Lumatek does not honor their warranties

Be aware that when you purchase a lumatek electronic ballast that the company does not honor the warranty....i have a lk-1000 ballast that worked for a few months....supposed to have a 3 year full and 2 more year prorated...the hydro store says its my problem (no surprise there), but i was surprised that lumatek won't even respond to my inquiries....its clear they have no intention of honoring their warranty...so when you purchase their products, know that there is no warranty....i suggest any other company that honors their warranty

I have to humbly disagree in part.

I use Lumatek lights and have purchased perhaps 40 of the dual 600 ballasts in my day. I have had a handful of them go bad and have never had a problem working directly with Lumatek to get the issues resolved. But this is just my personal experience.

Sorry to hear about the issues your having.

Lumatek fixed me up, but I went through the place I bought it from. I send it to them, and they send it back to Lumatek (even though I was pasted the dealers 90 days warranty) under a Lumatek warranty claim. Lumatek then tested, replaced, sent it back the the dealer who then sent it back to me.
It took longer, but the place should do that for you, if not Lumatek should take care of you if you have all the paper work of the order.
Sometimes calling on the phone is better than e-mails as they probably get 1000's of them a day.

Lumatek DOES NOT honor their warranty.....they have ZERO employees in the USA....they are in england....they have a US distributor....the distributor actually answers the phone (lumatek does not).....the distributor says they only ship the products....the guy told me he has NEVER seen any returns get shipped back to lumatek....the distributor does not represent lumatek...lumatek only has SALESMEN in the US....the salesmen have nothing to do with warranties....they only sell...if you have a warranty problem, the salesmen either can't (my guess), or won't honor the warranty....its your problem, not lumateks....i can show you the unreplied emails to lumatek...i believe that because its hydroponic stuff, they know you won't make a stink, that you'll just eat it and they can hide across the pond....its pretty simple folks....when you buy a lumatek product, YOU DO NOT HAVE A WARRANTY....the hydro stores push lumatek because it is their highest profit ballast, not because its the best....the products suck, and the company that makes them hides in the UK....I strongly reccommend you stay away from lumatek trash....if you want to see the unreplied emails, drop me a line and i'll send em to you

This is 100% true, I am a shop owner, I've been trying to get a ballast warranted since September 12, 2014 for a customer. It is now December 13th. They may answer the phone but if you say warranty they put you on hold and never pick up. Some ass named Chris works for them and is the biggest smuck I ever had to deal with in this industry. NO ONE should buy from this company they are horrible people and don't care about you or your hard earned money.

So I ran a hydrostore for a couple years, lumatek does not deal with the warrantys.. You have to call the distributor, either hydrofarm or sunlight light supply.. Any shop owner should know this.. plus lumateks are kinda shitty. I switched over to nanoluxs from 1000bulbs.com. for my house I just bought 4 ballast, 4bulbs and for hoods for about $1100

bimmerragtop said:

Be aware that when you purchase a lumatek electronic ballast that the company does not honor the warranty....i have a lk-1000 ballast that worked for a few months....supposed to have a 3 year full and 2 more year prorated...the hydro store says its my problem (no surprise there), but i was surprised that lumatek won't even respond to my inquiries....its clear they have no intention of honoring their warranty...so when you purchase their products, know that there is no warranty....i suggest any other company that honors their warranty

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Very true and very sad. They are OK when they work but woe to those with a busted unit.

Hydrofarm dropped Lumatek over 2 years ago what Sunlight does I have no idea. I'm well versed in this industry, I still own my shop which is probably one of the nicest shops in the country. Notice I did not promote another brand of ballast that I sell nor am I promoting my shop as I did not want to be "that guy" facts are facts. Lumatek doesn't care about you or your garden. More so when Hydrofarm dropped them I was the first in my area to buy Lumatek direct thats why I deal with them directly on my warranty issues.
I'm not here steering anyone to another brand of ballast as I would gladly like to promote what I sell. I simply wanted to help with the confusion if it's true or not. Our experience with them is it's 1000% true they will not even discuss a warranty issue with you on the phone. Chris at Lumatek would say hold on let me check on your RMA and would never get back on the phone, seems to be to many people with the same story for it to be false info.

My shop had contracts with both hydrofarm and Sunlight. I never ordered any lumateks so I am not doubting you that hydrofarm dropped them. So from my experience with a 600 lumatek that went out on me. The store I purchased from was no longer open, so I called the biggest chain in Tx which was Tx hydroponics, i
I said "hey ballast went out and the store closed, what do I do?" Tx hydro which is a shady business to begin with said, "send us 40 dollars with the ballast, we can have you a new one in 3 to 4 weeks" I said "fuck you". Then I called hydrofarm and spoke to Ty which is the southern regional customer service rep. He said "fuck them" too. He said overnight it to me, we will reimburse for shipping cost and I had a new ballast in three days, and paid nothing. But this was 6 to 7 years ago. Now with me being in the industry, I know to buy from the distributors. I will throw names out there, because I believe the best way to market any product is word of mouth. 1000Bulbs.com is a great business and so is nanolux. So yeah I am that guy... Only because I wish someone told me to begin with.. btw you can find my old store just facebook Hydroponics and thats it..

Lumatek manufacturers possibly the absolute worst ballasts on the market. I personally have like 6 of those worthless purple paperweights in my garage at this very moment, all of which crapped out in less than 3 years. They are horrendous. Could not be happier since switching to Phantoms a few years back.

On 5 years of business I have never had 1 phantom come back. I personally feel they are the best ballast made.

I went to the hydrofarm warehouse only a couple months back and I saw many lumatek ballasts.. So I believe that to be false that hydro farm dropped lumatek. My opinion of ballasts are, they are all damn near the same thing.. They all are from china with a nice fancy cover over them. Ballasts break... I've had a brand new one go out just from tightening screws too tight to hold it down.. If you purchase items now a days at a hydro store.. You are the money that keeps there lights on.. If I have a ballast break, I take it to the hydro store, no box no receipt, and I walk out with a new one.. Why do they do this? Because you can buy the same shit online for cheaper. If your store doesn't do this for you.. Buy everything hydro related on eBay or ehydro and save yourself some money. I find it hard to believe that you can't get the ballast replaced. I have never had to worry about dealing with lumatek directly. Walk into the place where you bought it .. Say I want a new one and I'm not leaving til I get it. Should work lol good luck

Ill never buy one again...burned twice.

If were talking trash on ballasts I like my lumateks a hell of a lot more than my quantoms.. They stupid orange fuckers flicker when they start up. It drives me nuts cause for first 10 mins of it firing up it looks like a different spectrum. Don't believe the hype. I remember everyone saying how awesome nextgen ballasts were when I started growing. Ohh you HAVE to have nextgen ballasts. What happened to that company again? Exactly

rory420420 said:

Ill never buy one again...burned twice.

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You guys must have really pissed someone off. Or you shop at the worlds shittiest hydro store. I make my problems.. There problems.. If something doesn't work. I'm in the hydro store discussing it with the owners trying to problem solve. They are great people and extremely helpful.
Shit... Even things that are made by cap.. Which can't be replaced because cap went out of business...they will apologize and sell me the new companies item at there cost. No they don't have to do that... But they are a business that appreciates there customers.. Hydrofarm and sunlight supply don't care about you.. They care about the stores.. So if the store calls hydrofarm for you.. I bet you get that ballast replaced.
Good luck

Idgaf about a ballast...replace my grow,faceless company..

I have dealt with a few different hydro stores and I always bought Sun System. They all told me if the ballast breaks I bring it to them and they give me another one. That's why you pay the big bucks I guess. The stuff i buy online I already know i will get a run around on the warranty. I bought a Solis Tek last year and it flickers all the time so I think it sucks. I could get it warrantied if I paid $50-60 so I just took my loss. I guess Lumatek is off my list too. I'll pay the extra bucks and buy local next time.

I talk to and buy from Hydrofarm on a daily basis they DO NOT have Lumatek ballast at all. Hydrofarm has their own plug and all Lumateks come with an S-type plug. Side note Hydrofarm is not open to the pubic and they will not let consumers in period. Not all ballast are made the same, there are many different components used, some are of a higher quality then others. It is true that they are all made in China but the manufacture has to to compete price wise. Most people are cheap bastards that don't want to pay an extra $20 for a quality unit. For shits and giggles call Lumatek and tell them you have a warranty issue see what happens for yourself. Silly F'n people!

Robbie C said:

I talk to and buy from Hydrofarm on a daily basis they DO NOT have Lumatek ballast at all. Hydrofarm has their own plug and all Lumateks come with an S-type plug. Side note Hydrofarm is not open to the pubic and they will not let consumers in period. Not all ballast are made the same, there are many different components used, some are of a higher quality then others. It is true that they are all made in China but the manufacture has to to compete price wise. Most people are cheap bastards that don't want to pay an extra $20 for a quality unit. For shits and giggles call Lumatek and tell them you have a warranty issue see what happens for yourself. Silly F'n people!

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I went to pick up an order for the local hydro store. The hub i went to was in ontario ca. You can purchase lumateks with the sunlight supply OR the hydrofarm plug. I know they are not all the same but the reality of it is they are all the same bullshit Chinese parts. The op needs to have his local store call there distributor; doesn't matter if it's sunlight supply or hydrofarm.. He should have it replaced for free

Robbie C said:

I talk to and buy from Hydrofarm on a daily basis they DO NOT have Lumatek ballast at all. Hydrofarm has their own plug and all Lumateks come with an S-type plug. Side note Hydrofarm is not open to the pubic and they will not let consumers in period. Not all ballast are made the same, there are many different components used, some are of a higher quality then others. It is true that they are all made in China but the manufacture has to to compete price wise. Most people are cheap bastards that don't want to pay an extra $20 for a quality unit. For shits and giggles call Lumatek and tell them you have a warranty issue see what happens for yourself. Silly F'n people!

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Please enlighten us on what a "quality unit" is. I've owned over 20 ballasts. 4 or 5 different kinds.. And other than the quantom that flickers when starting.. They all seem the same to me..