Why do you think Wicked Lasers is such a bad company?

[ff71750f]

I've been reading posts on this forum for long today and I've seen that really many people don't like Wicked Lasers for many different reasons, like their long shipment time and bad support. I have never bought from them, but from what I can see their lasers are of excellent quality. The long shipment time is mainly due to customs or because they have to process many orders. They have a support community which is active, and they also support customers through Facebook comments on the product pages. So what am I missing?

 

[NightExplorer96]

They do have their faults like:
-Most of their lasers are terribly overpriced. I.e they are selling their 2W Arctic for $600!!! Something which can easily be built for $200-300.
-Many of their lasers are under spec too
-etc..

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

I've been reading posts on this forum for long today and I've seen that really many people don't like Wicked Lasers for many different reasons, like their long shipment time and bad support. I have never bought from them, but from what I can see their lasers are of excellent quality. The long shipment time is mainly due to customs or because they have to process many orders. They have a support community which is active, and they also support customers through Facebook comments on the product pages. So what am I missing?

Their lasers are not of a high quality. Not even close, when compared to lasers from other companies or hobbyists, for the same price range.

Their support community, their forum, was heavily censored, manipulated, and eventually shut down.

Their marketing has in the past, been full of blatant lies. I don't know if that's still the case, but this is a company who has lied for years.

At the end of the day, why go to someone who has a terrible track record, when you can go to companies that are honest through and through?

 

[hwang21]

The biggest thing is overpriced lasers and lies in their advertising. Their lasers are decent, their customer service is hit-and-miss sometimes. Other than that they aren't bad... but there are definitely better options

 

[IWIRE]

Conceived at the stroke of midnight during the Winter Solstice Festival during a Satanic Ritual, Skyclad, covered in the blood of a Smurf,
waving the bones of a Blue Heron over our heads,chanting 445 while listening to Dark Side of the Moon.
We knew we had a special creation.
Immediately we harvested the light from a chunk of radioactive blue ice, created by a giant bolt of blue lightning during a hail storm of cosmic
particles, derived from the bluest depths at the fringe of the Universe.
She came to life during a Blue Moon at the Spring Equinox. She erupted with a bolt of blue lightning which imediately vaporized a small
family of Blue Hyacinth Macaws. The beast deserves a proper name, we christened her "Jackie Blue" with Blue Agave.

Sorry, after reading a Wicked Lasers ad, it just popped in my head

 

[ru124t]

We started a small fire , which coincidentally burned blue. We chanted under the blue moon and danced half naked to the Gods of Blue, as we dreamed of Blue movies. Her name was Blue, which server the purpose of this Blue narrative. I have to go now, which makes me feel blue.

soz I just felt like something was missing from the post directly above mine.

 

[hwang21]

Nice^ pretty accurate

 

[trencheel303]

I think this just about sums it up to be honest:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/fs-wicked-lasers-evo-yellow-593-5nm-71177.html

Up for sale is a WL Evo Yellow limited edition laser. This laser was sold as a >5mW 589nm, but shockingly WL's claims were not true. It actually contains a CNI <2mW 593.5nm laser module.

 

[Rayz305]

I've always known that WL had wayyyy over-priced products. But now realizing all the lies they say, in addition to their over priced products and poor quality, I'm glad I've never purchased from them.

 

[hakzaw1]

IMHO while all bad- the worst was how much attention was placed on these lasers and how they described them- BRB with a quote--

 

[Raiden Gekkou]

I think this quote from a sales thread says it all.

Lol, it's true. I said it and I meant it. I was going to hang onto my Arctic in case I ever found a girlfriend who'd be interested in lasers, and after she'd been around them for a while, it would be her first high-powered laser, but why give a loved one an overpriced beater of a laser when you can get a better model that costs less?

 

[sinner]

I hate to generalize this thought (not all) but majority of the WL customers have no sense of safety whatsoever, they think testing their lasers on theirs and other people's eye is cool.

Not to mention, they think there is nothing beyond wL and "World's most powerful" is actually the truth, show's the arrogance.

I have also a reason to believe that majority of WL customers/fans have made their way to LPF some decided to read through it and some just ignored the safety guidelines and laser hobbyist responsibility this forum teaches.

as for WL per se, It is a "business" and the way they operate is totally understandable but there is little to no effort for producing "Worlds most powerful laser" Or atleast producing a better quality product atleast.

 

[hwang21]

They have pretty high profit margins... if they just put some money into their lasers and on safety they'd be a pretty good company

 

[hakzaw1]

IMHO while all bad- the worst was how much attention was placed on these lasers and how they described them- BRB with a quote--

Sorry what I was looking for may now be gone-
Actually last time I saw the BS and stupid descriptions of WL lasers was in an ad here at LPF-
something like ' Where did you get that?" was the name and I was looking and saw an ad for the WL !( here at LPF) with some of the terrible descriptions like we once saw at the WL webstore- the kind in of 'info' that would make almost any parent ban them from their kiddos of any age-- crap like 'instantly sets flesh on fire'!!!
WTF?? its not only a lie its the kind of 5hit that is very bad of the rest of us..

so much hoopla was started that at one time ,during the peak of sales WL was getting 3 orders per minute-- 24/7-- and rather than NOT take more order they just took the money with NO regard for filling the order timewise..

was it a brilliant selling stradedgy?
yes of course-

was it fair to the BUYERS??....... NO WAY!!- was it good for the hobby laserists --NO
it was terrible press--drew LOTS on unwanted attention- with no regard for what all else WL did to the rest of us...


I was told by someone in china that WL only paid $7usd per arctic host-
seen one-- and thats what they look like- a 7$ host--even with labor & other parts i bet the mark up was VERY substantial--

'just say NO to WL'

 

[FallOutFighter]

- They charge way to much for their lasers! $299 for a 700mw 445nm laser:wtf:
- They have huge amounts off false advertising. One example would be they say their lasers are the most powerful their are.
- From what I've heard the shipping times are crazy. It took someone five months to get their laser.

 

[Scorptc]

- They charge way to much for their lasers! $299 for a 700mw 445nm laser:wtf:
- They have huge amounts off false advertising. One example would be they say their lasers are the most powerful their are.
- From what I've heard the shipping times are crazy. It took someone five months to get their laser.

I bought a WL EVO and it showed up 5 business days (Canada), I expected after reading the forums to wait weeks even months for it to arrive. I wonder if it depends if the laser is in stock?
I think that WL appear to get a bad rap and I know people love to hate someone, but I have had a positives experience with them so far.