Why Have Warranties???

[hawkerw]

I swear these days why have warranties? With the cost of shipping and the hassle involved makes it almost not worth the trouble. I mean shipping a heater with broken glass (Oscars love to see how fast they can do this) or in this case a airpump there has got to be a way to make life less stressful, It 's amazing anyone lives past 30 these days. I know companies cannot afford to give away product but if the item is defective should the cost not fall on them to pay shipping? There I've vented I feel much better.

[~firefly~]

I agree. I recently looked into a cannister filter warranty that had a broken part inside it (couldn't get to it) but apparently that's "not covered" - WHAT? WHY?

I give up with them. The best thing is to buy from an independent store that looks after its customers. That is worth well above any warranty.

[hawkerw]

Oh Yeah your suppose to read all the fine print. I may be wrong but someone mentioned hagen only covers to pump motors on filters? The shipping cost are just crazy, I live in a place where the nearest decent fish store is 100 miles away each way so I have to mail order allot. I keep two backups for almost everything.

[talldutchie]

Speaking about warranties.. what always amazes me is that the exact save device/whatever has different warranties around the world. Most insane example I've ever seen is Nikon binoculairs. Over here you get the legal minimum which is 2 years now. In the states the exact same pair comes with 10, 25 or even lifetime guarantee!

[Lady Hobbs]

I have had Marineland replace heaters in the past with a simple email and a photo of the receipt or numbers off the heater. One time they just sent me a replacement. The second time they asked for the heater, which I did not send to them. So many people run a scam that I suppose they wanted some proof but what they pay for these heaters, it's only good business for them. If we pay $30, it probably cost them $2.

Glass heaters would never work with large bodied fish.

[~firefly~]

Glass heaters would never work with large bodied fish.

I wasn't aware of this (good job I don't have oscars!) - what do you use for a heater instead of the classic ones? In-line heaters?

[hawkerw]

It's also funny how the Customer Service can differ from one company to the next.

Lady Hobbs I to have had good service from Marineland. On the other end many times its the agent on the line some know the products and are familiar with its common issues allot of times they do not even know what a aquarium filter does? You know a short while back I dealt with a company who just had you cut the cord and send reciept. And yes I am finding out glass heaters and Oscars do not mix. It seems they think everything is a toy they are very smart.

Talldutchie your point makes you wonder if its a middleman or the manufacture themselves. Why should the same product be different because of location (with exception of local laws). Of course there's always the most important thing Profit!! I was born and grew up in a time when a company made there product based on pride. To me it isn't right that a company can pick up and ship it's entire manufacturing to a country where they can pay the labor $1.00 a hour. I read recently a company for which I do not own a product but have great respect for Eheim has moved allot of it manufacturing. I am not saying that these countries can't make good products. To me it's kinda sad, Germany is one country who I feel has just made awesome products with there great attention to quality. Not that they may not go on to produce good products in there new location but it's kind of the fact it was a German product you paid and hopefully got the service for. Most older Eheim owners will tell of never even having to use there support. And this is just a example there are so many others. Do you know I don't think there is one filter made in the US anymore I have heard Fluval is still in Italy. The days of purchasing a product because of the stigma of where it built are gone.

[CrunchyLeaf]

I work customer service for an awesome company that pays shipping both ways and always takes returns or exchanges with no questions asked. It's a breath of fresh air and my customers love me, but it makes it super frustrating when I then have to turn around and call a company for something I'm personally having problems with and I get the runaround from them.

[mrramsey]

The aqueon pro heaters are all aluminum, no glass to break. I just bought one for my 72g project, it was only a few bucks more that the standard glass ones. My experience with returns for online purchases has been pretty good for the most part. I find that if you call you can usually manage to have the return shipping waived.

[hawkerw]

I work customer service for an awesome company that pays shipping both ways and always takes returns or exchanges with no questions asked. It's a breath of fresh air and my customers love me, but it makes it super frustrating when I then have to turn around and call a company for something I'm personally having problems with and I get the runaround from them.

Have you ever noticed it seems many times the more popular the product is affects it Customer Service Level? I too spent many years in Customer Service/Quality and I go nuts when I get terrible CS. You know these days many of the reps don't even work for the company you are calling? So many times they are just reading from a script on there computer. If you ask them one question that’s not in the script they completely loose it. These days you can tell when the rep knows less about the product then yourself pretty fast. Also many times I'm not one of the lucky ones who speaks 5 different languages so often I have a difficult time with accents.