Beware Elemental Scientific

[Jeff]

I bought two of their kits for the long version of the Chemistry lab book, and when I ran an experiment requiring a specific chemical, the kit didn't have the quantity.  When I notified them of this discrepancy, here is what they said:

Thanks for ordering the chemical kits from Elemental.  The kits for chemicals, hardware and glassware were assembled based on recommendations from the author, Robert Thompson.  Due to costs controls, product availability, and updates to the book, the kits may not contain everything you need to do all of the experiments.  That is true for the chemical, hardware and glassware kits.  But, they do contain what you need to perform most of the experiments in that particular book, as well as other basic chemistry experiment books.  The intent of the kits was not to enable the user to perform every experiment in the book, but to enable the user to get a good start on doing the experiments without having to order every item individually.

 

I apologize for any confusion that you may have on the contents of the kits.  Additional items and refills can be ordered separately from the website. Thanks again for your business.

[Robert Bruce Thompson]

When I wrote Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments back in
2007, I arranged with Wade Van Ryzin, the owner of Elemental Scientific,
to produce hardware, glassware, and chemical kits that included the
appropriate items in the appropriate amounts. I just gave Wade a
consolidated list of items and amounts, and he produced his kits from
that list. That's all I ever had to do with it.

Several years ago, Wade sold the business to another company which, as I
discovered later, made significant changes to the contents of those
kits, presumably to reduce their costs. The new company dramatically
increased the prices on many of the individual items that Wade had
offered, particularly chemicals. I have zero control over what they
choose to offer and what prices they charge.

[Jeff]

Thanks Bruce.  I just wanted to make people aware that Elemental is leading people to think they are getting kits to do all the experiments and they do include all of the chemicals, just not in sufficient quantities of each, which is a real rip off.  I filed a compaint with the Federal Trade Commission and am doing the same with the Better Business Bureau. In the mean time, this serves as warning to only trust Bruce!