My not so good experience with Building An Obsession

[Thrassian Atoll]

Building An Obsession is an online retailer for many different acrylic things in the reefing hobby.  One of those things is custom frag racks.  I didn’t know too much about the company but somehow found them during my search for a large frag rack for my lowboy frag tank that is 48x24x10. 
 

I initially located the company on Facebook and messaged them about building a frag rack.  They responded with please email them.  So I sent an email.  I got a quick response and they said they could build me whatever I wanted.  
 

I asked a ton of questions because custom racks doesn’t look like something they do a ton of on their page, just looking at the photos and what not.  The owner was very helpful and fast to respond with an answer to all of my questions.  I told him for sure I wanted the overall dimensions to be 46x22.  These racks are also split in half and mirrored.  I didn’t have my overflow on hand yet to figure what size I needed the top center cutout to be for that until a couple of days later.  I got my overflow from Exotic Marine Systems, which looks awesome by the way.  Measuring the overflow I knew I wanted the rack to have the cutout be 20x2” top center of the rack.  
 

I emailed the owner, which at this point was multiple back and forth emails about the rack.  I told him the dimensions.  20x2 top center cutout for the overflow with the 46x22 total.  He replied with an email response stating great, I will send the invoice tomorrow.  The next day the PayPal payment request pops up.  $285.  Pretty pricey but they look like quality racks.  On the invoice it has weird wording about the rack being mirrored, because it’s split down the middle.  The overflow says 10x2.   Well, mirrored 10x2 is 20x2 or so I thought.

I never received another email from him after I paid.  He never once reverified the dimensions or sent me any emails.  He didn’t ask me anything.  I just assumed we were good on what I asked for.  
 

Yesterday I got the rack.  Pretty quick turnaround after 2 weeks since I ordered it.  I was really excited to get it open and see what I had.  It looks amazing!  This thing looks great.  Something is weird though.  The cutout for the overflow looks funny.  Oh dang, what happened?  I get out my tape measure because the overflow cutout didn’t look right at all.  I put it on there and measure.  12x3 inches.  That’s not right at all.  There must be a mistake.  What happened?  Did I get the wrong rack?  The overall dimensions are exactly what I asked for at 46x22.  
 

I emailed the owner and showed him photos of the dimensions and told him that the rack cutout isn’t what I asked for and I wasn’t sure what happened on their end.  I figured the dimensions got mixed up and he would take care of it right away.  That’s where I was completely wrong.  The owner emailed me back and said that it was to the correct dimensions on the invoice and that he sent a diagram of the rack to review before I paid.  I never got an email with the diagram of the rack.  He said he would make the length 20 inches if I mailed it back to him and he gave me the address.  
 

After the email I pondered, so he wants me to pay the $35$ in shipping to fix his mistake? Also, 12x3 isn’t even close to what I asked for.  In my head, by him telling me the invoice says what they cutout and that he emailed me a diagram of the rack, that somehow this was my fault.  

I emailed him back explaining that I clearly stated 20x2 for the cutout and once again he reiterated that they cut it based on the invoice and that if I mail it back he will cut out the rack to 20 inches.  Again, he didn’t offer to pay for the shipping cost.  He just told me to mail it back.  Now how would this rack look if he just cuts it to 20 inches?  Will the hole alignment be weird?  What about the extra inch they cut for the depth?  It was suppose to be 2 inches and not 3?  
 

At this point I am getting angry.  He hasn’t once owned up to his mistake.  Not once has he said he would pay to ship it back.  Not once has he apologized and offered to give me a partial refund or to make a new rack.  The dimensions on the invoice is worded strange because it says mirrored, and on top of that even if it they were suppose to cut it to the 10x2 only on the invoice, it’s 12x3.  That’s not even close.  So I sent a really long email explaining all of this.  
 

He responds with that he never said he wouldn’t pay to ship it back.  Well, from his intent of not offering that option, he didn’t offer to pay for it.  He told me twice to send it back without offering to pay for shipping.  He then goes on to say that customer design choice and what they make doesn’t always align.  What does that even mean?!  If you say you are able to make something exactly as the customer wants as he did, why would any of the dimensions be different.  Never once did he acknowledge that 12x3 wasn’t even close to what the invoice even said.  He never once apologized and owned up the mistake between him and his company.   
 

He attached a return label but didn’t say he would cut a new rack.  Here is his final paragraph....

 

Attached is a return label.  Please carefully repack the rack and use the return label to ship the rack back to us.  We will refund your purchase in full once it is received and inspected for damage.  Please note that carrier damage will result in the delay of your refund, so please repack the racks well.

 

Well, I said some few choice words and will not be shipping it back.  I need a frag rack.  It should slide under the overflow hopefully or I will cut it myself.  I guess after seeing their mistake of not cutting the rack to my dimensions that I specified, the owner would of apologized and told me that it was their mistake and that he would make this right for me.  Instead, he didn’t apologize, he shifted the blame to me and in the end didn’t want to make it right with his money, he would kind of make it better by cutting the rack up instead of making a new one.

 

 

 

 

[fishez4alivin]

I bet a local plastics company could router that so the rack can fit against the back wall.  If they router that across opening that cut out to 20" you may have an inch gap from being flush against the overflow, but it will be a lot easier to lift the racks out with more wiggle room.  Of you don't want the gap, see if the original builder would made a plate that can fit in that gap, just glue two tabs on each section and you can have a full rack, with the removable section when you need to lift the thing out to do maintenance.  Looks like the guy didn't program the cnc to spec, nice work though, sweetest one I've seen.

[Thrassian Atoll]

The bridge is definitely burned to an ash pile between me and the company.  It’s definitely a nice rack.  Quality looks great.  I still have not removed the brown paper from it yet.  
 

It’s a double layered rack with the rubber or whatever it is in between the layers to hold the plugs.  I would probably have to take it apart to cut it.  Not sure the route I am going to go with it yet.  My guess it will probably slide under the overflow, but taking it out for anything will be a pain in the butt especially when there’s a ton of frags on there.  I should have my tank drilled and overflow on it this weekend.  I will contemplate how I want to go about the rack after that. 

[fishez4alivin]

might be easier to cut down the overflow an inch and weld a new bottom for it.  it looks incredible with the paper on....frags that don't wiggle grow faster

[Thrassian Atoll]

Had a local hobbyist laser cut the overflow bigger and also decided to split the rack up into 4 pieces instead of 2.  Turned out really nice.  
 

[fishez4alivin]

The letters and numbers engraved into the plastic is a very nice touch....making it come apart will be a lot easier to handle when you need to access under that rack.  That looks really sweet.

[Thrassian Atoll]

2 minutes ago, fishez4alivin said:

The letters and numbers engraved into the plastic is a very nice touch....making it come apart will be a lot easier to handle when you need to access under that rack.  That looks really sweet.

Thanks!  I thought having the numbers and letters would make categorization a ton easier when the tank starts to fill up.  I am guessing it will get covered up in coraline at some point but figured it’s worth a try.  The guy who recut the rack was wanting to add more holes and letters down the middle but I that would of been a lot more work and money.  

[fishez4alivin]

You'd be surprised how long you'll be able to see those letters and numbers.  Ever seen those importers who have tags on the colonies?  I think it's going to be real helpful when you sell and need to document frags.