Honest Review OF GHL KH and Doser with Pics and Emails!

[TheReefKeeper]

Let me start by saying I am highly disappointed with the product and the service is even worse.

I ordered this unit to take a trip so I made sure I ordered long before the date of the trip.
5/23

My Trip was 6/22 about a month before I had to leave

I thought I would need a doser before I left so got that a lil but more back sometime in March this is the Unit I got

Tank has been running for 2 years on an auto water change system

I went with the KH over the Alktronic and I am kicking myself!!

Only reason I went GHL is so all my equipment would all match and work together!

I feel the Creator of the Alktronic is very passionate about what he does reminds me of myself speaks volumes about this hobby and business. And this is where you should look out with GHL no one cares 2 s**t’s

I Myself have an online business and try to help people daily and take pride in my customer service!!

Here is where it all gets bad.
Ordered the reagent set 6/14

 

[TheReefKeeper]

Continued

Reagent receipt

This is the set their was a sale so I grabbed 3 bottles on the 6/14 so I was sure my 20 and 17 year old who stayed home could keep an eye on stuff seeing I don't really do anything but watch the tank and mix water once every month and a half and change filter bags and feed fish.

 

[TheReefKeeper]

Continued


First email sent June 22nd

Email 2 June 22nd

Email 3

4th email

 

[TheReefKeeper]

Part 3
The reagent was ordered on the 14th and I'm now in the 25th asking and Vinny has the Gaul to direct me to his policies and shipping HELLO!!! I ordered on the 14th it's the 27th

This is 9 business days more if you count weekends!!

My vacation started on the 22nd so Im now in the Midwest USA in an RV sending the last email beyond frustrated with my reagent running low not enough for my whole trip

So by this time my reagent is out not testing when I type ^ above

Next day reagent arrives after ^ Email asking for Overnight shipping and I would pay!!

Instead of an apology he wanted me to go read policies about shipping WHAT?

Not sure if Ol Vinn is slow but I ordered reagent almost 2 weeks before I left why direct me to a 2-3 day delivery

I was more than understanding I even offered to pick up at RAP seeing I had the VIP package and I would ship overnight on my dime at this point I'm now done!!

My sons got the reagent on the 28th and changed them first test came back at 6.2

This fiasco took 2 full weeks after ordering!!

Now Friday the 29th the Pump is now stuck and still reading low so I message Marco Via text nothing Mind you in In South Dakota and Live in Boston

I post on the FB group where someone helped me and I forwarded it to my sons for a fix

I have 25-35k in this tank and a lot of pieces no one has From Bleeding Avengers, to Jaw Dropper to name a few anyone who has seen my tank is blown away you name it it's in their.

I decided to cut home early on my 18th year wedding anniversary and I got home lat night to the damage thanks to GHL

Golden Basket this is Rising sun I think

RRC Ultimate Orange passion
JKR Boba Fett
And an Acan from Ben think it was around 350.00 a single head
Total loss is around 1k

I'm glad I came home the reagent line was not working correctly their fore the readings where coming back low.

Lesson learnt Never trust equipment and never deal with someone who has 0 passion for what they do because if it's not their own company they simply don't care

I will let the tank recover and sell all the GHL Crap

Funny thing is my Specturpure auto top off is solid running 2 years this crap is all NEW!!!

Oh and Back to the reagent not only did they sent it overnight after a bunch of yelling this is what they sent me LOL

They send me 2 bottle not 3 and extra hose so they tried to ripp me off now for complaining I wouldn't even have made this post, but I walked in at 12;30 AM after driving back from south Dakota to find this what a joke!

Now u know why I posted all receipts and emails I paid for 3 bottles on sale google the part numbver I paid for don't even care about the price they owe me one more bottle that I won't be needing.

All will be boxed up and returned I am done with GHL and as you can see I tried to pick up at RAP I did not see Marco their so I assume he as in florida not sure who packed and left fgor RAP is 2 of the 4 are in NY either way seems like excuses and tick Poor customer service

 

[TheReefKeeper]

WOW yes I thought I was short one bottle your correct it's O.K all going back and I am doing a chargeback simple no one responds and and no one cares

NOTE for GHL your Team USA is giving you a bad name read the reviews just here in R2R if you think it's the people you better check the way you let them conduct business becsause for me they would all get an earfull!!

Wait until I post my Cracked Bubble King Sump that's another 6k fiasco and I had my doubts ordering from the same team in So Florida!!

Yes a 6k sump showed up cracked and I still have it but that's another story!!

 

[Support@GHLUSA]

Chad / @TheReefKeeper,
I'm sorry for the losses in your tank. This isn't anything we like to see as we are hobby'ist as well and care for the animals in our/your tanks.

To address your points above.
You ordered the 3 bottle/reagent hose kit, and due to the number of orders we received the item went out of inventory. Under normal circumstances we ship in stock items anywhere from same day to within 2-3 days depending on order load.
We received orders for well over 100 large bottles of the reagent, a number of folks took advantage of the sale and ordered more than 1 kit.
We always have fresh reagent coming in, in pallet sizes rather than truck loads. I believe at this time we have yet to ship a bottle of reagent that been sitting for longer than 2 weeks.

We did not rip you off with the reagent shipment. After you had messaged me; I asked Vinny to process an order for 2x small bottles(in stock, large bottles are out of stock) - free of charge and overnight on the house.
We took on the $60 shipping cost, and the 2 small bottles to get you held over until we can fulfill your order.
If you look at the packing slip, you'll see INVOICE # 3043 // DATE 06/27/2018

This was on the house. Your original order for the reagent kit is still in the system.

As to my availability, I've been on the road and traveling since Thursday afternoon, in meetings, driving, or flying until 2am this morning.

 

[TheReefKeeper]

Quick update seeing the tank is really ticked off.

My Jaw Dropper colony is now Stn and I just lost my vivid Tequila sunrise

So total loss to date 1450 if JD colony 6 branch goes that number will triple easy.

All over GHL claims they sell equipment to better our tanks I wouldn’t put your faith in GHL one bit

I would really like to know what your protocol is going to be for people with the kh guardian is going to be moving forward if you don’t have reagent to ship?

I only ask this for others that should be concerned for not only their inhabitants but their investment in your product.

You going to call so people can plan to switch to manual dosing or mail free smaller bottles? because I feel if I did not email on Wednesday my whole tank would have grenaded!

And Marco I work too and answer customers to all hours and never leave a customer stranded since that’s exactly what u and ghl did. And that was after Me making multiple attempts to get reagent by email even offering myself to ship to back to my home from NY from RAP.

I told u to bill me for overnight shipping on Wednesday yes WEDNESDAY even this after your partner Vinny said noting ships until Tuesday. I had to text complaining 5 days after my previous email stating I had 3 days reagent and need it expidited.

All on def ears!

Don’ t even care who’s fault it is I’m now stuck it’s 1,000’s in lost corals not you or ghl

 

[TheReefKeeper]

So here is an update I opted out of returning it to give it a fair shake since I've used GHL before with great success. I did not want to ruin a companies Rep over one faulty unit and a missed shipment or a dropped ball by a GHL employee. With this said it runs perfectly until the roller falls off which happens at least 2 times a week.

I've emailed Vinney 4-5 times most emails get bounced back so I decided to email Mathis last night because of the ongoing issue.

Here is what is happening now:

I checked my KH friday night before going to bed at 12:30 AM and yet again roller fell off and pump was jammed for the 40th time.

Took me until 2am of playing with this to get 2 yes two at one time rollers unstuck. :mad:

What Alerted me of an issue? My ALK reading came back at 2.3 this was my sign something was up.

I also think this is what happened when I was on vacation here is my best guess below.

If the pump sticks and the reading measures low it will add more reagent.

So since I was on vacation (Back to the Vacation issue mentioned above and all the STN) I kept raising the KH dose because I was out of town and all I could do. Little did I know the pump was stuck and the low dose meant the doser was upping the dose on it's own on top of me raising the KH dose amount.

My KH was over 10 how much who knows but I attribute this to all my losses when I got back home.


So the Latest:

After a week of losses and I calmed down I told Vinny what I mentioned here. I want to give the unit a fair shake and keep it because I believe it works and I would not want to bash without a fix or resolve but here I am not leaving a positive it's just more negative for GHL Thanks to Mathis IMO!!!!!!!!

The unit does work when it wants to it's either one thing or another. It's a bubble in the reagent or a pump stuck.

I'm now having a little bit of regret keeping this unit it has become more work than it's worth to be honest.

If the unit wasn't failing every other day and it was truly set and forget I would be good but it's far from good.

I've now lost more coral in the months I have had this unit working than the two years my tank has been up.



Which now leads me to good ole Matthis comments today LOL

I'm honestly not sure if this guy is slow or not but why not answer an email or send my reagent?

GHL should not let Matthis answer emails any more he is the worst customer service person representing this company.

I have NO Reagent and no refund and not one email back Matthis!!

Your so interested in making excuses trying to blame the customer instead of taking responsibility and doing what needs to be done.

I ordered reagent 6/14 I still have no ETA as to when it will ship!!

What I do have is more BS from Matthis today LOL

Matthis decides it's better for GHL appearance to post on their Facebook group telling me where I should post and not post wow.

So Matthis rather school me than answer emails or ship my reagent.

This is just like him tho telling me to check their polices 2 weeks after I ordered Reagent. He wasted my time that day too letting me know by directing me to their policies page and how it says all in stock items will be shipped within 2-3 day business days. Haaa Like why I ordered 2 weeks ago I was then on vacation his point was as Meek as this one today.

Here is why I posted their Mathis!!

I was on Vacation and got no answer from Marco so I posted their it was the fastest way t0 help my son ASAP from someone!!!

BTW I did get my answer with help from Christina so why say anything today?

That post was also 4 weeks old and no one is answering emails or sending me my reagent so why are u posting their today????

I don't even remember asking a GHL representative for help their It is a GHL group I was looking for help from Anyone

I have given this machine ample time to perform and a pump falls off every 3 days It's one pump or the other.

Emails have been sent to Vinny at least 5 all bounced back possibly because of the video attached who knows.

This is why I even emailed Mathis yesterday!!

Still no response to my email from Matthis today but he made sure he went to GHL facebook Group page a month later to let me know I should post on their forums who knows why?

I have had noting but issues with this unit and I'm kinda unsure why an email with an eta of the reagent I ordered will arrive or an email back instead I got this from Matthis Today

This post was made 4 weeks ago Matthis while I was in South Dakota as mentioned above!

Why not answer an email instead of even making your point on the facebook group? It seems you have time to browse the internet if you coming up on stuff accidentally. It's your job to look at forums you sponsor and pages you put your name on I check all y pages every day and never scold a customer on where to post you can not police the internet as to where you what customers to post. Times have changed and I see it's getting the best iof GHL you all need to adapt instead of pointing blame. I am the one out 2k in Ghl and 1k+ in lost coral.

So Matthis please put yourself in my shoes!!!

Wish I knew how to post a video I have a few of the pumps and what their doing.

Here is the unit roller after a month 5/23 purchased receipt in first post

This one falls off the most and looks 1o years old my master is perfectly clean this is the slave unit all pumps keep falling off.

 

[TheReefKeeper]

Upload the video to youtube and copy the link. Then you can send it via email or post to a thread.

On a side note, I know these alk monitoring products are supposed to be reliable, but I still feel that no one should be setting up dosers to dose based on these results. Rather, I feel that we should use these monitors to notify us to the problem that way we can correct it only after verifying that the problem is truly a concern. Just my opinion and that goes for every brand of alk monitor on the market and coming to market.

Good luck on your resolution and I hope your tank bounces back from the losses you have had recently.

Great point I am switching it to monitor only enough is enough just seems like a lot of money to test ALK LOL hence why I haven't yet but good point just can't be trusted at this stage.

I did get an email from Vinny seems he's the only one to reach out Even Marco has been MIA and not handling a single thing.

I find that funny because I've been to Marco's house about 10 years or more ago. I've known him long before he even worked at GHL or Bubble king!

This was a rather easy way to find who is your actual a friend as soon as you have an issue. Funny thing is Marco Texted me while I was on Vacation and not a Peep yet via text or a call since.

I Guess when u get under someones skin over a mishandled issue by GHL NOT ME it gets passed on to the newest guy with the lest say to deal with. (At least that's how I'm seeing it) NO Disrespect for you Vinny seem to be the only one working over their!!

What this has really done is show Marco's true colors No more Facetime issues (With Bubble Kind not GHL) no more text noting just like that.

Even tho I questioned Marco's way of doing business I went back for more GHL. I received a 6k bubble king Sump that showed up with Broken glass. I was also blamed for that because I gave them my account number to ship on LOL.

Yes I have a 6,500 Bubble King setup pumps and Skimmer with the glass broke on the Sump. I filled it and used it because they would not take it back or warranty it. They wanted me to call UPS for a puck up and claim damage!! Issue with that is so everyone knows is if UPS takes it you do not get it back under damage claims and they only have to warranty 100.00 max if your found to be at fault. I had two choices fix it or send it back and do a chargeback. Knowing Marco I chose to keep it so so so sorry I did not return it and do a chargeback!!

So people be careful if you call someones BS out publicly at GHL or Bubble King you wont get anywhere.

I am done with GHL and Bubble King I know what the real issue is here they know they have a good product and the attitude is well you all can decide seems pretty clear to me. If your lucky and your stuff works great if it doesn't you only have a few shots until Vinny get's your Email

I should also say I've been in this Hobby 23 years I'm not a newb my RC name has been up their since 2001. Yes I was doing sticks before their was even a forum LOL.

 

[TheReefKeeper]

True and I think everyone knows GHL and their people and emails it isn't personal info it's business related info.

Names of business employees on emails or representatives representing a company who pays to be here company emails should be allowed you don't have to look far for their emails.

 

[TheReefKeeper]

True but this was a while ago so R2R is good about this since it's all still up. I'm sure they see this has everything to do with their vendor. I have seen many other non Reef Protect vendors so far R2R is on top of it

Thanks R2R


Also I was just checking over 8,000 Spent with GHL and Bubble King and this is the service I wonder what a good customer gets for service LOL or what they consider a good customer.

It's obviously not spending 8k

Their are plenty of great companies out their and none of the foreign companies will ever see a dime from me I won't pay lazy peoples pay checks.

I'm moving to a bigger house so I'll be selling the equipment soon and keeping the corals at a friends. New Place has a spot for a large display guess who won't get a call.

 

[kschweer]

Just a reminder, we do not allow outside parties to comment in vendor feedback threads. These threads are meant for the vendor and customer to hash out issues and come to a resolution. The posting of emails is under review.

 

[TheReefKeeper]

Got an email from Vinny asking for the last 4 readings and I don't want to leave people in the dark as to how it's being handeled or what's happening so here was my answer!!!


"So it was holding 8.4 until today!

I changed the covers seeing the ones where light on the Slave and dark on the Master seemed to work for 3-4 days. Woke up stuck today.

I put the dark cap from the Master on the slave none of the dark caps have failed yet you see #1 pump with a light cap that is the one that failed again today for the 42nd time.

You can also see how dirty the light cap is compared to the dark cap. I cleaned it today as well.

So top unit is the slave you can see I changed cap 2 and 4 the day I posted here trying anything at this point.
Pump 2 and 4 have not failed yet like I said pump one failed today.

Replaced to a dark blue cap and ran a test pum #1 on the top unit

So from holding steady at 8.4 6x a day measuring to this because the pump was stuck YET AGAIN!!!!


Below is what I found this AM.

Value is 0 meaning it's stuck

After changing the cap and cleaning I got this 8.7 I am just glad I was home because after a couple days I turned control back on.

Truth of the matter is the way GHL has and continues to deal with this is laughable at best!!!

I should not have to spend 800.00 and post public to get help or a replacement!!

I have now typed, moved pics here and organized it all so it's as clear not only to you but for others!!

I'm busy and don't make money doing this I do not work for GHL!!!

At this time I have spent hours on GHL's crap I could have thrown this unit away and cut my losses weeks ago so I could make more money at my real job!!! I won't do that at this point because GHL Doesn't deserve me going away with the way it's handled and to the point no one has rreached out other than Vinny

So I have done all this to show people just how crappy this is for me and to show others GHL's make up and their beliefs!!


At the end of the day!!

I should NOT have to trying to figure this crap out with a 25k worth of coral it's supposed to correct aquarium stability not make it more work!!

NO ONE CALLS NO ONE CARES can’t believe I’m Really on a Forum trying to prove your craps junk WOW crazy.

SEND A NEW UNIT WITH A RETURN LABEL how dam hard is this.

You all at GHL know the issue it was posted in your Facebook group a month ago and that post is also above GHL chose not to address that then too.

You all wanted me to pack it all up send it back to be tested OMG really na it goes back for testing!! I want a refund if it all comes apart and goes back if I don't have a replacement to put back period!!

I should not have to wait one second without a unit while you all play!!! And don't even tell me I can not be trusted I spent 8k with GHL and Bubble king please if you think I need a 400.00 Unit that is in my opinion not worth the cardboard it was packed in.

As far as Matthis goes he don't help anyone he just blames customer totally useless cant wait to see this guy at RAP next year!!!

You have a bad product on the street NO ONE tested these units and the pumps are crap convince me other ways!!

Did u make it and release it seriously look at your thread with bubble issues alone!! I'm not your test guy!!!

If you all want this to continue thats great I've spent enough time with this it's all bad press and no one cares their!!!

I've spent time, I've tested, I've lost sleep had a vacation ruined and I continue to play with this point of sale

Like I said I'm done with GHL its a waste of my breath at this point last post on this subject you all have noting better to do and don’t care the lack of response here also proves that!