Cali Kid Corals

Advice

Bruce Spiegelman

Bruce Spiegelman

Sponsorship, Public Relations
BOD
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I sold my IM 120 three weeks ago. A week prior to selling it was full of corals, fish, etc. I just received a call from the buyer that he was preparing to set it up and that it has a 4" split at the front ride side in the seam. I suspect this occurred during transport. Although his pics show issues with the silicon that I never saw. Perhaps I wouldn't of when it was full? I'm including pics here and asking WWBARD (What would bar do?)

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is it black silicone? looks like it has been scrapped out, could be a weird refraction thing though. But I would think if the tank was full the pressure against the glass would be more and if anything it'd be more pronounced.

Hard call on what to do though, not sure how it would have happened during transport, maybe applying undue force moving, seeing it occur at the top of the tank? It'd be better if you had documentation of the tank appearance at the seams prior to it leaving, I know you probably don't but yeah..
 
Would have been very obvious even when filled with water.
You should review some pics previously taken.
Could have left outside in high heat.
If you cannot prove it, give money back and call it a loss, or work it out for partial refund
 
Bruce I sold a Red Sea reefer 170 that was in excellent condition. One minor scratch that I showed the guy. The buyer inspected the tank with a flash light. During transportation he scratched the shit out of it and was trying to get his money back. At this point I don’t think u need to do anything. Could of happened during transportation


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How does that happen? Lifting by the front pane? Pretty sure you would have seen it prior to selling, and the buyer would have too.

It’s a judgement call based on your gut feel with the buyer tbh. Longtime BAR/known reefer, and I might take their word for it unless I could prove otherwise. Random Craigslister...nope. Pay and carry, and it’s the buyer’s problem from there. There’s no warranties on used equipment, esp tanks. If you drop it in my driveway, that’s your bad ;)

A note on IM - They’ve had a terrible reputation since they came out. Poor build quality is the story I’ve seen time and time again.
 
change your name and phone number. :oops: plus, you already moved. xxxx just kidding... For myself, I would always try and stand by what I sold. But, as @iCon stated, I would look long and hard at who bought it, and if I trust them or not. If a BAR member we're talking about, I'd be willing to work with the buyer. If it was some Joe shmoe from craigslist, I might not be so willing. I hope you and the buyer can work something out so neither person feels like they got the short end of the deal.
 
Back to my original statement...
Oy!

My sympathies
But this is exactly why I discourage the sale of used tanks...no warranty
Full disclosure
I’ve bought and sold used tanks
 
Did you charge him for a new tank or did he get it at a used tank price? Has he actually asked for a refund?

If you know for sure that you didn’t give it to him that way then at best it was an accident that he needs to accept liability for. I would venture to guess that if the seam was like that when you had it with water in it then there would be other evidence such as algae growing in the seam since you wouldn’t have been able to get a scraper in there to clean it off. I know I had a repaired seam that had a super slow leak. Every couple months there would be some salt creep that I would wipe away. To me, it looks like the top part is freshly separated; I don’t see any debris in it. There is something on the lower part but that part is also not giving strength to the glass. It’s just the extra webbing from when the manufacturer runs their finger along to wipe off the excess silicone.

Silicone has a very high heat tolerance so leaving it out in the sun wouldn’t damage it. Filling it up on a surface that wasn’t flat could do that though, and that would be my best guess of how it happened.
 
The weird thing is that the gap doesn't go all the way to the top, I would think if he yanked on the panel that the break would start at the top and work it's way down, not work it's way from a few inches down out.

That said, I would explain in a nice manner that the tank was sold used and any damage to it he should have inspected before purchase/money exchange, and that you have no way of knowing if that damage occurred after sale or before. Then to not sound like a total dick that's blowing him off follow up with showing him images of the tank full weeks before you sold it and assure him that it did not leak. Maybe even tell him to get a sharpy and mark/outline the gap area and make sure it doesn't get larger being at the top of the tank the forces against the glass are going to be the lowest.

Oh and for all future sales, throw in a caveat that buyer is responsible for inspection of the USED goods before purchase (although your policy of "paypal saves it for you" does put a hamper on that), and no warranty will be given. I mean this should be obviously to anyone buying used but as long as the buyer doesn't purposefully try to lie about something (i.e. it did leak and you emptied the tank so they couldn't see said leak...) but it seems like people need to be told you are buying AS-IS.
 
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All good advice. I saw it running just fine right before you moved so it’s obviously a new issue.

In the nicest way possible I’d say #notmyproblem


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I'm honestly shocked by the comments. As mentioned that doesnt happen during moving of a tank.
I would return the funds and call it a loss, but that's me. I do agree its the buyers responsibility to review the used items before purchase, but for a tank i would expect the buyer to mention any seam issues, however small they are.
 
dpc goes west said:
I'm honestly shocked by the comments. As mentioned that doesnt happen during moving of a tank.
I would return the funds and call it a loss, but that's me. I do agree its the buyers responsibility to review the used items before purchase, but for a tank i would expect the buyer to mention any seam issues, however small they are.
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You're assuming the seller knew about the seam issue. If so, then that's messed up and we all agree on next steps. Judging by this post, however, and Bruce's involvement in general, I'd give him the benefit of doubt that he was unaware of the issue... Unless someone has evidence to the contrary ;)

Hate to say it, but buyer's responsibility IMO... If that pic shows the seam issue, then...Tough call. Ctrl+Z might be in order. (But the buyer had every opportunity to call it out and back away...)
 
Did the buyer inspect before transport?
Who transported it?
Who packed it for transport?

If the buyer inspected and handled transport, definitely all their problem.
If you did everything, it is your problem.

Otherwise, I would probably say "Hard to say what happened. So in fairness, let's split the damage, so here is half your money back."
 
iCon said:
You're assuming the seller knew about the seam issue. If so, then that's messed up and we all agree on next steps. Judging by this post, however, and Bruce's involvement in general, I'd give him the benefit of doubt that he was unaware of the issue... Unless someone has evidence to the contrary ;)

Hate to say it, but buyer's responsibility IMO... If that pic shows the seam issue, then...Tough call. Ctrl+Z might be in order.
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You're right and by the post he obviously did not sell it knowingly. My point was i hope the seller would know of defects and tell me before purchasing.
In this case Bruce was not aware, and therefore seller took it home, then realized it was there. If that photo is the same seam in question, then i would say its obvious it was there before and Bruce missed this in his sale post. Buyer isnt happy with it, so i would eat up my mistake of missing it on my sale post and return the funds. But again this is just my 2 cents not trying to start a debate, Bruce will do what he thinks is best.
 
dpc goes west said:
You're right and by the post he obviously did not sell it knowingly. My point was i hope the seller would know of defects and tell me before purchasing.
In this case Bruce was not aware, and therefore seller took it home, then realized it was there. If that photo is the same seam in question, then i would say its obvious it was there before and Bruce missed this in his sale post. Buyer isnt happy with it, so i would eat up my mistake of missing it on my sale post and return the funds. But again this is just my 2 cents not trying to start a debate, Bruce will do what he thinks is best.
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And would you expect the buyer to bring it back to the seller so they could fix it?
 
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