Fed up with Apex

[User1]

Free advertising. Of course they are one of the biggest online presences for our hobby in the US. It’s a smart move. Costs less to donate gear than pay for ads..

On a simplistic level, this is true. As I noted many companies sponsor them. But that isn't helping you.

Honestly the way I see it is this. If you have tried to work with them and got nowhere and you need a controller I don't think you will be disappointed with GHL. Heck, it even looks more aesthetically pleasing and not a toy in some of the Neptune product line. My only pause is how much you have invested, how much of it can be resold, and how much of it is a total replace. Only you can figure this out and see if it is worth it or not.

I have no skin in the game other than when I see some posts that lead one to believe what happened to you is the norm and show another side. And I'm not even a power user with the exception of how I handle tide simulation with my Cor pumps.

 

[User1]

So GHL doesn’t work with IOS?

I do not know - someone here will have to answer who owns one. I do see an app in iTunes though although not sure what that does...

 

[Paul Sands]

I think you are reading too much into this.

So the company that requires all vendors to sign an agreement to sell the Apex at a set price without any discounts or sales never thought about negotiating exclusives? ROFL.

 

[Ditto]

GHL Connect is the Configuration IOS App for the P4 devices. It has 99% of the features of the legacy desktop app. They are in the process of porting over the remaining 1%

I have a few Video's here are done on my iPhone via IOS.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0PPlC7m7LWXDlywYazUkrw/videos?view_as=subscriber

You will see quite a few quick tutorials all using my Iphone

Hope this helps answer your questions.

 

[User1]

So the company that requires all vendors to sign an agreement to sell the Apex at a set price without any discounts or sales never thought about negotiating exclusives? ROFL.

Does the agreement come with a line item that says 'thou shall not sell competing products'? Remove your bias hat and get real. MAP pricing while I personally do not like it helps the hobbyist so that we don't end up with the situation that is going on with Tridents on Ebay for a couple grand. Other companies do this - Fesstool comes to mind off the top of my head.

Last time I checked BRS portal they sold some GHL products.

 

[ShawnSaucier]

On a simplistic level, this is true. As I noted many companies sponsor them. But that isn't helping you.

Honestly the way I see it is this. If you have tried to work with them and got nowhere and you need a controller I don't think you will be disappointed with GHL. Heck, it even looks more aesthetically pleasing and not a toy in some of the Neptune product line. My only pause is how much you have invested, how much of it can be resold, and how much of it is a total replace. Only you can figure this out and see if it is worth it or not.

I have no skin in the game other than when I see some posts that lead one to believe what happened to you is the norm and show another side. And I'm not even a power user with the exception of how I handle tide simulation with my Cor pumps.

I was just on the US site pricing what I feel I would need. The site is pretty extensive and there are some things that I’m going to ask them about, as I could not find the product or possible solution. I’m OCD about my system, and prefer a cohesive look. So quite honestly it will be a full system swap minus lights and pumps/powerheads (Ecotech for the time being). Somethings can be added on later, but the mains are controller, dosing and safety redundancies if there is a failure or power outage.
So things like leak detection and water level sensors are important. Ways of detecting if my return pump fails and putting the system into a safe mode until a problem can be fixed.

 

[Ditto]

@ShawnSaucier - The GHL site is quite extensive and the GHL people are great at explaining what you need. If you have specific questions about Apex feature to a GHL feature you can PM me also and I can try to help.

 

[Paul Sands]

Does the agreement come with a line item that says 'thou shall not sell competing products'? Remove your bias hat and get real. MAP pricing while I personally do not like it helps the hobbyist so that we don't end up with the situation that is going on with Tridents on Ebay for a couple grand. Other companies do this - Fesstool comes to mind off the top of my head.

Last time I checked BRS portal they sold some GHL products.

Well, a quick perusal of eBay shows that their “MAP” pricing isn’t preventing resellers from offering tridents for obscene amounts of money online. And Neptune could easily write the MAP clause to set a max price while allowing vendors to sell the product for less if they were trying to prevent price gouging. Neptune would make the same amount even if the seller offered it on sale.

MAP pricing is something that companies with monopolies typically pull. It doesn’t help the consumer. It helps the company make their product seem like a premium product that never goes on sale. It’s in the interest of the company at the expense of the consumer.

Listen, I get it. If I had cornered the market I would do everything I could to protect my market share. That’s exactly what Neptune is doing using every tool they have available. It’s not in our interests. It’s in their interest.

 

[ShawnSaucier]

So the company that requires all vendors to sign an agreement to sell the Apex at a set price without any discounts or sales never thought about negotiating exclusives? ROFL.

I think it would be detrimental to any retailer to be exclusive with one supplier. You are limiting your market. But if one of your suppliers is always willing to supply equipment for your research/advertising videos... Why would you not use it? Especially when you have a large stock pile in your warehouse.
I also agree on the MAP pricing. It helps with people not getting priced ridiculous prices even when supplies are short.

 

[User1]

Well, a quick perusal of eBay shows that their “MAP” pricing isn’t preventing resellers from offering tridents for obscene amounts of money online. And Neptune could easily write the MAP clause to set a max price while allowing vendors to sell the product for less if that’s what they were trying to prevent. Neptune would make the same amount even if the seller offered it on sale.

MAP pricing is something that companies with monopolies typically pull. It doesn’t help the consumer. It helps the company make their product seem like a premium product that never goes on sale. It’s in the interest of the company at the expense of the consumer.

Listen, I get it. If I had cornered the market I would do everything I could to protect my market share. That’s exactly what Neptune is doing using every tool they have available. It’s not in our interests. It’s in their interest.

No - MAP pricing isn't solving the Trident issue on ebay but it was more to show you how retailers are carrying, and pricing, the trident and how on hand stock doesn't let them gouge the hobbyist. Those buying off ebay I feel sorry for because I think there will be a warranty issue because it isn't a valid vendor.

In any case this is way off topic and probably not helping the OP at all. Sorry for bringing it up or replying to it. Not my intent.

 

[ShawnSaucier]

@ShawnSaucier - The GHL site is quite extensive and the GHL people are great at explaining what you need. If you have specific questions about Apex feature to a GHL feature you can PM me also and I can try to help.

I appreciate this invite and will be hitting a few of you up. Wasn’t expecting this post to go bananas. But it makes me feel like there are a few more out there that have had the same issues with the customer service being the key.

 

[ShawnSaucier]

No - MAP pricing isn't solving the Trident issue on ebay but it was more to show you how retailers are carrying, and pricing, the trident and how on hand stock doesn't let them gouge the hobbyist. Those buying off ebay I feel sorry for because I think there will be a warranty issue because it isn't a valid vendor.

In any case this is way off topic and probably not helping the OP at all. Sorry for bringing it up or replying to it. Not my intent.

It’s all good. This is an open discussion. And I’ve had my rant about the issues I’ve had with a certain controller and their CS.
As disappointed as I am with my experience, I’m glad there are so many that have had a polar opposite experience.
I dont feel sorry for those getting price gouged online though. You’ve gone this long without one, is it really that important to spend all of that extra money to get it right now? Probably not.. and again, the company possibly avoiding the warranty if it’s not a vendor, that is bull if it happens. A new unit is a new unit, but I wouldn’t be surprised..

 

[chefjpaul]

@ShawnSaucier
The only negative I can see for you, should issues arise, is the inability to just hit the LFS and get support with ProfiLux gear should something go sideways..

Not necessary to be local, as the equipment is pretty rock solid and stable.

Ive had a hardware issue (maxi), and they replaced the unit with great communication.

They have had remote into my system to help with software. (My issues, and lack of knowledge). As the P4 was brand new and still developing at the time.
This GHL platform is evolving into a fantastic product ever developing and progressing.

I appreciate the advancements, user based feedback and just listening to us and what we want, all while delivering. They may not be the fastest at pumping out products, but its done correctly.

 

[ShawnSaucier]

Not necessary to be local, as the equipment is pretty rock solid and stable.

Ive had a hardware issue (maxi), and they replaced the unit with great communication.

They have had remote into my system to help with software. (My issues, and lack of knowledge). As the P4 was brand new and still developing at the time.
This GHL platform is evolving into a fantastic product ever developing and progressing.

I appreciate the advancements, user based feedback and just listening to us and what we want, all while delivering. They may not be the fastest at pumping out products, but its done correctly.

That’s great!

 

[ShawnSaucier]

Yeah, gonna need to get in touch with the US office and some of you GHL users to talk about concepts

 

[Tamberav]

Sorry for all the problems! Customer service is honestly one of the most important things for me.

I had an Apex Lite for many years and it worked flawlessly. I got an Apex 2016 with a used set up I bought so I use that now (it is ugly!).

I have not had any issues but I know some of their products look a bit overpriced or poorly reviewed for the cost and I wouldn't buy them.

I think the main reason it works fine for me is I don't jump into the everything Apex option. I use it for pH, temp control, breakout box for ATO, control nanobox pucks/led, and control BRS dosers. I even did a DIY flood sensors when I had a big tank instead of buying neptunes because it seemed to work better at a fraction of the cost.

I definitely would caution someone going 'all in' to take a closer look at reviews. You would think since the product costs so much and the add-ons can be quite expensive...that they would try harder. For example I would take a Tunze ATO over their ATK any day. The fact that ATK has 3 stars on BRS and the Tunze 3155 has over 4.5 at the same price point speaks volumes.

 

[Darrell Brady]

The biggest problem with Apex is all there ad ons just go an look at there reviews. They no they have problems but fail to stand behind any of there products.

 

[User1]

The biggest problem with Apex is all there ad ons just go an look at there reviews. They no they have problems but fail to stand behind any of there products.

Care to give specifics? I'll give mine based on my support requests.

ATO. I thought it was not working correctly. I called them. They asked me to create a ticket and someone would call me back. While I don't like this support format it is becoming more and more common to "all" businesses dealing with support. They want you to email or use a chat bot then call only has a last resort. Don't believe me then let me know how you reach Amazon retail or AWS cloud, or Comcast, or most other larger players. So once I got past that I said ok, let me create a ticket. About an hour later Luis (I believe that was the name) called me, asked me to describe my issue and/or concern, and then asked me some questions. I don't think I explained it well enough so he asked if he could remote in, told me how to set it up and allow, then he would look and call me back. About 30 minutes later he called, asked if he could make some changes, and after I said yes, said he would and call me back. Last call he explained what he did, why he did it, and asked me to monitor it. If any issues or follow up question reply to the email. If not then he would close the ticket out in 7 days (I believe he said 7). Anyway one example.

Cor 15. Would power up, flow, but I never saw it in Fusion. Email to create a ticket, got a call back, asked what the issue was, then asked to login because what I was explaining they haven't seen before. They couldn't figure out it (this is 2 weeks after launch) so asked if they could send me a 1 link cable. Sure. I had a return pump just wanted to use the Cor so it isn't critical and I could wait. It arrived two days later. I swap it in, same issue. Reply to email, they call back, and back to trouble shooting. Ironically enough it ended up being related to firmware not being updated and caused the pump to fail to be seen via an ID in Fusion / Modules. Once he manually updated the firmware I got a call back and everything was fine. My only issue was the trouble shooting bit by sending a cable rather than the whole unit. Looking back had they sent a whole unit it wouldn't probably have solved it anyway because I believe it was the firmware of the device I plugged the cable into. At the time I felt they are troubleshooting part by part rather than the whole unit if that makes sense.

I don't know, they seem to have stood by the products I owned and at least in once case sent me a replacement. Doesn't mean people don't have bad experiences though nor do I represent the community. No different than two people owning the same brand car yet one has a lemon and the other lemonade...

 

[Darrell Brady]

Yes I have had dos not dose right wav pumps quit working ,reservoir keep going out. it just got to be to much of hassle keep sending things back at your on expence. I just use to monitor my tank an turn thinks on an off.

 

[bluprntguy]

Hey, we're making progress, BRS now sells the 2.1 doser and kh director. I think a big part of it is their relationship with Neptune, but also GHL has their own warehouse that sells to the public. That's probably the best place to purchase. I do however understand wanting to purchase from your favorite store! Points, shipping, comfort, etc...

Thanks for this. I had no idea they sold direct and had the same problems finding one. Now, the only issue I have with GHL is why the heck does their powerbar only have 6 outlets instead of 8.