The Light Story.
So first off, I like my lights. they are from a land far far away across the pond. (Simon's neighborhood)
water proof, dust proof, no fans needed because of heat, more than adequate for my 30"/76.2mm deep tank.
the big selling point was a 5 year replacement warranty, as in if it's broke they replace it.
back in September one of the tiles white leds stopped working. when I wiggled the plug in the controller they would come on but not stay on. I tried it in all eight inputs on the controller. I contacted my supplier here in the states and they recommended cleaning the contact.
I sent pics of the plug contact and they agreed it looked ok, and I should send it to them for a look.
I couldn't be without a light on the tank that long, and since I was already looking at the frag/grow out build, I decided to buy another tile ($275) before shipping the bad one off. get the new one, ship off the bad one ups ($30).
they receive the tile, email me they cleaned the contacts, tested it multiple times and it's ready to ship back. (my cost $19). not feeling real good about it.
get it back and sure enough it doesn't work. contact the supplier but now I'm also CC the contact I have at the manufacturers in the land of Simon. I'm told by the supplier I need to send the tile and now the controller back for testing. the controller is no longer under warranty. I tell them it isn't the controller as it doesn't work in any of the inputs and my two other tiles and two strips work in all of them, and oh by the way it doesn't work in the single power module that comes with each tile/strip. his reply was more or less "I've been doing this for a very long time." my reply was more or less I didn't care how long he had been doing it. he hadn't fixed the problem and wasn't acknowledging what I was telling him. I was told I was being rude.
so he's adamant I have to send the controller back. I later find out this is the new mandate by the manufacturer.
mean time I'm talking to the guy from the manufacturer. he asks are you positive it's not the controller. I ask if he wants me to send a video of me trying every input on the controller. at this point he agrees to send parts from across the pond to the supplier and I will need to send the tile back again, at my expense.
so I send it back. wait. wait. wait a little longer. contact the supplier that I see they have my tile, where we at with the repair? still waiting on parts. then I get an email from the manufacturer that they are having a problem getting the parts over, due to the US/China tariff war and Brexit. oh, and maybe because the sun came up.
parts get there. repair is done. I get email from minion #1. your tile is repaired. by the way so and so cleaned the contacts again and it worked fine. I ignore this. they ship it back at their expense this time. thanks.
I send another email, are I getting the freebies from across the pond I was told were being sent to make me feel good about all this? minion#2 yes, oh and by the way we cleaned the contact before the repair and it worked fine.
this one I didn't let go. I replied back no he didn't and in fact he had never fixed it. so and so sent the next email that he was tired of me throwing him under the bus.
I replied back I wasn't throwing him under the bus. if I were, I wouldn't have kept it in house between me, him and the manufacturer. I would have lit him up on every FB reef site I'm on, all the reef forums I'm on. I would have had my software genius brother create a page so that every time someone searched his company it would go to my page instead with this tragic story. (yea, that's an option
) when in fact I put a value on your site. I have recommended your company and site for product and info.
he comes back again with I'm attacking him, blah blah blah blah. my last reply which he didn't reply back to...you're so hell bent on you being right and me being wrong you've lost view of the big picture. what did I learn from you?
1. you're always right no matter
2. the customer is never right
3. you no longer want me as a customer.
I spent over $1k with them before the last tile purchase.
the tile is back and it works just fine now.
the replacement warranty apparently has all kinds of unwritten rules.
here's my make me feel good stuff. apparently I should feel special because it isn't currently available here in the states. darn you Brexit.
