DON'T BUY from Pacific Coast Lighting Systems

How 'bout them apples, Mark Kasserman!

I never did get my accessory kit with my order, including my replacement bulbs, on an order placed with PCLS's former company name, 1080av.com. So, for a company that's still makes the same mistakes, telling the same lies, that's what separates you from the better companies of the world: they learn from theirs.

AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS. THEY MIGHT CLAIM TO BE THE BIGGEST DISTRIBUTOR OF BRITEK LIGHTS, BUT THAT DOESN'T MAKE THEM THE BEST OR THE CHEAPEST.

Justin
 
Yeah! Just sling those lights out there like hash in a truck stop. Don't worry about how you pack it or if a few people's order's or items drop through the cracks. What counts is being the largest distributor and racking up those numbers!

I doubt we'll see many more postings by PCLS. He's a bit out of his league here on DVXUser. Anytime you have to begin your first posting with "Folks let's get a few things straight here" you're already cooked and off to a bad start.

But this is a lot of nerve to have posted here that he fixed your problems. I would expect also that the largest britek distributor could hire a couple of people.

Where there's smoke there is fire and we see a lot of smoke around this company.
 
Cool Lights said:
Yeah, that's why I wonder about all those "dealers". What's wrong with mentioning it's britek? Are they ashamed of it? Restronics, Pacifist Coast, SCaesar and imageworst to name a few of the "stealth" britek dealers. ;-)
Click to expand...

Richard- I have read this entire thread. Perhaps I read it a bit too quickly . . .
Am I to understand that (1) you sell lights and, (2) you are indicating there is something wrong with Britek or Rostronics?

Reason I ask (and I don't sell lites . . . I just use them) is that I've visited the Rostronics website many times and don't find there to be any ambiguity regarding their stock of Britek lights.

I have also purchased from Tom (Rostronics) on at least 4 occasions and never come away dis-satisfied with the product, service, or shipping performance . . . including the order I placed last week which arrived at my location on Monday.

So if I'm mis-reading your message or intent please allow me to apologize, otherwise (IMHO) I think you should refrain from bust'n on your competitors (at least in an open forum) . . . really bad form.

BTW, I just visited your website. Good luck with the two fixtures you are actually selling, and the forthcoming models.
 
Not sure why you're singling me out as I didn't start this thread. What you say may be true and perhaps I shouldn't have chimed in here but it's also true that many of these people don't display prominently that it's britek they're selling. I'm a DVXUser site sponsor, comment on many things in some forums here and elsewhere, answer many questions not related to my business at all and also editorialize sometimes too.

Sorry if you're offended about Rostronics in particular, but I don't see Britek mentioned on their home page exactly and that's mostly what they sell. I'm not sure why you're taking it personally. I never said they had a support problem; but I visited their continuous light product page and only two of the models were marked "Britek", but they were all clearly Britek products.

http://www.rostronics.com/products.asp?cat=27

And the same type thing goes on at the other places too. You always have to go deeper to see it. That was the point. Why do you have to dig in to see it? Please don't take the comments out of context or make it into something else...

There have been plenty of negative comments about britek here on DVXUser and some britek dealers too, well before I ever said anything about it. Again I didn't start this. You always have at least one defender in many threads though--so people either love them or hate them. It's quite an emotional issue really.

Editorial

Much of my willingness to comment on this kind of thing goes to feelings about the whole dealer system in general for products like these. I've editorialized on this before. So you would have to have that context to understand my satirical postings in this thread--and they are satirical. That's my style sometimes.

Wasteful markup through middle men. I could have dealers too for Cool Lights products (with many inquiries this year) but we're choosing to go with an affiliate system so we can maintain a close contact with what's going on and keep our prices low and people happy. I might grow quicker with more layers, but what does it matter if you lose contact with customers and have situations like this develop? Or you get completely off track with what you're offering and it's not really what the market wants. The more layers you have, the more the sensitivity to what's going on with your products and customers is lost.

Many of these dealers simply don't add the value that should be justified by the higher price it takes to maintain the dealer system. Perhaps Rostronics is a model though. I didn't comment on that aspect.

You mentioned that I only have only two models on my site. Coincidentally, this is another reason I felt like posting. I have only two models because I've sold a lot this year too and the more popular models already sold out last month so I can talk about this as I do it right. We were supposed to have more product but I've delayed it for some changes I'm making and new products many of which were conceived by me and fine tuned with user comments right here on DVXuser in this forum. I consider this a great cross section of the market I serve so its a good temperature gauge of what's going on out there.

Anyway, the point is, I didn't have these kinds of customer support issues that we see on this thread so I guess I just don't understand how it happens. Heck it's even my first year and I never let things get this out of hand and we're only a two person, family-operated company with lots of partners doing the heavy lifting.

It's just a question of maintaining a certain sensitivity to what's going on around you, what people say in emails and what they don't say too and of course, keeping in touch with what the market wants; and I even manage to do that from thousands of miles away. Dealers, many times don't add this kind of value. It's why I don't entrust this to other people.

End of editorial.
 
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I hate Briteks.. I don't HATE many things in life... I don't have time for it. I HATE people who cut you off on the highway by passing you and then immediately exit... I hate when people talk to you with their eyes closed, and then open them when their done speaking.. I also hate Briteks...
 
Richard-

I would have kept my mouth shut but my eyes began to bleed by your 7th of the first 20 responses immediately following the original post entitled, "DON'T BUY from Pacific Coast Lighting Systems."

It's not personal. And, it was not my intention to "start" anything.

My "read" was that tkarade was attempting to warn this community about a particular dealer/individual, there was no mention of branding. I'm not familiar with the 5760 Watt daylight fluorescent lighting kit he spoke of, so I'm in the dark as to whether it is a Britek or something else.

I do think (again, IMHO) that as a sponsor, and a business entity only one step removed from manufacturing, there is (or should be) an implied responsibility towards fairness or balance when commenting openly on a competitor or their product. This was not evidenced in any of your 7 comments.

I fully appreciate your business model. While it may change as you grow I am confident your present approach will serve you and your customer base. I truly wish you well in that enterprise and all else that you may endeavor.

Best.

David
 
Thanks. Point taken. The fluorescent models are definitely briteks. Rostronics just doesn't sell the fluorescent models. Many will verify that.

Filmat11 sums up how many feel about the brand in the post just before your last one. You either love them or hate them.
 
UPDATE (08/13/2007): I received a phone call from Mark several days ago in which he sincerely apologized for all the problems my order had and he offered me to replace the entire lighting kid with a never version they will have out soon. I was very happy about this call and I'm waiting for the new merchandise to arrive so that the exchange can take place. We'll see what happens ...
 
tkarade- I hope you got the stuff you ordered.
We ordered a kit from PCL and for whatever reason, it never occurred to me to check here to see about reviews. We really do need a list of companies NOT to order from. Well, we got our stuff and I can tell you, we got what we paid for. The stands are weak and despite the claims of being able to raise the lights to 8.5 feet, a phone call to PCL confirmed it to be a bad idea. He said the standard stands should only be raised to 4 or 5 feet and the upgraded stands (found nowhere on the website and twice the price) are what we needed. The overhead boom is nice, but you can only put the smallest of the lights (the 2 bank) on it and even then it's pretty flimsy. It also required being repaired when the center pole slipped down through the bottom collar due to the weight of the light and the counter weight. This wasn't even at full extension. The other piece ordered at the same time as the kit was a large 4k 16 bulb light. This will throw an incredible amount of light out there for you, but the quality of the unit is pretty low. It's very flexi and so the lights are always popping out. Since there is nothing over the front of the unit, they will fall right out on the floor. Not a great feat of engineering. The sockets are not lined up right either and I am not certain if I am going to be able to fix this myself. Point being, I shouldn't have to. Lastly, the diffuser panel is the absolute worst design and fit of anything I have ever seen and I have seen some really crappy stuff.
So here is the score card:
Fit and Finish: Really poor, everything requires fixing.
Function: They make light
Rentability: Not a chance
Usability: Yes, but they are going to require babysitting
Would I buy them again: Not a chance in hell
Service: Questionable
Overall experience: negative
 
To put a cap on this and let it go. I spent the day taking apart my lights and after some modifications and some rebuilding, I have 6 light units I'll be able to use quite effectively. They required quite a bit of shoring up, but it did give me a chance to play with my drill press and get stuff at Home Depot. Instructions would have been great, after taking the big 16 bank light apart, I found the holes for the "whiskers" to fit in to hold the reflector and diffuser panel. Not something you would just decide to look for or notice. Can't fix the underbuilt stands, but oh well, they'll be great for holding flags and such.
Still not the greatest thing in the world like the website would have you believe, but I think I've made the best of the situation. Still waiting for a call back from Mark, since I've no animosity towards him it'll be interesting to see how all of this eventually unfolds.
-Will
 
UPDATE (12/17/2007): The entire lighting kit has been replaced with a new, better quality one a while ago and I am now 100% happy with this order.
 
I am having trouble with PC Lighting, too

I am having trouble with PC Lighting, too

I wish I had checked this site before buying a flourescent lighting kit from PC Lighting last October. Like others on this thread, I saw the webpage and it looked like the light kit was just what I needed for a production I was doing in Ethiopia. I called Mark Kasserman and made an order for a 3-lite kit complete with stands and field shipping cases.

To make a long story shorter, after calls and expected delivery I finally got the three lights, three stands (one was defective) and accessories by different shipments in time to make my trip. But the cases did not arrive. Mark told me they were in a shipping container awaiting clearance by customs. They never arrived.

I was billed for the full amount. Here it is January 2008 and even though I have called and emailed, I have not been contacted or compensated for the missing shipping cases.

I am about to seek legal help.

The lights worked well in Ethiopia even though I had to purchase cases elsewhere.

Just thought I would add my 2 cents here. Beware of Pacific Coast Lighting. Mark, if you are reading this, please reimburse the money for the cases. Contact me soon!

Will
 
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