Aqua Lab Aquaria - BEWARE of unethical business practices

[Scott Sweet]

All,

I just wanted you all to know about Aqua Lab Aquaria in San Jose and their very poor business practices. I am not going to get in to the details here, but let's just say if you are planning on doing a custom tank, don't patronize these folks.

If you want the details, feel free to visit their Yelp page as I just posted a detailed review.

Scott

 

[sfsuphysics]

So I guess we won't see your build thread for a while?

 

[scuzy]

Ouch that sucks man.


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[Scott Sweet]

So I guess we won't see your build thread for a while?

The good news is my tank was delivered on Saturday. Now the fun begins . I have almost everything, I just need to do the stuff that takes the longest...plumbing, wiring, etc. Will be a while . I will post some stuff when it is worthy to do so .

 

[Gablami]

I'm just curious, having never gone custom before...what is the purpose of the middle man? Why couldn't you have just worked with CDA?


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[Scott Sweet]

Many tank manufacturers want you to go through a retailer. At the time when I did this, CDA did not offer direct. The retailers also have the ability to be competitive due to their markup. CDA does do direct now, but they are full price. To have a chance at the better pricing, you need to go through a retailer. As a result of my experience with this retailer and others similar, CDA offers direct now. It is unfortunate that the retailers can screw you like this...but apparently it is more common than one would think.

 

[Gablami]

Ah I see. Glad you got it worked out. Looking forward to your build!


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[sfsuphysics]

Yeah, I was surprised I was able to get so many quotes from manufacturers after MACNA 2016, but yeah CDA was waaaaaaay to high for what I wanted. Later I was told there was a "shortage" of 3/4" starphire or something, but yeah that was beyond a wakeup call to rethink where I'm going.

 

[robert4025]

CDA sells direct only if you live outside the 100 miles range of their local dealers area.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Ah that makes sense, don't want an army of locals bugging them while trying to circumvent the LFS.

 

[Wlachnit]

I was wondering why it took your journey almost a year. Good to hear that it's resolved.