JNalley
Valuable Member
This is going to be long and detailed. I apologize ahead of time.
On November 7, 2021, I decided to try out Sicce products on my daughter's Fluval Flex tank. I picked up a Syncra SDC 3.0 return pump and 2 XStream SDC Powerheads. The 5-year warranty stood out as a company that stands behind its products, built-in temperature sensors were a bonus, and they were controllable (because they are oversized for that tank, but I wanted them to grow with her) were what drew me to them. The price was steep for similar products, but a 5-year warranty is nearly unheard of, plenty of people rave about their products, and I couldn't be happier with my return pump, and I have since purchased a Syncra SDC 6.0 for my other tank (Though, I am regretting this decision because of the customer service I have received to this point).
Upon receiving my products on November 10th, I registered all 3 of them (the warranty is only 2 years, with registration, it becomes 5, or maybe it's 3 and 5, but either way, to get 5 years, you need to register). I also submitted a support ticket because both wavemakers were abnormally loud (they sounded like someone snoring loudly underwater). One of them was twice as loud as the other though. However, I registered on the Italian website, and they sent me an e-mail on 11/15 asking me to register again on the US website, which I promptly did, and filled out another support ticket on the US site. I also reached back out to the Italian site about 3 dayslater stating no one from the US site had gotten back to me about the noise issue.
On 11/15/2021 a support ticket was properly created, and I received an apology from the representative telling me that they were having issues with their ticketing system. The representative said that some noise will be heard, but that they should be the quietest in the system by far (they weren't) and asked if I could send some pictures of the pumps and he would let me know if anything stood out to him. I sent them that day.
On 11/26, I reached back out under that same ticket, telling them I had not heard anything. I received another apology on 11/29 about the ticket system and was asked to attach the photos again. Which I did, again. Then they asked me to send a video showcasing the noise, which I had to do as a youtube video to which I sent the link (the video was too large to send via text message/email/etc.) I received an e-mail on December 2nd telling me my ticket was about to be closed due to a lack of response. On December 9th, I went online to check the ticket's status and found it had been closed. I asked why it was closed and why it seemed so difficult to get support.
A little over a week later (Dec 17), "the boss" (Jay) e-mailed me directly and apologized again for the ticketing problems and explained that they were in the middle of revamping their ticketing system to serve their customers better and that he could not access my ticket, but he would love to help. So, frustratingly, I started over. I explained that at this point, it had been about a month since I initially reported the issue and that the pumps had somewhat quieted down, but now instead of someone snoring loudly underwater, they sounded like a cellphone in a hard plastic case on vibrate on a table. I also had discovered a new problem, the anti-sync would drift in and out of sync. He explained that sometimes the pumps need to "season", and that he would be happy to check on the Anti-Sync for me.
I went back and forth with Jay since December 19th of last year until May 11th of this year. I am no closer to a resolution. All I really ever got was "I'm still waiting to hear back from Italy", but try this. Also, since I know he's kind of a busy guy always traveling to the trade shows here in the US and whatnot, I only e-mailed him about once a month to check in, which shouldn't be my job, it should be his to reach out to me and let me know something is still being worked on, but he's the boss, so I know he's busier than most reps. I even reached out here on R2R forums, without divulging the name of the pump mfctr'r to see what others would do in my situation because I didn't want to be this guy. But I'm quite fed up... I know Jay is on these forums, and he may see this, but Sicce has completely lost me as a customer, all because of the extreme lack of customer service...
No amount of me reaching out pushed the needle further than when I first submitted the ticket. I have pretty much given up. In the last e-mail exchange we had, he said "I am not sure what else I can do to help you or what you would like to see in terms of an outcome.", and to be candid, that really made me mad. Obviously, if you can't figure out what's wrong with them, and there is indeed something wrong with them, and I am an unsatisfied customer, *you* should have a protocol on what to do next. Over the course of like 30+ e-mails (Some exchanges were back and forth over the course of a day or two), I explained, re-explained, and did everything you asked of me, even in my last e-mail, I re-explained that it's NOT an app issue, and that if we couple the original noise issue with this information, it *seems* like there's a mechanical drag causing one of the pumps to be slower than the other which pushes it into and out of phase. This indicates to me that the product needs to be replaced, why doesn't it indicate that to you?
Anyways, I think Sicce probably has great products, my one (possibly two) bad wavemakers are likely just factory defective, which happens, and I am totally understanding of that having worked in Technical Support and Warranty for nearly 30 years... It shouldn't be this hard to get a resolution, I shouldn't feel like I've climbed Mt. Everest and Defeated Muhammad Ali just to get a simple warranty processed...
So, if you ever have problems with your Sicce pumps, I hope your experience goes better than mine, as for me, as I need to replace things, I will be replacing them with a different brand...
On November 7, 2021, I decided to try out Sicce products on my daughter's Fluval Flex tank. I picked up a Syncra SDC 3.0 return pump and 2 XStream SDC Powerheads. The 5-year warranty stood out as a company that stands behind its products, built-in temperature sensors were a bonus, and they were controllable (because they are oversized for that tank, but I wanted them to grow with her) were what drew me to them. The price was steep for similar products, but a 5-year warranty is nearly unheard of, plenty of people rave about their products, and I couldn't be happier with my return pump, and I have since purchased a Syncra SDC 6.0 for my other tank (Though, I am regretting this decision because of the customer service I have received to this point).
Upon receiving my products on November 10th, I registered all 3 of them (the warranty is only 2 years, with registration, it becomes 5, or maybe it's 3 and 5, but either way, to get 5 years, you need to register). I also submitted a support ticket because both wavemakers were abnormally loud (they sounded like someone snoring loudly underwater). One of them was twice as loud as the other though. However, I registered on the Italian website, and they sent me an e-mail on 11/15 asking me to register again on the US website, which I promptly did, and filled out another support ticket on the US site. I also reached back out to the Italian site about 3 dayslater stating no one from the US site had gotten back to me about the noise issue.
On 11/15/2021 a support ticket was properly created, and I received an apology from the representative telling me that they were having issues with their ticketing system. The representative said that some noise will be heard, but that they should be the quietest in the system by far (they weren't) and asked if I could send some pictures of the pumps and he would let me know if anything stood out to him. I sent them that day.
On 11/26, I reached back out under that same ticket, telling them I had not heard anything. I received another apology on 11/29 about the ticket system and was asked to attach the photos again. Which I did, again. Then they asked me to send a video showcasing the noise, which I had to do as a youtube video to which I sent the link (the video was too large to send via text message/email/etc.) I received an e-mail on December 2nd telling me my ticket was about to be closed due to a lack of response. On December 9th, I went online to check the ticket's status and found it had been closed. I asked why it was closed and why it seemed so difficult to get support.
A little over a week later (Dec 17), "the boss" (Jay) e-mailed me directly and apologized again for the ticketing problems and explained that they were in the middle of revamping their ticketing system to serve their customers better and that he could not access my ticket, but he would love to help. So, frustratingly, I started over. I explained that at this point, it had been about a month since I initially reported the issue and that the pumps had somewhat quieted down, but now instead of someone snoring loudly underwater, they sounded like a cellphone in a hard plastic case on vibrate on a table. I also had discovered a new problem, the anti-sync would drift in and out of sync. He explained that sometimes the pumps need to "season", and that he would be happy to check on the Anti-Sync for me.
I went back and forth with Jay since December 19th of last year until May 11th of this year. I am no closer to a resolution. All I really ever got was "I'm still waiting to hear back from Italy", but try this. Also, since I know he's kind of a busy guy always traveling to the trade shows here in the US and whatnot, I only e-mailed him about once a month to check in, which shouldn't be my job, it should be his to reach out to me and let me know something is still being worked on, but he's the boss, so I know he's busier than most reps. I even reached out here on R2R forums, without divulging the name of the pump mfctr'r to see what others would do in my situation because I didn't want to be this guy. But I'm quite fed up... I know Jay is on these forums, and he may see this, but Sicce has completely lost me as a customer, all because of the extreme lack of customer service...
No amount of me reaching out pushed the needle further than when I first submitted the ticket. I have pretty much given up. In the last e-mail exchange we had, he said "I am not sure what else I can do to help you or what you would like to see in terms of an outcome.", and to be candid, that really made me mad. Obviously, if you can't figure out what's wrong with them, and there is indeed something wrong with them, and I am an unsatisfied customer, *you* should have a protocol on what to do next. Over the course of like 30+ e-mails (Some exchanges were back and forth over the course of a day or two), I explained, re-explained, and did everything you asked of me, even in my last e-mail, I re-explained that it's NOT an app issue, and that if we couple the original noise issue with this information, it *seems* like there's a mechanical drag causing one of the pumps to be slower than the other which pushes it into and out of phase. This indicates to me that the product needs to be replaced, why doesn't it indicate that to you?
Anyways, I think Sicce probably has great products, my one (possibly two) bad wavemakers are likely just factory defective, which happens, and I am totally understanding of that having worked in Technical Support and Warranty for nearly 30 years... It shouldn't be this hard to get a resolution, I shouldn't feel like I've climbed Mt. Everest and Defeated Muhammad Ali just to get a simple warranty processed...
So, if you ever have problems with your Sicce pumps, I hope your experience goes better than mine, as for me, as I need to replace things, I will be replacing them with a different brand...
