Replacing failed Red Sea Reefer 350 with new waterbox or another RSR?

[cbedfellow]

Waterbox 100%. Redsea is great at most everything but their tanks suck

I know of two waterbox tanks which have failed, myself am wondering how much of this is the user.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

They absolutely do need to own up to issues relating to used tanks. This is like saying that I should tell any customer who comes in at work with a car that they bought used is no longer eligible for warranty repairs or recall repairs.

Sorry sir! You didn't buy it brand new from the dealership so your life is now worthless to us, and we're under no obligation to replace your known-faulty airbag that'll put shrapnel through your chest in the event of an accident. Have a great day!

I totally agree with this concept that a warranty should cover a product, regardless of ownership, for the length of the warranty. The problem is that most warranty’s for products like aquariums specifically limit the coverage to the original purchaser. Some may transfer the coverage for a fee but most do not. RS explicitly states the warranty is not transferable and for the original registered owner only. I’m not trying to upset anyone by stating this. It is something to think about checking up on when purchasing certain items second hand if you are expecting something to be covered.

 

[Snoopdog]

PS - redsea does not need to own up to any issues relating to your used tank. They should be taking care of registered users of their tanks

Wow.

So a company should only handle their new products when they can cause damage and major loss? Let's take what was mentioned a couple of post above this one, airbags. You aware of the Takata airbag recall? That is a very good example of why a company needs to man up instead of burying the negative media against their product. Millions of cars had airbags that had this issue, shards of airbag material that was changed under heat and humidity had a likely hood of exploding. Should only registered users of those cars that were under warranty been the ones that were allowed to get their cars repaired? What would have happened if Ford and Mazda tried to bury those stories? You tell me @MnFish1 why Red Sea is locking only the threads that have negative comments on their tanks? Why would a company leave open positive commented post and lock every single negative post on their site? What does it say about a company that cannot tolerate criticism of their product?

 

[snackpack]

I totally agree with this concept that a warranty should cover a product, regardless of ownership, for the length of the warranty. The problem is that most warranty’s for products like aquariums specifically limit the coverage to the original purchaser. Some may transfer the coverage for a fee but most do not. RS explicitly states the warranty is not transferable and for the original registered owner only. I’m not trying to upset anyone by stating this. It is something to think about checking up on when purchasing certain items second hand if you are expecting something to be covered.

I partially agree with the thought that warranties should be transferable. What I DEFINITELY think needs to happen though is warranty extension/transfer to subsequent owners for KNOWN problems. Obviously this is a known problem with RS Tanks. They need to make good on it regardless of whose credit card the original purchase went on.

 

[MnFish1]

They absolutely do need to own up to issues relating to used tanks. This is like saying that I should tell any customer who comes in at work with a car that they bought used is no longer eligible for warranty repairs or recall repairs.

Sorry sir! You didn't buy it brand new from the dealership so your life is now worthless to us, and we're under no obligation to replace your known-faulty airbag that'll put shrapnel through your chest in the event of an accident. Have a great day!

Generally - but not always - the new car warranty transfers to a new buyer. But - guess what - go to the major aquarium manufacturers - and see how many of them let you transfer the warranty for a new tank - I'd be interested - but I'm not going to waste my time trying. Additionally a used tank is not normally used for 6 months - its a couple years - after the warranty expires.

 

[MnFish1]

Wow.

So a company should only handle their new products when they can cause damage and major loss? Let's take what was mentioned a couple of post above this one, airbags. You aware of the Takata airbag recall? That is a very good example of why a company needs to man up instead of burying the negative media against their product. Millions of cars had airbags that had this issue, shards of airbag material that was changed under heat and humidity had a likely hood of exploding. Should only registered users of those cars that were under warranty been the ones that were allowed to get their cars repaired? What would have happened if Ford and Mazda tried to bury those stories? You tell me @MnFish1 why Red Sea is locking only the threads that have negative comments on their tanks? Why would a company leave open positive commented post and lock every single negative post on their site? What does it say about a company that cannot tolerate criticism of their product?

LOL - there was huge criticism of Toyota - for their behavior with regards to the airbags issue. most companies (wrongly) - in my opinion - hide defects as long as they can. If thats what Redsea did - IMH O - as already said - multiple times - it's wrong. However. If one buys a used tank - and that tank is no longer under warranty - thats something that buyer should have paid attention to. Just like a car thats no longer under warranty.

 

[MnFish1]

I know of two waterbox tanks which have failed, myself am wondering how much of this is the user.

Exactly.

 

[MnFish1]

I partially agree with the thought that warranties should be transferable. What I DEFINITELY think needs to happen though is warranty extension/transfer to subsequent owners for KNOWN problems. Obviously this is a known problem with RS Tanks. They need to make good on it regardless of whose credit card the original purchase went on.

Except - as compared to the couple of people here and on Facebook - RedSea does not believe there is a systemic problem (note I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with them) - I'm only saying - that based on my conversations with them - they do not think there is a problem.

 

[MichaelReefer]

I wont lie, I am slightly nervous having a 525XL with all these issues....but I dont have 3k+ to get a Cade right now, so.

 

[MnFish1]

Wow.

So a company should only handle their new products when they can cause damage and major loss? Let's take what was mentioned a couple of post above this one, airbags. You aware of the Takata airbag recall? That is a very good example of why a company needs to man up instead of burying the negative media against their product. Millions of cars had airbags that had this issue, shards of airbag material that was changed under heat and humidity had a likely hood of exploding. Should only registered users of those cars that were under warranty been the ones that were allowed to get their cars repaired? What would have happened if Ford and Mazda tried to bury those stories? You tell me @MnFish1 why Red Sea is locking only the threads that have negative comments on their tanks? Why would a company leave open positive commented post and lock every single negative post on their site? What does it say about a company that cannot tolerate criticism of their product?

I'm not sure I answered this question completely - so 1. No, whether a loss is major or minor - a company should honor its warranty. 2. An airbag is likely related to different legal issues as compared to a fish tank. 3. I think every company locks threads on their Facebook that are negative. However - That does not mean that they are not responding to users individually (an option you decided to forgo). Their Facebook page is an advertisement for the company - I believe - (I don't know - and I don't have to defend redsea) - that they feel there is not a systemic problem except in certain tanks.

 

[Snoopdog]

1. No, whether a loss is major or minor - a company should honor its warranty.

Define loss.

 

[Snoopdog]

Except - as compared to the couple of people here and on Facebook

A couple? There you go again downplaying. Seriously a couple? There are way, way more than a couple on Facebook. I just did not want to bombard this forum with tons of pictures, this is way beyond words like couple, few, 10's, 20's. Those three pictures I posted were just what was on my screen without doing some infi-scrolls.

 

[Snoopdog]

3. I think every company locks threads on their Facebook that are negative.

You are generalizing, no they all do not. Just in my local area there are companies that do not lock threads on Facebook when people complain about service. And this is not the companies front page, this is a Red Sea enthusiast group which is .... drumroll ... hosted by Red Sea. Sorry, but they need to take the good and the bad publicity it is just the right thing to do. You may think I have it out for Red Sea or something, no. I have it out for any company that sucks and is morally unsound. If my new Planet Aquarium does the same thing I will be bashing them too. I used to be very pro AsRock until the majority of my server motherboards had IPMI issues. I left plenty of negative reviews on the product pages, which they replied one time until I proved in a response they had issues, which they never addressed to this day. Still to this day I will not buy AsRock, I buy Supermicro now.

 

[Jedi Knghit]

You aware of the Takata airbag recall? That is a very good example of why a company needs to man up instead of burying the negative media against their product.

Sorry, but your Takata example doesn't hold water.


For starters, you are referring to a product that impacted tens of millions of cars and there were injuries and deaths associated. The NHTSA and Federal Government got invlolved:

On November 18, 2014, the NHTSA ordered Takata to initiate a nationwide airbag recall. The action came as 10 automakers in the U.S. recalled hundreds of thousands of cars equipped with potentially faulty air bags manufactured by Takata

Takata was fined $200 million ($70 million paid upfront) by U.S. federal regulators in response to Takata's admission of a fault. They were fined because they failed to report the issue to the NHTSA within fice days of discovering the issue.

On January 13, 2017, the United States charged three Takata executives, Shinichi Tanaka, Hideo Nakajima and Tsuneo Chikaraishi for Takata's exploding airbags. The company agreed to plead guilty and to pay $1 billion to resolve the investigation, which includes a $25 million fine, $125 million for victim compensation and $850 million to compensate automobile manufacturers. At least 16 deaths are linked to the defective airbags

So no, Takata is not an example of a company standing behind their product until they were ordered to do so and legal action was taken against them.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that warranties should be transferable, but that is rare. I also agree that companies should stand behind their products, but as far as I have seen, Red Sea has honored majority of the warranty claims and that is all they are obligated to do. Should they do more? Yes, especially if they know there is a design issue but the only way to force them to do more is pursue legal action against them.

 

[Snoopdog]

Sorry, but your Takata example doesn't hold water.


For starters, you are referring to a product that impacted tens of millions of cars and there were injuries and deaths associated. The NHTSA and Federal Government got invlolved:

On November 18, 2014, the NHTSA ordered Takata to initiate a nationwide airbag recall. The action came as 10 automakers in the U.S. recalled hundreds of thousands of cars equipped with potentially faulty air bags manufactured by Takata

Takata was fined $200 million ($70 million paid upfront) by U.S. federal regulators in response to Takata's admission of a fault. They were fined because they failed to report the issue to the NHTSA within fice days of discovering the issue.

On January 13, 2017, the United States charged three Takata executives, Shinichi Tanaka, Hideo Nakajima and Tsuneo Chikaraishi for Takata's exploding airbags. The company agreed to plead guilty and to pay $1 billion to resolve the investigation, which includes a $25 million fine, $125 million for victim compensation and $850 million to compensate automobile manufacturers. At least 16 deaths are linked to the defective airbags

So no, Takata is not an example of a company standing behind their product until they were ordered to do so and legal action was taken against them.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that warranties should be transferable, but that is rare. I also agree that companies should stand behind their products, but as far as I have seen, Red Sea has honored majority of the warranty claims and that is all they are obligated to do. Should they do more? Yes, especially if they know there is a design issue but the only way to force them to do more is pursue legal action against them.

That is a good point. It is an example but not a great one, because they were strong armed into action. I can admit when I am wrong. There again, I know something else that is having trouble holding water...see what I did there?

 

[Snoopdog]

Seriously though, protect yourself people. No matter what brand of tank you have just go ahead and get a few leak detectors, the battery powered ones and put on the floor around the stand of your tank. Make sure they are loud enough to wake you from a dead sleep. We spend thousands on our tanks and trust me spending less than $50 on two leak detectors, money well spent. I ordered two of them a month after getting my new Planet Aquarium, I will likely put some around my RO/DI that is under my kitchen sink just in case a leak ever developed there.

 

[Jedi Knghit]

That is a good point. It is an example but not a great one, because they were strong armed into action. I can admit when I am wrong. There again, I know something else that is having trouble holding water...see what I did there?

lol, sorry, that was unintentional.

Seriously though, protect yourself people. No matter what brand of tank you have just go ahead and get a few leak detectors, the battery powered ones and put on the floor around the stand of your tank. Make sure they are loud enough to wake you from a dead sleep. We spend thousands on our tanks and trust me spending less than $50 on two leak detectors, money well spent. I ordered two of them a month after getting my new Planet Aquarium, I will likely put some around my RO/DI that is under my kitchen sink just in case a leak ever developed there.

Sound advise. Probably not a bad idea to keep some rubbermaid bins, heaters, and some small wave makers handy too.

 

[SpyC]

Seriously though, protect yourself people. No matter what brand of tank you have just go ahead and get a few leak detectors, the battery powered ones and put on the floor around the stand of your tank. Make sure they are loud enough to wake you from a dead sleep. We spend thousands on our tanks and trust me spending less than $50 on two leak detectors, money well spent. I ordered two of them a month after getting my new Planet Aquarium, I will likely put some around my RO/DI that is under my kitchen sink just in case a leak ever developed there.

If you use simplisafw, they offer inexpensive leak detectors that link to your security system. I have a few of them and they are great. You get alerts when they go off, even of the alarm is not on. I accidentally triggered one one day and simplisafe called to ensure all was well.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I partially agree with the thought that warranties should be transferable. What I DEFINITELY think needs to happen though is warranty extension/transfer to subsequent owners for KNOWN problems. Obviously this is a known problem with RS Tanks. They need to make good on it regardless of whose credit card the original purchase went on.

The key is known problem to whom? Known to a few random people on an Internet forum? Known and acknowledged are two different animals. You are assuming that rs knows there a problem (which they may very well and I’m not arguing that). As far as I know they have not acknowledged a problem yet, except for the 750 for which they sent out a retrofit kit for. As far as extending the warranty beyond the original manufactures warranty, I don’t think that will ever happen…especially if there’s a longevity issue. Although I’ll probably be getting non-stop calls from TankShield Aquarium Warranty stating they’ve been trying to get a hold of me to talk about my extended warranty!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Generally - but not always - the new car warranty transfers to a new buyer. But - guess what - go to the major aquarium manufacturers - and see how many of them let you transfer the warranty for a new tank - I'd be interested - but I'm not going to waste my time trying. Additionally a used tank is not normally used for 6 months - its a couple years - after the warranty expires.

I’m also wondering what automotive warranties would be like if vehicles were made of glass?