HTG...Buyer BEWARE!!!!!

Rocky Top High said:

I just wanted to give a heads up to all HTG Supply customers and I know there are thousands. I have heard the complaints before and I always chimed in with my experiences with them, which for the most part have been good. However, I bought a new 600watt digital ballast about 4 months ago for another grow op I was starting. I just bought a "kit" because it was easy and cheap and I didn't have the time to go buy one in person. BIG...BIG mistake.

I discoverd a short in my electrical plug to the ballast on May 9th, which was a Friday. I was able to screw with it enough that it came on and ran. I had to fiddle with it every night through the weekend to get it to work. On Monday morning, May 11th, I called and explained the problem. They said no problem, they would send out a replacement that day and gave me a UPS shipping lable to send the hosed ballast back. On Friday May 15th I still had not recieved the replacement so I called them back.

I was told, "sorry, we are just now getting your ballast sent out and it is in the shipping going out today" (May 15th) So, I was a lil put off due to the fact I have to screw with it most nights just to get it to work, not to mention the possible fire hazard that it may be.

Today, May 21st, my UPS deliverd his packages but NOTHING from HTG. So, I picked up the phone and called them to see where in the hell my ballast was. At this point I was told that their policy had changed and that I would have to send the damaged ballast back BEFORE they would send the replacement. I was livid! I just wasted 10 days because of their poor communication and even worse customer service, not to mention the extra worry and time I spent trying to keep my grow "lighted".

They did inform me that I could buy a new one and send the other back and they would credit my card back AFTER they recieved their broken ballast. The money is NOT the issue. I don't have money to burn but I can certainly afford to "loan" them the money they need to send me a working ballast. Thats not the issue and thats what they don't understand.

HTG doesn't care one damn thing about you, as a customer. They only want your money. I was told this "policy change" was just enacted due to the people that don't return busted equipment. I understand that but they should be up front and honest about this on their website and other advertising. I should of been told this 2 weeks ago as well but as I said, they don't care about their customers.

I have spent over $5,000 USD with HTG over the last couple of years buying things from reflectors to bulbs to nutes. The first time I ever buy any of their electronic equipment I get bent over and screwed. I spoke with Tony at length about this and I told him I would burn HTG in every forum I frequent. He was apologetic but he offered nothing other than thats just the way they are now doing business. I read lots of posts on here where other growers save every penny they can to buy equipment. They don't have a spare $300 laying around to replace something that was suppose to be under warranty. If you buy a ballast from HTG supply you better have some extra money laying around or you will be without a ballast for 1-2 weeks.

Sorry for the long rant, I just wanted all HTG customers to u8nderstand they no longer give a shit about YOU as a customer.

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Rocky Top High said:

I just wanted to give a heads up to all HTG Supply customers and I know there are thousands. I have heard the complaints before and I always chimed in with my experiences with them, which for the most part have been good. However, I bought a new 600watt digital ballast about 4 months ago for another grow op I was starting. I just bought a "kit" because it was easy and cheap and I didn't have the time to go buy one in person. BIG...BIG mistake.

I discoverd a short in my electrical plug to the ballast on May 9th, which was a Friday. I was able to screw with it enough that it came on and ran. I had to fiddle with it every night through the weekend to get it to work. On Monday morning, May 11th, I called and explained the problem. They said no problem, they would send out a replacement that day and gave me a UPS shipping lable to send the hosed ballast back. On Friday May 15th I still had not recieved the replacement so I called them back.

I was told, "sorry, we are just now getting your ballast sent out and it is in the shipping going out today" (May 15th) So, I was a lil put off due to the fact I have to screw with it most nights just to get it to work, not to mention the possible fire hazard that it may be.

Today, May 21st, my UPS deliverd his packages but NOTHING from HTG. So, I picked up the phone and called them to see where in the hell my ballast was. At this point I was told that their policy had changed and that I would have to send the damaged ballast back BEFORE they would send the replacement. I was livid! I just wasted 10 days because of their poor communication and even worse customer service, not to mention the extra worry and time I spent trying to keep my grow "lighted".

They did inform me that I could buy a new one and send the other back and they would credit my card back AFTER they recieved their broken ballast. The money is NOT the issue. I don't have money to burn but I can certainly afford to "loan" them the money they need to send me a working ballast. Thats not the issue and thats what they don't understand.

HTG doesn't care one damn thing about you, as a customer. They only want your money. I was told this "policy change" was just enacted due to the people that don't return busted equipment. I understand that but they should be up front and honest about this on their website and other advertising. I should of been told this 2 weeks ago as well but as I said, they don't care about their customers.

I have spent over $5,000 USD with HTG over the last couple of years buying things from reflectors to bulbs to nutes. The first time I ever buy any of their electronic equipment I get bent over and screwed. I spoke with Tony at length about this and I told him I would burn HTG in every forum I frequent. He was apologetic but he offered nothing other than thats just the way they are now doing business. I read lots of posts on here where other growers save every penny they can to buy equipment. They don't have a spare $300 laying around to replace something that was suppose to be under warranty. If you buy a ballast from HTG supply you better have some extra money laying around or you will be without a ballast for 1-2 weeks.

Sorry for the long rant, I just wanted all HTG customers to u8nderstand they no longer give a shit about YOU as a customer.

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ugzkmk said:

so because of one persons complaint, all the positive reviews mean nothing?

i can see where u are coming from with the rant, but to make wild claims like they dont care about their customers is assanine. shit happens, you arent the only customer, for every negative review you can find 50+ positive. if anyone gets anything from the thread it should be "be thorough".

and from the sounds of it, it was your electrical receptacle that caused the problem. ill give you the lack of communication, but your liable and id consider urself lucky they even bothered to replace it after it explained that your improperly installed outlet fucked up the ballast. now your terminology is a little vague, so if the issue was at where the the power line went in to the actual ballast, why would you fuck around it with at all and just not call and start the replacement process, they are open on saturday and you discovered the issue on friday. but like i said, the communication issue is legit, however as best as i can tell, the problem arose from your negligance.

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ugzkmk said:

so because of one persons complaint, all the positive reviews mean nothing?

i can see where u are coming from with the rant, but to make wild claims like they dont care about their customers is assanine. shit happens, you arent the only customer, for every negative review you can find 50+ positive. if anyone gets anything from the thread it should be "be thorough".

and from the sounds of it, it was your electrical receptacle that caused the problem. ill give you the lack of communication, but your liable and id consider urself lucky they even bothered to replace it after it explained that your improperly installed outlet fucked up the ballast. now your terminology is a little vague, so if the issue was at where the the power line went in to the actual ballast, why would you fuck around it with at all and just not call and start the replacement process, they are open on saturday and you discovered the issue on friday. but like i said, the communication issue is legit, however as best as i can tell, the problem arose from your negligance.

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demonic1 said:

While I would never expect anyone to send me a new ballast on my word that the one I bought from them was broken and I "promise" to send it back to them when I receive their new one, I would expect some sort of customer service. Maybe they can take my credit card number for a deposit or something and give me a certain amount of time to return the old one. What I found ridiculous was that they had agreed to send you a new one and did not. So there policy changed. That is there responsibility to honor there past commitments and at least inform there customers about the change in policy. Sounds like you had to phone them again after waiting that I found irresponsible on there part and a lack of caring about there customers at all. Maybe they have just grown too big now and what was once excellent customer service is now gone. While competing for new customers at one time took a few caring employees, they now hire minimum wage employees to fill those rolls, to keep there prices low. However, it is not always about the lowest prices and customer service is important if they are to compete. Maybe its time the increase there, pay for the minimum wage employees and have some that care about there jobs again and not have a rotating crew beside Tony.

Anyways, I have said this in another post. Check out these guys: http://www.illumalights.com/ . I will not say they have great customer service or anything since I personally have not bought anything from them yet. I have just been to there warehouse, they were helpful, and the equipment looked good. Anyone buy anything from them; let us know how they were. If I were to change all my equipment, I would consider them. I wish I could go all digital ballasts but not at this time.

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