Have you ever been scammed or felt cheated?

MombasaLionfish · Mar 13, 2019

Thanks for all the advice I'm new to the hobby.

Nano1908 · Mar 13, 2019

I just bought some rare coral. I think he called it green bamboozle. He continued to say it's super easy to keep. It's been over a year and it's still vibrant! No fading!
Sorry, had to.

Honestly saw my daughter's little scrunchie & immediately saw a coral! Lol. My tank isn't even running yet! I got it bad! Lol.

Feet4Fish · Mar 13, 2019

FISHBIT

road_runner · Mar 13, 2019

RicksReefs · Mar 13, 2019

I got scammed by a friend in the hobby.

I bought a radion from him he said give me some cash and then jus pay a guy for me done deal. Honestly I didnt do any math bc I just trusted my friend. I realized about 10 mins after leaving with the light I overpaid by 100$. I called him and said I needed the 100$ back and explained I overpaid. He said he didnt have the money any more but would get me back. I knew this was a loss but I wasnt going to go to jail over it. In my younger days I would have gone and collected on sight. I cut him off.

Sometimes it's a cheap price to pay to get rid of dead weight.

EmptyWallet · Mar 13, 2019

I bought an eheim heater from an Australian online retailer (a big one), it was 'stuck on', paid return postage then they never sent me a replacement and ignored my emails and calls for months etc. I bought another one on eBay, same issue, only to learn that the eBay retailer of a different name was the same as the online retailer the scammed me on the first instance (same address). I then went through my eBay purchase history and discovered purchases from different eBay sellers all had the same physicaly address. Multiple eBay accounts to 'load balance' the negative feedback I presume.

Infuriating stuff and the inner critic in me suspects they are intentionally selling faulty / returned equipment - Boooo, as what are the odds of 2x faulty eheims and if reputable why have many different trading names and sites

Reefertweeker · Mar 13, 2019

What's the point in all this chitchat if a vendor or anyone else is ripping people off we need to call them out and do our part to put a stop to it in our hobby or there's no point in discussing it.

DarthSimon · Mar 13, 2019

Yes, I bought a Green Mushroom from a LFS that was sold to me as lineage frag from a bounce mushroom, and it never bounced....

Darkhorse · Mar 13, 2019

I think people in the industry brainwashed pulsing xenia..Every time I take them home they stop pulsing... Can we stop with the brainwashing please.

Darkhorse · Mar 13, 2019

I think people in the industry brainwashed pulsing Xenia..Every time I take them home they stop pulsing..Can we stop with brainwashing please.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 13, 2019

Darkhorse said:
I think people in the industry brainwashed pulsing xenia..Every time I take them home they stop pulsing... Can we stop with the brainwashing please.

Turn on some music. Bet they'll do " The Twist " !!

ewauk · Mar 13, 2019

Every time I see the gallons a skimmer is rated for...I remember the first one I bought. Just a general scamming for a lot of new reefers. imo

AnemoneBay · Mar 13, 2019

At keep on reefing, this piece of trash vendor sold me an exploded heater, a broken pump, and a dead light. I’m going to scream at him this year when I see him. $80 wasted.

adam finley · Mar 13, 2019

Huff747 said:
Owned a Kessil H150 Magenta Fuge light on first tank. Purchased a used Kessil H150 Magenta Fuge light for 2nd tank. The used one I got says it's Magenta but the color it puts out is red. Really think somebody may have switched the guts or something in the LEDs was blown out.

Hard to tell from the picture but in person they are very different colors despite being labeled as the same.

Nope we can definitely tell from the picture lol.

road_runner · Mar 13, 2019

ewauk said:
Every time I see the gallons a skimmer is rated for...I remember the first one I bought. Just a general scamming for a lot of new reefers. imo

Not the case with ligit ones like bubble king. They will beg you not to oversize.

adam finley · Mar 13, 2019

justmee said:
I got scammed trying selling a 72 gallon Oceanic bow front aquarium a couple years ago. The guy told me if we could load it on to his car to see if it'll fit, then he got in to his car and gave me some fake bills and stomped on the gas and hauled out of there like the road runner... Don't trust in anybody.

I chuckled a little as well. I feel bad for you but that guy is clearly a well seasoned piece of trash.

Elgringodiablo · Mar 13, 2019

A couple years ago I dealt with some really flakey guys in upstate NY on a $100 lightning maroon clown pair pre-sale (back when those were still pricey), on here of all places (they were a sponsor for a while). Sent the money and they kept making excuses when I asked for shipping updates. After about a month I demanded my money back and counted myself fortunate to get refunded.

A few months ago I read on a FB group that those same guys had an extensive track record for being flakey and not delivering, and were basically run out of the business by negative reviews and chargebacks. Lesson learned, don't participate in pre-sales... If the seller is doing a pre-sale they probably can't afford to buy the product and will leave you hanging if the supplier doesn't deliver.

Similar story, a friend of a friend sent tens of thousands of dollars by wire overseas for a couple hundred ecclectus mushrooms. He had people pre-buying at the promise of bargain prices. Meanwhile the seller overseas starts asking for more money... Months later nothing has been delivered and buyers are calling their credit card companies to get refunds. The second I heard the story I said to my friend "sounds like a scam to me"...

While there are a lot of great people in the industry, there are also some shady operators. Always use normal PayPal (not F&F), don't buy things you haven't seen, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...

Cujo#31 · Mar 13, 2019

Over the years I have been very lucky. As many have said, for the most part reefers are good people as a whole. But I’m sure my day is coming, too many snakes in the grass, too many opportunities, and the cash count can get high quickly, especially if dealing with high end hardware and livestock.
If buying from an online vendor, put out a thread requesting people’s experiences with them, but have respondents reply by PM to get more honest responses and details. Most people won’t publicly drag a name through the mud because the circle is really small. If the vendor is top shelf you will have a ton of positive public responses
The most valuable thing anyone can do is get to know as many reputable members as possible. Then if you shop “outside the circle” ask your trusted sources if they know “this guy”. If they are unknown within your circle, best to not buy.
Another way is to post “looking for “X” coral”. You generally get tons of hints and suggestions, and you can vett out the sources.

AquaDaddy · Mar 13, 2019

I don't know if these qualify as scams, but I've had a couple instances of seemed like shady business, all from folks on here selling hardware. On two separate occasions, I've been asked to pay shipping and paypal fees, or to purchase as a "friend" to which I had to even ask what the difference was and he said he'd have to charge more if I didn't use the friend. I've also purchased a couple items where I felt like the owners really misrepresented the gear. For example, they talk about knowing the history of the item, but clearly don''t and one instance didn't even know how to use the product. So, honestly, I've very gun-shy now about purchasing used gear on here. People are often asking almost as much as new so while I won't stop purchasing used, I'm more adpt to purchase new because of these experiences. Again, goes to another comment about feeling like you should or can trust someone because they're in the hobby too.