High Tech Pet Store Reviews

However, my first MS-5 collar lasted 3 1/2 years and between its replacement and the recent adding of two more collars for new dogs I've had a failure rate that is very high, five so far. I've had three that lasted 2 weeks and 2 more that lasted only a day. Customer service has been very cooperative about sending a replacement with a return authorization for the old one. However in the last 3 months I've at times had 3 dogs with 2 collars as I go through the process of the return. Very frustrating trying to leave the house for any period of time. I rate the collar at 1 star for an overall rating of 3. HighTech, please fix this issue.

But using rat-cunning means that you can use your own batteries if you surgically remove the metal disk and install it on a new battery. You save double because you don't need to pay postage either! That High Tech engineered a system so they can charge a premium on their batteries is a very low act. Shame, shame, shame. Overall a great product. Well done. Milking the public on batteries is rude (read unethical).

I have been in business all my life and the one thing I have learned is not to abuse your customers. I think the concept is great, and I have recommended it to several people. They all like the product but have the same complaints. I guess there are remedies available to the consumer for problems such as these, but I have been too lazy, or too busy to avail myself of these. I certainly hope that the company reads this comment, as well as the overwhelming number of other negative comments and addresses these issues.

After sending Liz – the one and only person in the "office"– my proof of purchase she promised she would mail another one out. Weeks later, nothing. Last week, after waiting on hold for 11 minutes and no one answering the phone, and sending another follow-up email, she wrote me back saying "It must've gotten lost in the mail." I'm sure. So she promised she would overnight one. 5 days later? Nothing. So I called and asked for the overnight tracking # and she said she has to "look it up and call me back." I knew then that there was no tracking number, that she was lying. When I sent her an email threatening to report them to Consumer Affairs she emailed me a tracking number. Lo and behold, it was only sent today. Unbelievable. This place is a joke.

I called the company today to return the system for a refund and they stated that since it had been 6 months since I bought purchased the system, there was nothing they could do for me. They have refused to accept the return and issue anything other than a store credit good for one of their other worthless products. I should have believed the reviews I read online and stayed away from this company. They make an inferior product that cost twice what PetSafe's does and it requires special batteries that have to be shipped to you and cost $16 a piece. HORRIBLE COMPANY, HORRIBLE PRODUCT, HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!

This is not a reputable company. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THEIR JUNK PRODUCTS AND SAVE YOURSELF THE AGGRAVATION OF HAVING TO DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY. All they do is take your money. This company is a scam. I read reviews prior to buying. I did my research at that time there were no bad reviews. Hope this saves someone from buying from this company and the hassle of having to deal with them.

It was understood by High Tech Pets and us that we needed to return the X22 Bluefang 3 in 1 before they could send us a refund check. The refund never arrived. We patiently waiting for the refund check from High Tech Pets. Finally we were forced to question High Tech Pets about this problem. We made many phone calls and communicated via emails to High Tech Pet. We now realize that High Tech Pet has fraudulently refused to refund our money. This is downright fraud. This is outright stealing! We are reporting them to the Better Business Bureau and anywhere else we can. We hope that customers who read this will think twice before doing business with High Tech Pet. In our state this would considered a felony. We intend to check with their state regarding this crime. It is a shame that a company would take advantage of its customers in such a deceptive way!

I've already purchased a replacement bark collar from another brand so now I'm just continuously sending them emails every week for fun to see how long it takes for them to respond. I'm a busy guy, I don't have time to talk to someone on the phone during business hours. If you can't answer the email ticket system you clearly represent on your website to back up your warranty, then ** you. I've already told all my friends with dogs (which is almost all of them) to skip High Tech Pet and go somewhere else.

First of all the collars don't work more than say 10-15 feet from the smartphone you use. The link/connection continually gets lost. And if the dog is outside? It barely works, through even a window. Super annoying. There is no 200/300 foot radius with these collars. Barely 20 & that is being generous. And the batteries? They last maybe 2 to 3 weeks... so be prepared for that cost to maintain these collars. Oh & the smartphone/device they are linked to? You'll need to leave it both on & the app OPEN. Yes, open. If the screen fades away, the collar won't work. Yeah, handy. The auto shut off most phones/devices use to preserve battery life means the app won't send any messages to the collar. That is fine if you only use it for training... as you can open it & use it. But if you use the anti-bark feature? Won't work once the phone/device auto shuts off.

We used an iPod, kept it plugged in & ON. Like turn off the auto shut-off feature ON & awake so the collar worked. (If you use the anti-bark feature on the collar, it needs to be active & ON & open to work if you are away & want it to stop your dogs from excessive barking. Kind of the whole point... as it offers both training & anti-bark.) Super handy? Not so much. You will need to also buy another device JUST for running this collar, to keep it on & open to work. Not very handy or cost-effective. The best part is if you try to return the products to this company, (not Amazon), they will continue to return the items back to you & say they never received them.

Oh & good luck trying to phone them. They either don't answer, or the number does not work - if you are calling from any country outside the US. Most companies with a 1-800 number are worldwide, especially if you offer shipping all over the world. Why make the customer pay long distance to call your company? (Makes no sense.) I wish I had bought the collars on Amazon, as returns would not have been an issue. Amazon is amazing in providing fantastic customer service (seriously) & keeping the sellers they work with honest. My mistake for buying outside of them, as now it's a fight to get the products returned back to the company that sells these collars. SO if you do decide to buy one, go through Amazon only... not the High Tech Pet Products company itself. You'll regret it. If I could do ZERO stars, I would!

I guess they will just keep replacing the collar until the warranty is over and then expect me to pay for new ones every few weeks. Luckily, winter will come in 6 months and I won't have the problem until next summer.

In the time I've owned this door I've replaced the collars twice, the main circuit board once, and I just ordered new sensors. While the repairs are easy, the parts are somewhat expensive. The transmitters fall apart easily and the collars really suck, so I used a couple of plastic cable ties to keep them together and secure them to a regular collar (see attached photo). Exposure to water and snow is obviously an issue, so I'd recommend purchasing the water-proof ones upfront. The batteries only last about 6 months, and you can only use a specific type of battery, so stock up.

My biggest frustration has been the unreliability of the door. Most of the time it doesn't just outright fail. My wife will mention that it's not working most of the day, and when I get home it operates just fine, making it hard to identify what's failing. If you do some searching on their website you will find that you can buy refurbished models. While most people are afraid of purchasing refurbished products, in my experience they hold up better than new ones and of course cost a whole lot less.

Eventually I found a link, though I don't think it was on the product page but elsewhere, only to find the link sent me to a page where I needed to download iTunes to get the app. I then started to wonder where I could get the app from that worked with Android, and searched the web and Google Play Store, nothing.

Then, *Sigh* I tried to call the customer service telephone number, and was asked to hold on for an agent that never came, twice! I later found another telephone number for High Tech Pet on another unrelated website! I called and talked to a guy named Neil. This guy instantly realized my problem as soon as I mentioned I couldn't find a link to download the app...he said, and I quote, "Oh (little laugh) don't tell me, you are using Android, who uses Android? The app is not available for the unit but should be in a week or so." I asked for a guarantee for this and he replied, "There are no guarantees I'm afraid." This was just the beginning, and there's more in between, but I'm going to jump forward until a day and a half later when I finally tricked their phone system and got an agent named "Liz" who didn't like the fact that I was upset because I had been lied to, that I was sold something that I was told would work with Android but which absolutely did not! I had a $150.00 worth of erm..well NOTHING!

What did Liz say? Oh, she said "What I can do is send you some free batteries for the collar." I said, "Now why would I want spare batteries for something that doesn't work!" I mean seriously, is that not the most crazy thing ever? Let's collect batteries everyone. She did tell me the app would be ready on December 1st. However, when I talked to the other guy the day before he told me that, even when the app becomes available it will probably not work on ALL Android devices. So BE WARNED if you are buying this to use on Android devices.

I could go on... but it's pointless, these people should be ashamed of themselves, but, well they ain't. I noticed they have tonight put up a little note that you have to really look for stating Android available on Dec 1st. But they probably only did that because of my threat to complain. I did keep a copy of the original webpage though and so I can prove they are a bunch of liars because I have the image of the webpage that clearly shows NO mention of the Android App not being available.

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This review is a continuance of an early review I wrote recently. I have not included all previous information but felt that because these guys have continued to ignore me and blatantly make claims on their website that simply are not true, I had to write again. I am also concerned that during my own investigation into these people I have found a link to another company "High Tech Pets" and bearing the name "Nick **" which were involved in a civil case in California in 2007. I believe these are the same people doing the same stuff they did before under a different name and that they appear to be getting away with it. If this is the case then I intend to report them, and provide all the evidence I have collected regarding this company.

My original purchase was for the Bluefang Phone Controlled Training Collar. I received it, with no information, and I have yet to get the collar to work due to the unavailability of the promised "App" and lately because the provided APK that they are now advertising, simply does not install.

Here is what has happened recently...

12/04/14 - Approximately 5pm EST. Received a call from 'Liz" this evening. She was very apologetic, explained that their Android App was going to take longer than expected, perhaps beyond Dec 10th. I explained to her I was not interested in excuses, nor did I wish to argue. She then offered to send out a additional collar system, which I can use while I wait for the app to become available for my purchased Bluefang collar. This will be at no charge to me and it will be shipped out the following day. I agreed to this and await the package in the mail.

12/06/14 - Received package with replacement collar. Again there was no manual inside the package and two short hair prongs were not present in the box. The contents were inside the shipping box. No product box was included, no product information. The antenna was already attached and appears to be damaged. I took photographs. I found a link to the Express Collar Manual on the High Tec Pet website which I downloaded. I followed instructions and could not get the unit to function. I thought maybe the unit needed charging, so charged using the dual charger included.

12/07/14 - Removed collar and transmitter from charge and made several more attempts to get the unit working. After this I determined I have just another non-working dog training collar.

12/08/14 - Call the company hotline twice today (10:30am & 3:30PM EST. ) Both times left a message with Liz on extension **. I reported that the Express ET-1 Collar I received did not work and contained no paperwork, and damaged antenna etc. I asked for 'someone to call me back ASAP' but have not heard anything as yet. Between 5pm and 6pm. Cheryl sent a message to various HTP email addresses, because there appears to be a problem getting through with them (An auto-block message is returned quickly after.) She also sent the same message through the "Support Ticket" function on the website.

12/11/14 - 7:28pm EST. No response from company in any form. Checked website for App, but still only Apple iPhone App available for download. Saved webpage which still states that the App will be available "Dec 10th." Too busy with work to mess with these guys, but will catch up soon. (Also noticed that the same product is available on Amazon at $199.00. The description there also states that the unit works on Android. Have saved that webpage too and intend to inform them.)

12/13/14 - Checked http://www.hitecpet.com today and noticed that a new bar code scan image was available for Android and I downloaded the apk. It didn't install, mentioning "Parse error" which probably means it is not working for my device. As the company are choosing to make the app available this way, I can only presume it is not yet verified by Google Play Store which requires the the App to work on almost ALL Android devices. Maybe it does not yet work on any? Once again, another waste of time, and I'll send another message to them via their website tomorrow. However, as they have not yet responded to my earlier attempts to contact them, I doubt they bother to contact me this time either. File Info: Bluefang_1_0_7.apk (Copied Webpage as of 5:45PM EST)

If anyone wishes to contact me in regards to taking legal action I would be happy to hear from you.

Step 4 Put new battery in collar and check at the wire to make sure all is correct with distance and sounds.

I hope this helps some others because after checking 12 batteries and having the same issue I was ready to call and shout at someone at high tech. Luckily I didn't have to because of this reset I remembered..

We bought a doggy door in January (we purchased it through Petsmart.com). Over the past 5-6 months, we've had little hiccups here and there such as the door going up and down repeatedly one night (I just needed to reset it) or the collars not working (good thing I bought extras). But recently, it stopped working altogether. I called and got a live person right away who told me it was probably the sensors on the door and that once I sent a receipt verifying it was purchased within the past year, they would send out a new set. They offer a one year warranty on all of their products. I originally had sent the receipt to the wrong e-mail address but when I called back, a man gave me his e-mail address and told me he would ship them out that day.

I was skeptical because of all the bad reviews I had read but 3 days later, I received the sensors and my dogs are happily enjoying their freedom again. I have also recently submitted receipts for the two collars that stopped working. But none of this issues make me personally feel like this is a bad product or a bad company. Some people may say that having sensors and collars go out within 5-6 months warrants it a bad product but with the amount of times my dogs use this door, I didn't feel that way.

I've read reviews for all three of the main doggy door companies and there's negative ones for all of them. I just want people to know that while this door and the collars are not perfect, we are very happy with this door. I want people reading these reviews to know that most of the negative reviews were written a couple years ago (at least) and it's possible that over the past few years, things have changed. I want that person out there that's like me reading these reviews and wondering if you should've purchased something else or if the door will get fixed that I had a good experience and to not count them out yet.