Vibrant Liquid Aquarium Cleaner review

[mcarroll]

On 4/14/2023 at 5:27 PM, A.m.P said:

Plus, there's the whole misrepresentation bit and their doubling-down on it at first didn't inspire great confidence.

It's useful to look at it from their point of view....

 

We already had AlgaeFix at our disposal....and it was already pretty popular.   (Wasn't a fan of that either, but that's another post.)

 

So these guys had to have "an angle" to get over on the AlgaeFix folks....and they knew we'd be suckers for the "more natural" marketing angle.  

 

And we (are) were.

 

Marketing....a necessary evil if you make a product and want folks to know about it and use it.  Some folks play it straight, but there are essentially no rules....so some folks do like Vibrant.

 

As consumers, we have caveat emptor on our side.  (Since the 1600's!!!   Not a new problem!!!)

 

Aka "YMMV".  

 

Aka "You can't believe everything you read."  

 

Aka "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."    Etc.

 

"Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear." -Poe

[A.m.P]

Caveat emptor doesn't apply to false marketing (see grifting) in court unless there were specific disclosures or agreements signed, victim blaming is unethical, and encouraging morally-bankrupt capitalism doesn't lead to progress as it's inherently regressive and anti-competition. 


Good products thrive with robust consumer protections, not the other way around.

Assuming everyone should know everything about everything they choose to buy or do is a uniquely stupid american religion meant only to free the fortunate from having to grapple with the unearned advantages or luck inherent to their position.

[seabass]

I'm no lawyer, but I believe that there are product liability and misrepresentation laws about:

• knowingly and willingly making false statements about material facts
• product misrepresentation regarding advertising, packaging, labels, or other product information available to consumers that misrepresent material facts concerning the quality or use of the product

https://legalknowledgebase.com/what-are-the-damages-for-misrepresentation

 

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/misrepresentation.asp#Conditions to Prove Misrepresentation

 

I'm not saying that there's a legal case to be made here, but it isn't simply a case of being able to say whatever you want and let the buyer beware.  But damages past the price paid for the product might be difficult to recover, and most people probably wouldn't hire a layer to try to recover $30.  Also, I'm not sure if it matters if the product actually helped control or reduce algae.  Finally, I don't know if making false claims (as a representative of the company) and providing alternate dosing recommendations (which could result in more collateral damage) on a public forum increases liability.

[Murphs_Reef]

Ah man I remember when nanoreef used to be this engaging...loved this thread