Irish Rover
Well-known member
Warning - what follows is a very long post so ignore or go make a cup of tea before you start reading 
I bought 2 Victron 100/30 MPPT controllers last year and both were working fine until I noticed in December that one of them had lost Bluetooth connectivity. I posted a thread about it at the time
Victron Connect App
I also posted on the Victron community site and an expert from Victron advised it was a hardware rather than a software problem and to return it to the retailer under guarantee. I did that and so commenceth my tale of woe.
The retailer messed around for a few weeks citing end of year pressures, new year holidays etc as excuses but eventually in mid January said he’d checked the unit and it was fully working and he’d return it. Rather than argue I said great can you just send me a screenshot showing it connected to the Victron Direct app. More messing, more excuses and more time wasting and eventually he said on further checking it was failing intermittently. He said he’d contact the distributor and return it to them under guarantee. The distributor is in Adana which was one of the cities affected by the 06 February earthquakes. So more delays, albeit this time understandable and unavoidable. Eventually we established contact with the distributor and he cast doubt on the provenance of the controller. He maintained it was not a unit supplied by him to the retailer in question and said there was no record of that serial number having been sold by Victron in Türkiye. He said it was not covered under guarantee and he was returning the unit to the retailer in Ankara. At this stage my lawyer was involved and in contact with both the retailer and distributor but getting nowhere and said we’d need to go to court. It was clear by now there was some serious issue between the distributor and the retailer and no love lost.
Last week after a bit of googling I found an email address for Victron head office. I told my story and got an email from the Victron sales manager in Türkiye telling me the retailer was not a trustworthy company and asking me to furnish serial numbers, photos etc of the two units I bought. I sent them. I got an email from the distributor saying they had checked the unit and it was NOT one supplied by them to the retailer but following communication from the Victron sales manager they had requested the retailer to resubmit it to them for further assessment. They also confirmed the retailer had been an authorised reseller but they were in dispute with him now and he was no longer authorised. This was followed by an email from the Victron sales manager confirming not only were my two units genuine but that they had, despite his denial, been supplied by the distributor to the retailer.
So where are we at today? The retailer says he sent the unit to the distributor by courier last week and what more can he do. The distributor says he hasn’t received it and can do nothing until he does - conveniently ignoring the fact he had it in his possession previously and took delight in denouncing it as irregular and unregistered in Türkiye. I get the impression the Victron sales manager is regretting ever getting involved and hoping the whole thing will go away.
Me? I’m still down one controller after 3 months and getting nowhere fast.
I bought 2 Victron 100/30 MPPT controllers last year and both were working fine until I noticed in December that one of them had lost Bluetooth connectivity. I posted a thread about it at the time
Victron Connect App
I also posted on the Victron community site and an expert from Victron advised it was a hardware rather than a software problem and to return it to the retailer under guarantee. I did that and so commenceth my tale of woe.
The retailer messed around for a few weeks citing end of year pressures, new year holidays etc as excuses but eventually in mid January said he’d checked the unit and it was fully working and he’d return it. Rather than argue I said great can you just send me a screenshot showing it connected to the Victron Direct app. More messing, more excuses and more time wasting and eventually he said on further checking it was failing intermittently. He said he’d contact the distributor and return it to them under guarantee. The distributor is in Adana which was one of the cities affected by the 06 February earthquakes. So more delays, albeit this time understandable and unavoidable. Eventually we established contact with the distributor and he cast doubt on the provenance of the controller. He maintained it was not a unit supplied by him to the retailer in question and said there was no record of that serial number having been sold by Victron in Türkiye. He said it was not covered under guarantee and he was returning the unit to the retailer in Ankara. At this stage my lawyer was involved and in contact with both the retailer and distributor but getting nowhere and said we’d need to go to court. It was clear by now there was some serious issue between the distributor and the retailer and no love lost.
Last week after a bit of googling I found an email address for Victron head office. I told my story and got an email from the Victron sales manager in Türkiye telling me the retailer was not a trustworthy company and asking me to furnish serial numbers, photos etc of the two units I bought. I sent them. I got an email from the distributor saying they had checked the unit and it was NOT one supplied by them to the retailer but following communication from the Victron sales manager they had requested the retailer to resubmit it to them for further assessment. They also confirmed the retailer had been an authorised reseller but they were in dispute with him now and he was no longer authorised. This was followed by an email from the Victron sales manager confirming not only were my two units genuine but that they had, despite his denial, been supplied by the distributor to the retailer.
So where are we at today? The retailer says he sent the unit to the distributor by courier last week and what more can he do. The distributor says he hasn’t received it and can do nothing until he does - conveniently ignoring the fact he had it in his possession previously and took delight in denouncing it as irregular and unregistered in Türkiye. I get the impression the Victron sales manager is regretting ever getting involved and hoping the whole thing will go away.
Me? I’m still down one controller after 3 months and getting nowhere fast.
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