Any luck buying open box from BRS?

Andrew Schubert · Feb 19, 2019

So I purchased a UV Sterilizer from BRS back in November of this year. The item was supposedly an A grade. Upon installing it, I noticed right away the Sterilizer had a leak. Upon contacting BRS they gave me a 50% discount. Great! Got a $500 sterilizer for $150 when it was all said in done.

However, I just purchased a Syncra Silent 2.0 Pump and SW-200 ClearWater Algae Scrubber. They were both also grade A open box items. After inspecting them today, they are both damaged as well. The Algae Scrubber has very cheap plastic bolts that hold the lights on and they were broken off. Therefore, no way to mount the lights. Also, both of the two couplers of the algae scrubber were missing their washers.

As for the pump, it won't even turn on at all. So I am now o-for-3 getting functioning grade 'A' open box items from BRS.

Just wondering what luck others have had buying open box from them, because my luck has been horrible so far. ???

DLHDesign · Feb 19, 2019

I've bought plenty from their OB list. As expected, none of the items were in their original packaging, so they were more susceptible to damage in shipping than normal - though BRS packers made every effort to protect them.

I'm sorry you've had such bad luck. I'm sure BRS will take care of you given their track record, but I can imagine how frustrating it feels for you.

Andrew Schubert · Feb 19, 2019

DLHDesign said:
I've bought plenty from their OB list. As expected, none of the items were in their original packaging, so they were more susceptible to damage in shipping than normal - though BRS packers made every effort to protect them.

I'm sorry you've had such bad luck. I'm sure BRS will take care of you given their track record, but I can imagine how frustrating it feels for you.

Yeah, like I said with the sterilizer, I was expecting them to send a replacement but instead took an extra 50% off. So I saved another 150, and all it needed was some silicone. But still, makes you wonder who is testing this stuff. Makes you question if they really r or not?

Josh@ClearWaterScrubbers · Feb 19, 2019

Andrew Schubert said:
So I purchased a UV Sterilizer from BRS back in November of this year. The item was supposedly an A grade. Upon installing it, I noticed right away the Sterilizer had a leak. Upon contacting BRS they gave me a 50% discount. Great! Got a $500 sterilizer for $150 when it was all said in done.

However, I just purchased a Syncra Silent 2.0 Pump and SW-200 ClearWater Algae Scrubber. They were both also grade A open box items. After inspecting them today, they are both damaged as well. The Algae Scrubber has very cheap plastic bolts that hold the lights on and they were broken off. Therefore, no way to mount the lights. Also, both of the two couplers of the algae scrubber were missing their washers.

As for the pump, it won't even turn on at all. So I am now o-for-3 getting functioning grade 'A' open box items from BRS.

Just wondering what luck others have had buying open box from them, because my luck has been horrible so far. ???

We can send you replacement bolts. Just Pm me your address and we will get them sent out. What washers were missing?

DLHDesign · Feb 19, 2019

I think they give it a look - it's not just turned around and resold. But I don't think they give it a full testing or anything of the sort. These kinds of products fall into the "buyer beware" category.

I used to work in retail - I was the inventory manager for a computer store. The store was a certified repair shop for a major brand. We would get returns and such, and would either give a full refund (in the case of new sales) or else a partial one (in the case of damaged units). Often these refunds were based on the profit made from the sale of the item. If we could justify refunding only the material cost (and not our profit), we would. I consider myself an ethical person and this didn't bother me - the store had laid out costs to inventory and sell the unit (storage, manpower, etc.), so we were entitled to our profits from the sale if it was made in good faith (and we made every effort to match buyer with product). So we walked to edge of taking care of our customers while also staying in business. It's not a wide edge in computers, and I don't suspect that aquarium supplies are any different...
Anyways; point is that the "open box" stuff we were selling was already a loss for the shop before we resold it. By the time we restored the box to factory settings, repackaged it, re-introduced it to inventory (with all the tax and such ramifications therein), and got it back onto the shelf (shelf-space that could have been used for new product instead), there was no profit in the items. Since sales reps made their commissions based on profit, they had no incentive to sell that stuff. In the end, it fell to me to sell it, since I was the one that wanted it gone so that I could bring in the inventory I wanted to have...

Sorry; going off on a lot of tangents here. ;-) Basically what I'm trying to say is that these "open box" items are likely given only a cursory inspection to ensure they aren't totally trashed. They might be plugged in if that's easy to do (lights and such are easy to check), but they might not be (pumps would need to be plumbed in somewhere - which could reduce their value even further). I'd be surprised if anything below ~$500 was given more than 10 minutes of inspection and testing before being put on the shelf to be sold as an open-box item. That's better than nothing, but a far cry from the efforts manufacturers put into ensuring the quality of their new gear. And once you consider that the open box item has been shipped, opened, played with, repacked, re-shipped, opened, tested, repackaged, shipped again - and then finally opened by you (to be again tested and used)... well; that's a lot of points where something can go wrong.