Htg supply: A warning to buyers!

joneric1014

Active Member
I purchased a 400w HPS light from HTG not long ago, and ordered the upgraded bulb for it, which never came. I tried contacting them over and over, and of course, no one there ever answers any phones, nor do they answer or reply to emails, so eventually, I just gave up and bought another bulb from my local grow shop. I paid for my bulb twice, and as of this writing, have still never received it, nor have I recieved a single solitary response to my request for assistance.

Fast forward to last week, and in a moment of weakness and stupidity, I ordered the CFL Grow lights from them that they carry on the web site they push thru EBay.

The bulbs showed up very quickly, but out of 6 of them, only 3 worked, and a 4th was downright broken. All the bulbs smelled "burnt" and when I plugged the 2 that worked into my system, one of the promptly burned out, leaving me with 1 working bulb.

I called HTG, then emailed, then called again the next day. Then I called some more, over and over, for about 3 days, before someone FINALLY answered the phone. I explained my situation, and explained that my entire grow was dieing because of this, and frankly, they where extremely rude. I was told a replacement set was in the mail, as well as a shipping label to return the broken units so that they could get the broken product back, and make sure I wasnt some sort of "hustler."

Now Im to blame for some of my misery, I gave my old MH light to a buddy when I got my bulbs in, who promptly put it in his car and drove out of state with it lol, so I sit in my grow room, holding my broken lights and I have no customer service to talk to, since they don't answer the phones.

5 days later, today, I called them back, and asked where my bulbs where.

I was told that this issue was so hard for them to work thru because hotmail bounces all the emails they get. I asked if anyone answered the phones, and why did it take a week of calling to get thru(I literally tried 3 times a day or more for a week), and I was told "Were real busy here, we don't really have time for phones."

I asked when or if my replacements had been shipped, and he looked it up, told me that it shipped today, and I should have it this week . That's right, my replacement product wont be here for days still. All my plants in my veg box are now officially dead, and Ive lost WEEKS of time.

On the EBAY advertisement, it seriously says(I highlighted the parts in red that I found amusing):

[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Why Choose Us?[/FONT]​
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-Toll Free Support. Most sellers are only available by email. Call us toll free at 1-866-710-GROW (4769) Monday - Friday 9am-5pm EST. Don't buy from anyone who you can't contact over the phone.[/FONT]​
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-Excellent Feedback Rating. Over 6,000, 99.9% Positive. There is a reason: We earn it. We go above and beyond what our customers expect us to do. [/FONT]​
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-Quality Products. We sell top quality products at unbelievable prices. Don't get fooled into buying cheap homemade junk. If it's too good to be true, it probably is. [/FONT]​
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- You know what you are going to get. Our products are 100% Top Quality and we SHOW you that in our auction. Take a look at our pictures. We are PROUD of our products and want you to know what you are buying. Other sellers only have one or two pictures that don't show their complete product - why? Because if they did you'd see it was homemade junk. [/FONT]​
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-We work HARD for our customers. We do everything we can to make you happy. We truly care about our customers, not just our profits - you'll see. [/FONT]​
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-We do business the right way.[/FONT][FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] We are not quick buck sellers. We will be around years from now if you have a warranty issue or need support. It is not worth risking getting ripped off, getting poor customer service, or getting your order delayed to save a few bucks.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I highlighted the parts in red, because the Irony made me LOL so hard.[/FONT]

[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]So in conclusion: [/FONT][FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]BEWARE OF HTG SUPPLY. THEY WILL BURN YOU, AND THEY WILL DO IT WITH A LEVEL OF NONCHALANCE AND APATHY THAT YOU WILL FIND SHOCKINGLY BRASH. I explained to the guy HTG had seriously cost me an entire crop, as well as time and money, and he couldn't have cared less. In fact, he acted as if he couldn't be bothered to help me at all, and that I was a complete and total pain.[/FONT]

[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]PS: Now I need to hit up Attitude for another 200 bucks worth of seeds, and wait even longer to start my next crop, all because my whole current crop was destroyed by HTG Supply, their sub-standard equipment they sell, and the TERRIBLE Customer Service they provide. Lesson learned I guess, Ill never buy there again.[/FONT]


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Mr. Limpet

Well-Known Member
I use em religiously. Never had anything broken sent to me or any problems whatsoever. Once i accidentally ordered the wrong thing. I called them asap, they answered and straightened it all out. all in all ive given them around 3k in buisness in the last few years with no problems at all. sounds like you have bad luck man, sorry to hear about your grow shittin the bed, and i can see why your pissed i'd be too
 

BCtrippin

Well-Known Member
BGhydro.com has amazing customer service. You can go on there website and they have a chat service so you can talk with someone at the office 24/7. And when you phone they actually answer, if you have an issue they will put you through to the manager ASAP. I ordered a Lot of stuff off of them and havent had any issues that havent been 100% resolved. The only problem I ever had was waiting an extra couple weeks for my carbon filters when they were on backorder, but I was always able to contact someone whenever I needed to.


:peace:
 

houstonblowskush

Well-Known Member
yeah dude sorry I cant agree with you..they sent me a broken bulb with my 400 watter hps.....and in turn sent me back a replacement overnight..sorry to hear about your luck
 

klmmicro

Well-Known Member
Another story of success here. Have ordered a lot of supplies through them without a single complaint. I have called them and they answered the phone as well.
 

joneric1014

Active Member
Guess I hit the unlucky lottery. O well, I can assure you this is one customer they will never have again, and that's for sure.
 

bigv1976

Well-Known Member
I have used HTG about 10 times now. Probably spent $1500 with them. One time a T5 light showed up with a broken bulb on Tuesday and I called them and had 3 new bulbs free of charge on Friday. Another time I had a 600 watt hps bulb burn out within weeks and they sent me a sunmaster a couple days later. I will never use anyone but HTG. They have good products at great prices and the best customer service available.
 

Metasynth

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I loved my experience with HTG, my 400w HPS setup showed up in 2 days, and it's been running strong for a couple cycles now. Also, when I called about my tracking number, they picked up the first time, though the guy sounded a little annoyed, he DID answer my question promptly after I gave him my info, so he HAD to be near a computer and actually type something in to pull up my order history.
 

Brick Top

New Member
Sounds like you have had some bad luck. But each time I have used them everything turned out just as it should. Of the handful of times that I have called I have never not had someone answer the phone and each time the person was more than willing to take the time to answer every question I had and one time even mentioned a special that was not shown on the webpages yet because they had not had time to update them, so I saved money.

Having owned three businesses I know that even the smoothest of operating businesses will from time to time have some glitch, some temporary breakdown of communication or service where an unhappy customer falls between the cracks. No business runs perfectly smooth every single day of the year, year in and year out. The good businesses are the ones where such events are very rare rather than commonplace, like Inside Sun.
 

bigv1976

Well-Known Member
Sounds like you have had some bad luck. But each time I have used them everything turned out just as it should. Of the handful of times that I have called I have never not had someone answer the phone and each time the person was more than willing to take the time to answer every question I had and one time even mentioned a special that was not shown on the webpages yet because they had not had time to update them, so I saved money.

Having owned three businesses I know that even the smoothest of operating businesses will from time to time have some glitch, some temporary breakdown of communication or service where an unhappy customer falls between the cracks. No business runs perfectly smooth every single day of the year, year in and year out. The good businesses are the ones where such events are very rare rather than commonplace, like Inside Sun.
That is an excellent point you mention!! I too have run a business and it is absolutely true that some people you just cant please and the very best of businesses will have an off moment but the really good ones will do what they can to make it right in the end and HTG does that very well.
 

massah

Well-Known Member
The email thing is understandable(the issue with hotmail bouncing back their emails to him)...why the fuck use hotmail? Use gmail like the rest of the civilized world :D

and its not HGTsupply's fault a product doesn't work...they are a supplier, not a manufacturer...I imagine they tested out a few of the products they sell, but with the volume they go through they don't go through and test everything...they might have gotten a bad batch of bulbs in from a manufacturer and they didn't know until people started using them...but its still not their "fault" they sent you broken shit...it happens :D
 
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