In UVB_Meter_Owners@yahoogroups.com, "lilacdawndragon"
<lilacdragon@...> wrote:
>
> Hi, everyone.
> Yesterday, I spent over an hour on the phone with Bob MacCargar, owner
of ReptileUV, and I put all these worrying questions across to him and
he has told me the full story.
> I have his permission to relay everything he told me to you all.
However, some of the problems were very personal family issues - which I
will not go into on a public forum.
>
> The problems you've all been having with lamps and orders from
ReptileUV are NOT because it's a scam, or a fraud, or anything like
that, at all.
> Robert Allen recently asked a very reasonable question on this forum,
he said, " I think it would help us a bit if we at least knew even a
little bit about what the problem is: ie. quality of deliverables, or
lack of enough manpower to run a business, or illness, etc. "
>
> The answer is, all three of these things. Please bear with me and I'll
explain in full.
>
> First, "lack of enough manpower to run a business."
> ReptileUV is not a company like we imagine a company - with CEO and
directors, offices and office staff, warehouses and
research-and-development department, advertising department, sales
department. ReptileUV is one of the best institutions in modern society,
but one of the most vulnerable - a tiny family business. (I have known
this for a fact since I first started testing lamps, and Bob MacCargar
sent me a Mega-Ray to test, in 2004.)
> ReptileUV is one room set aside in a busy little car repair workshop,
called C&G Paint and Body. http://www.candgpaintandbody.com/
> The CEO of ReptileUV is Bob; the Shipping Manager right now is his
very young son Sam. There are no other staff at all. The entire stock of
lamps are in a room at the back of the workshop, and the R&D room
consists of a bench with a long row of fixtures.... and Bob tests every
single lamp by hand (more about the lamp problem later...)
>
> Bob runs the car workshop - also a family business - with a very small
staff, including his elder son, and in the present financial climate he
has to spend almost all his time under a car.
> Sam, his younger son, has only just started work with ReptileUV and is
learning fast how to take orders, process them, find the lamps, pack
them in boxes and take them to the mail, and how to answer emails from
the many upset customers after the problems with the lamps (more later).
> Several of Bob's friends and family have acted as Shipping Managers in
the past, the most recent one was Jimmy Kuhn who lives 200 miles from
the premises, so he had to do almost everything online - so even though
he did his very best, as you can imagine this didn't work out.
> Bob never intended ReptileUV to be a big online reptile lamp supply
company, the sort that accepts hundreds of orders one day and ships them
the next. He invented the lamp (with an idea given to him by seeing the
UV curing lamps he uses on car paint) as part of his work as an iguana
re-habilitator and then discovered that people wanted to buy it.
>
> My impression is that the demand was already almost outstripping their
ability to supply it, toward the end of 2009, when everything crashed.
And that brings us to point two:
> "quality of deliverables".
> In 2009, Bob's MegaRay mercury vapour lamps were becoming known as
some of the best available, and sales were going well. Research into a
metal halide version was well under way, and small numbers of metal
halide kits also went into production. I tested these and the lamps got
an excellent report, but unfortunately there were big problems finding a
reliable ballast.
> All these lamps were being made on one production line, by a small
Canadian company called Westron. But unfortunately, things went badly
wrong.
> It's history, now, that towards the end of 2009, all the reptile lamps
made by Westron - mercury vapours and halides, (and not just those they
made for ReptileUV) started to emit very short wavelength UVB, owing to
a problem sourcing the right glass. Not all reptiles were affected but
some were developing photo-kerato-conjunctivitis and skin problems,
because these wavelengths are hazardous. I helped in the analysis of the
problem.
> Bob MacCargar acted immediately, and recalled hundreds of lamps and
offered refunds. This was a financial disaster of course. Westron were
unable to obtain the right glass, and could not find a way of
re-creating the original safe lamp output. Bob spent months trying to
find a way of re-coating the hundreds of lamps ReptileUV had in stock,
to block the short-wavelength UVB. I tested many of their "coating"
prototypes (as I have tested many prototypes for other companies, too.)
Unfortunately, although they found a satisfactory coating, it turned out
to disintegrate with prolonged use, so in the end it was useless - more
lamp recalls, more losses.
> There would be no more of the original MegaRays - no mercury vapour
lamps and no halides.
> Bob MacCargar had no option, but to source his lamps elsewhere. The
problem was that the glass and interior coating that made the MegaRay
such a good lamp required a very fussy manufacturing process. You can't
just buy these cheaply, mass-produced and straight out of a Chinese
factory.
>
> Lamps sourced from a variety of manufacturers never quite met Bob's
specs, although all through 2010 he managed to source small batches of
clear-faced PAR38 mercury vapour lamps from China, which he tested
individually to ensure none had hazardous short-wavelength UVB. There
were no more halides, though, once the remaining early production
samples from Westron were sold.
>
> In the fall of 2010, Bob negotiated with Stefan Immke of Econlux, a
small German lamp importer and distributor, who sells UVB reptile lamps
in Germany under the brand name Solar Raptor.
> (As it happens, I tested the Solar Raptor mercury vapour lamp earlier
that year - it had a very narrow beam, but a good UVB output with no
abnormally short-wavelength UVB.)
> Together, Bob and Stefan arranged for the lamp to be redesigned a
little, with a wider beam, made in USA voltage, and packaged in a new
black box with both ReptileUV and Solar Raptor logos. This was launched
in the USA and Europe in 100w and 160w versions.
> Solar Raptor also market 35W and 70W metal halide kits. Bob took
various samples of these as well, with the aim of becoming a distributor
for Solar Raptor halides if they could find a suitable USA voltage
ballast.... and all went well at first.....
>
> But then, although both 100W and 160W European versions, and the 160w
USA version of the new Solar Raptor MegaRay have been proving
successful, problems soon developed with the 100w USA lamp. The filament
used for 100w in USA voltage was weak, and a high percentage of 100w
lamps were burning out prematurely. This has been a catastrophe. Bob is
now individually testing every 100w lamp before shipping, again, and is
buried under another mountain of returns and refunds.
> He is about to start replacing all the 100W Solar Raptor MegaRays with
130W lamps (the extra strength of a 130W filament should remove the
problem) which have been ordered but - since they are being made
specially for him - the order is taking a while to arrive. As soon as
they have arrived, Bob says he will be shipping out both new orders and
"replacements" for the warranty returns.
> Their ordering system is close to meltdown at the moment, with so many
returns and complaints, and Sam is trying to work his way through a huge
tangle of emails.
> People will be offered a 130W lamp instead of their 100W lamp, if it
fails in the warranty period.
>
> ReptileUV will not be selling Solar Raptor halides, in the near
future, at least. Bob wants to get the MegaRay mercury vapour lamps
sorted out first. So I'm afraid there are no halides available at all,
right now... (unless the 35W prototype that was initially offered to the
guy who's been posting, is still there and has a working USA-voltage
ballast... but I forgot to ask him about that, sorry..)
>
> And finally... "or illness, etc."
> Yes, a member of Bob's family is seriously ill. Bob himself is okay
(though he's had a bad heart for years, it's fairly common knowledge)
but his family life has been in turmoil these past months. There are
considerable private issues ongoing.
>
> I hope relaying all this helps in some way.
> I suppose because of all that's been going on, I have never received
the samples of the USA "Solar Raptor MegaRays" that Bob was going to
send me in February. But during my phone conversation he has promised to
send me samples of both the 100W and 160W versions and, when they
finally arrive, a 130W one as well.
> I have, however, tested the 100W and 160W European versions, sent to
me by the European distributor, Darren Dunnage.
> I finished testing these last week, and I'm writing the reports over
the next week. Basically, these are nice little lamps with no hazardous
very-short-wavelength UVB. The beams are, like all clear-faced PAR38s, a
little narrow for my liking and like every mercury vapour lamp I have
ever tested, from any company, their output is quite variable from lamp
to lamp, but I have no major concerns with them.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Frances
>
Sorry it is so long but I hope this helps those that are waiting and have tried to get answers. I in no way am responsible for the message. I just saw it and I'm passing it on to you guys and gals
