Jeers TO CHEERS for SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

[DayofReckoning]

This is a sad day for me.

Unfortunately, I have been forced into a position that I do not want to be in, a point where the experiences I have had with SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen has been so negative that I feel it's my duty to call this out, as I feel other's should be aware of what type of service they may end up receiving.

I do understand that Vinh/Skylumen are very well respected around here, so I'm not sure how this thread will go amongst the community here, but the service I received is egregious enough that I feel obligated to share my experiences. Just know I do not want to make this negative post, but I am forced to.

Experience #1: Purchased an Acebeam TK18 from Vinh last year. Pocket clip was never sent, no big deal, honest mistake, in which he sent it out right away. Also noticed the tailcap had a loud rattle, so I emailed asking if that was normal. Rather than checking one of the other TK18's in his stock for the rattle, I was instead told "Don't worry about it". Later determined that the rattle was normal, but the unhelpful response was noted.

Experience #2: Last month one of the TK18's LED's had burned out, so I sent it in to be repaired. When I received the light back,, there was a long human hair underneath the glass lens. Huge, like, "How could anyone who honestly checked the light have not seen that there?". So I was forced to tear apart the light and dig the hair out. In my opinion, there was no inspection of the light before sending out, one would have seen it.


This is the interaction that inspired me to post today.

Experience #3: Last week, I sent Vinh an email asking if he could mod another Acebeam TK18 for me, an upgrade to DriverVNX2 and also a V54 engraving. I paid, sent the light off, and received it back today. Here is what I received.

STRIKE 1: Despite not only making a note in the order, but also informing him again in a private email of where to place the V54 engraving, sure enough I open the box and there IS NO ENGRAVING anywhere, despite paying for it and telling him on TWO different occasions that I wanted it.

STRIKE 2: This is the straw that broke the camels back. What I received back is beyond belief. Not only was the factory insulating/protective layer not put back on (which takes 5 seconds to do) and missing, only one of the two screws were put back! Seriously? I am beyond words. I am trying hard to understand how little care/regard it takes to ship something like this out, but I am drawing a blank. How do you forget to put back on the protective layer AND only one of the two screws?

[/IMG]


Strike 3: Battery level blink indicator is not working, despite whatever I try.

Strike 4: Something sloppily soldered to the contact spring, which the other TK18, which is the same light, does not have. Why is this there?

The sample of craftsmanship/care that I have received from Skylumen speaks to me as someone who either doesn't care about any level of quality control, or has taken on too much workload, too quickly, and can't keep up any level of quality control. Sending back lights with missing parts? Geeez....

In any case, I have emailed Skylumen for a resolution, and I will post a follow-up. I made this thread simply to warn other's of my experience.

 

[dotCPF]

Re: Jeers to SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

You are supposed to try and work it out first before posting, as per rule 2.

Strike 1 is an easy fix. He's forgotten engraving on mine before too, just send it back or have him refund it I'm sure he will

Strike 2... also an easy fix. Sure should have perhaps noticed, but the TK18 is hardly difficult or dangerous to take apart, especially just the lens.....

Strike 3... Ok email him and ask, could be a small issue with the light, modding lights can have that effect. edit: on second thought, going to VNX2 may have bypassed whatever circuit that was on, indicator may no longer work, not sure on that though.

Strike 4- that looks like a wire bypass for extra power....... happens to almost every Vinh light.


Me thinks this is perhaps a bit overly sensitive, but definitely too soon. I've never not had Vinh take care of me, these are small issues to boot.

 

[id30209]

Re: Jeers to SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

DOT is right, some rules needs to be followed as i learned also.
But, OP, i understand what are you saying cause i had similar experience.
I hope it will work out for ya.


Sent from Tapatalk

 

[DayofReckoning]

Re: Jeers to SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

You are supposed to try and work it out first before posting, as per rule 2.

Strike 1 is an easy fix. He's forgotten engraving on mine before too, just send it back or have him refund it I'm sure he will

Strike 2... also an easy fix. Sure should have perhaps noticed, but the TK18 is hardly difficult or dangerous to take apart, especially just the lens.....

Strike 3... Ok email him and ask, could be a small issue with the light, modding lights can have that effect. edit: on second thought, going to VNX2 may have bypassed whatever circuit that was on, indicator may no longer work, not sure on that though.

Strike 4- that looks like a wire bypass for extra power....... happens to almost every Vinh light.


Me thinks this is perhaps a bit overly sensitive, but definitely too soon. I've never not had Vinh take care of me, these are small issues to boot.

Thank you for voicing your opinion, though your response is exactly what I anticipated receiving.

Regarding rule #2, I understand and respect that, but in my case, I have had an accumulation of enough negative experiences, that I really felt it was important to share because I want fellow members to be aware of what they may receive. This is not one single isolated incident.

Strike 1... Having to drive to the post office, send the light back, and being without it for however long, all for a simple engraving that was supposed to be placed is not an easy fix, maybe from your armchair. We are all human and make mistakes, but I sent two different messages in two different forms.

Strike 2....Another strawman. Under this logic, any lazy or careless mistake could just be classified as "an easy fix".

Strike 3....No. Either the battery voltage indicator works, or it doesn't. It is advertised as a feature, and it's not working. Perhaps there is an explanation that Vinh will offer, until then, I will not accept " well, sometimes modding can have that effect". Why does the other TK18 with VNX2 not display this behavior? Why does it not have this bypass wire? It's the same light.

I do find it absolutely STUNNING that you rush to the defense of Skylumen, yet nowhere in your post do you make any mention whatsoever of the biggest complaint, the missing pad and screw. Or is this just another "easy fix"?

Me thinks your response reeks a bit of bias.

Again, I will make sure to post updates on Skylumens response.

 

[dotCPF]

Re: Jeers to SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

You posted in an open forum, seemingly inviting analysis so I did..... I clearly openly admit my bias, as seen in my signature, but my bias did not make me comment. I commented like half a day after your post, nobody was commenting, so I did, my bad? It seemed like you missed a really key point to posting here, hence my reason for actually commenting... - EDIT Oh I misread times, either way, not sure how that's relevant? I think this was just on the front page, if it really matters to you.

This place is for issues after you have contacted the other party, not before/ during, which is really the only reason I piped up. I'm not saying they aren't issues. You can lump me in whatever category you like, I just always give the business especially a small business, the chance to make right before putting them on public blast. To boot, this is one order, not 4 bad orders. It seems like you are reacting to 4 bad orders. Not one bad one. But hey that's me.

These seem like issues I have had, and have had successfully resolved. I don't know what's involved in the mod, so it's really tough for me to say what should and should not be there. Again, good reason to have talked with him before posting here. I get the engraving thing is annoying. I literally said I've dealt with that too, sounds like the easiest thing here is to get your $5 back and that would be better for all involved, however seeing that there may be other issues perhaps this can be solved down the line. Does the engraving make or break it for me? No, totally valid if you do though you paid for it.

You laid out points, and I just offered reasonable takes on them from. My point is you can focus on whatever specifics of your one case that you may like, but you are one number in a sea of transactions, not everyone sticks out so easily when you get hundreds of emails a day. Just a perspective thing.

 

[DayofReckoning]

Re: Jeers to SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

That's the problem with something like this.

Yes, someone should be given the chance to fix something they wronged before a post is made.

However, this is not omertà here, if sloppy mistakes are being made over, and over again, people need to be aware of what they may receive, even IF that person will fix any issues after the fact. How would we know of problems with things if everyone just fixed it quietly and no one spoke out? Potential buyers deserve to know.

As I said, we are all human and make mistakes, and I am forgiving, however the mistakes that I have received from Skylumen truly make me feel like there was no effort at all put into giving me good service.

I'm sorry, but how do you forget that pad, the screw, and the engraving all at once?

 

[dotCPF]

Re: Jeers to SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

You effectively just said "I know I'm violating the rules by doing this but I need to violate the rules to do this."

This is a place to come after those talks have failed.

If you really believed the "we are human" line, you'd have read the rules, realized I may be correct, and taken down the post and waited to actually try and work with Vinh. By all means, if negotiations break down, come on back, you won't here a peep from me if he stonewalls you. Again, I pipe up because generally we regard this kind of thing as a "**** move" to the makers, this case happened to be SkyLumen, but I would say the same for Neal (bad experiences abound), Jacky @ FF (don't like), Hank Wang (love), HDS(love), Oveready (love) .... or anyone else.

That is all, I mean this with no animosity. Best of luck to you, I hope you get everything taken care of to your fullest satisfaction. It is a very frustrating process not getting what you ordered.


edit- like levels for clarity?

 

[DayofReckoning]

Re: Jeers to SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

You effectively just said "I know I'm violating the rules by doing this but I need to violate the rules to do this."

This is a place to come after those talks have failed.

If you really believed the "we are human" line, you'd have read the rules, realized I may be correct, and taken down the post and waited to actually try and work with Vinh. By all means, if negotiations break down, come on back, you won't here a peep from me if he stonewalls you. Again, I pipe up because generally we regard this kind of thing as a "**** move" to the makers, this case happened to be SkyLumen, but I would say the same for Neal (don't like), Jacky @ FF (don't like), Hank Wang (love), HDS(love), Oveready (love) .... or anyone else.

That is all, I mean this with no animosity. Best of luck to you, I hope you get everything taken care of to your fullest satisfaction. It is a very frustrating process not getting what you ordered.

I wasn't aware of the specifics of rule #2 until you pointed it out, admittedly I should have read it more closely. If the mods feel that my thread is out of line, then they rightfully can close/remove it.

The purpose of the post was to make other's aware of what they may receive, and I felt this mistake was egregious enough to warrant a thread. I felt it was right that members be aware. It wasn't made to be a "**** move" towards Skylumen, although your initial post, in which you dismissed my legitimate concerns, failed to address my main concern, along with the snarky little "Me thinks" line could be interpreted as such a thing.

 

[dotCPF]

Re: Jeers to SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

Snarky wasn't really my intention. I intended such language as hopefully less serious to soften the blow of my next point which I felt was true, but didn't want to overemphasize, being some of the points may be a bit out of proportion for the response.

As a user, and not the maker, there's no real way for any of us to actually answer the questions that are clearly meant to be asked of the maker, which is why I only gave my experience, versus trying to actually answer. (Hence rule 2 here...)
I'm not trying to make this a thing, I really just wanted to provide some perspective having gone through similar issues. But Rule 2 is very black and white, and you keep seeming to want to come up with some grey. I understand this is a moderators place, just trying to offer advice.

 

[Kid9P]

Re: Jeers to SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

I personally never had any issues with Vinh's products. He has always gone above and beyond with his communications.

You stated you emailed him for a resolution. Yet you post the Jeer before hearing his response. Give the man a chance to reply.

 

[DayofReckoning]

Re: Jeers to SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

I do admit fault here, as I should have read Rule #2 better. Frustrated, and wanting other's to know what they might receive, I vented here in the Cheers'N Jeers forum, when now I see this forum is reserved for when things fall apart. I believe problems should be called out, and not swept under the rug, even if they are fixed, but I can see the Cheers,N Jeers is not the place for that.

In any case, Skylumen/Vinh Nguyen has replied to my inquiry, apologized for the missing parts, has offered to send me them, and has issued me a partial refund for the trouble. So I couldn't ask for a better result.

Skylumen/Vinh Nguyen stands by his products, and this thread will stand to show that. But I also hope it will allow Vinh to maybe put a little more attention into what he sends out.

I will update the title of the thread accordingly.

 

[bykfixer]

Re: Jeers to SkyLumen/Vinh Nguyen

Skylumen does a great service to a lot of members' lights.

If it takes 75 awe-phooey's to cancel an atta-boy Vihn probably still has a few atta-boy's worth of "well done's" remaining.