aquadesignz.com and Aqua Medic USA!

[Steve973]

I had a terrible experience in dealing with aquadesignz.com and with aqua medic in colorado.

 

First, I saw what I thought was a deal on an aqua space light on aquadesignz.com. Originally, the dry goods section proclaimed:

 

AQUASPACE LIGHT Blowout!

(as the section title, then the second entry said)

* NEW 1 x 150W Mini Space light, Silver aluminum housing, External ballst, lighter and more efficient! , including AB 10,000K or 20,000K DE Bulb.. 16"x12"x3.5" : $295.00!!!

 

I thought, "Wow! This is fifty dollars less than anywhere else I've seen. I have to buy it before the price goes up." So I ordered what I believed was the aqua spacelight mini pendant. In all emails, both Anthony (from aquadesignz) and I referred to it as the aqua spacelight. When it arrived, however, it was an Ocean Light 150. The dimensions were different than the listed item, and instead of having an electronic ballast in the light fixture, it had a remote magnetic ballast. Not a light fixture of bad quality, but certainly different than what I ordered (and expected).

 

Obviously, I emailed Anthony immediately about what might have been a mixup. His reply was (quoted from the email):

"It is by the same company of Aqua Spacelight..as its AquaMedic.. the wholesalers sold them to me saying they are the same as the other except its an external ballast with fan..I thought you knew this."

Since I didn't believe it was my job to make sure he was selling the correct model, I decided to contact Aqua Medic in Colorado to inform them that someone was misrepresenting their product, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and to see how this situation might be corrected. Aqua Medic, Antohony, and I came to the conclusion that I'd pay him approximately $50 more and Aqua Medic would drop-ship me a new unit. I wasn't happy about this, but I wanted this deal to be over, and I needed the light.

 

When this new unit arrived, it was black, instead of silver, as I had specified to the Aqua Medic rep. When I called to inform them of this, the representative was quite noticeably annoyed at me for the complaint, but I just wanted to finally receive the correct item. This time, they took exactly twice as long to get the unit to me. I would have preferred to go with a different company altogether and avoid the hassle.

 

The moral to this story is: Make sure you know EXACTLY what you are getting when you order something you see on the web. Get a serial number so that you can verify the model.

 

I would like to express my opinions about everything on this matter, but I don't want to break forum rules. PM me if you would like to hear any more about these events.

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

*Moderator note: The title of this thread has been changed to "aquadesignz.com and Aqua Medic USA" Thank you Steve, for sharing your experience. Hopefully Anthony, also a NR member, will also shed some light on this situation.

[coral reef]

thanks for the info i work at a lfs and we have them for 250$

[casbarian]

I was going to buy the 250w one, about 9 months ago. They didn't have it in stock so I went through marinedepot and they did a price match of $350. $150 less than they were selling it for!

 

Fast shipping, no hassle.