Bad experience with Aqua Illumination Blade and Customer Support

[malfist]

Posting here to rant and warn people away from Aqua Illumination. Their customer support has been really terrible.

I bought the 66" AI Blade (granted this is the freshwater one, but I'm sure their customer support for reef and freshwater are the same) as a christmas present for myself and my tank, I have a 220 gallon. All went well for just over 30 days when I noticed that the lights were not going off at night. Two segments of the 7 segment light do their own thing. They have a different color spectrum, and schedules. In particular they light to stay on all night. They don't answer to the mobius "all on" or "all off" scenes and they don't participate in the demo when adjusting the schedule.

I messaged EcoTech/AI's customer support in the mobius app at the end of december and they agreed the light was defective and they'd ship me a new one. That I should be on the look out for an email with shipping details.

I waited three days and when I hadn't seen an email, I contacted them again asking what's going on. This time tech support told me that it would be "shipping very soon" and that it would take 1-2 days to arrive.

I waited until next week and contacted them again, this time I called them instead of going through the app tech support. Aqua Illumination told me this time that shipping the light would be a minimum of 4 additional weeks and could be longer, and that there was nothing they could do to expedite the light replacement, and nothing I could do since I was past the return window for the light.

So now I'm stuck with a light that's barely 30 days old, that's following it's own schedule and can't be programming and staying on all night. This confusion for my tank is really good at stressing my fish out and growing algae, and when I told that to AI, they said they couldn't do anything about it.

For a light that's almost $700 this is an absolute ridiculous situation.

I called BulkReefSupply the retailer I bought it from and begged for an exception to their refund policy and they made things work, but absolutely no help from AquaIllumination or EcoTech.

 

[ryanjohn1]

It’s a good rant friend but they are replacing it for you. It’s just not as fast as you would like. Sorry still sucks.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Posting here to rant and warn people away from Aqua Illumination. Their customer support has been really terrible.

I bought the 66" AI Blade (granted this is the freshwater one, but I'm sure their customer support for reef and freshwater are the same) as a christmas present for myself and my tank, I have a 220 gallon. All went well for just over 30 days when I noticed that the lights were not going off at night. Two segments of the 7 segment light do their own thing. They have a different color spectrum, and schedules. In particular they light to stay on all night. They don't answer to the mobius "all on" or "all off" scenes and they don't participate in the demo when adjusting the schedule.

I messaged EcoTech/AI's customer support in the mobius app at the end of december and they agreed the light was defective and they'd ship me a new one. That I should be on the look out for an email with shipping details.

I waited three days and when I hadn't seen an email, I contacted them again asking what's going on. This time tech support told me that it would be "shipping very soon" and that it would take 1-2 days to arrive.

I waited until next week and contacted them again, this time I called them instead of going through the app tech support. Aqua Illumination told me this time that shipping the light would be a minimum of 4 additional weeks and could be longer, and that there was nothing they could do to expedite the light replacement, and nothing I could do since I was past the return window for the light.

So now I'm stuck with a light that's barely 30 days old, that's following it's own schedule and can't be programming and staying on all night. This confusion for my tank is really good at stressing my fish out and growing algae, and when I told that to AI, they said they couldn't do anything about it.

For a light that's almost $700 this is an absolute ridiculous situation.

I called BulkReefSupply the retailer I bought it from and begged for an exception to their refund policy and they made things work, but absolutely no help from AquaIllumination or EcoTech.

Same experience for years hence I do Not use any of their product line. Quick to blame you and sell you a replacement.
I'll leave it at that

 

[malfist]

It’s a good rant friend but they are replacing it for you. It’s just not as fast as you would like. Sorry still sucks.

How many corals do you think would do fine with more than a month of unusual spectrum and no night? Adding a minimum of a month to replace a defective light after already waiting over a week is absolutely not acceptable. Especially after saying I'd have it in 1-2 days.

 

[ryanjohn1]

Welp I always have a backup for every peice of reef gear that can be used till a replacement can be sent. It may not be a premium item but it would work. The blades were a new design for them so there are expected problems. I personally have 2 from the first batch’s that came out that are stronger color blue to one side. And currently run 7 ai devices on one tank. Like I said bud it sucks you had a bad experience.

How many corals do you think would do fine with more than a month of unusual spectrum and no night? Adding a minimum of a month to replace a defective light after already waiting over a week is absolutely not acceptable. Especially after saying I'd have it in 1-2 days.

 

[rtparty]

Have you tried using MyAI instead of Mobius? I liked MyAI compared to Mobius for the Blades. Much easier to use and MyAI seems more stable than Mobius overall.

 

[Kyle T - Brand Advocate]

I'm with the team at AI and want to express my sincere apologies for this experience with support and the problem you have experienced with your Blades. I have relayed this experience over to our customer support leaders so they can evaluate the situation and make the appropriate adjustments to ensure we are able to provide exceptional support in a timely manner directly through AI. I am glad BRS was able to step in and help out here for you.

I want to avoid divulging any personal information publicly, however, are you able to provide a ticket number for me so I can better assist our support leads in looking into the issue and can see what else we'd be able to do to help you in this situation?

 

[malfist]

Here's a ticket number: 1205053

 

[Kyle T - Brand Advocate]

Thank you for that information. I have sent a PM so we can work on a solution, and will be sure to update with the resolution here