You may have been one of the customers that has received this letter explaining what happened to us concerning Solar Raptor failures:

To all our dearly valued customers; We would like to keep everyone informed with the progress involved with getting the replacements covered. The Solar Raptor Mega-Ray™ is the first partnership that Reptile UV has ever had involved in our business. Solar raptor (ECONLUX) is a distributor and not a manufacturer. ECONLUX was the company that had the bulbs manufactured. Our involvement in the process was to make sure that the engineers understood what we expected from any bulb that carried the Mega-Ray™ name.

At this time ECONLUX and ReptileUV are involved in a lawsuit. ECONLUX is claiming that we did not pay for the lamps that obviously were no good to start with. we have also become aware that the factory knew that there was a problem with the 120v version of this lamp. We would like to explain again that the engineering and the light quality that the lamp produced is the best in the world. But unfortunately if the bulb will not stand up to continual use we end up with allot of frustrated customers and in the end has cost ReptileUV in excess of $100,000 USD, as well as our reputation.

In time ReptileUV will help cover your replacement if ECONLUX refuses to cover their faulty product. We are asking all our customers to contact ECONLUX directly to get replacements for their product that obviously did not meet our expectations of longevity. You are probably one of our customers that has already had your lamp replaced several times, and because of that you can see why we feel its the responsibility of ECONLUX to replace any pre-existing or future lamps that has their name on it.

You can reach ECONLUX directly at power@econlux.de At this point ECONLUX no longer has permission to use our trademarked(™) name as they have done enough damage to our reputation.

We are in the process of developing a hand-made American Mega-Ray™ very close to our original Mega-Ray™, as well as an overseas product version. As always light quality is the most important aspect of the Mega-Ray™ bulb.

Very Sincerely,
The Reptile UV Staff

So why are we stuck in this mess? Basically it was a matter of trust misdirected. Recently a very good and well-known friend suggested I simply replace all the bad Solar Raptor lamps to make amends to all of us that have been hurt by this disaster, this note is of a personal nature and may not seem very business-like to some, but our mainstream clients have always been more like friends then customers. (this note has been edited)

"let's just picture this.....the bill from Stephan was 35,000$ (of which most were bad bulbs) and the shipping was 9800$. The cost of shipping one bulb here in the US is now about 15$ not counting the shipping material or labor. What do you figure it would cost to replace all of Stephan's bulbs? It's not my brown box bulbs that gave us the problem (with the exception of a small order just before Raptor).

Solar Raptor is responsible for replacing their bulbs. Stephan managed to get a judgment against "reptile uv research inc" for the full cost of the bulbs because I didn't have a lawyer and filed late. and this even though the sheriff's office confiscated 500pcs of the good 220volt bulbs and 300 bad 100wt 120volt bulbs (we have several hundred more bad bulbs here on the floor) so he got 800 bulbs back and another few hundred here. This is no different than if LLL Reptile bought 35000$ worth of bad Zoomed bulbs. the only difference is that LLL and ZM are both in this country and ZM would be forced with very little investment to cover the LLL loss and Zoomed has a strong reputation covering their products. The lawyer I did find after this quoted me 15,000$ and guaranteed me that they could reverse the judgment and pursue the suite in Germany and recover my "proved" loses because of Stephan's product. I don't have that kind of money.

I feel the best I can do is let my clients know that Solar Raptor has screwed us and them and that RUV will do our best to help cover the costs of their loss with discounts as time and money allow. There is no way to cover the costs of this magnitude with my finances or lack of at this time."

Reptile UV is still completely committed to only selling the world's best lighting for your animals. We have currently been working on new proto-types and they will be in stock shortly. We are also pursuing the remanufacturing of our original hand-made MegaRays. We have found the glass and our original factory is willing to work with us in this renewed partnership.

As I have retired from my mainstream business, all of my efforts (and Debbie's) will personally be to have a 1 on 1 relationship with ALL of our clients, just back to basics that people appreciated in the beginning. No fancy packaging, no big wholesale schemes, just caring for the more concerned and educated keepers.

We have just recently switched servers and some have found glitches in the website. Also we are in the middle of wrapping our website around a "shopping cart". Please keep an eye on what we will have in stock and how we will be taking orders until all this is sorted out.

We want to thank all our loyal friends that have not bashed us on the forums as we have struggled through this tremendous blow that Solar Raptor has put us through. I think I would have given this up completely except for the fact that I knew I needed a source of good lighting for my own animals. I bought every mercury vapor bulb that any obscure company or major distributor sold in this country and did not find 1 bulb that I would even think about putting over one of my creatures. So bottom line is the same thing that got me into the business when i lost my virginity and became a "light bulb salesmen" rather than a researcher, is the same thing that's keeping us in business now, whether it be called stupidity, stubbornness, or as I prefer, caring.

Thanks to all,
BobMac and the ReptileUV Staff