Local business vs online business

#1
We all love this hobby even though it can get expensive sometimes and since these days we are all trying to save as much as possible sometimes I do shop online cause we all know you can save yourself some money by doing that.
Beginning of the year I was looking to upgrade to a bigger tank, so I started looking online and found a website that offers prefabricated tanks with stands and canopies. The guys at fluid designers were already maintaining and servicing my old tank on weekly basis and when I mentioned my intention to upgrade and what i had found online, Dave approached me and assured me that they can build a tank with better quality and better service.
The dimensions of the tank I wanted were 8ft x 4ft x 3ft. The online store was offering the tank with 3/4inch acrylic. The guys at fluid designers stated that 3/4 inches on such a big tank was not a good idea and that they will build it for me with 1 inch acrylic, which as we all know would make a big difference in the price.
Then came the sump, I really wanted a massive protein skimmer. The online store would not make a custom sump since all their products were prefabricated, but Dave and his staff were more than willing to build a sump that would suit my needs.
As for the stand I thought I had found a pretty good one with the online store, yet again Dave and his staff built a better quality stand which has a great feature of having 3 inch high PVC layer so that in case of a leak the water would not spill out of the stnand onto your floor whether it be hardwood or carpet (which we have put to the test already we had a minor incident and that layer stopped the water from leaking onto my floor so it works :). Of course yet again the online company did not offer that option.
The canopy is next, I wanted to go with T5 fixtures and AI Vega LEDs, so the canopy had to be custom made to my needs so i could layout the lights the way I wanted. Which meant if i did get the prefabricated canopy from the online store i would have had to customize it myself and figure out how I was going to hang all the light.
Even with these customization and upgrades the prices were very compatible but you can't beat the service we got from Dave and his crew. The online store was going to ship it to my front door, Dave and his crew actually installed the whole thing and got it running (impressive).
When it comes to the craftsmanship, I look at the details, the acrylic weld, the acrylic edges for which they used the router to smooth, it amazes me how much time and effort they put into manufacturing this tank, they really do take pride in their work and I am very proud to tell pol that this tank was built by a local company named fluid designers.
I could have probably saved myself a couple of dollars by buying it online but without the Dave and his crew the outcome would not have been the same as far as quality is concerned.
The tank has been running for over a month and a half with no issues. It looks and runs amazing and I can honestly say I enjoyed doing business with Dave and his crew.
More pics to follow.
Let's give our local businesses a chance to build your dream tanks.
In the end I want to thank Dave and his crew for the wonderful tank they built for us and for all their assistance (what they did and the way they did everything is what customer service should be like everywhere)
 

kmellon

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
Very well said and I completely agree. I prefer to offer my business to local companies first. I have one of the fluid designers ATO reservoirs and would love to have one of their sumps.

Ummm, so when will we see a build thread on your system?
 

FluidDesigners

Platinum Sponsors
Platinum Sponsor
#4
Thanks for the kind words Jake! This industry has become incredibly competitive and where we can't compete on price we try to make it up with customer service.
You guys have been a blast to work with and thank you again for supporting local business!
 

ThatsDeep!

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
Huskyguy;316628 said:
Let's give our local businesses a chance to build your dream tanks.
In the end I want to thank Dave and his crew for the wonderful tank they built for us and for all their assistance (what they did and the way they did everything is what customer service should be like everywhere)
I agree! Keep $$ in Colorado whenever possible, and support those who mortgage everything to run a business that has sometimes high risk questionable reward in terms of bottom line.
 
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