GHL Profilux Will not honour warranty.

[evanm1978]

Hi,
Was just wondering has anybody ever got anything replaced, refunded or repaired under the GHL Profilux warranty.

The reason I ask is that I recently ran into problems with a profilux 3.1N unit.
There's was a bunch of guys doing a maintenance job in the area I live and whatever they did they tripped out the power in the street.When the power eventually returned my profilux would not fully power up.

I sent the unit to my nearest retailer and they could not get it working either.
They said because it's under warranty they would send it to Germany to get it looked at.

They did and I've had nothing but grief since from GHL Profilux.

They will not honour my warranty and said it was caused by everything from an expansion card being inserted incorrectly (unit was working perfect until power went off) to expansion card being too old based on date of manufacture ( never realised they had an expiry date).

They quoted me an extortionate price for a repair and said the warranty is void and the whole main board needs to be replaced.

Of course I was furious, I had just payed out a lot of money for the controller and now they wanted hundreds more. I told them I was going to bring it through the claims courts to which negotiations begun and I received an email to say maybe a power surge or thunderstorm could have caused the damage (thought protection was built in).
I thought we had reached an agreement and was awaiting a negotiated price for repair that we would be both happy with.

I still say it should be repaired for free as it's under warranty but had to agree something as I was being held to ransom as they had my unit and my tank was beginning to suffer.

I was asked to send my postal address so they could work out a price for repairing and returning direct to me rather than go through the retailer I originally sent it through, in their words "cut out the middle man"

I sent my address via email 5 times and got no response.

I then received an email saying because you did not respond with your address we have sent your unit back to the retailer.

The retailer has been copied on all emails and he can't understand whats going on either.

That was over 4 months ago.

I have not received a price!
I have not received a repair!
I have had no response to over 50 emails sent.
I have not had my profilux 3.1N returned! (Retailer still has it and is trying to get a response from Mathias).


I have lost lots of my livestock as I had become over reliant on my controller. My tank was always run on a profilux 2 controller which was replaced by the Profilux 3.1N.

I was just wondering if anyone else has had any similar experience with their appalling level of customer service and what you would advise.

I have had problems before with profilux and had the same response from them regarding problems with temperature probes failing etc.
I should have learned my lesson then but foolishly purchased their newest toy.

I am seriously out of pocket on this because it seems GHL Profilux do not honour warranties and do not care about customer satisfaction.

Their policy seems to be that if you have a problem refer to the profilux forum, if you have a warranty issue, they don't cover it.

 

[mcgyvr]

They seem to be real sticklers about that stuff..
Personally I would never buy something from them after their responses in this post..
Or course they do have a phone number you could have called.. not saying you are in the wrong but after 1 lack of email response I would have picked up the phone.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2437634

I might attempt to bring it up with these "maintenance" men though.. but good luck there too..

 

[evanm1978]

Ya had a read through that thread there, they seem to have the same response to all warranty claims.
Very interesting read.
They sell products like expansion cards that you pay a fortune for and have to fit yourself and it seems that they always have the excuse then that your warranty can be void.
If anything goes wrong with your device they can just throw that one at you.
They don't tell you that in the instructions or manuals.

They are just ignoring the situation completely now.
Great customer service!

 

[evanm1978]

Their whole argument that they are not responsible as the supplier is absolute nonsense.
They say that your retailer is ultimately responsible for warranty and cost after you buy a product from them.

So in that theory what do you do if you buy a €1000 profilux setup on a Friday evening, it fails over the weekend, you go to return it to the retailer on the Monday only to find the store has shut down !

Who do you turn to then if profilux policy is it's nothing to do with them.
Again as my original title says

HAS ANYONE EVER GOT A REFUND, REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT UNDER WARRANTY FROM GHL PROFILUX!

 

[d2mini]

HAS ANYONE EVER GOT A REFUND, REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT UNDER WARRANTY FROM GHL PROFILUX!

I've had some items replaced under warranty and some parts I had to pay for and work with the NA Distributor to get the part. Other than having to wait for items to ship from Germany to the distributor and then to me, I haven't had any problems. GHL has always been fair. The part i had to pay for was in the PAB PowerBard and due to what was probably some kind of power surge from the device that was plugged into it. Obviously this would be outside the scope of their warranty.

 

[slief]

Their whole argument that they are not responsible as the supplier is absolute nonsense.
They say that your retailer is ultimately responsible for warranty and cost after you buy a product from them.

So in that theory what do you do if you buy a €1000 profilux setup on a Friday evening, it fails over the weekend, you go to return it to the retailer on the Monday only to find the store has shut down !

Who do you turn to then if profilux policy is it's nothing to do with them.
Again as my original title says

HAS ANYONE EVER GOT A REFUND, REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT UNDER WARRANTY FROM GHL PROFILUX!

I don't understand what all the fuss is about. You admit that contractors messed up the power in your neighborhood and ultimately killed your Profilux and you're upset that GHL won't fix it under warranty? Sorry but that is just absurd. The unit failed not because it was defective but instead as the result of an induced condition. Something a surge protector probably would have prevented too. I think your real issue is with the people that caused the issue in the first place and that is where you should be focusing your attention. Not here blaming GHL for an issue that somebody else caused. There initially blaming other stuff for the problem aside, this issue was not caused as a result of a defective unit.

That said, you bought Profilux knowing well that they are based in Europe and a little bit of homework would have told you that they service their warranties there and not here in the states. From my vantage point, that would be a serious concern for me when it comes to a device that my system is so heavily dependent on. Local service and local support can be very important when it comes to such a critical device. That is not to say there is anything wrong with GHL as they make great products.

Maybe you should consider an Apex next time. Heck, they more than likely would have repaired your unit under warranty too! :beer:

 

[evanm1978]

I am based in Europe, the profilux unit is supposed to have surge protection built into it. So you guys are telling me that if a fuse blew in your fuse box and the profilux unit you paid close to a thousand dollars for a couple months before that would no longer work when you put a new fuse in your box and flipped the power on it you would be ok with that.
Don't make me laugh.
The guys working in our housing area knocked out the power when they hit a cable.
Profilux were trying to tell me that one of my expansion cards from my old plus 2 unit may have been the cause along with some sort of power surge as it got fried as it was too old. This fried the main board too.
Such crap, where does it say anywhere that this is a risk, putting an old card into a new unit.

 

[evanm1978]

Seems very strange two that you 2 guys
Slief and d2mini are the same two guys that jumped in on the thread linked above about a powerbar going on fire and singing the praises of profilux and them making correct decisions over warranty issues.
Skief you mention 3 times in the one post "if I were profilux" you also say in the same post you work for a computer company.
The post directly after you d2mini jumps in and agrees with everything you write!

 

[AQD_ottawa]

That said, you bought Profilux knowing well that they are based in Europe and a little bit of homework would have told you that they service their warranties there and not here in the states. From my vantage point, that would be a serious concern for me when it comes to a device that my system is so heavily dependent on. Local service and local support can be very important when it comes to such a critical device. That is not to say there is anything wrong with GHL as they make great products.

Just to be 100% clear the above statement is 100% inaccurate. If you buy a GHL product in the USA You are serviced by the GHL distributor here in the USA, that person being me!

To go one step further, if you have a genuine warranty case we will personally rectify it, HOWEVER the above is CLEARLY not and by admission of the poster was a third party issue damaged the product, so yes as correctly written this is not a GHL issue and they are within their rights as with any manufacturer to charge for the repair.

Here in North America we only charge our cost for parts if a client is unfortunate enough to damage or have damaged their product, we also make sure where possible the client does not have to send their product in for service as GHL products are built modular to be serviced by the user, unlike other brands.

The warranty is clear
If you damage or have damaged a product it is not warranty
If the product fails for no reason within warranty then without question it will be repaired or replaced often without the user having to send the unit away.

NOW THATS SERVICE. Do other manufacturers of similar products offer the same?

In regards to the issue in hand. I am not aware of the ProfiLux having surge protection however it is advised any expensive computer (even your home computer) to be plugged into surge protectors, this is common practice to avoid such events. In regards to expansion cards, if an expansion card is fitted incorrectly for example miss matching pins to socket you can easily blow the main board. This is something not unique and goes with any electronic device. FUTHERMORE - If an OLD card has a fault and you put it in a new device then it also can cause issues.

GHL are well within their rights based on the evidence at hand to charge for any repair.

GHL North America distribution.

 

[evanm1978]

Just to give a clear understanding for anyone else reading
I had a profilux plus 2
I added expansion cards to it
I bought these at different stages over the life of the profilux plus 2
I bought a new profilux 3.1N
Put all the cards into it and it ran for a few months as it should with no issues
There was a power trip
Unit no longer powered up fully after , some lights just flashed
I tried for days to get it working.
I removed the expansion cards 1 by 1 and tried them in my old plus 2
1 S and L card would not do anything.
Everything else worked
I returned the unit and said card and told them about power trip issue.
I was informed this card was old and manufactured years ago.
Then I was told warranty not covered as it was damaged by either wrong insertion of a card or a damaged card.
I complained, I was then making progress and they suggested maybe a thunderstorm or power surge could cause an issue.
So what I am saying is, are they trying to say the old cards are not compatible with the new profilux units and may cause the issue I have been left with and they will not cover it under warranty.
I thought we were getting somewhere by splitting the cost of repair as a fair way to resolve the issue, I was not being unreasonable even though I thought it should have been repaired free of charge.
Then the emails and response stopped and I've heard nothing since.
This has been my experience with Profilux customer care.

 

[evanm1978]

So basically as I said before AQD Ottawa , profilux always has the line to fall back on that a card was fitted incorrectly or something similar to void your warranty, profilux word against the customers.
They may as well not give a warranty or at least should be bound by consumer rights to advise anyone that buys or installs any of the many expansion cards profilux sell will automatically void their warranty if you use one.
And as far as I am aware it states that the profilux unit has built in features to put into into safe mode in the event of a power surge.
Also you say the issue was CLEARLY caused by a 3rd party issue.
It was a simple power trip that is a common thing all over the world.
Doesn't that seem to be the common profilux response, it's not our fault, prove it!
How do I know if the expansion card is defective or not?

No other piece of electronic equipment in my house was damaged, including TV, computer, laptops etc.

 

[AQD_ottawa]

I really do not think reef central is the right avenue to address your issue other than publicly venting which never achieves anything to aid the course or to rectify the issue.

That being said the ultimate reason for failure was a power surge, nothing else, a power surge by a third party openly admitted. So NO under no power is GHL Liable. It is also clear that the suggestion of wrongful fitting of expansion cards is informative possibilities of other causes.

In regards to expansion card fitting, if you read the warranty that is clearly written in the back of the manual it clearly states that incorrect fitting of expansions can lead to non warranty repair.

In regards to consumer rights GHL do as you suggest exactly mention your point. see below

section 5 page 23
You have a 2-year warranty beginning from invoice date. This applies to material and manufacturing
defects.
We guarantee that the supplied products correspond to the specifications and that the products do not
have material resp. manufacturing defects. For the accuracy of the programming manual we do not take
over a guarantee. For damages of any type which result from an improper operation or from a not suited
surrounding of the aquarium computer or accessory we are not liable. Furthermore we do not take over
warranty for damages that are caused through a false connection. We assume no liability for direct
damages, indirect damages, consequential damages and third party damages as far as it is legally
permitted. We do not take over guarantee that our product package corresponds to the requirements of
the buyer. Our warranty expires if the delivered original product is damaged or modified.

I also can easily see why GHL state the unit failed likely due to power surge because YOU said to them it failed directly AFTER the power surge.

I really do not see where the argument is here? I understand your frustration of having a controller go faulty on you due to an external event but manufacturers can not be held responsible for such things, thats unfair and beyond any reasonable expectation.

I strongly advise you to contact GHL at sales@ghl-kl.de and have the unit properly serviced so you have a functional controller again. More so if there is as you point out cross wires in communications, you can call them any time which would rectify this in an instant.

 

[evanm1978]

I have been in contact with them if you read my post correctly you will see that.
They have not responded in over 2 months.

And also I apologise as from what you have wrote there you are actually saying that anyone who buys a profilux expansion card and fits it to there unit immediately voids there warranty.

"Our warranty expires if if the delivered original product is damaged or modified "

So what you are telling customers is that expansion cards void your warranty as it's effectively modifying the unit, shouldn't this be made more clear to customers.

I am not publicly venting, I am asking a question and expressing my opinion and raising a concern based on my experience with profilux customer care.

What does the warranty actually cover?

As my original post started, has anyone ever had a repair, replace or refund under warranty for an issue with their profilux product.

 

[AQD_ottawa]

With respect I think you are trying to find arguments now in anything written which eliminates me from this thread as its going no where to resolve your issue, as I said above you should be phoning them if there is some level of miss communication by email. Posting here is not going to get the controller repaired. Continuing to post here is NOT going to resolve or fix your controller. I do not mean to come across cold and harsh but it simply wont, you need to phone GHL if there is a communication issue and get the unit fixed.

No fitting expansion cards do not void the warranty, however wrongful fitting does, I think this is quite clear really.

As my original post started, has anyone ever had a repair, replace or refund under warranty for an issue with their profilux product.

YES by me personally and by GHL in Europe.

 

[slief]

I am based in Europe, the profilux unit is supposed to have surge protection built into it. So you guys are telling me that if a fuse blew in your fuse box and the profilux unit you paid close to a thousand dollars for a couple months before that would no longer work when you put a new fuse in your box and flipped the power on it you would be ok with that.
Don't make me laugh.
The guys working in our housing area knocked out the power when they hit a cable.
Profilux were trying to tell me that one of my expansion cards from my old plus 2 unit may have been the cause along with some sort of power surge as it got fried as it was too old. This fried the main board too.
Such crap, where does it say anywhere that this is a risk, putting an old card into a new unit.

Did not know you are based in Europe. That certainly changes things with respect to service expectations although contractors hitting a power line could cause more than just a surge. They could actually create a short but I would also expect other things in the house to be impacted as well. Still, I'd have immediately contacted the company responsible for the power line damage.

Just to be 100% clear the above statement is 100% inaccurate. If you buy a GHL product in the USA You are serviced by the GHL distributor here in the USA, that person being me!

To go one step further, if you have a genuine warranty case we will personally rectify it, HOWEVER the above is CLEARLY not and by admission of the poster was a third party issue damaged the product, so yes as correctly written this is not a GHL issue and they are within their rights as with any manufacturer to charge for the repair.

Here in North America we only charge our cost for parts if a client is unfortunate enough to damage or have damaged their product, we also make sure where possible the client does not have to send their product in for service as GHL products are built modular to be serviced by the user, unlike other brands.

The warranty is clear
If you damage or have damaged a product it is not warranty
If the product fails for no reason within warranty then without question it will be repaired or replaced often without the user having to send the unit away.

NOW THATS SERVICE. Do other manufacturers of similar products offer the same?

In regards to the issue in hand. I am not aware of the ProfiLux having surge protection however it is advised any expensive computer (even your home computer) to be plugged into surge protectors, this is common practice to avoid such events. In regards to expansion cards, if an expansion card is fitted incorrectly for example miss matching pins to socket you can easily blow the main board. This is something not unique and goes with any electronic device. FUTHERMORE - If an OLD card has a fault and you put it in a new device then it also can cause issues.

GHL are well within their rights based on the evidence at hand to charge for any repair.

GHL North America distribution.

Good to know. I was not aware that the GHL products were physically repaired or replace under warranty here in North America. I know you are always proactive on the forum and as such, I probably should have bit my tongue when it came to logistics of warranty repairs.

Still, by the OP's own admission, this was an induced failure which is where I tend to side with the manufacturer even though their (GHL) initial logic behind the root cause of the failure is suspect.

 

[AQD_ottawa]

Good to know. I was not aware that the GHL products were physically repaired or replace under warranty here in North America. I know you are always proactive on the forum and as such, I probably should have bit my tongue when it came to logistics of warranty repairs.

Yep everything done locally here in USA, it is also very rare to see a warranty failure or even consumer damage but if it does happen we make sure the client is serviced fast and also in a way that rarely the client has to send the unit in for repair due to ease of fault finding and modular design.


If a client does damage a unit then they only pay what we pay for the spares we do not UP-charge for clients misfortune.

 

[origreefer]

I can't believe any company would warranty any piece of electronics damaged by a power surge beyond their control. can someone provide proof that their equipment has a surge suppressor and the written warranty that covers repair if a surge destroys the unit?