To all potential LED light buyers, I am offering this information to keep you from the nightmare that I have entered!
I came to 420 Mag in May to learn information about growing and LED lights. This is truly a wonderful site with all of the growing information that anyone would need. Thank you all for all of your knowledge! I am on my first grow and all of you Grow Masters would be proud of how I have used your information, I am very, very pleased with what you have taught me!!
However, LED information seems to be a little harder to glean, more so in May, than currently. As such, I had to digest what I could and take my best shot. I had searched the web before I came to 420 Mag and found a lot of lights to choose from, but only considered one; ProSource UFO’s. I got a quote from ProSource and then presented them with two ProSource discount coupons that I found on web sites where ProSource was advertising. They refused to honor the coupons, so I refused to buy the lights. By this time I had found 420 Mag and began to digest the information from the LED sponsors.
It came down to two lights, Mike at GrowLEDHydro, and Cammie at Hydro Grow LED. My best choice was Mike at GrowLEDHydro so I contacted him and we put together a package that would work for my needs; unfortunately, he then explained that the lights were out of stock and it would be about three weeks before they would arrive. Here’s a lesson; don’t be impatient!! When you have digested all of the information and have come up with the best choice, be patient, you made the best choice for a reason! I, on the other hand, was impatient and a fool and settled for second best! The three weeks wait for Mike would have meant nothing compared to the horrors that I have experienced with Cammie at Hydro Grow LED.
I am growing in two 4x4 tents, one for veg and one for bloom. Because I didn’t know much about growing, Cammie tried to oversell me on lights and wanted me to buy eight lights for about $6,000.00. I passed on her suggestion for eight lights, but then took her suggestion that two 126w lights would do for the veg tent. I purchased two 345w lights for the bloom tent and two 126w lights for the veg tent.
The 126w lights were not the answer which was apparent quickly. I contacted Cammie and asked if I could upgrade to two 205w lights. She agreed, but she said that the 126w returns were now used and she would have to deduct $100.00 per light from my credit towards the two 205w lights. Bottom line is, I purchased two 345w’s and two 205’s for $3550,00.
When I asked for an address to ship the 126w lights to, she said that she was moving and would not be able to give me an address for a few days and to not ship the lights. It took two weeks for her to send an address, (and my crop was suffering) I asked on June 15, she sent it June 29. I shipped the lights to her the next day, June 30 and she got them July 6. The new lights (205w) arrived on July 19 (and my crop is still suffering). One of the new lights was defective! I e-mailed Cammie and she e-mailed me back on the 26th. 14 days later, my replacement light was shipped from China (and my crop is still suffering). The light arrived August 12 (and my poor crop is still suffering).
By this time I had already told Cammie that her customer service was the worst that I had experienced in my life and that I was very sorry that we had done business together and that I would have returned the lights to her were it not for her 25% restocking fee! She said that she was sorry that I felt that way and that maybe only 1 in 300 of her customers had any complaints. Some of the excuses that she gave for so much delay time were: I had to move and could not take care of business, my family came to visit and I had to go to Disneyland for a few days and could not take care of business, someone at the factory in China died and I could not take care of business! I think that you get the picture!
I lost a few plants in this process and had some very sick ones that it has taken a long time to nurse back to health. Not wanting to be in this position again (and since Builder let the cat out of the bag about LED power sources), I e-mailed Cammie and told her that I wanted to purchase additional power sources for my lights at my cost and nothing to do with any warranty issue. She e-mailed me back and made no mention of power sources, but, said that she had not received the defective light that I had sent back to her through UPS and was going to file a complaint. She e-mailed me again and said that UPS had lost the light in shipment and that they would only reimburse her for $100.00 because I had failed to insure her package. She said that I was a thief and had stolen a light from her. She demanded that I pay her $600.00 within 48 hours or she would call the local Sheriff and file a complaint for theft and I would be arrested for growing marijuana.
I e-mailed her back and told her that I was sorry that her light had been lost by UPS and that I had followed her return instructions in accordance with her web site policies and that her issues were with UPS and not me. I also explained that I did discuss insuring the package with the UPS clerk, but the light was defective and there was no way to place a value on it. She e-mailed me back and restated that I was a thief and that the Sheriff would indeed be visiting me and I would be going to jail for growing marijuana and that I should have thought about watching my back before I screwed her out of a light! She also told me to never contact her company again for any reason.
I went to the UPS office where I had shipped the package from, when I explained to the clerk why I was there, her mouth fell wide open for a moment and she said “Oh my god, you’re the poor man that’s having to deal with that crazy woman”. The clerk told me that the Sheriff’s Department had indeed contacted them about the complaint. The clerk told the Sheriff that there were no improprieties, only business as usual, that they had lost a package and the complaint was just sour grapes from an unhappy customer. The Sheriff never did contact me because I have an MMJ card and am completely legal (so I assume).
Since then, one of my 345w lights has lost a power source and two of my light engines are not working. I e-mailed Cammie yesterday to make a warranty claim (her web site says the lights have a three year warranty). She e-mailed me back today and told me that I am a thief and when I pay her $600.00, then we can talk about power sources.
So there you have it, right from the horse’s mouth.
When making a purchase, you are buying more than just the product, you are buying a warranty, you are buying customer service, and you are buying the security of knowing that the person that you are buying from is honest and will be there in the future to service their product and your needs! None of that is offered at Hydro Grow LED, or through Cammie McKenzie. SO AGAIN, BUYER BEWARE!!!
Because Cammie has defrauded me, I am seeking full recourse through PayPal and my credit card company. I hope to make her reimburse my account and return her poorly made junk to her. I’ll keep you informed.
In the mean time, if any LED vendors or enthusiasts know where I can purchase a power source for these lights, I would greatly appreciate having that info.
Be well, be safe!
JB
I came to 420 Mag in May to learn information about growing and LED lights. This is truly a wonderful site with all of the growing information that anyone would need. Thank you all for all of your knowledge! I am on my first grow and all of you Grow Masters would be proud of how I have used your information, I am very, very pleased with what you have taught me!!
However, LED information seems to be a little harder to glean, more so in May, than currently. As such, I had to digest what I could and take my best shot. I had searched the web before I came to 420 Mag and found a lot of lights to choose from, but only considered one; ProSource UFO’s. I got a quote from ProSource and then presented them with two ProSource discount coupons that I found on web sites where ProSource was advertising. They refused to honor the coupons, so I refused to buy the lights. By this time I had found 420 Mag and began to digest the information from the LED sponsors.
It came down to two lights, Mike at GrowLEDHydro, and Cammie at Hydro Grow LED. My best choice was Mike at GrowLEDHydro so I contacted him and we put together a package that would work for my needs; unfortunately, he then explained that the lights were out of stock and it would be about three weeks before they would arrive. Here’s a lesson; don’t be impatient!! When you have digested all of the information and have come up with the best choice, be patient, you made the best choice for a reason! I, on the other hand, was impatient and a fool and settled for second best! The three weeks wait for Mike would have meant nothing compared to the horrors that I have experienced with Cammie at Hydro Grow LED.
I am growing in two 4x4 tents, one for veg and one for bloom. Because I didn’t know much about growing, Cammie tried to oversell me on lights and wanted me to buy eight lights for about $6,000.00. I passed on her suggestion for eight lights, but then took her suggestion that two 126w lights would do for the veg tent. I purchased two 345w lights for the bloom tent and two 126w lights for the veg tent.
The 126w lights were not the answer which was apparent quickly. I contacted Cammie and asked if I could upgrade to two 205w lights. She agreed, but she said that the 126w returns were now used and she would have to deduct $100.00 per light from my credit towards the two 205w lights. Bottom line is, I purchased two 345w’s and two 205’s for $3550,00.
When I asked for an address to ship the 126w lights to, she said that she was moving and would not be able to give me an address for a few days and to not ship the lights. It took two weeks for her to send an address, (and my crop was suffering) I asked on June 15, she sent it June 29. I shipped the lights to her the next day, June 30 and she got them July 6. The new lights (205w) arrived on July 19 (and my crop is still suffering). One of the new lights was defective! I e-mailed Cammie and she e-mailed me back on the 26th. 14 days later, my replacement light was shipped from China (and my crop is still suffering). The light arrived August 12 (and my poor crop is still suffering).
By this time I had already told Cammie that her customer service was the worst that I had experienced in my life and that I was very sorry that we had done business together and that I would have returned the lights to her were it not for her 25% restocking fee! She said that she was sorry that I felt that way and that maybe only 1 in 300 of her customers had any complaints. Some of the excuses that she gave for so much delay time were: I had to move and could not take care of business, my family came to visit and I had to go to Disneyland for a few days and could not take care of business, someone at the factory in China died and I could not take care of business! I think that you get the picture!
I lost a few plants in this process and had some very sick ones that it has taken a long time to nurse back to health. Not wanting to be in this position again (and since Builder let the cat out of the bag about LED power sources), I e-mailed Cammie and told her that I wanted to purchase additional power sources for my lights at my cost and nothing to do with any warranty issue. She e-mailed me back and made no mention of power sources, but, said that she had not received the defective light that I had sent back to her through UPS and was going to file a complaint. She e-mailed me again and said that UPS had lost the light in shipment and that they would only reimburse her for $100.00 because I had failed to insure her package. She said that I was a thief and had stolen a light from her. She demanded that I pay her $600.00 within 48 hours or she would call the local Sheriff and file a complaint for theft and I would be arrested for growing marijuana.
I e-mailed her back and told her that I was sorry that her light had been lost by UPS and that I had followed her return instructions in accordance with her web site policies and that her issues were with UPS and not me. I also explained that I did discuss insuring the package with the UPS clerk, but the light was defective and there was no way to place a value on it. She e-mailed me back and restated that I was a thief and that the Sheriff would indeed be visiting me and I would be going to jail for growing marijuana and that I should have thought about watching my back before I screwed her out of a light! She also told me to never contact her company again for any reason.
I went to the UPS office where I had shipped the package from, when I explained to the clerk why I was there, her mouth fell wide open for a moment and she said “Oh my god, you’re the poor man that’s having to deal with that crazy woman”. The clerk told me that the Sheriff’s Department had indeed contacted them about the complaint. The clerk told the Sheriff that there were no improprieties, only business as usual, that they had lost a package and the complaint was just sour grapes from an unhappy customer. The Sheriff never did contact me because I have an MMJ card and am completely legal (so I assume).
Since then, one of my 345w lights has lost a power source and two of my light engines are not working. I e-mailed Cammie yesterday to make a warranty claim (her web site says the lights have a three year warranty). She e-mailed me back today and told me that I am a thief and when I pay her $600.00, then we can talk about power sources.
So there you have it, right from the horse’s mouth.
When making a purchase, you are buying more than just the product, you are buying a warranty, you are buying customer service, and you are buying the security of knowing that the person that you are buying from is honest and will be there in the future to service their product and your needs! None of that is offered at Hydro Grow LED, or through Cammie McKenzie. SO AGAIN, BUYER BEWARE!!!
Because Cammie has defrauded me, I am seeking full recourse through PayPal and my credit card company. I hope to make her reimburse my account and return her poorly made junk to her. I’ll keep you informed.
In the mean time, if any LED vendors or enthusiasts know where I can purchase a power source for these lights, I would greatly appreciate having that info.
Be well, be safe!
JB
