Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/14/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I was promised a refund on 6/6/23 and still have not received it as of 6/14. They have since been unresponsive to voicemail and emails Please refund the $534.45 "Invoice #********** for Order #**********" I will escalate this if still no refund.

  Business response

  06/21/2023

  After researching the refund request from **** ********* further, we discovered this order to be fraudulent. He received a failed rating from ******** our fraud protection program:

  Order **********

  **** *********USD 534.45
  Case ID: **********Team (store): Aquariumspecialty.com
  Created at: 4/24/2023 4:22 AM EDT
  Order
  ******** intelligence
  SCORE: 386
  Address
  AVS: Full match
  Delivery Address and Billing Address match
  Device
  Across all merchants, ******** has seen 5 orders with a chargeback from 68.105.89.169, out of 45 total
  Device blacklisted due to suspicious fraud patterns or previous fraudulent orders
  Distance from IP Geolocation to Billing Address: 35 miles
  Email
  Across all merchants, ******** has seen 3 fraudulent orders from ************@gmail.com, out of 33 total
  Age of Confirmation Email is at least 657 days old
  ************ is a low-quality username

   

  **** quickly went to attacks on social business platforms like ****** and **** to character attack me personally and Aquarium Specialty. Please see the following link to his **** history *************************************************************** . Multiple similar attacks to other companies in an attempt to coerce and intimidate.

  This is his review about us on ****:

  
  Aquarium Specialty
  Aquarium Services, Local Fish Stores
  535 Clemson Rd
  Columbia, SC 29229
  1.0 star rating6/14/2023
  They promised a refund and 14 days later, still no sign of it and they have been unresponsive. Kristen is a liar. I've filed a better business bureau complaint, and if necessary will file a chargeback.... They screwed up my shipment, dropshipped, re-routed, and then did an intercept return to sender... The manufacturer refunded them, so they double profited at this point, keeping my money as well

  
  

  The review he left on ****** is almost identical:

  ***** *****

  2 reviews

  5 days agoNEW

  They promised a refund and 14 days later, still no sign of it and they have been unresponsive. Kristen is a liar. I've filed a better business bureau complaint, and if necessary will file a chargeback.... They screwed up my shipment, dropshipped, re-routed, and then did an intercept return to sender... The manufacturer refunded them, so they double profited at this point, keeping my money as well

  3

  
  

  
  

  We have not actually received any monetary refund from either *** or the manufacturer. All is under investigation.
  

  
  

  He followed up with the following threatening email on 6/15/23:
  

  USPS Certified Mail ********************

  
  

  Aquarium Specialty

  535 Clemson Rd Ste C

  Columbia, SC 29229
  

  
  

  Date: 6/15/23

  
  

  Subject: Notice of Intent

  
  

  Please be advised, that if I am not refunded by 6/20/23, I will commence further actions against your company including a chargeback, & if necessary, litigation to be made whole.

  
  Your employee Kristen already promised me a refund on my order ********** and already confirmed that ***** credited you for the 2 Kessil items, yet you have not credited me back. Therefore, you have profited twice off of my order, and perhaps 3 times if *** has reimbursed you as well for the lost / missing package.

  
  

  The mailed copy to your address includes exhibits, including Kristen's refund promise.

  
  

  1 star reviews on **** and ****** have also been left. They will be revised to 5 stars accordingly to my experience if this is resolved with the refund I am due.

  
  

  ****

  
  

  Today the following was emailed to ***** (wonderful vendor that we've successfully worked with for 18 years):

  
  

  From: "* *" <************@gmail.com>
  

  Subject: Your distributor Aquarium Specialty
  

  Date: June 19, 2023 at 5:49:40 PM CDT
  

  To: <*****@sbcglobal.net>, "info english" <info.english@*****.com>
  

  Cc: "CustomerService" <CustomerService@aquariumspecialty.com>, "Aquarium Specialty" <[email protected]>
  

  
  *****,

  
  

  I am reporting to you that your distributor Aquarium Speciality is a bad representation of your products, and also has misrepresented itself and lied.

  
  They promised me a refund of their order number ********** and stated that ***** had refunded them. See attached.

  
  

  That was on June 6. To date, there is still no refund to my card.

  
  

  I have also filed a Better Business Bureau complaint against them, which they have failed to respond to, see attached.

  
  

  I will file complaints with Bureau of Consumer Protection and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if this is not resolved.

  
  

  If you have refunded Aquarium Specialty, then they have profited twice - my payment, and your credit, and also probably received the lost/returned shipment back my now, so 3X profit.

  
  This is a corrupt company and they must be exposed, and I am intent on escalating this further because of their egregious lying.

  
  

  If you wish to refund on their behalf, and take it up with them yourselves, you can refund me the $534.45 via check:

  
  

  **** *********

  ***** ******

  Mission Viejo, CA 92692

  
  

  If this remains unresolved, you will be brought into any litigation or review, news article or otherwise to see to it that this company does not get away with this.

  
  

  We will not process a refund to this individual or intend to waste anymore of my time responding. Also look at this information he has made a career out of this. ********************************************
  

  
  

  
  

  Please contact us if you have any questions.

  Thank you for your assistance,

  Kristen G*********

  Customer response

  06/23/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  AquariumSpeciality has just admitted to discriminatory practices to go along with their unethical & unprofessional conduct. They are essentially admitting to lying about being refunded by the manufacturer, and/or lying about refunding me, after they decided that either 1) a felon does not deserve a refund 2) a Trump supporter does not deserve a refund 3) someone with a low credit score does not deserve a refund. This company responds with 100% irrelevant, & inadmissible nonsense. Do they wish to ban the 8% of the country that has a felony? Or another percentage of people who have low credit scores, have dealt with the SEC, or are Trump supporters? So they are stating they will not refund approximately 60% of the country for discriminatory reasons based on financial situation or political affiliation. 

  This company has referenced a ********* page which shows a civil battle I had with the Securities and Exchange Commission when I was a child in high school. Literally a minor. The SEC has also charged **** *****, **** ****, ****** *******, and *** ********** with securities violations. The ********* page shows my public speaking engagements as well as my news website - which I intend to write a scathing article to publish and expose this corrupt insane company so that the public is aware of the unfair unethical targeting of a customer when they think they can get away with it.

  This company has also referenced **** reviews. Fish/aquarium companies by nature are predatory, & issues do arise. The many positive experiences are not documented, but yes, a few

  **** ***** ****** and ******* ****** did not even process my order - **** ***** ****** because the item was out of stock for weeks and they didn't bother letting me know, and the ******* ****** never said, just cancelled. They were left appropriate reviews that were not seeking anything whatsoever, they simply deserved a 1 star for their bad to non-existent communication. ******* ********* sold me unhealthy fish that died and harmed my aquarium. All were hit with chargebacks, and all of them lost. 

  Now AquariumSpeciality has earned a 1 star for their lies and then non-existent customer service. I will hit you with a chargeback and you will incur a chargeback fee.

  I will continue to demand a resolution from the manufacturer they cite as having refunded them, and I will continue to hold this company responsible until they have resolved this.

  They have essentially admitted that they are going to steal my money. They simply do not address the evidence (see attached), and have changed their mind for irrelevant, discriminatory reasons. I am sure I can dig up some dirt on this person and her husbands private life, for reasons to stay away from this company and it seems this is the hill they want to "die" on.

  They really need a crash course in litigation and admissible evidence. They have no idea what is coming. I recently won awards against ****** for their discriminatory tactics .See attached.
  
  **** ********* v. ******* ***. - Case ***************

  I will give this pathetic company 1 week to contemplate their lies and if they do not honor the statement that a refund was to be processed on June 6, then this will escalate further.

  I am deciding on either a chargeback, or if your actions have risen to the level of damages with discrimination, then I will file a lawsuit. You can expect to receive the Notice of Intent in the mail. I am discussing with my ****** lawyer now.

  I took on ******'s army of lawyers, and spent a week in a hearing, and won. See attached.

  AquariumSpeciality will be child's play. It is shocking what they have admitted to, what they have refused to address (the evidence of them stating a refund would happen June 6, and that they had been refunded by *****), and the absolute nonsense they have introduced instead. A judge will not even entertain it.

  It is sad that I have to deal with pond scum like this. Whenever a issue arises, predatory scum like this company will look to find an excuse to validate their deceit and lies, and blame that excuse as to villifying the customer.

  I have experienced this multiple times when I have been scammed, and the scammer used my ********* to try to make some point or to say they have the right to be a vigilante and to steal, because look who I am. Completely irrelevant and you will be held accountable for your discrimination.

  Now go ahead, respond again with more defamation or more exhibits for my lawsuit against you. Yes, I think we are beyond a chargeback. You have given me enough to sue you. The typical gas-lighting of someone taking advantage of someone's name to act like they are in the right.

  I can hire a contractor to build me a new backyard fence, and if he runs off with my money, and I post a review about it, he can say "he's lying, look who he is, look at his past". I have experienced this before, and I am experiencing this now with this company. It's fine, they will never get away with it in litigation, its all irrelevant, inadmissible nonsense they have spewed in their BBB response.

  Now, you have 1 more chance to refund me because you were told ***** is refunding you, and if they aren't, you can file a *** claim which the tracking shows no sign of you filing a claim. Your refusal to do either, and instead just to state you are not refunding me and you don't care about the facts of my failed order, shows that you are insincere and disingenuous, goes to motive and your discriminatory practices.

  I will send a copy of this to ***** and insist on their response, but I will you 1 week to resolve this.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** *********

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