[Twan013]

well, it wasn't exactly "out of the box"... i mean it was, but the LFS apparently had sold it before... it was a used system... everything was there and clean, but you could tell it had been used.. where the tape was, there was 2 separate layers (like it had been retaped after being opened).. and on that powerhead, the piece going into the rubber tube, its chipped off.. nothing to interfere with its working abilities, because it still sticks to the tube... there was another piece that was broken, but i may have done that myself without realizing it... even tho, it wasn't anything major.. it was just a clip that held the hose going to the tiny air silencer thing to the water intake tube... just to keep that small tube in place, so it looks neater and more uniform... so that doesn't matter to me..

i don't know... the fact that its a used/returned item, it kinda contradicts the whole policy thing... and i know it wasn't an old item from back in the day, because the time i went in there before i bought the skimmer, all they had to sell was an old used skilter 400.... and this last time i went in, they had 2 of the skimmer that i bought... i don't know, maybe their supplier sold it and took it back, and then sent it to this LFS.. or maybe one of the employees had taken it out and was studying it and broke it, and thought "oh crap, i better put this back".... the only reason i'm not going to try to take it back and get it exchanged or refunded, is because i can't tolerate the stress... i'd drive an hour out there, go in, explain the situation, ask to get it replaced, they'll say no, and talk about their policy, i'll get upset, and eventually a cop is gonna be involved... so i just prefer to stay away from it.. learn from my mistakes, and either study the packaging more next time, or not shop there again...