Bad experience with Prometheus Lights

I ordered an alpha ready made which arrived with what I found to be a somewhat dirty reflector after talking with other ready made users. It had a lot of dust-like stuff and a fiber on the reflector:



So I contacted Jason about it, and he seemed like he was willing to fix the issue by exchanging my light for one with a clean reflector. I sent the light back to him and waited. I had to send a reminder to him to get my light back because he apparently forgot about it. So he sends a new light back to me, and this is what I get:




The new light had scratches, dust, and what looks like an intentionally placed finger print smudge! The hell? I sent several emails to Jason about the issue, and he never responded. I had to file a claim through PayPal to return the light and get my money back. I'll never do business with Prometheus lights again. Buyer beware!

Dark sucks has a subforum on here if you want to voice your concerns there. The dark sucks following may not be too happy with negative feedback.

Cerealand said:

Dark sucks has a subforum on here if you want to voice your concerns there. The dark sucks following may not be too happy with negative feedback.

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Dark SUCKS is right.

Check the bottom of his warranty page for the "don't be a jerk" clause.
Pretty much gives himself carte blanche in the "after sales" department. I read that years ago when I was close to punching the buy button, no thanks.

Remember . . . . .he's "making the rules" :shakehead

Up All Night said:

Check the bottom of his warranty page for the "don't be a jerk" clause.
Pretty much gives himself carte blanche in the "after sales" department. I read that years ago when I was close to punching the buy button, no thanks.

Remember . . . . .he's "making the rules" :shakehead

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Just read it.. Also a no-go for me.

Up All Night said:

Check the bottom of his warranty page for the "don't be a jerk" clause.
Pretty much gives himself carte blanche in the "after sales" department. I read that years ago when I was close to punching the buy button, no thanks.

Remember . . . . .he's "making the rules" :shakehead

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Yeah. I saw that. I wasn't a jerk about this issue at all. I guess his definition of a jerk is whatever he decides it to be at the time. He should follow his own clause.

The cosmestic marks are outlined in the terms: 'I do not attempt to deliver cosmetically perfect products. Minor cosmetic defects in the surface and/or finish should be expected and are not covered by warranty. Nicks, dings, and scratches are common. Everything I make goes through dozens of handling steps. Materials like aluminum, brass, and copper are very soft. My shop is full of machinery and tools that are made of hardened steel. Add gravity to the equation and you can see the potential for small defects.'

Cerealand said:

The cosmestic marks are outlined in the terms: 'I do not attempt to deliver cosmetically perfect products. Minor cosmetic defects in the surface and/or finish should be expected and are not covered by warranty. Nicks, dings, and scratches are common. Everything I make goes through dozens of handling steps. Materials like aluminum, brass, and copper are very soft. My shop is full of machinery and tools that are made of hardened steel. Add gravity to the equation and you can see the potential for small defects.'

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Translation: I run a sloppy shop and drop things, bang things into each other, and don't bother to keep my workpieces separated and padded from my tools and materials. Expect a dinged up and scuffed light, since I just don't care enough about my product to handle it properly like the 100+ other flashlight manufacturers out there have somehow managed to get the hang of doing.

No thanks - I won't be buying any lights from him.

Cerealand said:

The cosmestic marks are outlined in the terms: 'I do not attempt to deliver cosmetically perfect products. Minor cosmetic defects in the surface and/or finish should be expected and are not covered by warranty. Nicks, dings, and scratches are common. Everything I make goes through dozens of handling steps. Materials like aluminum, brass, and copper are very soft. My shop is full of machinery and tools that are made of hardened steel. Add gravity to the equation and you can see the potential for small defects.'

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It was my understanding that this applied to the OUTSIDE of his lights which I don't care about. An internal component like the reflector ,which is extremely fragile, should be handled with more care.

Jason's lights are marketed as easy to fix/upgrade. I'm actually surprised he did not just switch out the boom reflector for you. I have been looking at his lights for a while, but so far I have not made a purchase.

Cerealand said:

Jason's lights are marketed as easy to fix/upgrade. I'm actually surprised he did not just switch out the boom reflector for you. I have been looking at his lights for a while, but so far I have not made a purchase.

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I think he did switch out the whole head of the flashlight..... for one with scratches and a fingerprint smudge on the reflector.

Amelia said:

Translation: I run a sloppy shop and drop things, bang things into each other, and don't bother to keep my workpieces separated and padded from my tools and materials. Expect a dinged up and scuffed light, since I just don't care enough about my product to handle it properly like the 100+ other flashlight manufacturers out there have somehow managed to get the hang of doing.

No thanks - I won't be buying any lights from him.

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Agreed. This and the "don't be a jerk" clause turned me off from purchasing.

"Add gravity to the equation and you can see the potential for small defects"


That's not a very good excuse. When I buy a new product, I want to buy it in like-new condition. I'll put the scuffs, dings and scratches on it myself.

Could you have taken it apart and cleaned it to your standards? Granted it likely shouldn't have come that way, especially on the second go. Let down, yup, bummer yup. I have received many-a lights with stuff like this from various manufactures. If possible, I just fix it myself. For me it is usually easier.

All the lights I have gotten from him have been jam up jelly tight. So seems kinda odd.

After reading this thread I wouldn't consider buying a light from them. I don't like the second one being in worse condition and I HATE dealers who won't respond to emails.

Str8stroke said:

Could you have taken it apart and cleaned it to your standards? Granted it likely shouldn't have come that way, especially on the second go. Let down, yup, bummer yup. I have received many-a lights with stuff like this from various manufactures. If possible, I just fix it myself. For me it is usually easier.

All the lights I have gotten from him have been jam up jelly tight. So seems kinda odd.

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Nope. Reflectors are so fragile that they are almost impossible to clean without creating more problems or introducing more dust. I've never done it, and I shouldn't have to attempt it with a light that costs almost $300.

Also, the light was water tight too, so it's not like I got one that was letting dust in. The stuff got there when he assembled the light. Here is the smart *** remark I got from him with the first reflector.

"Without seeing it, my advice is thus: I work in a machine shop, not a clean room "

No "sorry for sending a dirty reflector" or anything.

Knife117, Did Jason respond after you opened a Paypal claim? I've only ordered one light from him...actually just arrived yesterday. I also noticed some specks on my reflector, not as bad as in your pics but there were some. Other than that mine looks good.

I'd be interested in seeing how this turns out for you. I realize Jason has a business to run but maybe something serious happened. Hopefully not....but you never know.

I've had good experiences with Jason in the past, as have most. I am surprised at the result here. I'd be very interested to hear his side of the story...

hombreluhrs said:

Knife117, Did Jason respond after you opened a Paypal claim? I've only ordered one light from him...actually just arrived yesterday. I also noticed some specks on my reflector, not as bad as in your pics but there were some. Other than that mine looks good.

I'd be interested in seeing how this turns out for you. I realize Jason has a business to run but maybe something serious happened. Hopefully not....but you never know.

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So I first started out with a PayPal dispute which lets the seller and buyer try to work things out, but he didn't respond to that, and I didn't have any reason to believe he would after ignoring my emails. So I escalated it to a PayPal claim which lets PayPal decide the outcome. He must have responded to PayPal because they basically froze the ~$300 in his PayPal account until I returned the light. Then I got my refund once PayPal confirmed that the package was delivered through the tracking info I gave them.

No email response from Jason at all once I got the messed up replacement light from him. I heard about this same sort of thing happening with others as well, so my gut told me it needed to be handled with a PayPal claim.

nbp said:

I've had good experiences with Jason in the past, as have most. I am surprised at the result here. I'd be very interested to hear his side of the story...

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+1. Would be interested in getting both sides of the story before passing any kind of judgement on either party.