I had a terrible experience with the Canadian Tunze distributor, and I'll never suppo
 

I had a terrible experience with the Canadian Tunze distributor, and I'll never support them again.

Last winter I purchased a Tunze 3155 ATO for my 180 gallon tank and it worked perfectly, until the pump failed this past Christmas. Knowing that Tunze as a company is typically great I contacted the US office, as they directed me to the Canadian distributor to get a replacement pump. Today, after 2 months of lack of communication, being blamed for the delays, being belittled as a customer and receiving nothing except terrible and unprofessional customer service from the person in charge of Tunze in Canada, I rage quit and will no longer be supporting the company. While I do not expect my experience to influence your decisions, I hope it does so they understand that even single customers can make a difference.

- December 26th 2018 - I reached out via the contact form as directed by my LHBS
- January 14th I was able to get in touch with the Canadian distributor and we agreed they would ship a replacement direct to me. I asked to purchase a second pump and was told that I'd receive a paypal invoice for the cost.
- January 15th I provided my paypal address
- January 18th I was asked for me shipping address.
- February 7th I asked where we were on this and was told that the item had shipped when I paid. When I explained I hadn't received the invoice I was asked for my paypal address once again.
- February 8th I contacted Roger at Tunze USA to poke Xenia Inc for me.
- February 11th I was told the invoice was sent to the wrong email address, it was resent, and I paid
- February 11th The pump was shipped
- February 22nd I asked for the tracking

The following is the non-redacted email conversation that followed. While I may have over-reacted in my first response, the follow up responses from the Tunze rep were berating, unprofessional and frankly immature. For those of you who don't know, the 80/20 rule of business is that 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients so you can ignore the other 80% and still be ok. This is what incites me the most and what you should be most concerned about, that he admits that he, and by extension Tunze, do not care at all about individual customers and only care about big accounts.

Edit: If you are wondering about my business, it doesn't exist at my house anymore because I've expanded to 2 retail locations in 2 provinces. It outgrew that address long ago.

So you're never going to buy Abyzz, AI, DD, Marco Rocks, Tunze, Deltec, Polyp Lab, Rowa, or Giesemann products in the future? All because of a $30 pump that is a sealed unit and known to fail?

poor customer service...
 

...Warren, I think readers on the forum(s) should be made aware of poor customer service and poor customer support. Dealers and distributors that offer poor service should be identified and they should be made aware that there is discussion about them. Too many public complaints reflect badly upon dealers and distributors and it eventually trickles back to the Manufactures. Most manufacturers take customer service / support very seriously and may look to change their channels of distribution as a result.

If I was treated badly, I would consider writing the manufacturer.
In this case, they are in Germany

I have had my best success with problems in dealing directly with the store I purchased the unit from. I try to buy locally because I know that I will get better customer service when I have a problem.

I have had multiple things fail and never had a problem. Most recently I had a maxspect gyre controller fail. The local store tested it out and gave me a new one.

I try to avoid purchasing electronics from mail order.

I certainly feel you, Fishdisease. More power to you for voting with your dollars. That's your right.

Terribly sorry to hear about your ordeal. Shit like this happens all the time.
For you to stop using units from this one company due to a simple pump failure, which we all use, is ludicrous.
I've replaced the exact same pump due to a failure 'out of the box', and another 6 months later, and some have lasted me years.
You need to check yourself and not waste your time on this site.

You guys are missing the point.

The issue isn't the pump failure, it's the way this customer felt they were treated when he tried to get them to deal with the failed pump.

I'd contact Roger Vitco again in the USA. I've dealt with him with numerous issues with my ato, wavebox and pumps. He's always given me great service and support, let him know about your experience and I'm sure he'll help you out.

So what type of ATO will you use ....
If Tunze is the best and they all are known be crappy and to fail now what ?
Maybe the Tunze rep. needs to stretch it out like some others here.