Mars Hydro Warranty Issue & No Customer Support

[LoSBigBlue]

Anyone who knows me personally knows how much I value customer service, I will go twice as far, perhaps spend a bit more, to give repeated business to a merchant that has treated their customers with exceptional service. I don't care if its a bag of peanuts, pair of shoes, or a car, if the sales experience was great the first time around, they have me as a customer for life.

Same to be said about terrible service, of which I feel obliged to warn others about merchants that DO NOT HAVE A CLUE about good (let's not even go with great) customer service,,,,

Enter Mars Hydro

Bought a TS-1000 in Sep 2021 and the tech geek I am, I made a PAR map in a grid pattern at heights ranging from 24" to 10" on the day I set it up. At the center, 12" I was reading 900µmol. Today it reads 450µmol, you can tell with your eyes it is not full brightness,,,

and my plants in flower can tell as well, tops are just 3" from the light to get them 750µmol.

Should be a no-brainer the light is defective. Just to be sure I took the light out of the tent, to another room and plugged it into a separate electrical circuit. Measured the same low readings.

So I contact Mars Hydro customer service a week ago and as of today all I have received is useless emails that I will get help to fix the problem. Today Monday 14 Mar I was promised to get help,,,, they now use Covid as an excuse and send me a link to a You Tube video of someone testing the PAR values on a TS1000 and say that it is proof there is nothing wrong with my light that,,,,

"But don't worry, I found a video for you here of our popular people testing the TS1000 par value, you can watch the link below, thank you. In general your light can work well, please use it with confidence, thank you."

Yeah as if having flowering buds 3" from the light is considered working well and I can have confidence, they are a joke!

I am afraid they are not going to do a damn thing about this and I will be forced to get something new rather quickly, I assure you it will not be Mars Hydro!!!!

I will update here if any new developments.

 

[KingJohnC]

Please ensure it is mailto:solutions@mars-hydro.com you have contacted and not a sales representative.
The Mars Hydro 420 Magazine representative please ensure you allow adequate time to forward information and reply.

I declare I have been forwarded an LED grow light by Mars Hydro for use in a product review.

 

[LoSBigBlue]

Please ensure it is mailto:solutions@mars-hydro.com you have contacted and not a sales representative.
The Mars Hydro 420 Magazine representative please ensure you allow adequate time to forward information and reply.

I declare I have been forwarded an LED grow light by Mars Hydro for use in a product review.

Thanks for the reply Kingjohn Yes I have emailed them at that address as well.

 

[KingJohnC]

Have you attempted a conversation with the The Mars Hydro 420 Magazine representative over the issue you are experiencing. The The Mars Hydro 420 Magazine representative may have a better ability with English language conversations.

 

[LoSBigBlue]

Have you attempted a conversation with the The Mars Hydro 420 Magazine representative over the issue you are experiencing. The The Mars Hydro 420 Magazine representative may have a better ability with English language conversations.

Thank you again! No I did not think of that, since they are tagged I assume they will chime in here in due time, I will give it a little bit and see. I just want to get things right.

In fact as writing this they sent an email saying they do not advise putting the light at 3" and that if I think something is wrong I need to send it back to China at my expense and wait.

They have no problem sending out units for people to review yet a paying customer is expected to be without a light for who knows how long, so yes, I do hope that someone with common sense will chime in.

 

[KingJohnC]

To the best of my knowledge the tag function is not an active system. You should employ courtesy and first allow Mars Hydro the opportunity in private to resolve any issue or warranty related issue. You most likely prefer the same courtesy be applied in your favour. Please contact the Mars Hydro 420 Magazine representative directly.

 

[Teddy Edwards]

We have noted your complaint against our sponsor, @Mars Hydro. We are here not only to protect our sponsors but also to represent our members, so we have therefore contacted the sponsor in question and asked them to comment in this thread.

We hope this will help facilitate a swift resolution to the issue and we will be monitoring the situation.

 

[LoSBigBlue]

We have noted your complaint against our sponsor, @Mars Hydro. We are here not only to protect our sponsors but also to represent our members, so we have therefore contacted the sponsor in question and asked them to comment in this thread.

We hope this will help facilitate a swift resolution to the issue and we will be monitoring the situation.

Thank you!

 

[Roy Growin]

I know it sounds obvious, but have you tried switching off the dimmer function to see if that is the problem?
That would tell you whether it is the driver or the dimmer
I am pretty confident that once you get to speak to the right person, @Mars Hydro will swiftly rectify

 

[PlanetJ]

I know it sounds obvious, but have you tried switching off the dimmer function to see if that is the problem?
That would tell you whether it is the driver or the dimmer
I am pretty confident that once you get to speak to the right person, @Mars Hydro will swiftly rectify

How would you go about that? AFAIK its a knob you turn from 100% to 0% and you can not really turn it off?
I have one running in a 2x2, and its on the list to get exchanged with just about anything else.

First grow with it I thought it was me having messed up the crop causing issues with bud-size, but my WiFi has no issues except not enough light at the moment. My own verdict for now is 150W might be underpowered a bit. It's not awefull, but its definitely not on par or even close to my 200W LED.

 

[Roy Growin]

How would you go about that? AFAIK its a knob you turn from 100% to 0% and you can not really turn it off?
I have one running in a 2x2, and its on the list to get exchanged with just about anything else.

First grow with it I thought it was me having messed up the crop causing issues with bud-size, but my WiFi has no issues except not enough light at the moment. My own verdict for now is 150W might be underpowered a bit. It's not awefull, but its definitely not on par or even close to my 200W LED.

Hiya - TS1000 has a switch on the back of the dimmer unit to disable it, ie power it directly so it runs cooler on full power

 

[PlanetJ]

Hiya - TS1000 has a switch on the back of the dimmer unit to disable it, ie power it directly so it runs cooler on full power

I feel stupid now

(no visible difference in output tho)

 

[gr865]

Anyone who knows me personally knows how much I value customer service, I will go twice as far, perhaps spend a bit more, to give repeated business to a merchant that has treated their customers with exceptional service. I don't care if its a bag of peanuts, pair of shoes, or a car, if the sales experience was great the first time around, they have me as a customer for life.

Same to be said about terrible service, of which I feel obliged to warn others about merchants that DO NOT HAVE A CLUE about good (let's not even go with great) customer service,,,,

Enter Mars Hydro

Bought a TS-1000 in Sep 2021 and the tech geek I am, I made a PAR map in a grid pattern at heights ranging from 24" to 10" on the day I set it up. At the center, 12" I was reading 900µmol. Today it reads 450µmol, you can tell with your eyes it is not full brightness,,,

and my plants in flower can tell as well, tops are just 3" from the light to get them 750µmol.

Should be a no-brainer the light is defective. Just to be sure I took the light out of the tent, to another room and plugged it into a separate electrical circuit. Measured the same low readings.

So I contact Mars Hydro customer service a week ago and as of today all I have received is useless emails that I will get help to fix the problem. Today Monday 14 Mar I was promised to get help,,,, they now use Covid as an excuse and send me a link to a You Tube video of someone testing the PAR values on a TS1000 and say that it is proof there is nothing wrong with my light that,,,,

"But don't worry, I found a video for you here of our popular people testing the TS1000 par value, you can watch the link below, thank you. In general your light can work well, please use it with confidence, thank you."

Yeah as if having flowering buds 3" from the light is considered working well and I can have confidence, they are a joke!

I am afraid they are not going to do a damn thing about this and I will be forced to get something new rather quickly, I assure you it will not be Mars Hydro!!!!

I will update here if any new developments.

There is better lights and customer service out there.

 

[LoSBigBlue]

Hiya - TS1000 has a switch on the back of the dimmer unit to disable it, ie power it directly so it runs cooler on full power

Now I feel stupid, the tech geek that I am, basic troubleshooting 101 and I missed that. So yes, turn off the dimmer function with the switch on the rear and voila, normal readings and you can visibly see the brightness increase dramatically, proof their product is defective.

As to their support over the issue, pitiful. I did engage their 420 Magazine representative in private conversation and their final comment was that since I did not buy it directly from them there is nothing they can do. Also they were invited above to respond here in thread by 420 Magazine Support,,, crickets thus far.

So what good is their warranty if they fail to stand behind their product regardless of the merchant. The merchant I bought it from is out of stock and is getting the same non-existent support.

Offline they were criticizing my testing methods (videos were sent to them showing the problem), first excuse was they could not watch the video, then their engineer stated that my method was inaccurate while pointing me to MIGRO's You Tube channel where he tests the TS1000 to show it is a good light, this to them somehow was proof that my light was good. I pointed them to MIGRO's video of him testing my measuring device to show it's great accuracy. Again crickets.

With the dimmer out of the equation my testing method shows what is expected and proves they are doing all they can to place the blame elsewhere instead of offering a quick solution.

Bottom line is at least I have a light that is working minus dimmer capability, no biggie just adjust height.

Thank you to all who provided advice, in thread here and in private, SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT TO GROWINGS!

Final thoughts, You get what you pay for, bottom tier pricing = bottom tier support, buyer beware.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Anyone who knows me personally knows how much I value customer service, I will go twice as far, perhaps spend a bit more, to give repeated business to a merchant that has treated their customers with exceptional service. I don't care if its a bag of peanuts, pair of shoes, or a car, if the sales experience was great the first time around, they have me as a customer for life.

Same to be said about terrible service, of which I feel obliged to warn others about merchants that DO NOT HAVE A CLUE about good (let's not even go with great) customer service,,,,

Enter Mars Hydro

Bought a TS-1000 in Sep 2021 and the tech geek I am, I made a PAR map in a grid pattern at heights ranging from 24" to 10" on the day I set it up. At the center, 12" I was reading 900µmol. Today it reads 450µmol, you can tell with your eyes it is not full brightness,,,

and my plants in flower can tell as well, tops are just 3" from the light to get them 750µmol.

Should be a no-brainer the light is defective. Just to be sure I took the light out of the tent, to another room and plugged it into a separate electrical circuit. Measured the same low readings.

So I contact Mars Hydro customer service a week ago and as of today all I have received is useless emails that I will get help to fix the problem. Today Monday 14 Mar I was promised to get help,,,, they now use Covid as an excuse and send me a link to a You Tube video of someone testing the PAR values on a TS1000 and say that it is proof there is nothing wrong with my light that,,,,

"But don't worry, I found a video for you here of our popular people testing the TS1000 par value, you can watch the link below, thank you. In general your light can work well, please use it with confidence, thank you."

Yeah as if having flowering buds 3" from the light is considered working well and I can have confidence, they are a joke!

I am afraid they are not going to do a damn thing about this and I will be forced to get something new rather quickly, I assure you it will not be Mars Hydro!!!!

I will update here if any new developments.

Sorry for the late reply. Have you contacted customer service on GrowBKK ?
Could you please try to contact the customer service on growbkk.com and find another piece of equipment to do a new PAR test? Cell phone tests may not be accurate.

 

[LoSBigBlue]

Sorry for the late reply. Have you contacted customer service on GrowBKK ?
Could you please try to contact the customer service on growbkk.com and find another piece of equipment to do a new PAR test? Cell phone tests may not be accurate.

Read my last post, it is not my testing device, it is your product, proven, And yes I have contacted the merchant, they waiting to hear from MH, imagine that, the owner also informed me that they are dropping the MH line, lights, tents, ventilation based on quality and support issues and I quote "MarsHydro doesn't really give any warranty on their products."

 

[Mars Hydro]

Read my last post, it is not my testing device, it is your product, proven, And yes I have contacted the merchant, they waiting to hear from MH, imagine that, the owner also informed me that they are dropping the MH line, lights, tents, ventilation based on quality and support issues and I quote "MarsHydro doesn't really give any warranty on their products."

Don't worry! First, let BBK staff check the light for you if there is any problem. After that, our customer service will give you the appropriate solution.

 

[Phytoplankton]

Thanks @LoSBigBlue, let us know how this turns out. I'm in the market for another light, and want to know if I leave them on the list or check them off the list.

 

[Stunned]

{sigh}
It's all so predictable......

 

[LoSBigBlue]

Thanks @LoSBigBlue, let us know how this turns out. I'm in the market for another light, and want to know if I leave them on the list or check them off the list.

Check them off your list, they are useless when it comes to warranty, the dimmer is cheap crap. The retailer I bought it from discontinued their line of products due to issues. The retailer I bought it from also knows what customer service is, they credited my account 50% of the purchase price.