A warning around purchasing an Alkatronic 2nd hand

Rewd

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I did a ton of research on this device and NOWHERE did I read that the seller has to "unlink" the device from their account before the new buyer can use it. There appears to be absolutely no workaround for this ludicrous situation and now I have a $700 paperweight.

Is anyone aware of a workaround for this situation? I have tried to contact this seller several times and they don't respond to anything. I purchased it from him 7 months ago and am just now getting around to setting it up. He's R33fedOut on this forum but hasn't been active in almost 3 months. He hasn't responded to any emails and I even found him on fb and sent a message to no avail. If anyone knows him I'd be eternally grateful if you could contact him and ask him to check his emails and messages.

As far as Focustronic, I contacted them and provided them with a picture of the serial number displayed on my device AND a copy of my PayPal receipt showing I bought the unit and Eric Tang at Focustronic completely refuses to help me, saying he needs permission from the seller of the device I NOW OWN to unlink it.

I am so unbelievably frustrated with Focustronic. I wanted to buy the whole suite of their automation tools but after the horrible customer service displayed by Eric Tang I won't be purchasing anymore of their products.
 

polyppal

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Weird that they have it setup like it’s an iPhone or something.

Can you get the sellers contact info (phone #) through PayPal? Reverse address lookup from the shipping address to find them?
 
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It's insane. I really want to copy and paste the responses here from "Eric Tang" at Focustronic. It's astonishing how unhelpful this company is with their products.
 

Biff0rz

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I did a ton of research on this device and NOWHERE did I read that the seller has to "unlink" the device from their account before the new buyer can use it. There appears to be absolutely no workaround for this ludicrous situation and now I have a $700 paperweight.

Is anyone aware of a workaround for this situation? I have tried to contact this seller several times and they don't respond to anything. I purchased it from him 7 months ago and am just now getting around to setting it up. He's R33fedOut on this forum but hasn't been active in almost 3 months. He hasn't responded to any emails and I even found him on fb and sent a message to no avail. If anyone knows him I'd be eternally grateful if you could contact him and ask him to check his emails and messages.

As far as Focustronic, I contacted them and provided them with a picture of the serial number displayed on my device AND a copy of my PayPal receipt showing I bought the unit and Eric Tang at Focustronic completely refuses to help me, saying he needs permission from the seller of the device I NOW OWN to unlink it.

I am so unbelievably frustrated with Focustronic. I wanted to buy the whole suite of their automation tools but after the horrible customer service displayed by Eric Tang I won't be purchasing anymore of their products.
Pm sent
 

Biff0rz

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It's insane. I really want to copy and paste the responses here from "Eric Tang" at Focustronic. It's astonishing how unhelpful this company is with their products.

Do it. Their tactics should be public. I'm sorry, I know what you're dealing with first hand.
 
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Rewd

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LOL @Focustronic_Eric isnt responding to my emails now and he had the moderator on the Focustronic Users Group close my post asking for help or a workaround. This company is an absolute joke. PROSPECTIVE BUYERS BEWARE.
 
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Screenshot_20220104-081658_Facebook.jpg
 

ying yang

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Can't help you sorry but wish you all the best in this matter.
It's a shame the manufacturer if their policy is cant reset it unless got original buyers permission, good customer service would be they try contact the original buyer ( if they still got current contact details ) and help you resolve your issue especially after you showing pay pal receipt of buying it from original owner ( again if your receipt shows original buyers name and details etc) and as you say if it worked you would be then a customer buying future products .I do understand why would have policy like this but at same time would of thought there is a way to help someone if they bought it second hand and original buyer didn't log out or whatever was needed as sure this would happen more than just to you .
Hopefully others who researching buying one of these units comes across this thread and insists to seller to do whats needed so at least some good comes of this terrible situation pffft.
I'm not sure how long you trying to contact original owner who you bought it from,but I know I personally haven't looked at my emails for years or Facebook so maybe who you bought it from only occasionally looks at emails or Facebook and hopefully soon sees your messages and helps you out in your dire situation
 
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Thanks for your kind words. You are spot on. They have tried to contact the previous owner to no avail same as I. I don't think the previous owner did anything wrong on purpose; I just don't think he knew. I've sent more than enough proof to @Focustronic_Eric to prove I purchased the unit legally and he still refuses unlink the device. What if the previous owner had passed away or is otherwise incapacitated? This policy is insane and if anything, it appears as though @Focustronic_Eric is going out of his way to NOT help. Which is mind blowing because that'll now cost them me spending thousands of dollars on the rest of their products.
 

ying yang

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Could you write an email or letter and send to someone higher than this Eric or like customer service department ?
I dont know this Eric or how big a business this is if they even have a customer service department at all or of Eric is your first and last port of call kind of thing.

If they tried contacting original owner then they have tried to resolve it for you ,but again would of thought they got something in place for this type of thing .

If you paid $ 700 for this second hand then they ovbiously very expensive but im thinking if a burglar burgled my house would they be thinking hey let's take this Controller ha ha but anything possibly I guess.
.anyway goodluck and I really hope you get this resolved ,sooner rather than later as $ 700 is hell of alot of money Indeed,just try your best stay calm. And be positive and hopefully yourself or another poster has a way to resolve this for you ^_^
 

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New reefing gear sitting around for months unopened is not a rare occurrence in this hobby. Many reefing vendors understand this and have policies that respect it.
 
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I'm actually going to delete that second screenshot because I'm talking to that individual privately and he seems like he may try and help me. And you're right for sure, however, I lost sooooo many corals to dinos, cyano, etc. Truth be told I almost tore the tank down and resold everything but it recently all cleared up so now I am full steam ahead lol.
 
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Biff0rz

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Winston is his #1 hinchman - no surprise he locked it.

Is FT a sponsor here? Might help to get r2r involved if they are. It's terrible they won't unlock the device for you. You could also try reaching out to coralvue - they are the only distributor for FT items in the US. If they feel like a customer is not being treated properly they might not continue business with Eric.
 

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