2007: I had several successful outdoor grows under my belt and was looking to bring it inside....Stealth Hydroponics ------------ Ready To Grow Kit looked like it was the best complete starter kit out there. The 315watt CFL Light bank output was 15,000 Lumens!!
I ordered it and waited for it's arrival.....And waited.....And waited.....Calls and emails went unanswered..Finally after more than 3 weeks, I called my credit card company and they promptly refunded my money. Time had passed. My son got old enough to see what was going on so I closed up shop and took a hiatus from growing.
2014/2015 My son is out of the house and I'm looking for something to do this Winter. I was surprised to see Stealth Hydroponics was still in business and had the very same ------------ kit with a 315W CFL Bank. In fact, it was now 18,000 lumens! So I bought it Via Paypal on Nov 29th and waited for the delivery.....And waited.......I called at the 2 week mark and a friendly guy answered. When I gave him my order info he told me that PayPal never paid them and they have a lot of trouble with PayPal. So I hung up and logged on to my Paypal account. Sure enough the payment to Stealth Hydroponics was "Unclaimed". I canceled the PayPal payment, called them back and they took my credit card info over the phone.
Most of December passed before I gave them another call. The guy on the other end apologized that the 105W bulbs were not available and would be another week or two before they would come in. SIGH. New Years passed and a week long trip to The Dominican Republic would bring me to mid-January.....Now nobody was answering the phone at all and no calls or emails were returned. How Ironic is it that after almost 8 years I have to get my credit card company involved to get a refund from SH again!? On January 25th I gave them one last chance........I was about to hang up on the 15th ring when a (very stoned) guy answered. When I gave him my order info, I heard him say to himself "Why the hell didn't this ship" He put me on hold and when he came back a few minutes later he told me I would have a tracking number in an hour. And on January 26th I did!
On February 3rd the package I had been waiting for for 8 years was leaning up against my front door. When I picked up the poorly packed box, I knew there was something wrong. Something sounded like loose gravel or glass sliding around every time I moved the box. I managed to get it down to the grow area and started to unpack the kit, hoping the sound wasn't broken 105w bulbs. It wasn't. The bag of Hydroton clay pellets had broken open and was everywhere.
I took my time unpacking and making sure everything was there. The 8 gal ------------ kit went together very easily although the components looked a bit cheap (I'm buying a back-up pump). I hung the light bank from the ceiling and noticed the bulbs were hanging a little low, but I figured I could tighten it up later. I probably wouldn't have even looked at it again if the light would have turned on OK. But one of the bulbs refused to light. It was getting late, so I plopped 6 WW seeds in the soaked Rockwool cubes and figured I'd worry about the lamp in the morning.
The next morning I removed the lamp for closer inspection. I was shocked at how poorly made it was. The reason it didn't work was that a wire was actually loose! The person who assembled the thing hardly gave themselves enough wire to work with on one side of the lamp and too much on the other. It looked like they melted plastic over the wires for insulation! I poured myself some coffee and went about re-wiring the whole thing, not realizing I was wasting my time. When I finally got to the reassembling stage, I was amazed that the cheap sockets were attached to the heavy-duty frame by ultra-cheap clips about as strong as a paper-clip. The sagging of the 2lb bulbs was irreversible as it was not designed for these large lights. Not even close. If the people at SH had ever assembled one they would know immediately. DO NOT ORDER THIS LAMP!! My experience with SH is supremely disappointing.
To be continued in my First Hydro Grow thread.....
I ordered it and waited for it's arrival.....And waited.....And waited.....Calls and emails went unanswered..Finally after more than 3 weeks, I called my credit card company and they promptly refunded my money. Time had passed. My son got old enough to see what was going on so I closed up shop and took a hiatus from growing.
2014/2015 My son is out of the house and I'm looking for something to do this Winter. I was surprised to see Stealth Hydroponics was still in business and had the very same ------------ kit with a 315W CFL Bank. In fact, it was now 18,000 lumens! So I bought it Via Paypal on Nov 29th and waited for the delivery.....And waited.......I called at the 2 week mark and a friendly guy answered. When I gave him my order info he told me that PayPal never paid them and they have a lot of trouble with PayPal. So I hung up and logged on to my Paypal account. Sure enough the payment to Stealth Hydroponics was "Unclaimed". I canceled the PayPal payment, called them back and they took my credit card info over the phone.
Most of December passed before I gave them another call. The guy on the other end apologized that the 105W bulbs were not available and would be another week or two before they would come in. SIGH. New Years passed and a week long trip to The Dominican Republic would bring me to mid-January.....Now nobody was answering the phone at all and no calls or emails were returned. How Ironic is it that after almost 8 years I have to get my credit card company involved to get a refund from SH again!? On January 25th I gave them one last chance........I was about to hang up on the 15th ring when a (very stoned) guy answered. When I gave him my order info, I heard him say to himself "Why the hell didn't this ship" He put me on hold and when he came back a few minutes later he told me I would have a tracking number in an hour. And on January 26th I did!
On February 3rd the package I had been waiting for for 8 years was leaning up against my front door. When I picked up the poorly packed box, I knew there was something wrong. Something sounded like loose gravel or glass sliding around every time I moved the box. I managed to get it down to the grow area and started to unpack the kit, hoping the sound wasn't broken 105w bulbs. It wasn't. The bag of Hydroton clay pellets had broken open and was everywhere.
I took my time unpacking and making sure everything was there. The 8 gal ------------ kit went together very easily although the components looked a bit cheap (I'm buying a back-up pump). I hung the light bank from the ceiling and noticed the bulbs were hanging a little low, but I figured I could tighten it up later. I probably wouldn't have even looked at it again if the light would have turned on OK. But one of the bulbs refused to light. It was getting late, so I plopped 6 WW seeds in the soaked Rockwool cubes and figured I'd worry about the lamp in the morning.
The next morning I removed the lamp for closer inspection. I was shocked at how poorly made it was. The reason it didn't work was that a wire was actually loose! The person who assembled the thing hardly gave themselves enough wire to work with on one side of the lamp and too much on the other. It looked like they melted plastic over the wires for insulation! I poured myself some coffee and went about re-wiring the whole thing, not realizing I was wasting my time. When I finally got to the reassembling stage, I was amazed that the cheap sockets were attached to the heavy-duty frame by ultra-cheap clips about as strong as a paper-clip. The sagging of the 2lb bulbs was irreversible as it was not designed for these large lights. Not even close. If the people at SH had ever assembled one they would know immediately. DO NOT ORDER THIS LAMP!! My experience with SH is supremely disappointing.
To be continued in my First Hydro Grow thread.....
