My new Vortech bit the dust (photos added!)

[Unarce]

Hmmm...power cables in the tank...or...giant headphones on each end?

:lol:

 

[Anonymous]

That, or go with Tunze.

Oh, and Tunze will make you send the entire pump back prior to anything happening. With the pics sent in, EcoTech most likely won't require the defective part sent back. His turn around will be much faster with ET due to this.

The piece of mind is worth the extra money. Now I am afraid that when I go on vacation that there will be a problem with the pumps. I didn't clean my tunze for almost two years. I have had it for about 5 years now and the only thing I did was change the impeller and I cracked the strainer(due to my own negligence). I have 2 Vortechs and one has been serviced 3 times for failure/seperating. The second is 6 months old and I have not had a problem yet.....yet.

Five years is the kind of use I would expect to get out of a piece of equipment that cost several hundred dollars. Not three weeks. At three weeks I expect a 'no questions asked' customer service policy on all such purchased new equipment, and I expect them to send out a replacement unit first and pay to take the broken unit back once the customer has the replacement in their hands.

Perhaps I expect a lot, but that's why my customers never left unhappy.

 

[Anonymous]

There are bagillions of people that are happy with their vortechs, don't forget about them.
I hated, hated just about everything about my Tunzes. The customer service was fine, but you had to send them everything before they would even talk to you about it. I had to clean the Tunze ever freaking month - I usually knew I had to clean it because that alarm would go off in the middle of the night.
My vortechs have been pretty much perfect out of the box - there are 4 at home and 4 at work... only one problem after a year - I had a magnet on a wet side split, but I did buy some extra wet sides because after being in the hobby for a long time I know things break and its better to have it on hand than to have to wait for it to arrive in the mail.

Anytime you go on vacation anything can fail. You got a bad wet side and I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Anonymous]

Five years is the kind of use I would expect to get out of a piece of equipment that cost several hundred dollars. Not three weeks. At three weeks I expect a 'no questions asked' customer service policy on all such purchased new equipment, and I expect them to send out a replacement unit first and pay to take the broken unit back once the customer has the replacement in their hands.

Silly. Can you name any reef company that does that? I am hard pressed to think of any company that sends out replacements no questions asked in any industry.

Things break. Its being replaced, and being replaced quickly - quicker than many other companies would replace it.

Even more importantly, any company in this industry is not huge and can't afford to be sending out stuff no questions asked because soon they will have no more stuff. People have tried to blame ecotech a bunch for what is operator error or something like a snail getting inside the wet side and we can hardly blame them for wanting to cover their end before sending stuff out.

 

[Anonymous]

When it's essentially brand new? It doesn't matter what the product is, doesn't matter the industry, whatever it is should last longer than three weeks unless it's a meal.

 

[Anonymous]

When it's essentially brand new? It doesn't matter what the product is, doesn't matter the industry, whatever it is should last longer than three weeks unless it's a meal.

Is this in Marina fantasy world or can you name some companies that actually do this?

The closest I come is Costco, but you are paying for that privilege. Home Depot too..but it seems like comparing Ecotech to Mega companies in this respect doesn't make much sense.

 

[Anonymous]

Last I worked retail that was our policy, not my personal policy. Bombay Company.

 

[Anonymous]

Last I worked retail that was our policy, not my personal policy. Bombay Company.

So someone comes in says "my stuff broke" you just give them a new one without looking at it?

 

[Anonymous]

There are some large chains that do accept returns no questions asked, but I don't think comparing them to a small manufacturer makes much sense. No one in this industry takes returns no questions asked, and Ecotechs customer service is much better than most.

 

[Anonymous]

I have no problem sending pics and Ecotech has sent me replacement parts with return shipping for the broken half. I am just saddened with the fact that the wet halves keep breaking.

Tunze has awesome customer service as well. I have dealt with Roger from Tunze USA and he is very knowledgeable. He sold me a replacement strainer that was used for less than half the price of a new one. He also sold me a new impeller at a good price and a new collar that was needed with the new impeller, for free. They also have a BB on another site to help troubleshoot.

The customer service for both companies are unmatched. My expierience with both products gives Tunze the edge with reliability.

 

[Anonymous]

Last I worked retail that was our policy, not my personal policy. Bombay Company.

So someone comes in says "my stuff broke" you just give them a new one without looking at it?

If I were a store or business owner, especially at this particular juncture in time, especially in this expendable trade, and I had a customer who dropped four C-notes on a single device that broke less than a month later, I'd be SCRAMBLING to undo the damage to my reputation. He provided photos, which were good quality. If he paid with a credit card then what I would do is send out a new part or replacement unit with the understanding that if he does not send the broken part or unit back within a certain period of time (agree beforehand on this period of time, write it down and fax each other sigs, for clarity, too), then his credit card will be charged accordingly. I would eat all shipping, to make the customer eat any of it within this period of time is unreasonable. The customer should remain whole, and my goal is to maintain the highest possible customer satisfaction. If the product isn't going to be reliable (and with reef tanks in particular there is a very real need for such reliability) then customer service is all that's left.

I have high standards, I practice, and always have practiced, those same high standards whenever I'm offering my own product or service. And those high standards are why people consistently seek my product or service long after it's no longer offered.

There are some large chains that do accept returns no questions asked, but I don't think comparing them to a small manufacturer makes much sense. No one in this industry takes returns no questions asked, and Ecotechs customer service is much better than most.

I am an individual, not a large chain, and I have outlined exactly how I would have handled this transaction. It is not justification to simply say that others don't do it this way, not in my book, not in my world. You can attempt to denigrate me all you wish by calling it a fantasy world, but in the real world my standards and practices work, and they work very well.

 

[Anonymous]

People have balked at simply sending more photos but you think that they will happily send their credit card information (realize that almost no units are sold by Ecotech directly) and fax their signature agreeing to be charged if they don't send stuff back in time with all before they are sent a replacement or replacement parts? You don't think that would have amazing blow back? How about when the person doesn't send back the item like they said they would and gets charged? I see amazing blowback in that situation.

In the real world almost no one does what you say you used to offer, and most places charge you an extended warranty to get such service. Is that a justification for not doing it? Nope. It is however illustrative of the way retail works - companies that don't protect themselves often get taken advantage of and go out of business.

 

[Anonymous]

Haven't worked much retail or your own businesses, have you? :roll:

If you think it's reasonable that an expensive piece of equipment broke in less than a month, then continue to support the company that produces said product. I will not, would not, and would not operate in such a manner. Such a simple concept.

You seem to have misread my other qualifiers (like assuming that said customer paid with a credit card already, which would mean that the company in question already has their information) as well.

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Haven't worked much retail or your own businesses, have you? :roll:

If you think it's reasonable that an expensive piece of equipment broke in less than a month, then continue to support the company that produces said product. I will not, would not, and would not operate in such a manner. Such a simple concept.

You seem to have misread my other qualifiers (like assuming that said customer paid with a credit card already, which would mean that the company in question already has their information) as well.

Pretty sure he's spent a rather long amount of time in retail Marina as have I. I come from a small business family and ahve worked retail for 20 some odd years. I wouldn't, and don't, send anything with out covering all the bases first. Way too many honester people out there and it ruins it for the rest of us.

While it's not reasonable for a new product to break down in a month, is it reasonable for a company to send out a $400 pump with out checking all the facts first? Do you know how many times they probably got burned prior to doing this? Just why do you think Tunze and nearly all other companies to have the product on hand before sending out a replacement? The only thing EcoTech wanted was a full picture array of the pumps parts. The down time for this compared to sending a pump first could be days compared to weeks. Is that so hard to understand?

 

[Anonymous]

New wet side has arrived and is up and running! 8)

 

[leftovers]

Haven't worked much retail or your own businesses, have you? :roll:

If you think it's reasonable that an expensive piece of equipment broke in less than a month, then continue to support the company that produces said product. I will not, would not, and would not operate in such a manner. Such a simple concept.

You seem to have misread my other qualifiers (like assuming that said customer paid with a credit card already, which would mean that the company in question already has their information) as well.

No, he never said it was acceptable but there are always two sides to every story, the customer is not always right nor do they tell the truth. I have worked in customer service and people will sell their souls to tell you absolute BS because they just broke their expensive product being stupid.

Its not a simple concept. Its a delicate balance between trying to make money and provide high quality products and customer service (especially in a niche market and small business like Eco Tech is in) and hold your customers accountable for being stupid, lying or both.

Also smaller companies in my experience have better service for their unique products because they know what breaks regularly and how and usually why. They have intimate knowledge of their various products. Large companies, not so much, many would rather replace and write off than deal with you.


Providing customer service that meets the needs of 100% of you customers is never going to happen. In this particular case I have yet to see what Eco Tech hasn't done to work with the customer to satisfy the claims.

They want full details to validate the voracity of the claim, and as I see it, that is their right, regardless of how the product was purchased or how expensive or inexpensive the product is.