My passenger side HID light go on instantly as soon as I turn the light on.

My driver side headlight flickered and then slowly turn on.

Is this a sign that the ballast or bulb is bad & need of a replacement?

 

What ballast are you using? Test out your ballast/bulbs by switching them around and see if it does the same with the driver side.

 

switch them around.
but sounds to me like you go another crappy hid kit

 

I had that problem when I retro fitted a set of TL lights onto my buddies EM1. Like the previous user said. You might have a cheap set of HID's. All I did was swtich the dri/pass bulbs and the problem stopped. Start there.