Just a little comment about Hagen

[Vallisneria]

This isn't really a equipement post but i thought i would post anyways.

A couple weeks ago i wrote Hagen an email telling them about my last bottle of Nutrifin max spirulina flake. I had found big chunks of spirulina in the can and after removing the chunks was only left with about half a can of flakes. So i wrote them to let them know what happened.

Well a couple days later i got an email back saying they would replace my flakes and to send them my address. Well i did all that and today my flakes came int eh mail. They sent me 2 new cans of food and a bunch of free samples.

I just thought i would write to let everyone know that Hagen is a great company to deal with. I"ve emailed them before and they have always replaced what i needed. Last time i was having problems with my nitrite test kit and they sent me a new one. I"ve also broke a couple heater clips(suction cup thing) and a piece of my powerhead and they always sent out new parts without a problem. I was jsut surprised they sent me 2 new cans of food and a bunch of free stuff, free of charge

[freshmike]

That's awesome that someone out there still has great customer service! I am glad they did what they did for you! :thumbs:

[FishBrain]

Awesome thats good to hear. Thats just one more reason to go Hagen supplies.

I've had food issues before but didnt know they would do that

[Vallisneria]

I've had food issues before but didnt know they would do that

Yeah i was surprised too. I had complained to other companies before when i had problems with their foods(specifcally HBH brand flakes) and they didn't do anything. It was definately nice of hagen to send me new cans :smokey:

[Oxquo]

Good deal, I am not at all suprised that they did that, now as a retailler that has dealt with Hagen I understand that it is the high prices that they charge the retail stores for their product and low suggested retail prices that allows them to play hero and offer great return policies. Bitterness aside, I am glad for you and have had great success with alot of Hagen products. I am not real big on their food as a nutritional staple but combined with plenty of frozen foods it works well. I guess I am finding alot of companies to be that way now on the otherside. I mean, a lot of people blame the store for bad product sold yet praise the manufacturer when they play hero at the retaillers cost to redeem what was their fault to begin with. When a package says" QC passed" it should not have to be opened to verify that it is in fact the quality expected.

Don't get me wrong, I am sooo happy you got a great deal and it is good to hear, but from what I read, it goes from the stores faulty product to the actual people of fault dah dah dada super hero actions when the unfortunate truth is that their generosity will eventually fall back on their warehouse pricing causing the shelf product's price to inflate making the store look bad once again.

I myself would have blamed the store a few months back and after a few faulty products would have personally boycotted the store entirely and continued to buy the same product elsewhere. I guess in a nutshell, I am saying that as much as they have done a great thing for you, the company had no likely involvement in the poor product.

Once again congrats for standing up to poor manufactering and getting back what was rightfully deserving. Most people would have just cut their losses and threw it in the garbage. Alot of companies wouldn't have been so pleasant even when approached and may have dumped faulty product responsibility on the retailler. I am very impressed with their approach but felt the need to play devil's advocate here.

[dunl]

I think I'm gonna take issue with a few things mentioned here.....

When a package says" QC passed" it should not have to be opened to verify that it is in fact the quality expected.

Obviously, you haven't worked in any kind of a processing factory. The quality is only as good as the people who work in the factory, and the machines themselves are as imperfect as the people who run them. There are too many variables to produce a perfect product, 100% of the time. Unless you are planning to "hand inspect" every single container of product that rolls off the line, you will not get 100% quality. "QC passed" should mean that quality control inspections are in place, guaranteeing that the majority of the product is in good condition, not that it is 100% infallible.

yet praise the manufacturer when they play hero at the retaillers cost to redeem what was their fault to begin with.

If the manufacturer doesn't own up to the bad product and replace it, who are you expecting to do so? The manufacturing machine? Of course it is up to the manufacturer to stand up for their product, not the retailer who sells it. It would be much worse if the stores were supposed to exchange product at the store's expense for a mistake made in manufacturing.

And of course these customer service costs are passed on to the retailer, and then on to the customer. Why do you think Nissans are so popular? Ever been to a dealer to have something like a clutch put into a Sentra? They pratically wine and dine you, because they value your business. Is it at a cost? Yes, customer service comes at a cost.

I guess in a nutshell, I am saying that as much as they have done a great thing for you, the company had no likely involvement in the poor product.

I'm assuming that you mean that the factory manufacturing the product isn't Hagen, and therefore they instead should be reponsible?

As far as I am concerned, thanks Val for pointing out that Hagen has great customer service, which I took to be the whole point of your thread. It's great when a brand name will stand up for it's product, no matter who the reatiler is.

[Vallisneria]

OK i posted this thread just to let people know about the good experiences i've had dealing with hagen. I didn't want it to start a whole big thing.

Oxquo i'm not really sure waht you mean by

I myself would have blamed the store a few months back and after a few faulty products would have personally boycotted the store entirely and continued to buy the same product elsewhere. I guess in a nutshell, I am saying that as much as they have done a great thing for you, the company had no likely involvement in the poor product.

How is it the stores fault that there was chunks inside the can of flakes? Did the store make the flakes? No, so why would i blame them? On the back of the container it says 100% satisfaction guarenteed and the name Hagen and how to contact them. So if this is the case why would i blame the store and not go to the source and ask hagen about it. Hagen might not be the factory making the flakes but they are the ones distributing it and the flakes carry their name. If anyone is responsible for the quality of the product i think they should be.

But lets get back on track.This thread wasn't supposed to be a debate on who should be to blame if something goes wrong. Or how customer service is going to end up costing everyone more in the long run. It was just supposed to be a nice thread telling people my experiences in dealing with hagen. I thought it was worth mentioning as there have been lots of times i've not receieved the best service from other companies. I had a good experience with hagen and lets leave it at that

[Oxquo]

As usual My point went south. I do praise Hagen for their service and replacement. I have worked in manufacturing since I was 15 years old and produced over 2,000 products. I am also Quality Control certified in 6 different catagories and have geometric tolerancing certificate from NAIT. Some people may not see NAIT as a good school but I do and the course was intense. Point in question was this, Every production plant produces a spoiler now and again but it is how they correct their actions within their shop that makes the difference not in the consumers hand. I had a 100% rating over 5 years in the gasket industry. Imagine how many millions of dollars not to mention lives I could have cost should I have produced the same spoiler in say a dow chemical plant. Regardless of whether I am certified in Auto-cad, Cam-cad, QC or geometric tolerancing or have over 19 years manufacturing experience is not the point here. QC should be done in every part of the product not just in the end result, especially with food. Too many animals die or become ill due to bad food production.

Degrassi I am happy you got the deal. I simply just want to point out that I hope you are just as happy with the store that carried the product which was backed with such great service as the company that replaced the item. Also I hope you let that retail outlet know of the product flaw incase the whole product line was flawed so they could prevent anyone feeding the food to their fish, The clumps may be due to excessive moisture and bacteria could be rampant. Maybe it is me, maybe I should stick to writing 1 line posts as too many people read them as all negative when in fact they aren't really. I do honestly like Hagen or atleast some of their products and others are just par or sub-par. They still make the best HOB filters available with the best flow rates and surface areas. Better yet, I respect people who stock these high quality products in their stores so we as shoppers don't have to buy 36 AC 500's from them just to get a good filter. Did any of this clear anything up? hope so, once again congrats on the great refund.

[Smokey]

Thank you for your post, Val.

Smokey