Beamswork LED Light

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Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 28, 2011
1,335
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Indiana USA
For anyone interested, here's my story so far dealing with Aquatraders.com to get this light.

What has happened so far:
I received this light today at lunch. It looks like they opened it up, bubble wrapped the fixture, stuffed it back in the box, and slapped a shipping lable on it. There was no extra packaging like most stuff where they put it in a second shipping box. And we all know how shippers treat your stuff in the mail. It arrived pretty beat up with one of the corners pushed in (the box, not the light).
I proceeded to open it up, and the light looks as though it's a defective/return they had received from someone else that wasn't happy with it. It really looks like it's been used before. The power supply wrapping has been opened at some point, and it's all ripped up. And the case for the light looks used as well. It's got some dents in the case, and some scratches. I'm really unhappy about this. Hopefully, it was a mix up at their business, and they accidentally did this. I'll give them the benifit of the doubt until I hear what they have to say.
All of the LED's work.....So that's good I suppose.
And once I get it installed on my 75 gallon, I find out that the plug in for the power supply is loose, and the light flickers and turns off intermittently as the cord is jiggled. It's clearly a broken product with an intermittent short. REALLY unhappy about this. It's unusable as far as I'm concerned.
Needless to say, I'm returning it. I just put in for a RMA #, and told them my whole story. Aquatraders requests that you send them your request via email. So I'm going that route first. However, I am going to refuse to pay return shipping as it looks like they sent me an old used POS that had been returned for being defective before. If they don't comply, I'll escelate it with the BBB, my credit card company, etc, etc... But I'll give them the benifit of the doubt for now. Hopefully they will handle it well, and I'll have a great report back here about their customer service.

The light:
Looks pretty darn good when working, and I'm excited to get a working one on my aquarium. I got the $70 48 incher for my 75 gallon. it's the perfect amount of light. Not too bright, and not too dim. I do wish I had the option of using only the white LED's (the positions are blue and white on, and blue only.....no white only). I'll put up some pictures of what it looks like in a day or two. But for $70, you can't beat what it looks like. And for anyone getting it for a 75 gallon.....Get the 48"er. 48" is the right one for it. I'm really glad I didn't go with the smaller version.
 
Update:

They asked me to take some pictures/video of the damage/light not working. I'm really not too stoked on their customer service right now. Most decent companies don't make you prove the damage if you simply want an exchange.

So anyway, here's a video of what is going on with the power supply input to the fixture (click on the picture to link to the video):
 
That sucks. I just got the 36 inch light for my 75 and I love it. Like yours mine wasn't shipped in a shipping box either but one reason why it could have been opened is so they could make sure it works. Mine was taped at the ends but didn't come damaged tho. Hope you get it all worked out

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Update:

I have now called them twice, and have an email chain about 15 emails long. They keep asking me to send more proof that the item is misfunctioning/damaged. They have also told me that they do not have the software to view my video (wth, do they operate on MS Dos??? isn't this the year 2012??? And how can they expect me to take pictures if they can't even view a simple video???)

I have now filed with the BBB. If you look on the BBB, they have an F rating. They have only successfully resolved 2 of 15 cases filed with the BBB. I re-iterate DO NOT USE THIS MERCHANT.

I will also be filing a chargeback with my credit card on the 12th (the first date I can as you have to give them 15 days to make the situation right before filing). I have done everything necessary to make it a successful charge back (attempt to return marchandise, try to resolve with seller, document everything, file with BBB, etc, etc, etc...). So I'm confident I won't have to pay for the light in the end.

It's just infuriating to know that there's still this bad of customer service out there. I wish I would have checked the BBB rating before purchasing. Dumb mistake on my part, and now I'm paying for it.

Just thought I'd give everyone a heads up.....Don't buy from aquatraders. They're scammers.
 
Update:

So I talked with them for a long time last Friday. It was like talking with a 2 year old. They just kept requesting better pictures, and told me they wouldn't do anything without better/more pictures. My pictures clearly showed there was a dent in the by the way, so it was really infuriating talking with their customer service.

So I filed with the BBB, and a charge back with my credit card. As soon as they found out that I was filing a charge back, I received a return shipping label in my email inbox.

I'll re-itterate.....Don't buy from these scammers. They're rated an F on the BBB website for a reason. Spend the $2 extra, and buy from someone else. I'll be getting my money back, and buying the same light from another vendor.

Another irritating fact about my dealings with them:
They kept saying that their manager wasn't there, and they couldn't do anything else for me when I was talking with them on the phone. I looked up their company, and there are only 2 employees there, and they are both owners/managers of the business. They were just yanking me around and trying to not have to pay anything into this issue (return shipping and a defective product claim with Beamswork). They're scammers.
 
Sorry to hear once again. I got my light in great working condition and even a phone call on the item and its shipped condition

Sent from my LGL55C using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
i use the cheapy 5050 smd led strip, 5 meter (probably used 1.5 meters "approx 100 leds" of it on my 135) and paid like 30 bucks for it. 12 volt power supply off of 1 of my external hdd and it lit my tank up in white.
 
Just to clear this up.....The issue is not with Beamswork. It's with Aquatraders.

The light itself looks pretty good. All products out there have defects. I'm an engineer, and I know that. I don't blame Beamswork for the faulty unit. I know there's a lot of people satisfied with their light. And I'll be ordering another one (just not from aquatraders).

My issue is with Aquatraders. They are scammers. They treated me horribly. What kind of company makes you prove that the product is defective with photos, and can't even view a simple video??? We're talking about electronic equipment here, and the most fatal flaws to electronics are not visable in photos (such as broken internal soldering that causes lights to flicker/go out). So how am I supposed to capture that in a picture??? I had to file a charge back on my credit card to get anything to happen with them.

If you get a working product from Aquatraders, they are very pleasant and easy to work with. If you get something broken/defective.....Good luck getting anywhere with them without throwing some weight around by filing claims/chargebacks. There's a reason they're rated an F on the BBB.

And others on this message board have had the same issue with Aquatraders. For some stupid reason, I chose to not listen and hope it was an isolated incident. I wish I'd have listened and not done business with them in the first place. That's my reason for this thread. Hopefully it'll keep other MFKers from having to deal with Aquatraders junk customer service.
 
I just ordered that same light yesterday but not thru Aquatrader. glad to hear that your happy with the light itself. last week I recieved the 48" unit with 32 3w led's, but it was much too bright for my 120 gal. discus tank.
 
Yeah, I got the 48" single bright freshwater version. It looks pretty decent, and I don't think I'd want it any brighter for an 18" deep tank. I just wish you could turn off the blue lighting.
 
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