Bad Experience With Neptune

[Chicago]

i have had good experiences with kurt over the years.. thay are straight to the point.. do not take it the wrong way.. you need to just ask them to slow down and remind them that some of the language they speak may be a little forgien to others. for example i had to send in my acIII.. was told it is shot. gone .. said the IC are gone. I C is intergrated circuit board.

bad news was.. out of warranty. now i have to consider if i should buy an apex and drop the 500 plus again.. i have had neptune systems since the 90's..

would be nice if neptune had some type of exchange program that if your unit goes bad they let you puchase another a a discounted rate 50% off. would be nice.. not so painfull they keep the customer.. and dont lose out..

These units should not fail after a couple of years. what is the warranty on neptune vs others anyways

 

[JG1]

There isn't a single manufacturer in this hobby that will pay for return shipping, or pay for expedited return shipping, that I have dealt with. I have dealt with quite a few "high end" manufacturers. Geissman, Neptune, Reeflo, and Ecotech Marine to name a few. Even livestock vendors won't cover shipping on warranty issues (LA/Divers Den specifically b/c that's all I deal with really).

I've heard of Ecotech overnighting (on their dime) parts that went bad.

 

[JG1]

I had a similar experience with Neptune. My base unit was a week old when it died.....I had this controlling everything...heaters, lights, skimmer, reactor, return pump, vortechs...everything.

I had to send it back to Neptune (on my dime), and had to wait a week after that for it to come back to me. No expedited shipping, no apologies, no offer to swap it for another one.

You'd think with something as vital as a controller the customer service would be more accommodating. It was truly a PITA keeping the tank functioning properly for that two week period.

 

[djkms]

My unit keeps freezing, once a week at least. After reboot it looses connection to everything and I mean everything, vdm, wxm, eb8's etc. I have to unplug everything several times and getting connection seems to take hours. I have contacted Curt several times about this and he has helped me get it going again, albeit hours later. Contacting him over the phone is nearly impossible, its either busy or goes to voicemail.

I now have to send in the unit, on my dime of course and I am not looking forward to being without my unit for 2 weeks either. The Neptune controls EVERYTHING in my system.

Honestly does Curt care about our problems? No of course not, if he did he would be here on the busiest forums in the hobby helping out his clients. It appears Neptune is nothing more than a one man show.

I want to like the Neptune more than anything equipment wise in this hobby. I am a gear head at heart, I love gadgets, electronics and technology. I raved about Neptune when I first got it, I loved it. But after months of use it has given me nothing but problems. Outlets being stuck on, the unit freezing, etc etc. I would feel better if it was just a isolated incident or a just a random bad unit that I got but its not, take a few minutes and read through the forums here, problem after problem after problem.

The fanboys will tell you your doing something wrong or quit complaining or nothing is perfect or they have no issues, etc. I wonder how they will feel if something goes wrong and their thousands of dollars of coral and fish die because of a problem with their Neptune. Like I said before, Curt doesn't really care because if he did he would help us here like his competition does, The Reefkeeper guys are very active on the forums here and if I had to do it over again I would have purchased a RKE. The only reason I purchased a Neptune over RKE was because I heard it was much less buggy, boy was I ever wrong.

Just my 2 cents, flame on fanboys!

 

[kurt_n]

...Like I said before, Curt doesn't really care because if he did he would help us here like his competition does, The Reefkeeper guys are very active on the forums here and if I had to do it over again I would have purchased a RKE. The only reason I purchased a Neptune over RKE was because I heard it was much less buggy, boy was I ever wrong.

Just my 2 cents, flame on fanboys!

Not a fanboy... just an Apex owner... but one of your statements is just plain wrong. The DA folks are NOT very active on their sponsor forum here. In fact, if you read the sticky at the top of their forum, they will tell you the same thing and to not expect to hear from them on this forum. They *used* to be more active here, but I'm guessing they got tired of responding to all the criticism on the forum and decided to just let it turn in to a user-helping-user forum (like the Neptune forum) - which is just fine.

I waited a long time before I pulled the trigger on buying a controller. I watched for a long long time both the DA forum and the Neptune forum. And you'd have to be blind to think that either company was perfect. Just like most companies everywhere, both of them have their strength and their weaknesses. You just have to pick which weakness you're more willing to live with. For me, I was willing to put up with some potentially less than perfect customer service in order to get a product that actually existed, versus one being promised for a year with constantly shifting schedules.

Also... just because you're seeing more posts regarding malfunctioning Apexes doesn't mean there's a systemic problem. For one, many of the critical posts on the DA forum get edited or deleted. When I was trying to decide between controllers and watching forums on a daily basis, I'd see this happen. I didn't (and don't) see that happening much (if any) on the Neptune forum. So if you're strictly judging the quality level on the amount of criticism you see on the forums, well... that's not a really good method.

In a way, I feel sorry for the rap all these controller manufacturers take. When you look at how many controllers are probably sold every year, this is really a tiny little niche market. My guess is that even though we're shelling out what we'd consider big bucks for these, the volume just isn't there for the manufacturers to really make any sizable amount of money, or do the things with their companies that they really want to.

As far as Curt not caring... if he didn't care, I don't think he would've answered a support email from me on a Saturday night just to say that he wasn't really sure what was causing the problem I was seeing. (Problem was eventually solved, btw.)

You're right... I'd probably feel different if I had a tank wiped out because of a faulty controller. That just plain sucks. But that's why I've put in place as many safeguards as possible to prevent a single-point failure (the Apex) causing a catastrophe.

 

[djkms]

Yeah I see what your saying. I don't frequent the Neptune and DA forums much but from what I have seen the DA guys do visit the forums here and I have yet to see Curt here on RC. I don't expect a company to be here every day and answer every question but coming here and showing interest in your users and their issues goes a long way especially with a forum as busy as this one.

Don't get me wrong, Curt has answered every email I have sent him. I just feel that something as expensive as a controller should be better polished then what Neptune is, especially since it has been around for 15+ years.

 

[Flynnstone]

for the number units that are produced by any company in the world there is always a percent that are rendered defective. thats why the lemon law exist period! no one is perfect. so lets bash the people who help sponcer this forum so that the funds will no longer be there and the site will no longer exist for all of us.
Maybe if you bought your product at a Brick and Morter store, they would have taken care of you like your expecting to be taken care of. if you did purchase it locally, i would consider finding a new supplier. i returned my malfunctioning screen to my local store, and they exchanged their personal store screen with mine until the repairs were done. but people cut out the middle-man and expect the same service. you should look at who the other 4 fingers are pointing at while your pointing at someone else!!
perhaps all the negativity is what limits more companys to sponcer these sites. let me go look in the RKE forum and see if they have a perfect product.
...looking.... looking..... looking.... huh, what a surprise.

 

[djkms]

Wow thanks for enlightening me!

 

[EleganceMan]

I think more people love Neptune than not...actually i am a huge fan of their customer service!! I would recommend then to anyone! If I had to guess I would say your only posting in the first place in hopes that Neptune will try and save face with you by doing what you think is right....hopefully they wont because they are comfortable with the fact that they are doing a great job and will continue to as long as they dont try and please everyone, which is impossible.
Everyone has bad luck with electronics at some point in their life.... chalk it up as that and do yourself a favor and let it go!

 

[jeffhaag]

I've been nothing but happy with my Apex since upgrading from my AC Jr about 4 weeks ago. I will say that I ran into the same issue with an outlet not shutting off even though the controller said it was off. It kept my 33 watt Maxijet 1200 running on my ATO until it emptied the reservoir. Fortunately, my reservoir was properly sized to not cause problems. My high level kill float was only another 1/2" higher, but since the Apex believed the outlet was already off, it wouldn't have helped. At 33 watts I would doubt its low current since the consensus seems to be about 5 watts minimum. I moved it to a relay outlet and it's worked perfect ever since. Interestingly, my 16 watt light ballast works fine in the TRIAC outlet I had the issues with. Somethings the world may never understand...

 

[Bluefool]

I curse often that I bought an Apex. It's been a problem since day one, and I'm afraid I belong in the "hate the customer service" camp. I've also had to pay shipping for repairs, while trying to figure out how to keep a tank running for a couple of weeks....

And I also have gotten the "It's not possible its our fault, it's your fault" garbage. I'm a CE myself, and I've worked with digital technology over 30 years....but apparently a power strip hanging from a ceiling "got wet". Uh huh.

 

[mike_dani]

OK so I wasn't going to respond buttttt......

I will break down my experience with both the DA RKL and RKE, then the APEX.

I currently have all three of them I use only the APEX, have I had some issues absolutely. What have I seen HMMMMM EB8 socket #1 it is stuck on this happened three weeks after I bought it. Have I called Customer Service nope I have not, I will prior to the warranty expiring. Why have I not called well I am lazy plain and simple. I have had the display freeze while calibrating my PH, I do this once a month PH and Conductivity and it only happens with the PH. Those are the only two issues I have had. I also bought a spare EB8, yes I know I must be rich well no I am not but I learned with that other company.

OK so DA RKL, I think is the best product they have built. I never had any issues with it while it ran my 110, but then I upgraded to 300 gallons and well it would only run four modules, time for an upgrade.....RKE is the biggest piece of (insert choice curse word here) I have had FIRES yes FIRES, bad salinity probes yes more than one, bad head unit only one and a module that broke three times. Now I also have a NET module that has never worked.

So that is my experience, as far as customer service I can only say DA has none. well they do but they suck, I cant say anything about Curt other than when I was looking at new controllers he called me on a Saturday and we talked for an hour so I can only ASSUME it would be good if you talk to him like a normal person and don't request service but ask. (not saying you didn't but sometimes we all do it)

I am not a Lover or a whatever you all called it but I do like my APEX. I will finish this story with a remember we all are relying on electronics to take care of our money pits and if look at the close proximity of saltwater one can only expect things to fail at some time....... Be careful and have some kind of spare or emergency kit at hand to deal with these failures. I do and always will.

 

[James77]

Honestly does Curt care about our problems? No of course not, if he did he would be here on the busiest forums in the hobby helping out his clients. It appears Neptune is nothing more than a one man show.
Like I said before, Curt doesn't really care because if he did he would help us here like his competition does, The Reefkeeper guys are very active on the forums here and if I had to do it over again I would have purchased a RKE. The only reason I purchased a Neptune over RKE was because I heard it was much less buggy, boy was I ever wrong.
Just my 2 cents, flame on fanboys!

What nonsense. Did you try emailing Curt? Did it ever occur to you that he just may possibly be too busy to monitor emails, phones, message boards and put out a product? Email him, he has responded and worked with me on Sunday nights, and replies within MINUTES druing the week.

Go purchase a RKE, and see what you think of their service. See how frustrated you get when it takes days or weeks just to get a RMA. Or when it takes them years to roll out features that Neptune has had for years. DAare barely on these forums, and they usually redirect it to their support forums, where they let others answer alot of problems. So your claim they are on these boards more is BS. There is one thread where it took someone MONTHS to get a module replaced, but I guess you consider that acceptable. If you are not happy with Neptunce, you will be terribly disappointed with DA, trust me.

While you are at it, try finding any other manufacturer or service that does not make you ship it to them at your cost.....DA does, Tunze does, Ecotech, etc etc THEY ALL DO! Also look for who has more problems and complaints between Neptune and DA, you will see who wins that one. Just the fact you call us all fanboys shows what we are working with.

Done flaming I guess