Acrylicman or conman?

[COreef8]

Earlier this year (I believe it was around January) I was looking on ebay hoping to get in contact with someone who could do some decent custom work for a moderate price. I had a very specific design in mind for a sump that I needed for my reef setup. Little did I know, this would turn into a bigger deal than I thought could ever be possible.

I contacted a guy named Steve Frosti, who called his business, or himself, Acrylicman, and sent him a sketch of what I needed. He responded quickly and sounded like he could do exactly what I wanted. He even gave me a phome number so I could call and discuss it with him. After getting all setup, he asked for a deposit through google checkout. He gave me a pretty decent deal on it and told me it would be shipped in 2 weeks. I waited the whole 2 weeks without one word. At the end of the 2 weeks I emailed him back just checking on the status. I know custom things take time and for the price I paid I wasn't even expecting it to be finished. Sure enough it wasn't, but the problem was, I had to wait 2 more weeks after contacting him for him to even email me back saying. Sorry, we haven't started yet. Now I am a pretty patient person, and was completely understanding since he promised me that it would then be done that following week. But after calling him several times at the end of a week and a half and getting no reply I emailed him saying what's going on? He very casually emailed me back saying they hadn't started still. It was obviously no big deal to him. I emailed back telling him how long ago I ordered it and that he said it would have been done a couple times already and he replied saying he would make sure it was dome that week.

Let me make clear how frustrated I am with the whole situation that writing this about 6 months after still makes me furiuos to the point where I may just call again after I finish writing.

I got very busy for a while and had little time for my tank and decided I'd let it be and hopefully theyd finish. About 3 weeks later I decided to email asking why I hadn't recieved yet. He responded again without even a hint of remorse saying, it hasn't been started yet, tough luck. At this point I was getting fairly angry and I imagine he could see that in my emails. After EXACTLY TWENTY TWO MORE EMAILS over the period of 2 months. He said he would make sure it was done that day. So I followed up with him, big suprise, it wasn't done that day, but a weekand a half later he sent me a tracking number. I finally recieved a package from the company, and when I opened it, it was merely a basic acrylic frame to one of his "standard sumps" 2 baffles and thats it! However the external dimensions were exactly what I asked for so I know it wasn't just a shipping mistake. I was furious. I emailed (I would have called but I know he wouldn't answer) and told him what I recieved. He emailed back saying "well gosh what did you want then." I PAID QUITE A BIT EXTRA FOR A NUMBER OF BAFFLES IN SPECIFIC LOCATIONS AND HOLES DRILLED IN SPECIFIC LOCATIONS. None of which was done. At this point I was happy though that I at least got something. Now I kow there really is a business on the other end of this.

This is where the real fun begins. At this point I am incredibly may but nowhere near the end. Beyond this another 17 emails were sent over the perious of several weeks but all I ever got was "yyyeeeaaahhh... I'll figure this out today! I promise" I still have not recieved any product. I emailed him a couple times and said your business is a joke, you are running a scam.. you're pathetic... blah blah blah. Everything I could think of to get this guy to at least maybe thing, wow, Im a jerk. But no, all I ever got was "well... let me figure this out..."

Like I said this was about 6 months ago and this guy is still stalling. There was even more but let me just say in my ENTIRE LIFE, this was absolutely by far the 100% worst case of communication and customer service I have EVER experienced. I am not writing this to get replies saying that Acrylicman is a good guy and he made a good product for you. I am merely sharing my experience so you can aviod all of this.

I appologize for my ranting but I hope maybe I can save you several hundred headaches (and dollars).

[smcnally]

That stinks that you got treated that way...But, if you looked at his eBay ratings (as I just did) you would see he has a number of negative reviews that state exactly what you went through. You should have never even ordered through him.

[Alto]

He does seem to have unusually common mishaps with shipping. I was considering buying from him for some time in the past but just never got around to it, maybe I will think better of it after seeing this and checking his other feedback.

[COreef8]

That was the problem, he had perfect feedback, but apparently was "getting out of ebay." In the middle of the transaction I tried to contact him via ebay and but couldn't because he was no longer a registered user. He had very little feedback to begin with anyways.

[unda_da_see]

thats how i felt when i first moved to florida and tried dealing with contractors with my house. i learned real fast. no deposit, my satisfaction first.

[clsund]

sorry to hear about your bad experience. Doesn't Acrylicman have a huge thread here on RC? He might have been busy answering questions here than doing your sump.

[luv951]

I just thought, jeez, didn't I order a tank from this guy off ebay....I know the OP said not to post positive expriences and I am not doing that. I checked, and the tank that I bought was from acrylictnk - user name in chandler, AZ.

He was great to deal with and made me what I want in a very reasonable time frame. Communicated well and had really good prices too.

Maybe if you get your money back, try contacting him.

Sorry to hear about your experience - its always frustrating when the other guy is several thousand miles away, and you feel like you can't do anything.

Also, FWIW, always pay with a CC. If you do not get what you paid for, or they don't deliver, your CC company will usually give you your $ back and then go after the guy to get it from him. Fraud protection is a wonderful thing - I have done this when I was scammed on Ebay.

[steve the plumb]

If you want a good product that you will be happy with go to http://www.protein-skimmer.com Shaun is the owner and he builds custom sumps and skimmers.Does good work and is honest.

[RicGio]

I just bought a standard sump from Steve "The acrylicman" Frosti , it was his "large sump" Auction.I bought your standard basic sump...no holes drilled...no baffles...and it STILL took 3 weeks to get it. I checked his feedback and it seemed his bad feedback was mainly coming from the birdcage end of his "business".

Sump is ok...Kinda thin acrylic...but I only paid 130$ shipped for a 30''x15''x15" sump (approx 29 gal). Guess ya get what ya pay for!

[luv951]

not to hijack, but are the orca system skimmers any good?

[reefshadow]

Just FYI, you should post this in the feedback forum so people specifically looking for info on this seller can see it. Maybe a mod will move it for you.

Sorry that happened to you, sucks!

[geo]

[moved]

[Acrylics]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10575376#post10575376 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by clsund
sorry to hear about your bad experience. Doesn't Acrylicman have a huge thread here on RC? He might have been busy answering questions here than doing your sump.

Acrylicman originally started that thread several yrs ago, stayed involved a little while and then left it. He comes back from time to time but without regularity. Me an a coupla others have been answering questions on that thread for the past few yrs.
So to answer your question directly; no - he has not been on that thread of late. I understand your response was *somewhat* tongue-in-cheek, but two separate people. I am only responding to ensure the differentiation, folks (understandably) confuse the two of us from time to time, as above.

James

[COreef8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10576328#post10576328 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RicGio
I just bought a standard sump from Steve "The acrylicman" Frosti , it was his "large sump" Auction.I bought your standard basic sump...no holes drilled...no baffles...and it STILL took 3 weeks to get it. I checked his feedback and it seemed his bad feedback was mainly coming from the birdcage end of his "business".

Sump is ok...Kinda thin acrylic...but I only paid 130$ shipped for a 30''x15''x15" sump (approx 29 gal). Guess ya get what ya pay for!

I originally ordered a fairly complex design but that is basically the same design I got but a little different external dimensions. At least you got it in 3 weeks though. Going through the process I was actually embarassed for him. I figured something happened that caused him to close down the business which is why he backed out of ebay but apparently he just did the same thing to everyone, thats why he got a good amount of bad feedback.

Ther whole thing is too bad though. The sump he did send me looked pretty good, even though I can't use it. No bubbles, polished edges, etc.

I knew he had some sort of birdcage business, I noticed some of the things he was selling on ebay in that area too, but it seems like he just makes an ebay user ID, gets some bad feedback, then starts over.

I agree, you get what you pay for, and I ended up with the same design as you, but paid quite a bit more for all of the extras. Serves me right for not wanting to pay for a $650 custom sump I guess... Either way the whole process wasn't worth a penny, and I still haven't been able to contact him, imagine that.

My setup was going to be beautiful, already had 2-250 watt 20k xm halides, mrc skimmer and calcium reactor, wireless profilux kit, the works.

This is the one piece of equipment I was waiting on to finish my setup, and it is the sole reason I haven't been able to even run water though it yet. NOW I HAVE TO SELL IT ALL!! a lot of cool stuff, but you have to have 50 posts to post in the used equipment forum. Had none of this happened and I just got the sump I wanted, my system would be up and running but now I have to get rid of it for other reasons. Just one bad thing after another. But feel free to contact me if you're interested in buying any of that...

[COreef8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10580093#post10580093 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Acrylics
Acrylicman originally started that thread several yrs ago, stayed involved a little while and then left it. He comes back from time to time but without regularity. Me an a coupla others have been answering questions on that thread for the past few yrs.
So to answer your question directly; no - he has not been on that thread of late. I understand your response was *somewhat* tongue-in-cheek, but two separate people. I am only responding to ensure the differentiation, folks (understandably) confuse the two of us from time to time, as above.

James

I have heard that, which is why I made sure I specified Steve Frosti's Acrylicman. I have his number still if anyone else would like to call and yell at them. Just kidding. But seriously, I do..

I don't think he used Acrylicman as his ebay user ID which made it look like we had made other user names before.

[RicGio]

COreef:: Why do you have to sell your stuff now? Just because of the sump issue?

My sump has bubbles in the seams...I haven't put water in it yet. Maybe I should test fill it before I drill for bulkheads!

[COreef8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10604965#post10604965 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RicGio
COreef:: Why do you have to sell your stuff now? Just because of the sump issue?

My sump has bubbles in the seams...I haven't put water in it yet. Maybe I should test fill it before I drill for bulkheads!

No I have to sell the whole system for personal reasons, but since there is not any water in it and it can be broken down easily, unfortunately it will have to be the first thing to go. It is worth a lot of money, but I've put a lot of time into it so it's hard to think about selling it.

Yeah I would definetly fill it before you drill. The sump I got looked good but based on my experience with the company I would definetly not trust first appearance.

[Roger928]

2 years ago I ordered a fuge off E-bay from Acrylicman. 3 months later and a dozen or more e-mails with the repeated stall, I still had not recieved my order. With the Paypal complaint window closing, I filed a complaint, which went unanswered from Mr. Fosi. By default I recieved a partial refund from Paypal. Only patrtial since he had very little money in his account. "Case Closed". 6 weeks later, guess what arrived at my door? My fuge. I left it unopened for two weeks until I got an e-mail from Steve, asking why I filed a complaint and wanting his money that had been refunded. He hadn't responded to Paypal because of health issues. At this point I opened the box and was actually surprised by the exceptional quality of the product. We negotiated a settlement and I sent back a cashier's check for the agreed upon difference.

WOW!!

Can't tell you how stressful that was for me.

Such a great product, but what a nightmare.

[COreef8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10619472#post10619472 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rogerlea
2 years ago I ordered a fuge off E-bay from Acrylicman. 3 months later and a dozen or more e-mails with the repeated stall, I still had not recieved my order. With the Paypal complaint window closing, I filed a complaint, which went unanswered from Mr. Fosi. By default I recieved a partial refund from Paypal. Only patrtial since he had very little money in his account. "Case Closed". 6 weeks later, guess what arrived at my door? My fuge. I left it unopened for two weeks until I got an e-mail from Steve, asking why I filed a complaint and wanting his money that had been refunded. He hadn't responded to Paypal because of health issues. At this point I opened the box and was actually surprised by the exceptional quality of the product. We negotiated a settlement and I sent back a cashier's check for the agreed upon difference.

WOW!!

Can't tell you how stressful that was for me.

Such a great product, but what a nightmare.

Its good to hear that your experience ended relatively happily. That was somewhat the same with mine. The work looked good, it just was the wrong sump and took forever. As far as him being sick, I seriously doubt it. If I had a dollar for every excuse I got from him, I would be able to build quite the reef setup (and a house to put it in for that matter).