How long should a light last ?

[hayfield]

A second issue with LED lamps in 9 months, first was the exploding Chinese LED bulbs (brought from a reputable UK retailer)

 

Now its a LED security light

 

Our old exterior security/flood light was damaged by our builders during the building of our extension, so I went to Wickes to buy a replacement. There is a common understanding that LED Bulbs are both energy saving and long lasting.

 

Said light was bought on the 15th of December 2018 and duly fitted, it stopped working 2 mths ago, now the queues have died back at the DIY outlets I decided time was right to resolve the issue

 

I found the box with both receipt and instructions and wanted to find details of which bulb was required

 

The box clearly stated 1 year guarantee, however Wicks states in their instructions " All Wickes lighting is designed to give years of trouble free service " which I found very reassuring, however tucked away on the box rear in small print "the lamps cannot be changed in the luminaire"  I thought this is a pretty poor show from an own brand item from a reputable large High Street name

 

I sent an email to their customer services explaining the issue and hoped that at least they would offer a discount on a replacement which clearly fails to live up to their own claims, I got a quick blunt reply basically telling me its out of guarantee

 

This annoyed me as in my opinion the items should last more than 16 months especially after reading their own statement of expectation. I sent them a polite reply reminding them their responsibilities under the sale of goods act and advertising standards

 

The next reply was that they would contact the manufacturer to see if they would do anything, as the goods have not lived up to my expectations, Its an own brand item

 

I replied reminding that the name of the manufacturer is Wicks !!!, just had another reply confirming the previous email

 

The latest yesterday was a general email to all customers that they have temporary stopped emails to their customer service department due to high levels of email and they will contact customers in due course.

 

I think an old fashioned letter to the MD showing what a customer relations mess their customer services is making of what should be a simple response for a substandard item. Plus I looked up the customer feedback for the item 6 out or 12 gave it 1 star for a poor quality item

[jcm@gwr]

I don't know how relevant, or helpful, this might be to you,

but Wickes are now owned by Travis Perkins.

I have both Wickes and B&Q near to me, but I prefer to use

the local electrical suppliers, not much difference in price,

but better quality products and customer service.

[ikcdab]

I haven't really been to the shops since the end of March, I'm not sure I like being treated as if I'm hazardous waste. Have pretty much done all the shopping on line.  Most things get delivered in a day or two and has worked well for me. 

[chris p bacon]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

The box clearly stated 1 year guarantee, however Wicks states in their instructions " All Wickes lighting is designed to give years of trouble free service " which I found very reassuring, however tucked away on the box rear in small print "the lamps cannot be changed in the luminaire"  I thought this is a pretty poor show from an own brand item from a reputable large High Street name

 

I know it's a bit late for you John but I fit the houses out with Branded lighting (such as MK etc) it could still have a fault* early in it's lifetime but it's much easier to change it and the manufacturers seem to genuinely want to know if there are issues. 

I only use Wickes etc for stuff like paint, I don't buy actual products from them as too many are made to a price, especially since Travis Perkins took over.

 

* the reality is that the number of problems with products can be counted on one hand.

[Nearholmer]

Yep, best to buy electrical stuff from electrical people, and MK are very good indeed. Ditto buy from a reputable retailer, a decent shop (even if on-line) or a proper electrical wholesaler.

 

I had a lot of trouble with a batch of LED "spotlights" when I changed from halogen in our kitchen. They were a big-name brand (Philips IIRC), bought from John Lewis. After the second one died within months of purchase, I took the whole lot back and the shop gave me a complete set of new ones (next design-iteration on), plus a spare, FOC. I still have spare, unused after five years.

 

My good lady occasionally buys "bargain" things from The Never Heard of Before or Since Company over the internet, and at least half of them are useless out of the box, or die within weeks.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Nearholmer

[simontaylor484]

I last bought abox of bulbs (led type) from CEF( city eletrical factors) they weren't particularly cheap but (touch wood) have lasted a long time. When we moved in we had some of the Q24 light bulbs on the stairs these are apin and socket type fitting compact fluorescent tube type light bulb. Quite efficient electrically but very susceptible to damage when moving furniture etc. So i replaced with normal pendants from screwfix (a trade pack) and the aforementioned bulbs andnot looked back.

 

I have no connection with either retailler 

[eastwestdivide]

I've not had any quality/longevity problems with LED bulbs at all, even the odd one from the "random stuff" centre aisle in your favourite German discount supermarket

[Damo666]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Yep, best to buy electrical stuff from electrical people, and MK are very good indeed. Ditto buy from a reputable retailer, a decent shop (even if on-line) or a proper electrical wholesaler.

 

I had a lot of trouble with a batch of LED "spotlights" when I changed from halogen in our kitchen. They were a big-name brand (Philips IIRC), bought from John Lewis. After the second one died within months of purchase, I took the whole lot back and the shop gave me a complete set of new ones (next design-iteration on), plus a spare, FOC. I still have spare, unused after five years.

 

Interesting your story, I had something similar.

 

Bought 5 Philips LED 75W equivalent bayonet bulbs from Wickes a few years ago. Not cheap at the time (certainly a lot dearer than incandescent). After 12 months one started flickering so I contacted Philips and they send me a replacement. Different model number and colour hue.

 

Less than 6 months later the same thing happened with another bulb and again Philips send me a replacement. 3rd bulb went and again Philips were good. Never asked for any of the the old bulbs to be sent back to them, so they must have known there was an issue with that generation of LED bulb.

 

The remaining bulbs were relegated to the garage.

And totally agree with your comment on MK. Best to have quality fixtures.

[hayfield]

Thanks one and all, I had realized I needed to spend more money on a decent unit, but if I get the brush off again from Wickes I will take it further, will look for the local electrical shop and not the independent one who sold me 2 exploding ones (which were not cheap!!!) 

[JeremyC]

4 hours ago, Damo666 said:

And totally agree with your comment on MK. Best to have quality fixtures.

On the other hand, when I was working I ordered around 20 MK Gridswitch switches in a consignment as spares for the ship's accomodation. Around three quarters were found to be faulty when fitted.

The same ship had lights above the switchboard which were fluorescent units. On almost every occasion when one stopped working we found it was the fitting not the lamp. On one fitting we found a sticker giving the expected life of the fitting; it was less than the quoted life of the lamp!

Edited August 11, 2020 by JeremyC

[hayfield]

Whilst I understand the likes of both Wickes and B&Q do tend to have reasonable own brand items, though in the past the B&Q own brand older style light bulbs did not last as long as premium brands.

 

With dearer electrical appliances I do tend to go for branded items, with lighting its a bit different. Certainly our lounge lighting unit was expensive but none of the lamps in the shop had trade names, just the model name and ref number and of course price. Wickes security lights tend to be either very cheap £20 or less then jump to £100+

 

I have an independent tool shop in the village who are excellent, will seek advice there as they might even be able to order me one. 

 

 

[rab]

On 11/08/2020 at 09:13, hayfield said:

A second issue with LED lamps in 9 months, first was the exploding Chinese LED bulbs (brought from a reputable UK retailer)

 

Now its a LED security light

 

Our old exterior security/flood light was damaged by our builders during the building of our extension, so I went to Wickes to buy a replacement. There is a common understanding that LED Bulbs are both energy saving and long lasting.

 

Said light was bought on the 15th of December 2018 and duly fitted, it stopped working 2 mths ago, now the queues have died back at the DIY outlets I decided time was right to resolve the issue

 

I found the box with both receipt and instructions and wanted to find details of which bulb was required

 

The box clearly stated 1 year guarantee, however Wicks states in their instructions " All Wickes lighting is designed to give years of trouble free service " which I found very reassuring, however tucked away on the box rear in small print "the lamps cannot be changed in the luminaire"  I thought this is a pretty poor show from an own brand item from a reputable large High Street name

 

I sent an email to their customer services explaining the issue and hoped that at least they would offer a discount on a replacement which clearly fails to live up to their own claims, I got a quick blunt reply basically telling me its out of guarantee

 

This annoyed me as in my opinion the items should last more than 16 months especially after reading their own statement of expectation. I sent them a polite reply reminding them their responsibilities under the sale of goods act and advertising standards

 

The next reply was that they would contact the manufacturer to see if they would do anything, as the goods have not lived up to my expectations, Its an own brand item

 

I replied reminding that the name of the manufacturer is Wicks !!!, just had another reply confirming the previous email

 

The latest yesterday was a general email to all customers that they have temporary stopped emails to their customer service department due to high levels of email and they will contact customers in due course.

 

I think an old fashioned letter to the MD showing what a customer relations mess their customer services is making of what should be a simple response for a substandard item. Plus I looked up the customer feedback for the item 6 out or 12 gave it 1 star for a poor quality item

Wickes and customer service just don't go together.

I've been waiting four months for a window

which should have been available off the shelf.

Trying to get answers from them is a total waste of time.