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FrozenGate by Avery

Issues with LaserGlow

M

Murudai

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I've been around for a long time so I'm fully aware of LaserGlows excellent reputation. I'm not saying they're a bad company, I'm saying I've had a bad experience with them.

So it's regarding this laser: http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/hercules-500mw-green-laser-sale-high-power-45152.html

LaserGlow informed f22warzone that the laser was a relatively new 325mW unit. There was some trouble pulling it from the database, and I did contact LaserGlow with the serial tag at a later point and they said it was probably an older unit before the current serial tag scheme. So if there was issues finding it in the database, why did LaserGlow say that it was a relatively new 325mW unit? That is an error on their part that has become a very costly one for me.


After Kenom tested the laser and found it to be underspec (we assumed it was a 325mW unit still at this point) it went to LaserGlow. They informed me it was $250 for the lab work on the unit, which is a heck of a lot of money when you consider that the laser isn't underspec (since we now know it's a 250mW unit). There might be other things that need tweaking that I don't know about, but Kenom certainly didn't pick up any significant problems with the laser that may need addressing. 25% the value of the unit is a lot to repair an already inspec unit, in my uneducated opinion.

After all this I decided to get a new Herc 400, since all I wanted was a nice Herc, so I figured I'd do it properly. I thought I could get myself a nice deal and quoted some current sales, etc. Now this certainly isn't a big issue, but I've known people to get much better deals from LaserGlow than what I got. Which wouldn't be so bad on itself, but with all these other issues I've been having it would be nice to get a really good deal, that's what customer service is for after all.


Compare this to Optotronics. A year ago I purchased a second hand RPL-400 that turned out to have alignment issues and other problems. I sent it back to Jack at Optotronics and he gave me a great deal to repair it and was very helpful. Much the same problem but was handled cheaper and simpler. I was much happier with the customer service from Optotronics than from LaserGlow.


Now I'm sure brand new lasers from LaserGlow are just fine and I'm sure you won't have any issues. But in my experiences here I've found the customer service at LaserGlow lacking compared to other well regarded companies such as Optotronics.
 





Almost every company out there will charge you to have a tech look at your item and tell you what is wrong. If I wanted to send one of my Sapphire systems to Coherent, even if I knew the problem, I would have to pay $750 before a tech looks at it and tell me there was is a problem. Overpriced? Maybe, but then consider that the tech is making $50-75/hour and they don't know how long it will take them to evaluate the unit. Additionally, they have other personnel who have to deal with you on the phone, ones who deal with recieving and deciding where to send the package with the laser, one to type up an email to you telling you what is wrong, one to repackage the laser. The money also goes to cover the product as insurance, what if the tech accidentally breaks it or causes more damage? The company has to pay to fix that themselves. It all adds up.

Sure, you may think $250 is a lot of money to have a tech look at something, in the big scheme of things, it is not.
 
I'm fully aware of all that Laser_Ben, which is why I said '...in my uneducated opinion' at the end of that paragraph. I wouldn't of paid for the repair if I believed it was a rip off or somehow not worth it.

My real issue with LaserGlow is their mis-communication on the identity of the unit. If they didn't know what that unit was, they shouldn't of said it was a new 325mW unit and should of instead simply stated "We don't know what it is". Their misleading information was what lead me into this whole fiasco and cost me a lot of money.
 
Laser_Ben said:
How do you know F22 didn't just make up the info?
Click to expand...

Because he had absolutely no motivation or reason to do so. Besides his story checks out. Also Justin did go into that thread and didn't have anything to say about F22's post about the serial information.

Granted it's always possible that he did lie but it just doesn't seem logical to me.


Everything's been paid for and money resolved. But now I feel it's my duty as a member of these forums to explain what has happened so that others won't fall into the same mistake again. That includes finding out who was really to blame here, although the evidence currently points to LaserGlow.
 
You are not the first to complain about Laserglows customer service though. I do recall someone else having a bad experience with them as well. From my own knowledge, I know they took forever to get tailcaps sent to glenn for the clearout sale.
 
I am sorry to hear of the costly happenings as well. I have found that in several instances, a repair is not so very a happy thing to request, wait for and fund, (w/ three other companies [not Opto], especially on a non-warranty covered units from various dealers and mfg's. Kudos to Optotronics, Jack comes out again on top! -Glenn
 
Sorry to hear about your experience with LG. While the 250$ seems like a pretty normal fee, it is the misleading information regarding the lasers specs that is quite iffy.

Like you said, if they weren't sure, they should have said so, instead of blurting out a random number.

You also have to consider that Optotronics has set the customer service level pretty damn high. :)
 
Well the repair turned out okay and I managed to get a decent deal after all, so credit to LaserGlow for that!

I'm still annoyed about that mix up on the Herc 250's identity though. That shouldn't happened.
 
Hi guys, I feel the need to step in and defend myself here. I did not "blurt out a random number" when asked about this laser. We looked up the serial number and testing stats for the person who originally posted this as a 500 mW (they run a pawn shop or something like that) and this laser was originally sold in April as a Hercules-325 with really good stats. I communicated this clearly and it was posted in the original thread.

Then, when the laser was sent back to us for testing, it was determined that it is currently producing just over 250 mW. Now, I have to point out that this laser went from the original owner to a pawn shop (no idea why) and then passed through several hands before finding its way back to our lab where it performed very differently than when we originally sold it. In this case, the person buying used merchandise is accepting the risk that it may not perform the same as when it was originally sold. We did not make a mistake, and all information provided by Laserglow in relation to this Hercules was accurate. I never said that the laser is "currently" producing 325 mW, I said it was "originally sold as" a 325 mW. This is a very important distinction. If you want to be sure that a Hercules laser will perform properly, buy it from Laserglow. Second-hand goods carry the inherent risk that they have been misused and we have no way to tell how this laser was treated by its many owners since it originally left our possession.

In the end, I'm glad that we were able to come to a resolution but please be careful if you're going to blame us (and me particularly) for the performance of a 3rd or 4th hand laser, especially if you're going to do it in a public forum. This kind of press can be damaging to our reputation and I really don't think I did anything wrong here.
 
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Justin said:
Hi guys, I feel the need to step in and defend myself here. I did not "blurt out a random number" when asked about this laser. We looked up the serial number and testing stats for the person who originally posted this as a 500 mW (they run a pawn shop or something like that) and this laser was originally sold in April as a Hercules-325 with really good stats. I communicated this clearly and it was posted in the original thread.

Then, when the laser was sent back to us for testing, it was determined that it is currently producing just over 250 mW. Now, I have to point out that this laser went from the original owner to a pawn shop (no idea why) and then passed through several hands before finding its way back to our lab where it performed very differently than when we originally sold it. In this case, the person buying used merchandise is accepting the risk that it may not perform the same as when it was originally sold. We did not make a mistake, and all information provided by Laserglow in relation to this Hercules was accurate. I never said that the laser is "currently" producing 325 mW, I said it was "originally sold as" a 325 mW. This is a very important distinction. If you want to be sure that a Hercules laser will perform properly, buy it from Laserglow. Second-hand goods carry the inherent risk that they have been misused and we have no way to tell how this laser was treated by its many owners since it originally left our possession.

In the end, I'm glad that we were able to come to a resolution but please be careful if you're going to blame us (and me particularly) for the performance of a 3rd or 4th hand laser, especially if you're going to do it in a public forum. This kind of press can be damaging to our reputation and I really don't think I did anything wrong here.
Click to expand...




Thank you for clearing that up Justin as their for nor me or laser glow lied about the specifics with the given information.... And completely agree that buying used lasers are a gamble but where did the information come from that it was an older 250 model?

Michael
 
If that is the case, then I apologize for jumping the gun. The way I understood the post was:

-The information received from LG stated that it is the Herc-325 model, but it turned out to be a Herc-250 model.

As opposed to the laser still being the 325 model, just now running under-spec.
 
Okay, I was under the impression that it was actually a Herc 250 model, not a Herc 325 model. So you're saying that it IS a Herc 325, just running at 250. Thanks for clearing that up, I was never told that information.

But I'm wondering the same as f22warzone, why was it reported back that this was a new model purchased this year? The power mixups make sense as you described, but the age of the laser does not. If I'd of known this laser was very old I wouldn't of purchased it, but the information I received alluded to this laser being less than 9 months old.

I'm not blaming LaserGlow for the performance of this laser at all, I never said that anywhere. I just want to know where the information that lead me to get this unit came from. I will accept a misunderstanding of course, but there's a few things to be explained yet.
 
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I confirmed for F22Warzone that the laser was originally sold by Laserglow in April of 2009. Once again, the information provided to and from F22Warzone was accurate and both he and I have been clear about the details of this laser. You had the same information as we did when you made the decision to purchase this Hercules from him. However, since the full trail of ownership (from Laserglow to you) is not so easy to establish I cannot comment on why this particular laser is now under-performing. For all we know somebody could have been using it to crush walnuts for the past 9 months. In the future it may be prudent to arrange for a pre-sale testing run if an expensive, used laser is up for sale from a private seller.

If the seller guaranteed to you that the laser performed as new then you may have a case, but it looks like you took a gamble on a used laser and it didn't pay off. I don't think that F22 or I provided incorrect or misleading information, and to be honest I think that you made assumptions about the information presented. Namely, that a laser which is less than a year old should work like new regardless of how it's been treated or who owned it. I feel badly that this happened to you but I think you're going to have to accept this as a lesson learned about buying secondhand merchandise.
 
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