eco-complete very coarse

[Gad]

Well nothing showed up..........AGAIN. Jud told me last week it was shipping 2nd day and would be here Monday. I kind of figured it probably wouldn't show when no tracking number was given.



Anybody else think a month is too long to wait?

Search: Caribsea, Eco-complete

[ColeMan]

I think they deserve a phone call, at the very least inquiring about a tracking number.

[lauraleellbp]

Has anyone straight out asked for a refund yet?

[Gad]

Originally Posted by ColeMan

I think they deserve a phone call, at the very least inquiring about a tracking number.

How many more times do you think I should call?

[ColeMan]

I'd call him until i got a straight answer, over and over again!

"Jud, I've been patient, I've done everything you guys asked as far as getting the product back, etc., and you keep telling me it's going to ship out and I don't even have a tracking number. If it's too much trouble, fine, just refund my money and we'll be good to go....If you're actually going to send it back then do it and give me a tracking number!"

I worked for a newspaper for a long time and still have a press pass; Ever since this thread got started I've wanted to call CaribSea and really drill them on what the problem is, how it got past quality control, how many customers were affected, etc. I've seen so many hobbyists burned by CaribSea now it's just not right; granted they're trying to make good, though so far it seems as thought they're not doing too good of a job. It's frustrating for me, and I don't even have any damn ecocomplete!

[Gad]

Originally Posted by ColeMan

I'd call him until i got a straight answer, over and over again!

"Jud, I've been patient, I've done everything you guys asked as far as getting the product back, etc., and you keep telling me it's going to ship out and I don't even have a tracking number. If it's too much trouble, fine, just refund my money and we'll be good to go....If you're actually going to send it back then do it and give me a tracking number!"

I worked for a newspaper for a long time and still have a press pass; Ever since this thread got started I've wanted to call CaribSea and really drill them on what the problem is, how it got past quality control, how many customers were affected, etc. I've seen so many hobbyists burned by CaribSea now it's just not right; granted they're trying to make good, though so far it seems as thought they're not doing too good of a job. It's frustrating for me, and I don't even have any damn ecocomplete!

Been there, done that. Jud got pretty defensive just for emailing him every day. "But you've been eailing me every day". I told him yes, becuase I'm getting no answers. I also left messages with other extensions at Caribsea and not so much as a reply. I'm going to request a refund, they have my receipts. I'm just getting tired of having to hunt them down. Its rediculous.

As an owner of two businesses I can tell you from experience the absolute worst thing you can do to a customer is ignore them.

[Gad]

Who sells a good black substrate?

Caribsea Eco-Complete. Not recommended.

[Luis138]

Not to offend you, just wondering. Have you been polite and nice when you e-mail them or call them? The reason I ask is because it just took an e-mail from me and in less than 5 minutes he replied asking for my receipt. I sent it and in about one week I received two bags. Now my receipt was for three, I contacted him, he apologized and is sending a third bag.

You attract more bees with honey. If you have been polite and courteous then please ignore my post, I am just wondering.

Luis

[Gad]

Originally Posted by Luis138

Not to offend you, just wondering. Have you been polite and nice when you e-mail them or call them? The reason I ask is because it just took an e-mail from me and in less than 5 minutes he replied asking for my receipt. I sent it and in about one week I received two bags. Now my receipt was for three, I contacted him, he apologized and is sending a third bag.

You attract more bees with honey. If you have been polite and courteous then please ignore my post, I am just wondering.

Luis

Not so much as a sarcastic comment, threat, or raised voice. In fact when I called Jud he was the one with the attitude. He's upset about the whole deal. But that's not my problem. I'm not to blame for their quality control problem. All I want is the product I paid for or my money back.

At this point I should be calling and letting them no my feeling about this whole deal, but I'm going to give them another chance. This is B.S.

[ColeMan]

Nice work holding your tongue, gad...I'd be furious. Besides it being a really poor way to conduct business, that dirt isn't cheap!!

responding to a crisis (or in this case a simple quality control issue) says a lot about a company and their motives...

[Gad]

Originally Posted by ColeMan

Nice work holding your tongue, gad...I'd be furious. Besides it being a really poor way to conduct business, that dirt isn't cheap!!

responding to a crisis (or in this case a simple quality control issue) says a lot about a company and their motives...

I agree. When I first contacted Jud he was very professional and replied right away. Then after a couple of weeks the excuses and finger pointing started. Then he stopped replying and didn't return my phone messages. When I called again and got him he really acted like he was very uncomfortable by me contacting him. Said I was contacting him every day.

What am I supposed to do when I'm being ignored? Don't answer that Coleman. I'm saving you for when I start the www.caribseasucks.com website and forum.

They don't have anybody anwering the phone. I think the company is like 5 people.

[Gad]

Just spoke with Betsy at Caribsea. She replied within minutes of my emailing everyone on their website with an email address and insured me that she was personally packing 3 bags for me today. That they have been having phone and email issues as well as their crew being spread out. Three weeks.

She stated they hit a vain of bad substrate in the mine they were getting this from. They caught the problem before it got too wide spread.

Is anybody using this and having PH issues? Might want to check due to calcium carbonate possibly being in your substrate.

The nighmare continues.

[ColeMan]

So i did some investigative work...I called CaribSea. I talked to Jud. I told him that I was considering purchasing some EcoComplete for a tank but was concerned about the consistency in regards to color. He told me that the only way he could ensure I got black product was to inquire with the vendor selling the product. He continued to explain that "nothing was wrong" with the product, only the coloration is off. This, he said, was due to the fact that they began using a different source which initially looked fine but upon closer inspection revealed (what I will call) the defect. He noted that since most customers did not take the extra step to inquire as to the exact color of the substrate like myself (i don't know why anyone would do this, considering every source agrees that it should be black, including the picture on the CaribSea website), they're pissed because it's taking over a month to get a proper product shipped back to them.

I'm sure you knew most of this. But I had to hear it firsthand. He seems pretty adamant about replacing dissatisfied customer's product, but fell short of telling me that if I did end up getting a bad batch he would fix the problem; like I said, he laid most of the blame on the vendors for selling it.

He also mentioned that Aqua-medic just released a substrate that looked "identical" to the bad--i mean, mixed-color, yeah--substrate they are selling. I assume he's talking about vulcanit? In my opinion, he tried to minimize the problem, at least from the standpoint that CaribSea was not at fault.

I'm sure you know all this...but I just couldn't resist. I haven't written for the newspaper for a while, so this was a fun chance to do a bit of off-the-cuff investigative reporting!!

Good luck...I suspect you may need it!

[lauraleellbp]

It was a pH/TDS issues on a few other forums that originally caught my attention; the color is only an aesthetic thing but I was planning a discus tank so didn't need that. Eco commonly raises and buffers pH and hardness a bit, but I was hearing reports of pH going up to 8.0! (which is what made me think they got the planted tank stuff mixed with their cichlid substrate... who knows...)

Don't want to rub it in anyone's face, but I really like my black Fluorite...

[ColeMan]

LIke I said, Jud was pretty adamant that the "bad" eco is just the same as the black, "good" eco, and that the only difference was the color...