Coralvue and Reef Octopus Help!

[sbmille2]

I'm having issues with my SRO 8000ext and seems coralvue and reef octopus have given up on me and their equipment and aren't honoring an agreement we made. I've called their number and only can talk to a receptionist and have asked the owner and Carlos to call me back and neither has. Long story short, I bought a SRO 8000ext through a very reputable local shop and the skimmer pump died within 2 weeks. They replaced the pump and over the last 5 years the same thing has been happening every 6mo to a year pretty consistently. Finally after 5 pumps (2 of which i paid for) and like 10 impellers had been destroyed, a guy named Nick Jamerson who worked there finally tried to figure out why the pump was doing this and why I was having these issues with this skimmer. He determined with reef octopus that my iwaki md-100rlt pump wasn't feeding enough flow to the skimmer and that was causing the heat issue to blow up the pumps. I made an agreement with Nick that if I purchased a new pump through them that it was not going to be warranted until I added a dedicated pump and fixed the flow the issue they thought was causing the issues and he approved it. I did the repairs they asked for by adding a Jeabo dc 12000 that only serves the skimmer and it was approved by Nick in an email that he was satisfied with the repair. Over the weekend I smelled burning plastic and went down to my basement which is where my equipment is to find the attached pictures. The delay pump the skimmer is plugged into was pretty much on fire. I unplugged it and sent pictures asking what could have caused this as I fixed the flow and they're now reneging on the agreement we made in the beginning of Feb and Nick is no longer there to confirm this pump should be warranted because I fixed the flow and i still have no answer what caused this to happen this weekend. I have asked for Carlos and the owner to call me and neither has and really am stuck now without a skimmer for my 700 gallon system. I'm strongly considering getting an attorney involved as a fire would seriously put me and my family including our 6 month daughter at risk and i can't get Coralvue or reef octopus to honor the agreement we made and also and more importantly figure out why this continues to happen. Any help/advice would be much appreciated! I attached a picture showing how it was originally plumbed along with the addition of the Jeabo pump.

 

[sbmille2]

I guess Nick did not communicate the agreement with Carlos so he's under the impression there isn't a warranty with the pump but the agreement was there wasn't a warranty until i made the correction they wanted and got his approval the corrections were made to his standard. Carlos is saying this pump didn't have a warranty which he's halfway correct and Nick is no longer there to confirm the agreement. I emailed with him this morning and told him the agreement and provided emails confirming and they're choosing not honor the deal that was made. It very frustrating as they historically have been really good with any issues i've had including this pump but that has not been the case with this issue. I have all the email chains over the years and not until this last time was the flow even brought up. I've done everything that they've asked and here i am again without a skimmer! I think there is a flaw with the design and they confirmed this in an email I have and i've offered to pay to "upgrade" the skimmer and/or pump but they have not wanted to do this! Really out of options but had i known they were going to react this way and not honor what i was told than i wouldn't have spent the additional money on this pump as history has shown they break. I would've bought a new skimmer. Especially if there is a fire risk that endangers my 6 month old daughter! I hope @Carlos@CoralVue and reef octopus do the right thing and figure out why this skimmer blows up and overheats! I fixed the flow as they asked of me!

 

[sbmille2]

I had an electrician out twice and all the fish tank is plugged into those 2 outlet banks which are on 20 A breakers and they're gfci outlets. Both times the outlets and breakers checked out and nothing else besides this pump and the delay have ever had issues.

 

[sbmille2]

it's all (delay timer and skimmer and skimmer pump) coralvue equipment. Honestly when the skimmer works it WAS a workhorse and skims great and the customer service up to the pump before this breaking had been great.
I understand their hesitancy just to throw another pump at it as have been done in the past but when we agreed that i would buy the new pump and pay for the modifications to fix the "issue" to relieve them from just sending another pump and i trusted that the warranty would be granted back to me and we could move on, I thought this was fair for both parties (and so did they up until now when the new pump failed).

 

[sbmille2]

I don't think they know exactly what it is.... i think they thought my flow was low (never truly tested and confirmed) and pointed the finger at it and stuck to those guns. Now that the flow has been 100% fixed and the pump still broke, i think they are just trying to avoid sending new pumps without putting the time to truly figure out what the problem is and trying to place the blame on me instead of their product. We shall see how they react and I'm not a litigious person and don't want to see any company go out of business but i think it will paint a very clear picture on how David, Coralvue, Reef Octopus think of their customers on their response. If they truly believed nothing is wrong with their product they would want to know what's causing this as much as i do! No skimmer, fish tank etc is worth having a customer concerned about the safety of their family and I would hope Coralvue and reefoctopus feel the same and step up to figure this out instead of just turning their head the other way for a pump that's not even a month old! The agreement we had was clear and I'm sure they can call Nick who will confirm this and hopefully they decide to do the right thing. I've told them multiple times I'm not looking for freebies and that my concern was fixing the problem to keep my fish and corals happy and the only person who agreed with this was Nick, who is no longer there!

 

[sbmille2]

Nothing yet!

 

[sbmille2]

the only purpose of the delay box for me is the pumps feeding the skimmer take a couple seconds to fill the fill the skimmer in a loss of power situation so having the delay ensure the pump wont run dry.

 

[sbmille2]

At one point I had a reefkeeper elite controlling everything but they were awful to work with and it kept having issues and there was no more support so I eventually disposed of it once it wasn't worth the trouble and pretty much went back to tried and true without a true controller. I'm sure at some point probably when i move/upgrade this system i'll go that direction again so it would eliminate this piece of equipment but right now i haven't wanted to add the controller.

 

[sbmille2]

sent @Carlos@CoralVue and David D'Aquin (owner of coralvue) the info from this forum and some feedback form an Atlanta forum. Still no reply from them. I went ahead and disputed the charge for the pump through amex so maybe that will warrant a response from them. Pretty sad they're choosing $400 over trying to figure out the cause of this and helping fix it!

 

[sbmille2]

I get sent to vm. I've left Carlos several messages and they won't transfer me to David. I've sent carlos multiple emails include the ones from Nick and i just recently copied David on my last email to Carlos.

 

[sbmille2]

Unfortunately it doesn't look like @Carlos@CoralVue or David are going to give me a call back. Pretty cowardly not honor the warranty as well as endanger a kids life with their faulty equipment!

 

[Peace River]

This thread is vendor feedback and has been moved to the appropriate forum. Per feedback forum rules outside comments are not allowed and all have been removed. This thread is for the two parties involved to try and settle any issues. Thank you for the understanding.