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Clearview Lids/Artfully Acrylic Poor Quality/Poor CS

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Cell

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I am very disappointed in Clearview Lids/Artfully Acrylic and will never do business with them again.

4/20/22 - Ordered lid for my IM25 Lagoon with a 5 week lead time

5/27/22 - Received lid right on time. Awesome.

Except this is what I received:

Crooked mesh. When I DIY screens, I make sure the mesh is nice and straight. It really isn't that hard to accomplish. I expected a professional lid to have straight mesh.
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Worse than that though was the actual fit on the tank. The entire lid did not sit flat at all as shown in the video.



I immediately contacted customer service and my email was replied to on 5/29. I was promised a replacement lid made on an "emergent" schedule and was assured the mesh would be straight. The rep was friendly and apologetic. I shipped the lid back on 6/1/22.

Silence.

After 4 weeks, on 6/20/22 I reached out to check on my replacement lid. Clearview Lids responded the same day:

This repair section has been programmed and cut, and will be amended with a routing and beveling process tomorrow once it has been sorted. After that, your lid will be reassembled, screened and shipped.

The changes made to your lid were the recutting of the section that was bowing, and the removal of the support tabs from the center front and rear. The frame was not made wider.

Thank you for your patience while I obtained an answer.


Huh? Removing support tabs? I wrote back on 6/21 and expressed concern with the removal of support tabs and potential ramifications such as sagging over time. I said I did not want a modified, cut up version of the lid I ordered.

I guess Clearview then pivoted here and decided to recut a new lid, but leave still leave the support tabs off, as opposed to cutting them off the lid I returned. Great. Give me what I paid for. I said thanks for the explanation and eagerly awaited shipment.

6/29/22 - Still no lid so I reached out AGAIN. I pointed out this replacement lid was supposed to be made on an "emergent" schedule, yet we were a handful of days from reaching another full 5 week wait, which is the lead time for a freshly ordered lid. It seemed I went to the back of the line.

6/30/22- Clearview's response:
When your lid arrived, the shop assessed the lid, cut off the tabs and rescreened it. I told them that was not going to be to your liking. We then recut your lid once, and due to your concerns about the condition in which you would receive it, we elected to reprogram and cut it a third time, removing the tabs at the point of programming rather than cutting them off post production. The lid was scratched during cutting, so this lid is now being cut a 4th time and should ship by Friday.

I guess all these delays were my fault. Asking for straight mesh and a finished product was too much. I sent my lid back on 6/1 and expressed my concerns over the modifications on 6/21. When my lid arrived, it must have sat for several weeks. It was not immediately assessed and addressed. "Not to my liking"? "Your concerns about the condition in which you would receive it". WHAT ABOUT YOUR OWN STANDARDS?! I really disliked the tone of this email. No more friendliness or apologies.

I reached out Friday (7/1) afternoon, asking if the lid was going to be shipped as stated, but received no response until Tuesday 7/5/22 when I got the automatic shipping notice. Yay, after 10 weeks I was finally going to receive my lid.

Well, the lid arrived today....with crooked mesh.

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It bows slightly less, but now I see why they decided to remove the middle support tabs as they wouldn't come close to making contact with the aquarium as designed given the bowing of the lid. Albeit, less bowing than before, the corners actually almost make contact with the top edge of the aquarium!

I emailed CS yet again today and expressed my displeasure. The rep was actually nice and apologetic again which was refreshing. But the proposed fix was to send it back again to be rescreened. No thanks. I learned my lesson the first time. The other option given was to fix it myself. Yay.

If Clearview Lids had actually come through, I was prepared to purchase additional lids. But during the long delay for the replacement lid, I got tired of waiting and ordered a Kraken Reef lid for my Waterbox 10. I arrived 2 weeks later with nice, straight mesh and a perfect, flat fit.

Kraken Reef gets my future business. Avoid Clearview Lids/Artfully Acrylic.
 
Please read here before posting. Outside comments are not permitted per R2R's feedback forum policy. This is to allow the buyer and seller to have a streamlined conversation and hopefully come to a mutually satisfactory resolution in a negative transaction. If you would like to contribute your own feedback experience with either the buyer or seller, you may do so by creating your own feedback thread. Only the thread starter and vendor will have posting access. Thank you.
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