I'm going around to various Hydroponic forums and posting up my experiences with the company "Stealth Hydroponics".

Here is my story.

[LONG POST WARNING]

I wanted to give a detailed explanation of what has happened to me and the experiences I have had with Stealth Hydroponics. The owners/employees of the company have threatened me with "severe legal action" if I am factually incorrect at any point so I'm "walking on my tiptoes" so to speak.

I have been insulted repeatedly. They have called me a moron repeatedly as well as a liar, delusional, dishonest and untrustworthy. I have been accused of extortion and fraud after I told Stealth Hydroponics that I would bring my experiences with them to various online forums if I did not receive my refund cheque. They even sent me used equipment (lights with firing marks, apparently).

Now I want to share my experiences with potential customers so they won't have to undergo the same troubles I have with this company. My online order date was July 28th/2007. My buddy and I had been discussing starting up a little legume company and I immediately went about purchasing materials from the first company I saw online - "Stealth Hydroponics". The order went without a hitch and the customer service was good (in the beginning).

I have completed a timeline for your reading convenience.

August 17th/2007 - My order has not arrived. I send an e-mail asking where it is. I was informed by "Robert" that they had experienced a "facility fire last Tuesday" and lost their stock but that their new warehouse was already up and running and they would send out my material promptly with a freebie. Although I wasn't happy about the fact that they hadn't contacted me regarding the delay, I was happy with the prospect of a freebie since time wasn't a major factor.
August 29th/2007 rolls around and I still have not received my purchase. I send another e-mail to Robert to which I am told that "everything but my water parameter" was shipping out that day.
September 4th/2007 I receive my supplies. I pay an additional $134.55 at the door for the order. This brings my total shipping costs up to ~$284.55 for this company. My original order was $541.97 (so shipping was 53% of my total order price). To be fair, the $134.55 was a Canadian border/import fee or some such but I still found that VERY expensive for some basic lighting and net pots from a company.

I store the purchase in the garage until I can assemble the rest of the required materials after opening the boxes and doing a brief inventory check

September 24th/2007 arrives and the final part of my order FINALLY ships out. I receive an order and dispatch number from Robert. To keep this in perspective - I ordered in late July and my order was not completed for almost two full months. If time had been a serious factor, I would have been very, very screwed.
November 3rd/2007 comes and I realize that I do not have the funds for the accompanying Ballasts, Nutrients, or various other important miscellaneous gardening equipment whose expenses add up quickly. I decide to get a refund on my order. I e-mail Stealth Hydroponics and am replied too by "Kevin" who says "Mail in all returns you wish to make. We will refund accordingly."

This is when it starts to get particularly shady.

November 17th/2007 I send them an email giving them a heads up that my order is on route.
December 3rd/2007 I send another email asking them if they have received my order.
December 5th/2007 Kevin replies that he has not.
December 10th/2007 I inform Kevin that, according to the tracking numbers, they have received two of my three boxes.
December 13th/2007 Kevin informs me that they have received two of the three boxes. Would I like a refund or different products? I respond on the same day that I would like a refund. I send an e-mail to the BBB detailing the events to date. The complaint is received but still needs to be reviewed.
December 17th/2007 I email Stealth Hydroponics again reminding them of the refund. (It was done by credit card so I was waiting for it to show up there). No reply.
December 20th/2007 I email again. No reply.

I am told by the person I asked to send off my refund that part of the order was sent to the wrong address originally on November 17th (it was an honest mistake). The order is eventually returned and I send it off again to the correct address in early January.

February 3rd/2008 I email again. Wondering when I might expect to receive the last of my refund. For clarification - I received a partial refund for the order that DID go to the right address (which took quite a bit of time to arrive to my house). However, once my complaint to the BBB was given to the company, all the efforts I have made at a refund have gone out the window.

Roberts response;

"As you had reported this case to the BBB, the issue has been forwarded to our legal department....Our legal department will be responding with an official written communication, copied to the BBB, containing their review of the issue and should also include any refund checks that may apply this case." "Furthermore, the bulbs that were returned were sent back over 5 months after you initially received them and were sent back in a used state."

To clarify - I never used the lights because I never had a ballast or mogul socket to do so. I simply didn't have the money at the time. Aside from opening the boxes to do an inventory check, they chilled in my garage for several months.

This part is a little longer then the rest (sorry again) but it is kind of essential to the story;

May 31st/2008 I contact Robert again. He now informs me that "products returned after six months are nonrefundable". Keep in mind I only received my order on September 4th and shipped off the very last of it in early January. He references the sites return policy and terms that I agreed too. I will reference it for you.

-----------------------------------

6. Customer Returns
Customer returns are based on a good faith effort on the part of the customer returning goods in an unused and restockable condition (note: mine were completely unused and returned in the same packaging I received them in). Items returned in a used state will be subject to a restocking and restoral fee. Return shipping fees are the customer's responsibility and should be fully insured to cover any breakages during return shipping (I paid the return shipping and asked no recompense for it. They were also insured). Broken items will not be refunded.

Return Policy

Your satisfaction is guaranteed! We will work with you to make sure you are satisfied with your Stealth Hydro experience. Stealth Hydro guarantees our products will arrive as offered and in useable condition. Lights are guaranteed for 30 days as long as they are used according to directions and fail during normal use. Returns have to be sent back within 30 days of receiving your package. Returned items not received within 30 days are subject to a restocking fee.

-----------------------------------
There is nothing about a six month statute of limitations on the return policy (unless I'm missing something here). I will also add the following arguments Robert has used as an excuse not to issue my refund.

Favorite Robert quotes;

June 1st, 2008
"You are clearly delusional; how many companies do you know that accept returned light bulbs after six months? None that I know of. "

"It is clear to us that you used the bulbs for a harvest or two, then figured you could replace them by getting your money back if you returned them. We are not idiots, and we will not be scammed; which is exactly what you are trying to do. We do not believe you when you tell us otherwise; what reason have you given us to believe anything you say." "We have done nothing illegal; and your "lawyer buddy" is just as delusional as you are if he thinks you have any basis for complaint." "Bottom line, you're not getting a refund. We will be willing to return your items to you if you pay for the return shipping. "

June 2nd.

"Go ahead and post online and ask how many folks have been able to successfully be refunded for light bulbs returned after 6 months; maybe this is the reality check you need. No reasonable person on this planet will agree with your point of view". "The term "Customer Satisfaction" has an implied reasoning. Your demands and resulting threats are completely unreasonable and bordering on delusional". "I will warn you, however, cross the line and post information that is untrue and we will respond with severe legal consequences."
-----------------------------

NEWEST ADDITION

June 3rd

I contact Martin Wiggett (another contact at SH - I discovered his address and information on another forum with other complaints about the company's service) because I suspected that the reason "Robert" was not cutting my cheque was because of the friction in our exchanges. During the fairly reasonable (no threats, no insults) exchange Martin quotes their return policy as an explanation to "Robert's" behavior;
----------------
"6. Customer Returns
Customer returns are based on a good faith effort on the part of the customer returning goods in an unused and restockable condition. Returns must be received with 30 days to qualify for a full refund. Items returned after 30 days and/or in a used state will be subject to a restocking and restoral fee. Orders returned after 60 days will not be refunded. Light bulbs must be returned within 14 days; bulbs returned beyond this period are not refundable. Return shipping fees are the customer's responsibility and should be fully insured to cover any breakages during return shipping. Broken items will not be refunded."
----------------

Do you notice some slight changes from the original customer terms and policy? Fortunately I took dated pictures of the terms and I now have "before" and "after" pictures. I have the "before" and "after" pictures if anyone is interested. Just message me.

I've repeatedly suggested to him that he simply cut me my refund cheque so we could let the matter rest but they (I now use "they" because it is now more then one person) refused too and insulted me for my efforts to resolve the situation.

How generous. Keep in mind it cost me approximately $100 to send all the equipment back bringing my total shipping fees to date to ~$384.55. A number that is growing ever closer to the same amount I paid for the products.

I have called the company unprofessional. I have referenced their company's "good nature" as laughable and have said that they are trying to maliciously screw me over because I filed a complaint with the BBB. I have been angry but I am now fairly indifferent. I'm certain that they will not issue my refund cheque unless I take legal action and unless I can find a free way to do so - it is not worth the legal fees to do so. The only action I can take now is to spread "the good word" so others will not make the same mistake I did.

So I warn you now;

DO NOT PURCHASE FROM STEALTH HYDROPONICS

Don't make the same mistake I did.

I have emails detailing everything I've written. Anyone interested in seeing the full story can contact me on the forum with their e-mail and I will forward them.

- One Damned Unsatisfied Customer

This guy, it seems, has nothing better to do than complain and go on endlessly to whoever will listen to his whining.

Good luck and let us know how the BBB works out for you customer.

My first reaction is: caviat emptor (Latin for "buyer beware").

Secondly, just the company name should tell you something. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out!

All that being said, I must admit that I am pro legalization. Not because I want to do drugs, but because as a prior service American soldier I served for freedom and not the removal or reduction of it due to some people's personal beliefs. Don't know why, but I felt a need to share that.

Though it's ironic that without marijuana being illegal we wouldn't have half the advances in indoor growing that we do. The innovation needed to make things efficient, small, and everything else they need for their illicit growing have direct applications in legitimate growing.

I'm like you, I think that there's no good reason for it to be illegal. But like you I don't really have any interest in it myself so I'm not about to start lobbying to change the law or anything. I'd vote for legalization if it came up, but it's not my fight either.

We do need a lot more legitimate hydroponic growers out there so we can walk into a store to buy something without worrying whether everyone thinks we're growing something we're not supposed to be.

It's a club. You, as a business owner, join and pay dues.

They only police their members, so a better way to utilize it for any consumer protection is see if whomever you're thinking of doing business with is a member. If not, it may or may not actually mean anything. Membership does not tell the consumer anything really, except that if you're dissatisfied with the company and they are NOT a BBB member, you're out of luck as far as the BBB doing anything about it!

As for having a refund check refused on the basis of a consumer filing a report with the BBB, that would be excellent grounds for a suit for "fraud in the inducement".

Again, buyer beware!

Many if not most businesses don't really care whether the BBB thinks they're "good" or not. The BBB logo is a nice thing to have, since it can assure prospective customers that they won't be mistreated, but few people notice the absence of the logo since so many companies that are completely honest and above-board have never bothered to buy a membership.

Even in a best-case scenario the most the BBB can do is threaten to kick a member out of their club. They can't actually make the business do anything, all they do is use the leverage of denying membership to influence behavior.

Aaron

Better luck with better companies/individuals!

For what this might be worth, one company / manufacturer that does seem to be reliable and easy to deal with is General Hydroponics, at least that's been my experience. I admit I'm basically still a novice at all this, but what interaction I have had their products has always been consistent . . . various vendors here in northern Cal carry their systems and nutes, never had any problems like what's been described with SH. I don't know about SH, what their history has been, but I would guess their performance (or lack thereof) as a hydro business is in part dependent on who their suppliers are. Just my observations for the moment

As for "TheHydroHookup," you should not be posting advertisements on our forums. One of the top forum rules is no advertising !