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Orphek LED Lighting is apparently a total joke now. I am a local fish store owner (posting anonymously to safeguard my store) that, after over a month of reading and communication with the USA representative decided to carry the Orphek PR-156 and Orphek PR-25 LED reef aquarium lights in my store. Orphek wanted an order of at least 2 PR-156 lights ($600 each, MSRP was $849) and 6x PR-25 bulbs ( $79 each, MSRP was $129) meaning it would cost me nearly $2000 which is, needless to stay, a steep price for a company that's yet to prove itself or its productst. However, I was interested what orphek claimed about its LED technology and emitters, and as their products were carried on Marine Depot, I figured Orphek was at least somewhat legitimate. I was wrong, Orphek LED Lighting is basically a scam.
So, to begin: Orphek spent almost five weeks to manufacture my order (although they required me to pay for it in advance). It seems the owner is so sure of his products that he keeps a large stock...except that he doesn't. Even the owner (ofir, as I found out - no, he doens't speak english to save his life, and seems to be right from china) doesn't have enough faith in his own led lights to have a ready-to-ship supply of orphek products. How nice.
So after over a lovely month of waiting, my comes in, only to have Orphek LED lighting basically fall to shambles around me: internet drama (most of it caused by Jake Adams at Reefbuilders, typical of that little worm - he's the laughing stock of the industry after years of these antics, but too thickheaded to realize I think!), suspicious activity (lying and unethical practices), and more began to plague the company's reputation online - how nice for us resellers, no?
I've been in the industry long enough to ignore the petty drama and the dumb aquarium sites, as we all know (or at least those of us that actually work in the industry, unlike these website authors who just point and click) that aquarists generally behave like little kids. However, unfortunately a lot of this seems to be true this time around, and Orphek LED Lighting seems to be on the way out: now there's no phone number for the company, all my emails are answered only by Ofir (the owner) in what he probably considers english but looks like a chinese product manual (aka unreadable) and the US rep has fled the coop and posted about Orphek's crappy service and decisions on his blog. Even the company's own employees don't want anything to do with Orphek!
Now I'm left with nearly $2000 worth of product that won't sell from a company that's probably going to be out of business in the next few months, leaving me with no one to honor the warranty. In fact, I can't even sell this to my customers at full price without feeling like a scammer, so I'm having to let it go at cost, as-is!
I will no longer supply/support Orphek lighting or their LED products. LED tech is still such a joke.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
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Orphek's response to filed report
AUTHOR: ORPHEK SUPPORT ASSISTANCE - (Brazil)
SUBMITTED: Friday, February 24, 2012
Orphek is an International company selling its products worldwide, providing quality customer assistance services in many languages, including English.
Our warranty & shipping policies are detailed in our website.
Orphek is not a Chinese company; we are proudly an international company spanning many countries and nationalities. We have an online Center for Technical Support, answering to enquires from all over the world, including local support in Canada, USA, Israel, Switzerland, Dubai, Brazil and UK.
Not only that, distributors, retailers and shop owners carrying our products are required to hold a minimum stock of units/parts for replacement if needed. Our clients are definitely our most important assets, therefore we take many measures to ensure they will be assisted immediately.
Ware 100% committed to their satisfaction. We invest in customer assistance efficiency because our clients have real value! Our relationship with our clients is so good in fact, that they are often proud to provide us amazing images of their tank for display in our gallery page in our website. Our customers/resellers sent us most of photos displayed in our gallery, with our lights over their tanks.
We would also like to clarify that we haven’t sold our solutions to this alleged reseller for the price stated in this anonymous bashing; therefore it should not be taken seriously.
We were never contacted by this supposed client, and although we have gathered enough evidence that this is a fictitious persona, with the systematically clear intention to harm our image for his own personal joy or reasons, we are still giving the opportunity to stand forward and really solve this problem, if there was ever one, by contacting supportcenter@orphek.com
Please kindly search for Orphek in Ripoff.com to read many consumer's rebuttal to these false allegations (here we cannot provide links unfortunately).
Also regarding this alleged purchaser, we advise to all consumers evaluating to purchase our products, or ANY other LED lighting product, that anonymous bashing should not be taken under consideration.
Someone who is really not satisfied with a purchase of any kind, and has the good will of helping others, does not hide himself under an anonymous signature.
Also we would like to state in this opportunity that our company does not endorse, and in fact finds it very offensive, that anonymous uses a website such as Ripoff to states things such as this:
"Normally I don't give a dang about drama, as we all know (or at least those of us on the professional end) that aquarists generally behave like 2 year olds". (extracted from the text posted by the anonymous report)
This type of comment really shows that this person could not hold a real business. A professional businessman would never state in public that people, or his clients (aka aquarists), behave like children at the age of 2. Not only that, he also suggests that all others in this professional business (fish stores) think the same way he does.
Even if this was a real reseller, if he does not succeed to sell our products, he is probably the only one in the LED lighting business. it is very easy to blame other people for the lack of professionalism and skills to sell to others. By this type of public statement against aquarists (that are the ones buying from fish stores) it became clear to us, and probably to all consumers reading this, why he is not selling our products or ANY other product.
Both Libel and Bashing are considered crimes even when performed via Internet anonymously, and it can be subjected to both Criminal and Civil Lawsuits.
If you are considering purchasing our products for your personal use or as a reseller, you are more than welcome to check all the information about us in our websites and reviews posted by experienced hobbyists and professionals. You are also welcome to contact us for further details about the products or our warranty & shipping policies.
Enlighten your life with Orphek Led Lighting!
Orphek has gone through a lot of trouble to respond to all of the negative press on the various sites ([redacted], here, scamreports, and others), yet they never address a few basic principles:
1) YOU CANNOT REACH ORPHEK BY TELEPHONE. (alarm bells, anyone?)
2) Orphek bills itself as an "international" company, which isn't true, they merely sell internationally out of their hong kong factory, just like ever other LED light maker
3) Orphek has a completely BS, bogus, and illegal (in the usa) disclaimer on their website, basically trying to make themselves immune to any/everything. Why do this if they're legit?
4) Orphek has no headquarters in any first world country. No address. No telephone number. Nothing.
5) A search of "orphek scam" or "is orphek a scam" reveals hundreds of complaints!
6) Why would Orphek have so much bad press if they were a legit company that didn't lie about who they are and refuse to provide contact information (or even speak decent english?!)
This is getting to be really sad! Same two guys posting slander about an LED company because they're getting PAID. Here's a link to more of their complains and amazingly enough...they're identical...this should tell you something.
I'll post exactly what I said in response to their slander as a more than happy and satisfied Orphek customer and LED enthusiast:
"To me it sounds like you got a hell of a deal and just feel the need to complain. So far I haven't read anything in this report that says the products are inferior, it seems to me that the owner of this so called fish store owner is the one that is inferior. As a store owner you should know more about what you buy and I'm sure you already know that it's very rare to actually have the owner of a company respond to you, that's what I call superior customer service. Orphek makes their lights with superior products developed by Orphek, they're not some cheap China cree manufacturer!
As far as being able to understand Ofir, it can be a little difficult at times but you have to be a ### to not understand what he's saying.
Honestly, with your lack of maturity by filing this untrue report shows me that your store wont be up and running for very long. If you give your customers advice along these lines then you're a very poor fish store owner and probably shouldn't even own an aquarium. Orphek lighting is superior to even MH's! This isn't a supplement LED, it's an LED light that promotes coral growth over ANY and ALL led manufactures. Get your facts straight before you bash a company and their products that you know nothing about.
Fact is, there have been 4 of these reports, 3 on the same day within hours of each other...can you say coincidence? I wouldn't. I'd say "someone" is getting paid to bash Orphek just because they can. Grow up. I don't know what LED company is paying for this slander but they obviously cannot compete with Orphek since this is the road they've taken. Let the numbers do all the talking...Orphek is vastly superior to every other LED company out there! Do your homework before you decide to bash a company for no reason."
With all this said, I think it's time for you both to grow up. You're both acting like little high school girls who just lost their boyfriends. Slander is something children do when they know they're in the wrong, anyone would be more than happy to stand by this product for the simple fact that it's vastly superior to any and ALL LED lights on the market right now. This is a growing industry that is relatively new in the aquarium hobby scene and companies are making great strides, the only problem is, no one can hold a candle to Orphek. They're superior and all others know it and are intimidated because they can't figure out how Orphek does it. They can try to mimic it, but they'll never be able to produce such an amazing, sleek, and usable light as Orphek. Superior beyond words. Buy Orphek, you WILL NOT be disappointed.
Thank you all,
Joe
Another thing...Orphek DOES have a United States telephone number AND my personal light shipped out from INDIANAPOLIS, IN. Which I'm pretty sure is in the United States. So for someone to say this is a China based company is just absurd! Shows how much they know about these lights or how truly passionate they are about this hobby. It's pure slander and must be getting paid well to talk nonsense. I hope this helps those of you who actually care about the growth and well-being of their aquarium life. Good luck to those who speak without knowing facts, you have to live in your skin, sorry for that.
As for future customers, I promise you WILL NOT be disappointed. You can tell right off the bat the love, sweat and tears put into each of these lights, happy hunting and choose the superior choice in LED lighting: Orphek.
I disagree totally with regard to the "Bogus" complaint issued by the "Anonymous" starter of this thread.
Previous response by Joe S., is correct & well clarified ...!
Even in Oz there have been several individuals, with vested interests in their own & opposition branded products, trying to discredit the Orphek products.
But asking them for facts and proof of their statements, have always resulted in a none response and void of ANY proof.
We''ve been in contact with Orphek numerous times since starting our own research 2 years ago.
Our first purchase was a group buy of their PR-156 units back in Oct 2010. All are still operating satisfactorily with great results in our Corals.
Backup, replacements & services have been very good, when parts have failed.
In our club I know of only 6 items that were an issue, out of 45 purchases. All resolved satisfactorily...!
But as Joe S. already mentioned and advised, do your own research and you'll find that the Orphek brand is at the top end of what's on offer, with superior results & proof.
Luke V.
I am sorry for your experience. But to a great degree, Orphek LED Lighting is great! I occasionally buy led lights from http://www.ledlightshub.com/. Quite great!
I personally have had a nightmare of difficulties with Orphek. Both with so called "Douglas" and with Scott. I can also attest to Ofir's inability to communicate in English in emails.
I had multiple product failures, unreasonable requests for me to ship the products to China for repair, and only with enough fuss about it was I able to ship to their "US location". I also recieved a shipment from there. I wanted to see what kind of facility they had in Indianapolis (because I doubted they really had a facility) and sure enough, a google map street view of the address revealed it was some guys house. Their US physical presence is their US rep's garage or living room.
The high cost, high failure rate, and terrible customer service should steer customers away.
Fantastic blog post ! Incidentally, if your business was looking for a 2013 DS-5507, We used a blank form here Form Affidavit Parentage.