BAD BUSINESS PRACTICE IN AQUARIA

[venkiw]

Hi,

I draw your attention to this thread on aquarium pros.

http://www.aquariumpros.ca/forums/sh...&threadid=4598

The post in question is by user registered as superddoc and goes as follows:

“The bulbs Venki is selling is very unreliable, I have tested about 12 of them with a electronic 400 watt ballst and on each bulb it would take a different amount of time to fire, and sometimes it would only fire after I plugged and unplugged power to the ballast for between 3 to 6 times. I also noticed the bulbs color was not the same as others. Some almost looked green when they were lighting up and once burning there brightest it looked very yellow. It is one thing to have one or two bulbs do this, but I tried 12 different bulbs and now I read some others have noticed the same results. “

This malicious post intrigued my curiosity and we requested the IP address and email id of the poster for further action. The administrator forwarded the IP address and email address that the user registered under.

The user name of the email matches perfectly to the President of a lighting company based in the United States.

Do you think that this is bad business practise?

[LostMind]

Of course, but it is also typical of the online world. People feel invulnerable online because they are not talking to someone face to face...

[Quinn]

Regardless of whether or not this individual is acting in an unethical fashion, I think asking your own customers for their opinions is in poor taste. Talk to your lawyer if you feel your reputation has been compromised.

[Canadian Man]

No Good IMO!

[kris]

i agree that its bad bussiness practice. But if you feel he is slandering you and your product with undo cause, i would agree about going to talk to your lawyer. Slandering is a legal offense.

[MitchM]

A single post complaint. No rebuttal, no discussion.

Lost mind is right. On the internet people can post whatever complaints they like, substantiated or not.

The best that we can do is to take complaints for what they are worth, and try to point them out and get to the substance of them.
It's unfortunate, because some people will take it as gospel.
If it gets bad enough, there are legal avenues that you can take - if you want to even go down that expensive road...
Frustrating.

Mitch

[StirCrazy]

not cool to do with out more proof, and especialy as a owner of a competitor, I think you should post the company, or at least PM it as I don't want to do business with a company that would resort to that.

Steve

[Aquattro]

I think dealing with it privately is the correct recourse. Posting here is in essence doing the same thing he did. I'm also surprised that AJ provided you with the IP info of the poster.

[Chad]

Originally Posted by reef_raf

I think dealing with it privately is the correct recourse. Posting here is in essence doing the same thing he did. I'm also surprised that AJ provided you with the IP info of the poster.

Yeah, I would have thought you'd need a court order for that? Guess there is no privacy laws there

[Stretch]

Well you should be happy, that everyone doesn't take "his word" they want the evidence that your bulbs are of "poor quailty". Personaly my 2x250 10k's i got from you are awesome both of which are the same color ( a bright white), and fire at the the same time after a cold start. If i blow a fuse they differ slighty but thats probably a difference in the rate which they cooled off.

This guy fears a cheaper product at the same quailty of a more expense bulb. JB NY on RC even tested your bulbs on several ballasts and the coralvue ballast was the only one to have problems. reasons we do not know but, the coralvue was the last in the pack so to speak. Yet i don't remember him stay anything about color differences.

Kind of low what this guy is trying to do. My 2 cents I'm happy i'll probably by another set next year at a slight higher price oh well should still be better than 150 for a new 10k ushio.

Originally Posted by Chad

Yeah, I would have thought you'd need a court order for that? Guess there is no privacy laws there

No not really, If he said no, venkie could have used the the courts, but I think they knew something fishy was going on.