I emailed their support team to ask about a defective light I received.  My question was whether I should return the item to Big Al's or contact the manufacturer for a warranty claim.  I was then told "the #1 reason a light will arc and fail like this is if it came in contact with water."

That wasn't my question, and no, I am not in the habit of dipping electrical devices in water.  Thank you for assuming I'm not only stupid, but also unethical enough to try to return as defective an item I've been happily dunking in any significant source of water I can find!

Rather than keep banging my head into the wall with these people, I contacted the manufacturer in the hopes I could resolve the issue that way.  Surprise!  They asked for a picture of the damage and shipped a new fixture immediately after receiving it and a copy of my receipt.    

Unrelated to this issue -  They ship slowly.  Most places get your order out within a day or two, but Big Al's always seems to take 3-4 days to even get the package out the door.

 I have recently upgraded my reef aquarium, and as with any upgrade, lots of money will have to be spent. I have a budget of about $4,000.00 to spend on my wonderful hobby. It doesn't make sense to rip off somebody of a little over ...
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After shopping there for several years with very few problems, I am beginning to have doubts.

My last order of two months ago was held up for 14 days waiting on $5.99 fish pellets.  I never heard from them and it took 3 calls from me to find out what was going on.  Their site states than anything under $10 will be a simple refund without orders being held up, as well.  This proved to be false.

Last week I ordered one more time to give them a fair shake.  Their new site now has no past order history.  Even the order I just placed with them appears no where so I have no order # or tracking number.  I emailed them and they told me to call "them" for my tracking number altho their site also says I will get an email from them when my order ships.

It's beginning to appear that the customers has to put in more work to get their order than Big Al's does.  This will be the last time I use them after 7 years of placing orders there.

I never had any problems with big als

wonderful!

Good Value

Everything went as planned. Recieved the order within the time specified. Ups did a great job of delivering the product. I would and have ordered again.

I was very pleased with this merchant and the shopping experience. The prices are great and I received the order way before the expected date. The only problem that I had was that I could not find one of the items which I knew Big Al's Online carried because I had seen it previously. If I had not saved my items I would never have found it. It was the HBH carbon pad.

Big Als is a well known online aquarium supplier. It generally has what I want in stock and the prices are competitive. The website, however, is clunky and not the greatest.

It is always no problem shopping online at Big Al's.

The only thing I would ask for is more information on the item description, such as height and width information. I had to order this without really knowing it would fit. Luckily, it did. More description would have helped.

Overall very satisfied. Only glitch was that the order arrived one day later than was predicted on the order tracking site.

Good service and great price! Thanks.

Good prices, a variety of products, fair packaging.

had what i wanted at a good price. would shop again

This was my first time purchase from Big Al's. The product /price ratio was the best I found. It came in a timely manner and is working excellently. I will use this vendor in the future.

Fine will purchase from in the future.

The only problem I had, & it could have been partly my mistake, is I had ordered tops for undergravel filters & for whatever reason they never made it to check out. I didn't realize it until I received my order & was pretty disappointed because that was the thing I really needed & everything else I ordered was anticipation of future needs to justify the cost of shipping. Other than that it was a good experience.

Had asked a question after purchase but was given half a reply. Still don't have know?

Everything was easy to find and allthe merchandise was received faster then expected. Pleasant shopping experience.

As compare few years ago, Bigals Online has been improved today. But searching area needs more improve, for exp: search by brand name and view all in group of products on same webpage, don't need to go next page everytime!. Hope it can help.

I was order some more.but I can not login with my password.

Products were fine and as advertised.

great, can't find these parts anywhere else. 100% satisfied

Al's had all the factory replacement parts I needed in stock for my Marineland Magnum 350 canister filter at prices I feel are the best on the net. My order was procesed and shipped quickly and I'am glad I found Al's online. Thanks Again! Tom Albany, Oregon

Everything went well, as expected.

GREAT CHOICE OF PRODUCTS AND INFORMATION. ALWAYS ARRIVES IN EXCELLENT CONDITION

Nice selection. Great prices. Free shipping made it even better.

Great company, have been shopping here for years. Thanks!

it was good