Opinions on this situation?

snakers55 · 12-02-04, 10:34 AM

Hey everyone, I've run into a situation and I'm not exactly sure what I should do about it. I sold a friend of mine's cousin a 100 gallon aquarium that I had been using for over 2 years for aquatic turtles, so it was right full of water for that time, until about 2 months ago when I put the aquatics into something else and put box turtles in it.. I'm not working at the moment and have no income, so I needed some money for christmas presents and decided to sell the tank. My friend has seen pretty well everything I've ever done with this aquarium so he knows very well that it held water no problem. Monday night, his cousin came and picked up the tank for $100 (which is about 1/4 the cost of a new one) and tuesday night I get an email saying he tried to fill the tank, it leaked out everywhere after about the half point mark... I have overflowed this tank in my house a couple of times, so I know that it didn't leak past the half point mark for me.. Also in the email, he says that the cousin resiliconed it, so he's tampered with it right there, and it still leaked (so he did a poor job). Now, he is asking to return it and get his money back, which I have already spent on a present for my girlfriend for christmas, and this leaves me with a ruined tank with a poor silicone job... What would you guys do in this situation?? I highly doubt that in about 2 months since it held water, and then moving it up the stairs and onto my deck would cause any leaks.. The whole aquarium was resiliconed about 3 years ago as well by the person I bought it from.. The only other thing is that my friend owes e $50 that I loaned him about a month ago which I really need back for christmas presents and to buy food for my herps.. This wouldn't be as big of a deal if I had any sort of income, but I don't.. The only way I can get his money back is to sell off something else which I don't want to do.. If it were me that had purchased the tank, I would have just counted my losses or maybe spent a little more time resiliconing it.. If anyone bought an aquarium from a store that had a leak in it, resiliconed it, still leaked and they tried to return it to the store, they'd be told to get lost am I wrong?? Any suggestions welcomed.. I also might add that the buyer is well into his thirties and I'm 18 if that makes any difference.. I'm not trying to rip him off or anything, but I also don't want to be ripped off myself..

Thanks for taking the time to read.

joey · 12-02-04, 11:24 AM

You're in kind of a fix. Sorry. Did you tell the guy that it was leak proof when he bought it? Maybe you should have tested it before selling it? Or the guy could've asked to fill it up to see for himself.

harp · 12-02-04, 11:34 AM

Did you sell it" AS IS " if so the him to go away. If you didn't Just explain that it was fine when he took it and you don't know if he droped it or twisted it or set it up on a un-level stand that could cause it to twist and cause a leak. So you just are not going to give the money back, also remind him on the deal he got instead of going to a store to buy it at a much higer price and where they would not return it or give money back after seeing it was tampered with ( resiliconing it ).
Rdean

RepTylE · 12-02-04, 11:35 AM

I don't know about anyone else but whenever I buy a used tank I always consider it sold to "as is".
100 gallon tanks are awkward and heavy, think it might be possible that they miay have damaged it while moving it around? Maybe banging a corner into a wall or something? I'd be wondering why a tank would still be leaking after a re-silicone job on it.

You could consider offering to do the resealing job for him then it would be done right. I assume that your friend had seen the tank full of water when last it was.
I still say that buying a used aquarium is basically an as is kind of thing......

rwg · 12-02-04, 11:36 AM

I'd take the tank back, give him 50 bucks (the hundred minus the fifty he owes you). Since you know each other well enough to lend money, you could always owe him the fifty until you find another buyer. Sell the tank to someone else either "as is", or re-seal it yourself first, and sell it as water-tight. If you call it water-tight when you sell it, it had better be. Even better if you can demonstrate it to the buyer before selling. No grounds for returning it later if you can agree on the condition of the tank.

Roy

ydnic · 12-02-04, 11:41 AM

how does a tank leak if it has been resiliconed?

the silicon could have dried up a bit after having it on your deck especailly in the sun -
However there is no way a tank can leak if it has been siliconed properly

snakers55 · 12-02-04, 12:35 PM

Yeah he obviously doesn't know how to silicone properly.. I did tell him it held water just fine,and told him that in the presence of my friend who has seen it hold water. In fact, it was my friend that helped me move the tank from it's stand after I got the new stand, because my friend bought the old stand from me. I don't think the sun would have dried the silicone in this weather though.. I figured the same as RepTylE, and that it must have been damaged in the move.. It was also only outside on the deck from 4 pm sunday until about 5 pm monday. I'll suggest some of these things to him, and if it comes down to me HAVING to refund him, I'll tell him it'll have to wait until after christmas at least.. What a pain..

snakers55 · 12-02-04, 12:36 PM

Yeah he obviously doesn't know how to silicone properly.. I did tell him it held water just fine,and told him that in the presence of my friend who has seen it hold water. In fact, it was my friend that helped me move the tank from it's stand after I got the new stand, because my friend bought the old stand from me. I don't think the sun would have dried the silicone in this weather though.. I figured the same as RepTylE, and that it must have been damaged in the move.. It was also only outside on the deck from 4 pm sunday until about 5 pm monday. I'll suggest some of these things to him, and if it comes down to me HAVING to refund him, I'll tell him it'll have to wait until after christmas at least.. What a pain..

snakers55 · 12-02-04, 03:25 PM

Well,I pulled one lie from my friends email (I blame none of this on my friend, I know how he is, he's just relaying what his cousin said).. He said that his cousin let the silicone stand for 36 hours, which is impossible seeing as he picked it up at 5 PM Monday, and I recieved the email around 11 PM or 12 AM Tuesday night, and the guy lives a couple hours from here, so that's about 28 hours or so.. It has crossed my mind that the buyer was just not satisfied with the look of a used aquarium and thought of a way to make it look like it's my fault as to why he didn't want it..

marisa · 12-02-04, 03:31 PM

I wouldn't give him anything.

It will take some work, but even bad leaks can be fixed with a PROPER silcone job. He should remove all the crap silcone, and re-do it properly. Then he has a perfectly working tank.

Marisa

peterm15 · 12-02-04, 03:44 PM

its really not your prob..... what you can do it tell him that to resilicone anything you must first scrap off the existing and when you done siliconeing lick your finger and run it up the silicone.... this will make sure its into every nook.......

but in all reality its not your prob... you gotta talk to your friend and see what he thinks...

if you can reseal it yourself offer to do it.... but if he really wants his money back and you decide to do it tell him it must be returned in its orginal condition...

i may soud like im a jerk but as soon as he touched the seal hes ofically made it his.... what proof do you have that he didnt like the colour of the silicone so he decided to change it.... or hes just regretted the purchase so he tampered.....

but on the other hand if your gonna loose a friend over it... ts really not worth it.... so just see what you friend has to say about it......

i never sell anthing to anyone i know or know through someone... for this exact reason....

Shad0w · 12-02-04, 03:45 PM

Im with not giving him anything either...

A used tank is usually sold as is... and if it leaks.. the guy can resilicone it.. if it still leaks.. either the glass is broken .. or he doesnt know how to re silicone...

snakers55 · 12-02-04, 04:44 PM

Well, I've emailed my friend and said that I'm not giving anything back to the guy and I will help him try to sell it as a dry tank to soemone, or I will repair it for him. I'm glad to see that everyone understands this the way I do, and I'm not just being a prick.. Thanks for your input everyone.

peterm15 · 12-02-04, 05:45 PM

good for you... but what does your friend think.... like i said its not worth looseing a friend

snakers55 · 12-02-04, 05:54 PM

Yeah, i'm not really sure what he thinks at this point.. I wouldn't let it go that far, but I sold the tank to his cousin, so really he doesn't play a huge part in it.. He should understand my point of view..