bluereefaquatics.com

[greenfish]

Has anyone here ordered a stand from bluereefaquatics.com? I made a DIY stand for my 10 gallon and quckly came to realize that I am not a carpenter. I also can't seem to find stands that I like locally. I stumbled accross this Unfinished Ready to Assemble 20-Gallon Aquarium Stand & Canopy for my new tank that I am putting together. It looked liked exactly what I was looking for. I spoke with the guy from the site and he seemed pretty nice. I went ahead and ordered it but I was just wondering if anyone else had any experience with them.

I will update this thread when I get it if anyone is curious.

[JamesR]

?, but it looks cool. and you can stain it the color you want.

can't wait to see the pics.

Jim

[greenfish]

Update: Still not received. The guy had a problem with his site and all his orders were delayed. I was not in a great hurry so I was not that upset about it. Now he is not responding to my emails or phone calls. Unless he comes through soon, I am going to be pretty pissed off.

At this point, I would not recommend this site to anyone. If there are any further developments, I will post them.

[fishfreek]

Did you have to pay in advance?

[greenfish]

Yep. Paid in full via PayPal. Funny thing is, he has raised his prices since then.

[dralarms]

Wow, that sucks. Did you try and contact him through the site where it says "affected customers click here"?

[greenfish]

Ok. I finally got an email from him. All back orders are supposed to go out by the end of the week. At least he got back to me. I was beginning to panic and think he was taking me for a ride. Maybe things will turn out ok.

[polarzebra]

Hi
Greenfish Have you received your stuff?. I'm on the same boat, unfortunatelly. I ordered my stand on Feb 18th. I emailed him many times, never received a single respons form the guy. I went to file a claim against him thru paypal but they only help you if your payment is made less than 45 days ago and mine was almost two months old. The only luck I had communicating with the guy is by calling him on his phone. Couple of times he actually pick it up. Everytime is the same story "the builder is shipping it this Friday", that was on at least three ocasions.
Despite promises to keep me informed he never calls back. I think the guy is bad news. At this point I would recomend to stay away from the guy.
Val K.
Ps I will try to call him tommorow and get a refund from him.

its that for a 20 long? cause if so i can put my 29 gal in there

[greenfish]

I would second the recommendation of not buying from this guy. I am still waiting. I did get a long email from him today and I am still holding out a small chance of hope. This guy is full of promises and short on delivery. At least if I never get it and I am not able to get a refund, I will only be out $105. That is all I paid for the stand & canopy.

Rudy, stay away. Stay far away. It is for a 20 high so you wouldn't want it anyway.

[polarzebra]

As I was writting my previous post he emailed me, first time after I placed the order. Again he promises next Friday shipment and the following week for delivery. I did tell him that I was fed up with this stuff and this is his last chance. He told me he was offering refunds to his clients who did not want to wait anymore. I'm in no rush so I will wait, but this time is the last one. I will ask him for my money back if he does not deliver it. I'm out of almost $300 so it is no small change to me. I will keep you posted.
Val K.

[greenfish]

I got another email from him today. He called his builder and verified the order. He also told me it would be sent next week. I have my fingers crossed.

that guy is a jerk

[polarzebra]

Hi
Greenfish did you get your order yet?. What is your statut at this point. I have not received anything yet, despite another Friday deadline last Friday. No tracking order or any form of communication from the guy.

[greenfish]

No I still haven't gotten it yet. The last two emails I got from him were on 4/8. He said he was having issues with the builder and that he would ensure that the order go out by the 15th at the latest. We shall see.

[polarzebra]

I left him two messages today and nothing!!!. His site says that all RTA cabinets where shipped on the 13 and 15th of April. I already contacted eBay but the problem is the whole transaction took place over two months ago and eBay is not helping with anything that old. Pay Pal is even worst only 45 days. I did not know that. I would hate to see my $285 go down the toiled. I pretty upset right now as you can imagine. I will keep calling the guy until he gets sick of me and hopefuly refunds my money.
Val K.

[polarzebra]

I still have not received anything from this guy, He emailed me twice which is a big success, however did not offer any details as far my order is concerned. All he is saying is the order will arrive but not when. I’m looking for anyone with a similar experience. I filed with eBay and IFCC but eBay only offers any protection up to 60 days form the time of purchase, paypal only 45. This guy has been jerking me around for long enough to put me outside of that protection. He tells me that his builder is forcing him out of business by being so late etc. He also claims he is out of money since he paid the builder up front. This does not help me at all since I paid him up front too. The guy’s name is Dustin Knape, his phone number is 704 965 3508. Does anyone know any more details about this fellow. I’m out of $285!!!!.
Val K.

[greenfish]

I sent him an email this afternoon to see if the order was shipped as promised. I have not heard back as of yet but I will update this post if I do. At this point I would rather have the stand than the money so I am holding out hope that he actually followed through on it this time. If this guy is telling the truth in his previous emails to me, I feel a little sorry for him. His business is probably ruined due to the problems with the builder and his website. This of course is no excuse for his poor communications to his customers.

Val k. - In this litigation obsessed society we live in, I would be careful about posting his personal information in a public place. Posting his name and phone number is not exactly cool even if you are upset. You may want to edit that out.

[polarzebra]

Greenfish
Thanks for your replay and your advice. I kind of feel the same way about what is happening to the guy. I would get out of my way to give my business to a small entrepreneur such as him. But after this experience I will think twice about it. The info I posted is not exactly his personal, he posts it on his website for everyone to see, the phone is his company number. I know he is just one-person operation but I feel once you engage in this type of business your info becomes public anyway. He is the president of his company doing business with the general public. Oh anyway I feel I know about this guy more then I ever wanted to know.
I will keep you posted

[greenfish]

It would appear based on several posts on another forum that the ready to assemble stands that Blue Reef Aquatics were selling were actually manufactured by Dayton Aquarium Stands. Dayton has had numerous complaints about turn-around time among other things. Blue Reef Aquatics are no longer selling these stands. They have promised refunds to customers who have ordered them as the money becomes available.

My biggest complaint about this whole experience has been the lack of communication from Blue Reef Aquatics. I would send him 2 or 3 emails before he would actually reply. Had he bothered to reply and keep me infomed of the problems, I would have had a much higher opinion of him. Based on this lack of communication, I will not be doing business with them ever again nor would I recommend them to anybody.

We will wait and see if I actually get my refund.

Note: I would also not do business with Dayton Aquarium Stands either.