toadstooldan
New Member
I got Phototron Pro unit #50 not ready for prime time. A friend was part of the company and told me about them and I was intrigued. (bad mistake on my part)
I spent $2000 and have nothing. No unit, no money. I spent 40 hours working on it often with tiny tools INSIDE a box the size of a water heater. Since I am good with software, I worked with their support for weeks on many many problems until they got tired of hearing from me.
It took weeks to get the lite to EVER COME ON, then weeks to get it to EVER GO OFF. It lost 7 minutes precisely every single day for the two months I had it. The menu documentation bore no resemblance whatsoever to what appeared onscreen. That documentation was beyond hideous. No instructions at all for putting it together.
The software was primieval. Got nothing but incoherent ASCII on the screen for literally WEEKS until i crawled inside that sucker and replaced a part they sent me. Took a couple hours of super duper cramped work where you can't see or move at all. With nuts that were so tiny you could hardly even hold them. Micro Surgery.
Support was incoherent. One support person would tell me to ignore another support person, he didn't know what he was talking about. Very untimely responses to questions. Weeks would go by literally. Once they told me I asked too many questions. Mind you, the software was one step from the grave. Which necessitated a lot of questions. I have written software since 1976 and I know bad software when I see it. Like when it doesn't work. Hit a button, nothing happens. Morning comes, the lite banks are opposite of how you had them set when you went to bed the night before. The software just does its own thing. And each time you unplug it, which is often cause it goes haywire, you have to hit like 40 buttons to get your program back, cause it has NO MEMORY once its unplugged. No battery to remember settings.
After two months of struggles, and resetting the clock up 7 minutes every day, the continued lengthening of the problem list in combination with the lask of response from support, convinced me this dog wouldn't hunt. My friend who was part of the company sent his back too, he had the exact same problems. EXACT.
So they said to ship it back and I would get a refund. I asked for shipping materials, and after a month and several phone reminders a flimsy box appeared from them. I used that box and added more protection, sent it via UPS, and then when it arrived, PHOTOTRON said it had scratches and I got NO REFUND. They were "unable to resell it" so no refund. not a dime. I explained that it was broken, and if a hair dryer was broken, and got scratched returning it, one wouldn't be denied a refund, as the device was broken, and the scratch made no difference.
They held firm, and this company stole my money and kept the device I returned.
They even kept the money for the box of food worth $100 that was returned unopened in a separate (the original) box. I am sure the light bulbs were fine (separately wrapped inside a box inside the unit), and I am sure the dad gum device worked better than it did when it arrived at my house weeks before, due to all the work I had done on it. I got no mercy. The scratches overruled all else!!!!! They kept all the dough, and successfully lied to my credit card company and I was unable to get the charge refunded.
I spent $2,000 for a not ready for prime time product, with terrible support and a horrid software system. And they got all the money and kept the product.
I spent $2000 and have nothing. No unit, no money. I spent 40 hours working on it often with tiny tools INSIDE a box the size of a water heater. Since I am good with software, I worked with their support for weeks on many many problems until they got tired of hearing from me.
It took weeks to get the lite to EVER COME ON, then weeks to get it to EVER GO OFF. It lost 7 minutes precisely every single day for the two months I had it. The menu documentation bore no resemblance whatsoever to what appeared onscreen. That documentation was beyond hideous. No instructions at all for putting it together.
The software was primieval. Got nothing but incoherent ASCII on the screen for literally WEEKS until i crawled inside that sucker and replaced a part they sent me. Took a couple hours of super duper cramped work where you can't see or move at all. With nuts that were so tiny you could hardly even hold them. Micro Surgery.
Support was incoherent. One support person would tell me to ignore another support person, he didn't know what he was talking about. Very untimely responses to questions. Weeks would go by literally. Once they told me I asked too many questions. Mind you, the software was one step from the grave. Which necessitated a lot of questions. I have written software since 1976 and I know bad software when I see it. Like when it doesn't work. Hit a button, nothing happens. Morning comes, the lite banks are opposite of how you had them set when you went to bed the night before. The software just does its own thing. And each time you unplug it, which is often cause it goes haywire, you have to hit like 40 buttons to get your program back, cause it has NO MEMORY once its unplugged. No battery to remember settings.
After two months of struggles, and resetting the clock up 7 minutes every day, the continued lengthening of the problem list in combination with the lask of response from support, convinced me this dog wouldn't hunt. My friend who was part of the company sent his back too, he had the exact same problems. EXACT.
So they said to ship it back and I would get a refund. I asked for shipping materials, and after a month and several phone reminders a flimsy box appeared from them. I used that box and added more protection, sent it via UPS, and then when it arrived, PHOTOTRON said it had scratches and I got NO REFUND. They were "unable to resell it" so no refund. not a dime. I explained that it was broken, and if a hair dryer was broken, and got scratched returning it, one wouldn't be denied a refund, as the device was broken, and the scratch made no difference.
They held firm, and this company stole my money and kept the device I returned.
They even kept the money for the box of food worth $100 that was returned unopened in a separate (the original) box. I am sure the light bulbs were fine (separately wrapped inside a box inside the unit), and I am sure the dad gum device worked better than it did when it arrived at my house weeks before, due to all the work I had done on it. I got no mercy. The scratches overruled all else!!!!! They kept all the dough, and successfully lied to my credit card company and I was unable to get the charge refunded.
I spent $2,000 for a not ready for prime time product, with terrible support and a horrid software system. And they got all the money and kept the product.
