  RETURN POLICY |
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Terms and Conditions: (For UV Bulb information, please scroll to the bottom of the page) 1. Please try and have all return requests must be initiated within 30 days from when the products are delivered to you. (this excludes returns initiated by email requesting us to take care of warranty issues on a product purchased by us or to repair a product out of warranty). However warranty returns can be taken at any time. Broken or damaged shipments need to be handled within 7 days. The simplest way to handle all return or breakage requests/complaints is to respond directly to the email we send with ALL sales at the time we finish processing your purchase. We send ALL customers this email, if you cannot find it in your email please check your SPAM folder as Yahoo, AT&T/Bell South, and many other email services often have poor spam filters that often spam our “Thank You”/Shipment information emails. We have also found that many customers use "old" email addresses in PayPal or similar credit card accounts that are no longer checked, Please note that these Shipping information emails from us are sent to the email provided by your PayPal or Credit Card account (unless you type the current email at the time of purchase), so please check these email accounts if our email cannot be found. Requirements for Return • The product has not been used (although if returned in saleable condition we can refund at 85% purchase price, this amount can vary depending upon time to recondition, clean and what we can sell the product for based on condition). • The product is in original packaging material which is also in new condition. • All of the original parts, accessories, instruction manuals, paperwork, etc. is in the packaging. 2. You can email us using our Contact Form (recommended/preferred), or info@americanaquariumproducts.com, or simply enclose a letter with your return. Please include your order number (or email used), your name, the product that you wish to return, and a reason for the return. 3. Customers are responsible for all return shipping costs, including on defective merchandise. This is analogous to paying for gas to drive a product back to the store you bought it from (not to mention our prices retail are often close to what many stores pay and even with return shipping a product we sell for $16 often sells for $30 in stores and with shipping back you are still ahead). Packages that arrive with "COD" or "Postage Due" will be refused. 4. All return products must be received in new, resalable condition. The condition of the product will be determined at our discretion. 5. For Shipping damage; Pictures of outer packaging, and broken items is all that is necessary for products damaged in shipping for shipping within the USA.. Please attach these pictures (or mail) to the original email sent at the time of shipping for us to process your damage complaint (return of such shipments is rarely required) We check/test most all fragile prior to shipping (including liquids) to ensure that your item was shipped in good condition, however even with the best of care in checking and packaging damage can happen and we attempt to correct this ASAP and pictures often work best. However as stated on our Shipping Policy Page we receive no guarantees when shipping internationally, and unfortunately Canada Post damages or looses more packages than all other shippers combined; in an effort to provide our products to international locations we will do our best to aid a customer with losses internationally (so please do not take your frustration out on us, complain to Canada Post to bring their shipping up to world standards!). Please understand that lost international packages cannot be fully credited due to the lack of guarantees for us. International breakage MUST be emailed in advance of returns 6. A 15% restocking fee will be charged for all non-defective returns. A larger restocking fee may be deducted if the returned merchandise is not resalable (for example, a tamper-proof seal broken, the packaging damaged, the product scratched, manual missing, etc.). 7. Packages refused by the customer will be restocked with a 20% fee deducted from the refund. In addition, any postage due or brokerage fees associated with recovering a refused package will be deducted from the refund. 8. Shipping charges are not refundable under ANY circumstances once an order has shipped. 9. Returns that provide pertinent information will be processed within 7 business days, usually much quicker ("business days" exclude weekends, holidays, and the day the package is delivered) of when they are delivered. Returns without any sales information, refused packages, and undeliverable packages can take up to 3 weeks to be processed and may be refused, returned to you at your expense, or restocked with a 20% restocking fee. If your return has not been processed within the specified time then please email info@americanaquariumproducts.com 10. Non deliverable packages due to incorrect addresses will be charged a re-label fee of what ever the charge to us is. All labels are "pasted" directly from your shopping cart, so whatever is provided (unless we are immediately notified) is what we use. As well even phone orders are charged this fee, as we read back all orders and we then send (as we do for internet orders) a confirmation of this order, so it is the customers obligation to make sure this order is correct. It is also noteworthy that phone orders are customer courtesy and not our preferred way of doing business, since our profit margin is extremely small and these orders cost us more in fees and time (since they are not automated). For this reason we are very strict as to incorrect address charges when it comes to phone orders, if uncertain about a phone order please email us with your correct address or place it via the internet. 11. All our electrical devices are 110-120V, so these pumps, filters, Sterilizers, Lights, etc. will not work in the UK, Australia, etc. unless you have step down transformer and all returns for this reason will not include shipping and be charged a 15% re-stocking fee 12. We reserve to ship ANY product replacement the most cost effective way possible, regardless of initial shipping method or package destinations 13. Finally, 99% of the products we sell, we have either a good relationship with the manufacturer or we will simply back the product ourselves; So please do not feel you should have to “eat” a product that you feel has not lived up to its warranty (or similar), please contact us by email or return with a note and quite often we are able to replace your product or repair it for no cost or simply parts other than shipping to us. American Aquarium Products 913 SW H Street Grants Pass, OR 97526 Return Shipping instructions: All returned items should be packed in the same manner as they were originally shipped to you. Products returned without a separate shipping box or without the original product box will be refused. You are free to use any carrier that you choose although we are not responsible for any packages lost or damaged during the return trip. Delivery problems: In rare instances, there may be a problem with delivery. Most of the time, this is because the package was delivered to a side entrance instead of the main entrance and the customer is unable to locate the package. If you believe the package was not delivered to your address or have any other similar problems, please contact us within 5 days of when the package was supposed to arrive. Any longer delays may seriously hinder our investigation. UV Bulb Replacement Information We inspect and check ALL our premium quality quartz UVC replacement lamps prior to shipping so as to prevent problems with the end user. Usually when a bulb does not work it is the UV unit itself. This is especially true for the low end Jebo, Aqua Medic, and Garden Treasure UV Sterilizers which are of very poor quality and low durability in our experience (which includes 30 years of pond and aquarium maintenance as well as designing of UV Sterilizers and a very good working knowledge of their function). Also it is noteworthy that an old bulb lighting in a unit is not proof that the UV Sterilizer is OK, as I have seen many units not “fire up” a new bulb yet work with an old lamp due to a weak ballast (again this is more common with the before mentioned units), as it takes a stronger ballast to fire a new UVC Bulb You can test your ballast using a Multi Meter and touching the probes to the ballast wires or more simply in many models to the receptacles for the lamp pins. Also a more clear example of a bad ballast is if upon placing your new lamp into your unit, your filaments get blown out you obviously have a bad ballast or a short (possibly from water inside the unit where it does not belong). We try and replace bulbs as a customer courtesy when ever possible, even if the return bulb tests fine upon return (which we have yet to have a single return of our T5 UVC Bulbs test bad upon return). However we do not replace bulbs with blown filaments. Also since we check our bulbs before shipping, it is highly unlikely that two bulbs would not work in the same unit, and this is also a strong indicator of a bad UV Sterilizer for which we cannot guarantee a bulb. It is also important to note that a new UV Bulb may take longer to “fire”, especially in weak units. Damage incurred trying to get our UVC bulbs to work in a weak UV Sterilizer cannot be honored for replacement, even if another bulb eventually works. A blown filament is 99% of the time an indicator of a short or similar problem, which is often caused by water inside the electronics (this is based on almost 30 years experience of working with UV Sterilizers). Finally even better made UV Sterilizers can go defective (even new units), especially the units with electronic ballasts (which represent the majority nowadays). What does not happen is a tested bulb does suddenly not work, so we cannot honor further returns after replacing a bulb once and it tests fine. | Payment Confirmation | Additional Shipping | Subscriptions | Fedex-Ground | Return Policy | | Return Home | Downloads | Shipping and Return Policy | Contact Us | Great Links | Aquarium_Information | |
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