Complaint Review: Eco-Lite Products

Beth Minardi is a world renowned colorist who just so happens to have designed a lighting system for salons.

Back in December of 2012, my husband and I were looking for a lighting sytem for his studio salon. After careful research, we made the choice to call Eco-lite in Tappan NY because they carried the Beth Minardi Perfect Color Lighting System. We were connected with the co owner Jeff Gasman and a sales rep named Paul Manias. Jeff Gasman thought that we could get away with only 4 lights for my husbands small studio while Paul Manias felt that we needed a few more lights to do the job. After sending my husband's salon layout to Paul, we decided to order 6 lights including the beauty light. Paul Manias suggested that he could design a lighting system better than the design team so, in the end, we trusted him.

What happened next was a complete disaster! I was incredibly sick on Christmas Eve but was told via UPS that the Beth Minardi Lighting System would arrive on Christmas Eve. I drove 45 min each way only to be stood up by UPS. I called Eco-Lite but everyone had left for the Christmas Holidays and would not be returning until the first of the year. I was able to contact UPS who appologized and felt that we should be refunded our 67.00 in shipping for the trouble. Shipping mishaps would happen another time after that but finally we recieved the lights. Paul Manias had decided that my husband's Beth Minardi Perfect Lighting System should be built with poles. These poles made my husband's clients feel like they were being interrogated by the police as lights were constantly shining in their eyes. The poles also made the lights cast shadows through out the room which was not what we were hoping to accomplish. The pendant light also arrived damaged. I contacted Paul Manais via cell phone only to be yelled at as if the lighting mishap was my fault. I was told to contact the office after the Holidays.

After everyone at Eco-Lite finished ringing in the New Year, I contacted both Jeff Gasman and Paul Manias via email. I requested a concession on our order, a refund of the shipping cost, and to have the poles removed from the lights. The poles  were  something that we did not ask for but again Paul Manias thought that he knew better than everyone else. Noone contacted me back even after I made numerous calls.

So that brings us to our current situation. My husband and I reached out again to Eco-Lite and to a gentleman named George Andrew. At first, george seemed like he really cared about us as much as he cared about Eco-Lite. I would call or send emails and eventually, after several calls, I would reach George Andrew. We discussed the situation and were told that Eco-lite would fix their mistake by removing the poles from the lights. In turn, my husband was willing to purchase another beauty lite for his salon. George had promised him a small concession on the beauty light of around $30 for the previous trouble which was a nice added touch. However, things went sour when I went to go and ship the lights back. I went to several different shipping companies and was told that to box and ship the lights ground shipping, it would cost over $100. It would cost that much not because of the weight of the lights but because Paul Manias had decided to add the poles which meant that we had to use an oblong box. I thought that George had given me a shipping number but instead it was just a return authorization number. What happened next was unexcusable! It ended in George Andrew screaming above my husband and I over the shipping costs. He wanted us to pay for the shipping there and he promised to pay for the shipping back-except Eco-lite has a corporate account and once the poles are removed the shipping costs will drop substantially. This also wasn't in any way shape or form our fault as we should not have to pay for Eco-Lite's mistake. We even contacted Beth Minardi personally who appologized for the situation but made sure to mention that she had nothing to do with Eco-Lite and that Eco-Lite was only using her name. She told us that she personally reached out to Jeff Gasman and to his partner Howard regarding this situation however neither has contacted us. So currently we have do not have proper lighting in my husband's salon and are out $1300 for Paul Manias/Eco-lite's mistake.

The sadest part of this whole scenario is that if only Eco-Lite, Jeff Glassman, George Andrew or his assistant Nicole had stepped up and offered to pay for all shipping costs associated with the mistake and had removed the poles that we didn't ask for, I would not be here on Rip Off report. Oh and apparently at least one other consumer had a similar experience with the Beth Minardi Color Perfect Lighting System, Paul Manias, and Eco Lite-http://www.yelp.com/biz/eco-lite-tappan?hrid=LZYtJqdU0wU8utx0LHQPZw#src:self.