Aquarium Broken - Warranty Issues

Nray203 · #1 08/01/2006, 10:04 AM

I need some advice from anyone who has dealt with warranties or knows about glass cracks & the legal consequences of the situation.

I set-up a 220 gallon glass tank on store-bought stand, manufacturer drilled for about 40 days with no problems. Sometime during the night the bottom busted & destroyed everything from livestock to living room.

The tank should be covered under manufactor's defect warranty up to 90 days. I sent pictures of the damage & they responded in 2 minutes that the cracks/brakes in the glass were caused by an impact or over-tightening the bulkheads. Not pressure, therefore not covered.

There are 2 "holes" one from the drilled bulkhead area with spider type cracks (which they are denying the warranty) & one from the other side not by the bulkheads, just a oblong crack. There was no impact by anyone & the bulkheads were tightened by hand & we didn't have any problems for 40 days. If I believe their theory, I could have had the one "hole" caused by pressure & the other spider crack near the bulkheads caused by the impact of the 1st crack.

So has anyone successfully gotten an aquarium warranty honored or will they always deny? Any advice would be appreciated!

onehundred20 · #2 08/01/2006, 11:24 AM

whats the company so i dont buy from them....I would just raise hell

Nray203 · #3 08/01/2006, 12:37 PM

The sad thing is lots of companies would probably try to back out on responsibility because I heard if they admit to being responsible for the tank, they could be held liable for all the loss.

I don't want to say until I get a firm denial from them. Once it is resolved or I file a lawsuit, I will let everyone know the outcome.

I have contacted the Central Florida Rep & he gave me a good indication that he would get this straightened out.

Nray203 · #4 08/01/2006, 12:55 PM

Forgot to mention, the two options they are claiming are IMPACT or OVERTIGHTENING.

Now I know we are crazy reefers spending ten's of thousands of $ on our hobby. But putting your head under the tank that weights 1,000+ lbs to hit it with something & you are risking death...

Also, If hand-tightening a piece of plastic with a rubber gasket can break properly constructed thick tempered glass...

Let's entertain those theories. Everyone must stop transporting these fragile items home from the pet stores or moving them from house to house. There is no way they could possibly withstand that after cracking to a peice of plastic from a girl's hand!

Juck · #5 08/01/2006, 01:16 PM

>>Also, If hand-tightening a piece of plastic with a rubber
>> gasket can break properly constructed thick tempered glass...

The bottom was tempered? That's amazing. How thick is the bottom glass?

This sounds like a lawyer's wet-dream,,,, I'd get the lawsuit filed asap, I doubt they are going to pay you dollar #1 until they are forced to do so.

Take pictures, videos of everything.

bluezoo7 · #6 08/01/2006, 02:07 PM

If the stand and aquarium are the same company, you should have at least a 7 year warranty on the tank. That's the only requirement. Drilled hole stress fracture? Puuuhhlease! I would have broken 100's of tanks by now. That glass should be at least 1/2 inch thick.

onehundred20 · #7 08/01/2006, 04:22 PM

i dont understand how you could tighten something that tight, i know my 120 has 1/2 inch glass on the bottom, and it dosent seem like a platic bulkhead would break it.

jay24k · #8 08/01/2006, 11:30 PM

Sounds like a glasscages.com tank. But I could be wrong

Bono · #9 08/02/2006, 07:33 AM

Like jay24K said, is this a Glasscages tank?

I would post in the Vendor experience section and if it's not resolved, let them know about the thread. Alot of companies don't want the bad exposure and will settle just to shut you up.

jay24k · #10 08/02/2006, 10:29 AM

I know Oceanic and AGA are very good in their warranty. All they require is a picture and they replace it. I've seen a few of them being done with no issues.

Direct from their site is why I believe it was them. They make decent tanks however their customer service is very very bad. To me, saving 200 bucks was not worth it.

Due to the manufacturing techniques eliminating pressure bonding: stress and pressure cracks and all other types of breakage are not caused by manufacturing defects and therefore are not warranted and no free replacdement is available. Breakage that occurs after the aquarium is set up is caused by improper set up or accident.

orb · #11 08/03/2006, 07:18 AM

take them to jude judy.