? I've heard so many good things about MD and I feel I'm getting screwed b/c of a bad pump. If I follow their process, it could take up to 3 weeks before I get a replacement pump. 1 week to ship from IA to CA. Up to 1 week to test & process order and 1 week to ship from CA back to IA. On top of this, I have to pay shipping for a bad unit they sent me in the first place? Am I wrong to think this way or is this place just that bad? Never again will I shop with MD. Newbie lesson learned!

 

[condricthyes]

Slovan,

You should call Aqua MEdic direct. They usually handle returns on their equipment and are pretty fast.

 

[jpawson]

You might have spoken to someone who was in a bad mood. I had some water splash on a MH bulb and crack it after buying it from Marine Depot. It was a month old. They replaced the bulb without any questions. I paid for shipping only! I have only had good experiences with this company.

 

[MarineDepot]

Hi,

We apologize for any inconveniences caused. As per our phone conversation we will indeed need to charge you if you would like a 2nd pump sent out for you first. Once we receive the other pump back from you, we can then issue a refund back to your credit card. We are actually quite fast in processing returns and would take only a couple of days rather than an entire week. If you like, we can email a UPS return label and cover the cost to ship that pump back to us.

As the nature of the problem that you are having is quite rare with these pumps, it is the reason why you were referred to Aqua Medic as well. They would be able to help you troubleshoot it over the phone and find out what the problem is.

Once again we apologize for any inconveniences that may be caused.

Sincerely,
Joseph
Marine Depot Customer Service
www.marinedepot.com

 

[greg s]

I LOVE MARINE DEPOT!!!! I JUST WANTED TO BACK THEM UP
WITH SOME SUPPORT!!! GREG

 

[dragon_slayer]

slovan

i agree compleatly that MD's customer service (or lack of) is one of the worst ever. twice in less then as many months on some $$$ orders i got screwed by them so i have taken my business elsewhere.

they have your CC on file with them if you used it to order so they can ship you a return pump and then if you dont return the other one with the return lable they provide then they can charge you for the second one.

over the past couple of years i have heard nothing but good from anyone when refering to MD, but in the past 6 months they have realy went down hill quick. guess thats what happens when you get the big head.

Premium Aquatics is now what MD used to be Top of The Line and i just hope they dont get the big head as well. Jason and the gang are a great bunch of folks over there, maybe you should give them a try like i did. so far nothing but the best to say about them.

kc

 

[djfrankie]

Well...I guess everyone has their bad days.

I had an issue with a Mag12 pump that arrived in really bad shape (impeller housing and case cracked). Even though the shipment box was intact that box that contained the Mag12 was crashed.

They immediately sent out a new pump to me and told me to keep the old pump (not that I can use it).

I don't know if their customer service is better or worse now but I do know that when I needed them to help out, they did.

Just my experience,

djfrankie

 

[owsi]

Always been first rate with my orders to date. If they ship you a new pump and your other is not defective, they would get stuck with used pump. If you are sure the pump is bad, let them charge you, they would refund/credit as soon as they found you were right. Thats not a bad customer service problem, you are expecting a little much in my oppinion. Hope it works out for you, John

 

[SoKaL ReeFiN]

they have your CC on file with them if you used it to order so they can ship you a return pump and then if you dont return the other one with the return lable they provide then they can charge you for the second one.

I don't see where the problem is.. if you don't return the 2nd pump, I'd expect them to charge you as well...

 

[dragon_slayer]

I don't see where the problem is.. if you don't return the 2nd pump, I'd expect them to charge you as well...

thing is they charge you for the second pump before they ship it and then IF they thing the returned one is bad, they'll recredit you. if they dont think its bad then your stuck with double charges.

kc

 

[owsi]

I don't understand?

I don't understand?

thing is they charge you for the second pump before they ship it and then IF they thing the returned one is bad, they'll recredit you. if they dont think its bad then your stuck with double charges.

kc

You feel that if the pump is good, MD should get stuck with it? Then sell it as used, or take the loss, which means I will pay higher prices to make it up. As fast as Marine Depot ships my orders, this would have been resolved in a week or less. I think they are right, if they did it your way we would all pay more to cover the losses.

 

[Beerman]

I don't see this as bad customer service. I don't see how a business could be expected to send out another item fo free when the problem isn't known.

JMO

 

[dragon_slayer]

it's called having a little faith in someone. when i spent over a grand on an order is it really likely that i would call you up and try to steal a $100 item from you???

get real folks. everyone is expected to pay up front for an order in good faith that MD will send you what you asked for, its mutual respect to do the same on their end when there is a problem with the order.

kc

 

[owsi]

It's not a matter of returning the pump, it's if it was defective or user error. If user error and MD tells him that, they would still need permission to bill. If cust. declined, they would have to pass the cost the the cust. base. Remember the cust. believes the product was defective, so wont believe he did something to burn out, or his bad wireing or what ever. I have done almost $2,000 with MD, and all problems were handled great, they have the best all around price, product info system, ship same day and respond to e-mails same day. Had a part missing from item once and they said they would contact for me or I could call direct, I chose direct and had part in 2 days plus a cool product line catalog.

 

[chili]

I think you are being unreasonable. I don't think too many companys ship replacement merchandise per a phone conversation. If they do I doubt they would last very long. They offered a reasonable solution that satisfies the interests of both parties.

 

[Reefmaster]

Marine Depot customer service is the best. I blew up my Aquacontroller. Completly my fault. But now I have nothing to control my tank. I have the controller hooked up to ozone, chiller heater, 2 lights, connected to my PC and it pages me if there are any problems. So needless to say I am up SH** creek. So I called Marine Depot to order a new controller. No problem except this is on a Saturday and FED EX does not pick up from them on Sat. and to make matters worse it is a holiday weekend. Presidents Day, so even with next day air the earliest I will have it is WED.
Jose from Marine Depot personally brought the controller to FED EX on his way home. So this is on his time. Within one hour I had a delivery conf. from FED EX telling me my controller is on the way. THANKS JOSE and Marine Depot. You have a customer for life.

 

[tsadik]

I have spend lot of money with MD all I can tell is they are the best ,and guy name Joseph is one great person how will give you only the best info. on any product you will ask for
MD has great CS two tumbs up for them

Tsadik

 

[misskimi]

I love the guys at Marine Depot, they ROCK!!!. I hope you will take the time to work with Aqua Medic to troubleshoot your problem. It is very valuable to the manufacturer to troubleshoot these problems to improve their products. Your experience, painful and frustrating as it may be, could give you the opportunity to be involved in product improvement and development. I hope you will reconsider giving a Marine Depot the opportunity to do business with you again. I have been dealing with online vendors for years and Marine Depot is definitely one of the best. Joseph is a great help every time I call.

 

[dannyboi]

Nothing but rave here as well, i ordered a couple of things that had been damaged. I called them up, they apologized and shipped me a new one. No questions asked. They even credited me before they received the merchandise back. Again this was broken so they had no reason to hold up my credit. Of course I ordered again because of this!

 

[dannyboi]

that is they offered to ship me a new one, I could not wait so I declined.