banjokeith
Member
Hello all,
I hope that this type of posting doesn’t violate the TOS. I know that the last thing this forum needs is a bunch of people whining about troubles with vendors and manufacturers, but this is a big enough issue that I felt I need to let people know so that they do not make the same mistake I did.
For the record, I am the TD at a theater in Iowa, and am in no way connected with any company that makes or sells fog machines.
This saga began in April of 2008, when we purchased two Low fog machines, “Low Rider” is the specific model, from a company called Star Light and Magic in Kentucky for that summer’s production of Beauty and the Beast. I was not the TD here at the time, so I am not sure what the reasoning behind choosing this company or model was. The machines were branded by Star Light and Magic – I have no idea whether they build the machines themselves, or just label another manufacturer’s.
We used the machines for the run of Beauty in the Beast, and one if the units stopped heating midway through. This happens. It sucks, but with all of the components inside a machine, sometimes a unit dies. I don’t hold this against the company. The units seemed quite well built, and the second unit performed brilliantly.
The TD attempted to contact Star Light and Magic about a repair, and finally received a response from them – in December 2008.
In January of 2009, we sent the unit in and have the UPS tracking confirming their receipt.
I took over the position in March of 2009, and after a month or so on the job, attempted to contact Star Light and Magic for an update. This is where the mess really began. The company can only be contacted by email, or on rare occasions through an online help button on their website. The phone number on their site only leads to an answering machine with a message that tells you to email them and then leaves no opportunity to leave a voice message.
I emailed, waited two weeks for any sort of response, email again with all of my possible contact information – phone, cell, address, email – again no response. I emailed several more times over the next few weeks with the same lack of success.
About 2 months into the ordeal I decided to take another approach. I emailed the company and said that I was a school that was unable to make the purchase online. I listed a few of their higher end items and asked if there was a way I could talk to a salesperson. Within TWO HOURS there was a response sitting in the Gmail inbox I had set up for this, asking for my phone number! I gave them my cell phone number and they must have recognized it from my previous emails because that was the last I hard from them.
After sever more months of attempts, I got one of our board members who is a lawyer to draft a rather strong letter demanding the refund of the $700 we had paid for the unit. I figured it might carry a bit more weight than my emails. We received absolutely no response.
This week, the second unit stopped working. We had used it a lot, it has been rented out a dozen or so times to other groups, so the failure in itself is not that great a surprise. There just really is nothing at all we can do about it. We’re certainly not sending the second unit back to this company, and that is if we can even get a hold of them – it took 5 months to get the return authorization the first time. We’re now out over $1400.
The company is still very much in business, still more than willing to accept your orders, but if you are in the market for an item and come across this company, please be cautious.
I hope that this type of posting doesn’t violate the TOS. I know that the last thing this forum needs is a bunch of people whining about troubles with vendors and manufacturers, but this is a big enough issue that I felt I need to let people know so that they do not make the same mistake I did.
For the record, I am the TD at a theater in Iowa, and am in no way connected with any company that makes or sells fog machines.
This saga began in April of 2008, when we purchased two Low fog machines, “Low Rider” is the specific model, from a company called Star Light and Magic in Kentucky for that summer’s production of Beauty and the Beast. I was not the TD here at the time, so I am not sure what the reasoning behind choosing this company or model was. The machines were branded by Star Light and Magic – I have no idea whether they build the machines themselves, or just label another manufacturer’s.
We used the machines for the run of Beauty in the Beast, and one if the units stopped heating midway through. This happens. It sucks, but with all of the components inside a machine, sometimes a unit dies. I don’t hold this against the company. The units seemed quite well built, and the second unit performed brilliantly.
The TD attempted to contact Star Light and Magic about a repair, and finally received a response from them – in December 2008.
In January of 2009, we sent the unit in and have the UPS tracking confirming their receipt.
I took over the position in March of 2009, and after a month or so on the job, attempted to contact Star Light and Magic for an update. This is where the mess really began. The company can only be contacted by email, or on rare occasions through an online help button on their website. The phone number on their site only leads to an answering machine with a message that tells you to email them and then leaves no opportunity to leave a voice message.
I emailed, waited two weeks for any sort of response, email again with all of my possible contact information – phone, cell, address, email – again no response. I emailed several more times over the next few weeks with the same lack of success.
About 2 months into the ordeal I decided to take another approach. I emailed the company and said that I was a school that was unable to make the purchase online. I listed a few of their higher end items and asked if there was a way I could talk to a salesperson. Within TWO HOURS there was a response sitting in the Gmail inbox I had set up for this, asking for my phone number! I gave them my cell phone number and they must have recognized it from my previous emails because that was the last I hard from them.
After sever more months of attempts, I got one of our board members who is a lawyer to draft a rather strong letter demanding the refund of the $700 we had paid for the unit. I figured it might carry a bit more weight than my emails. We received absolutely no response.
This week, the second unit stopped working. We had used it a lot, it has been rented out a dozen or so times to other groups, so the failure in itself is not that great a surprise. There just really is nothing at all we can do about it. We’re certainly not sending the second unit back to this company, and that is if we can even get a hold of them – it took 5 months to get the return authorization the first time. We’re now out over $1400.
The company is still very much in business, still more than willing to accept your orders, but if you are in the market for an item and come across this company, please be cautious.
