Parker's Reef did a review of the GHL Ion director, GHL goes on the attack

SecondCityCorals · May 4, 2022

So, if you're not much of a watcher of Youtube or don't partake in the community you might not have heard of a small channel called Parker's Reef. I love his channel because he posts a ton of videos, but also because he tries pretty hard to do thorough and unbiased reviews of reef hardware. There are a lot of fanboys out there of many manufacturers and his reviews are honest and unsponsored. So I tend to trust what he has to say.

Anyway, he's reviewed dozens of pieces of reefing equipment from all kinds of manufacturers. If a piece of equipment works well he tells you why. While also going over any negative aspects. And if a piece of equipment does not do well, he will tell you why. While also going over the positive aspects of said equipment.

For the ION director video, he grabbed a weeks worth of data in a reasonably controlled fashion and presented the results. They were.....not very good. The ION director was clearly having some issues. It was a brand new production unit, so it would be the same exact situation had you bought one off of the shelf at your local fish store.

GHL found the review and proceeded to accuse him of executing a hit job and said it was to promote other brands and please the "GHL haters".

Here's the video of his results. I guess you can decide for yourself?

blaxsun · May 4, 2022

This is a horrible example of how you respond with PR. I would've given the Ion Director a fail when the network diidn't work for the first week.

This thing didn't even work new out-of-the-box. Network failed, testing different samples over a period of weeks yielded high and inconsistent results - and then when he ran it for a few weeks with the same water sample the test results were all over the place.

Sorry, not interested in a product that I have to warranty before it's even turned on...

SecondCityCorals · May 4, 2022

blaxsun said:
This is a horrible example of how you respond with PR. I would've given the Ion Director a fail when the network diidn't work for the first week.

Yeah, this is uh, I should send this screenshot into PR companies as an example of what not to do.

rtparty · May 4, 2022

Not surprised. GHL is a stubborn, close minded group that does no wrong. Just ask them. Their fanboys are even worse. I was not surprised one iota to see all the issues Sam was having. It is THE worst software in the game. The cheap Chinese knock off apps are better than GHL's crap.

It is too bad because the Mitras was an incredible light completely ruined by their atrocious software. GHL needs to completely scratch their software team and start over. If they got good software with their hardware, they would be super competitive. As is, they will continue their slide and be number 3 in the US market forever.

HuduVudu · May 4, 2022

I am now very certain of the decision that I had to make on limited information.

Potatohead · May 4, 2022

Geesh

I have had a Doser 2.1 for about five years and have been very happy with it. The software is not that great though I will admit that. I don't have a full on controller so I can't comment on that, or other brands.

HuduVudu · May 4, 2022

rtparty said:
As is, they will continue their slide and be number 3 in the US market forever.

To be fair new competitors are entering the market constantly. It is very likely that they will drop even lower as market forces do what they do.

Sean Clark · May 4, 2022

That is one very poorly composed response. I am not too surprised though after seeing some of GHL's handling of others issues.

helmsreef · May 4, 2022

I feel their response to the video is more telling of how they would treat an individual with their own concerns. There are more ways to go about resolving the issues, they could of collaborated in way that would of made their brand marketing even better and shown how their company deals with these issues. But instead they are upset that he didn't keep the concern internal with GHL. I don't believe I would buy GHL because it seems to me like bullying when they don't like what someone says about their product.

FishyFishFish · May 4, 2022

I do like GHL products, although I am not a huge fan of some aspects of their software.

Even so, in my opinion that is an epic PR fail. It seems like they have some major issues in their management structure to post a response like that.

Someone at GHL needs to get a grip of their customer-facing department.

vtecintegra · May 4, 2022

That unprofessional response makes me not buy any of their products. Great business culture. Should have offered to replace the unit and ask for a retest. That is, if the results were really a one off.

Jon's Reef · May 4, 2022

I had similar issues with connectivity of a stand alone 2.1 doser. It is really hard if you are a Mac house as the usb method requires a pc. It was a good review. I agree that the tech is next gen… but perhaps a little far out still. Also agree that GHL had an opportunity to make it into a PR win… but fumbled.

TCoach · May 4, 2022

To All,

Wether you like, dislike, or are undecided about GHL, there is no reason to be so negative on them. Yes this is a big PR fail and should have been handled better, but every company has these fails.

While we all expect our products to work 100% out of the box, there are always some small percentage that make it through QA with an issue. While the YT person had an issue and is free to mention it in the review, it is also incumbent on him to reach out to the company and give them a chance to make it right before releasing the review to the public. There is not a single company in the reef sphere that has been open probably even 6 months or more who has not had some sort of issue.

So let's mark this as a GHL PR fail and a reviewer fail and move on.

Thanks,

TCoach

rtparty · May 4, 2022

TCoach said:
To All,

Wether you like, dislike, or are undecided about GHL, there is no reason to be so negative on them. Yes this is a big PR fail and should have been handled better, but every company has these fails.

While we all expect our products to work 100% out of the box, there are always some small percentage that make it through QA with an issue. While the YT person had an issue and is free to mention it in the review, it is also incumbent on him to reach out to the company and give them a chance to make it right before releasing the review to the public. There is not a single company in the reef sphere that has been open probably even 6 months or more who has not had some sort of issue.

So let's mark this as a GHL PR fail and a reviewer fail and move on.

Thanks,

TCoach

This is par for the course for GHL though and he did reach out to them for help. He talks about that in the review.

To say this is a "one off" is crazy. Anyone who has been around long enough and followed GHL knows this wasn't a "mistake" or poor handling.

Potatohead · May 4, 2022

Not that it gives them a pass but has any German company ever been known for good customer service?

FishyFishFish · May 4, 2022

TCoach said:
To All,

Wether you like, dislike, or are undecided about GHL, there is no reason to be so negative on them. Yes this is a big PR fail and should have been handled better, but every company has these fails.

While we all expect our products to work 100% out of the box, there are always some small percentage that make it through QA with an issue. While the YT person had an issue and is free to mention it in the review, it is also incumbent on him to reach out to the company and give them a chance to make it right before releasing the review to the public. There is not a single company in the reef sphere that has been open probably even 6 months or more who has not had some sort of issue.

So let's mark this as a GHL PR fail and a reviewer fail and move on.

Thanks,

TCoach

The problem is, this is representative of how they deal with their customers from what I have seen.

For example, whilst I joke about product announcements that never happen, there appears to be a general contempt for their own customers that makes them think this is acceptable. Their response to that review is not unlike some customers have received on this forum.

I had got over my frustration with GHL as I now like my setup, but this isn’t going to persuade me to expand - in fact, I am genuinely considering downsizing.

I wish there was just one controller manufacturer that had their stuff together; they all seem to have failings in my opinion. At the moment I am faced with having to choose the ‘least bad’. Until now that was GHL but the gap to the next best is getting narrower by the day, and if they don’t listen to their customers then this won’t get any better IMO.

Oldreefer44 · May 4, 2022

As many have stated above, any company that puts their own ego above that of their customers is not worthy of my business. I had an experience with them where i had a defective product. They agreed to refund it but then would only give 50% back once they got it because the probe was a little wet. What did they plan on doing, reselling it as is?

hotdrop · May 4, 2022

GHL doser 2.1 works great as long as you don’t try to change the settings. The software is hot steaming dog ****. I think they don’t want to pay what it costs to hire good programmers