Medicgrow-Smart 8 broke-Medicgrow Customer service sucks

Hi All,

So, I had a friend purchase a smart 8 for me earlier this year. Nearly 3 weeks ago, it stopped working correctly and only the red diaodes functioned.
I emailed medicgrow and for the past almost 3 weeks have been given quite a run around. We located the order number, a UPS shipping label was generated. I made my own box to ship it back in (4 days of emails it took to determine they wouldnt send me a box to ship this back in). Now they are saying, Im getting a refund and not a replacement.
Not only is my broken light still sitting here, the CS rep seems to get confused with what we are doing and today suggested I am paying them $300 and will then receive a full refund.
I dont want that, I need this light replaced as it was in a tent that is now 4 weeks in flower.

Has anyone had any experience getting Medicgrow to act on their warranty? Any suggestions?

Fidel Cashflow said:

Hi All,

So, I had a friend purchase a smart 8 for me earlier this year. Nearly 3 weeks ago, it stopped working correctly and only the red diaodes functioned.
I emailed medicgrow and for the past almost 3 weeks have been given quite a run around. We located the order number, a UPS shipping label was generated. I made my own box to ship it back in (4 days of emails it took to determine they wouldnt send me a box to ship this back in). Now they are saying, Im getting a refund and not a replacement.
Not only is my broken light still sitting here, the CS rep seems to get confused with what we are doing and today suggested I am paying them $300 and will then receive a full refund.
I dont want that, I need this light replaced as it was in a tent that is now 4 weeks in flower.

Has anyone had any experience getting Medicgrow to act on their warranty? Any suggestions?

Click to expand...

They are active here jump on one of their threads.

They don't give a shit about your plants otherwise you would already have a replacement. Strongest case for buying a light from the local grow shop is that the guy selling it to you is probably a grower himself and they will swap it out for a new one on the day to get you back up and running.

Kola_Kreator said:

They don't give a shit about your plants otherwise you would already have a replacement. Strongest case for buying a light from the local grow shop is that the guy selling it to you is probably a grower himself and they will swap it out for a new one on the day to get you back up and running.

Click to expand...

Lol, good point. I know the generic version on Amazon, but I bought this from what I thought was a reputable supplier. Im looking at one of their ads as I type this!

@MedicGrow can you help?

It would still be nice to see @MedicGrow chime in here. I'm in the market for a light and was considering one of theirs for my 5x5. I'm not looking for a light that can't be easily warranty replaced.

In all fairness... what's a post here gonna do?
Wanna lawyer up?
Chill and write them a polite e-mail, see what happens.

I had alot of trouble with different companies lately... but all you can do is politely ask for help / your money back, or whatever and in my case hope they are not insolvent or crooks.

sh0wtime said:

In all fairness... what's a post here gonna do?
Wanna lawyer up?
Chill and write them a polite e-mail, see what happens.

I had alot of trouble with different companies lately... but all you can do is politely ask for help / your money back, or whatever and in my case hope they are not insolvent or crooks.

Click to expand...

A post here will at least raise the flag.If a vendor is going to advertise on this forum and offer coupon codes to members and not respond when there is an issue, the community at large should know. BTW its a Chinese holiday, so they wont do anything for 2 more days. So, still not fixed.

Kola_Kreator said:

They don't give a shit about your plants otherwise you would already have a replacement. Strongest case for buying a light from the local grow shop is that the guy selling it to you is probably a grower himself and they will swap it out for a new one on the day to get you back up and running.

Click to expand...

Totally agree, the only issue is, there are no local grow shops. I live in a very rural area in a state where growing is still very very illegal.

Fidel Cashflow said:

A post here will at least raise the flag.If a vendor is going to advertise on this forum and offer coupon codes to members and not respond when there is an issue, the community at large should know. BTW its a Chinese holiday, so they wont do anything for 2 more days. So, still not fixed.

Click to expand...

Exactly. What's the point of them getting a vendor account here if they are only using it for the advertising and not providing customer service?There are a number of vendors here that reply quickly and are fairly active on their own.

My experience with medicgrow customer service has always been alright. Send them a picture to prove that the lights are defective. They will send you the a fed ex shipping information tape that onto your box send them the defective light and wait for I dunno 2-3 weeks. They tried to give me a refund as well but I told them firmly that this was inadequate. I want a replacement not a refund. After I told them that they shipped a replacement.

They Fed Ex'd a new light today. Wow that took alot of time and effort. I will say, I will likely not buy more gear from them (plus I know the half price OEM on Amazon) again.

Fidel Cashflow said:

They Fed Ex'd a new light today. Wow that took alot of time and effort. I will say, I will likely not buy more gear from them (plus I know the half price OEM on Amazon) again.

Click to expand...

Curious what's the OEM? LINK?

Search "Samphon" on Amazon

Fidel Cashflow said:

Search "Samphon" on Amazon

Click to expand...

I'm familiar with those, just didn't realize that was the OEM.

dropshot said:

It would still be nice to see @MedicGrow chime in here. I'm in the market for a light and was considering one of theirs for my 5x5. I'm not looking for a light that can't be easily warranty replaced.

Click to expand...

We already have a lot of repeat customers for our products, all after-sale problems will be solved by us, please give us some time.

dropshot said:

It would still be nice to see @MedicGrow chime in here. I'm in the market for a light and was considering one of theirs for my 5x5. I'm not looking for a light that can't be easily warranty replaced.

Click to expand...

Update, I should have a replacement light tomorrow.

dropshot said:

I'm not the one with the problem. I tagged you guys because it didn't sound like the OP was getting a response from you through "normal" customer service channels.

Now that you are here, it would be helpful to understand how warranty claims are handled when a customer has a bad light that's still under warranty. Do you refund or replace?

Click to expand...

Our warranty is 5 years. Warranty treatment will have different solutions depending on the problem. The general warranty process requires the customer to send a video of the light problem and the order number to sales@medicgrow.com, we will have a specialized colleague to follow up the problem.

It would also be nice to know how much of those 4.5 weeks depend on OPs handling of the issue:
video of problem and order number is not a big ask, it would be in my first email if it were to happen to me. Seems a bit of a clusterf-ck on both ends and it kinda sounds like OP bought this second hand and had to track down order number from the original owner: if it was my friend i would make sure i had the details from the get go, seems like the unit was delivered to another adress as no original box (if you live in the country side and have room for a grow but not for a box you may need?). It just seems like we havent heard the full story here, nor from op or mammoth.

Im sincerely sorry to OP if im wrong, and im glad he finally got a new unit.

Some of these "call out the manufacturer" threads are very valid, connectors burning out etc, actual danger. This one doesnt seem so clear to me if i try to be impartial. Maybe im biased cause i did some cust service with warranty, and id see all sorts of bad handling from both sides.