Typical Lighting Return Policies of Suppliers

[fishin' electrician]

I get thoroughly irked when the supply house won't work with me on a warranty issue.

I'd just purchase a complete fixture and swap it's good ballast for the bad one and return the fixture with the bad ballast in it. Do it right there in the supply house parking lot.

They wanna play games, I'll play right along with them.

 

[AV ELECTRIC]

I have heard the shelve life on bulbs are shortened do to touching the bulbs with your bare hands do to the oils in your skin I thought it was just for quartz bulbs but I had a florescent style outdoor fixture that kept going out bulbs expensive read the box containing the bulb and it said do not touch with bare hands . Put a new bulb in without using my bare hands its been working for three years so far ime not sure if this would apply to all bulbs but no more bare hands for me .

 

[MarkyMarkNC]

When you get the bill for the ballast, do not pay it. Send a check into the supply company for everything for the month except that one bill. Call up the sales guy and tell him you are not going to pay the bill because the ballast should be under warranty. Call up the supply houses credit dept. and explain the situation to them as well. That way it will not adversely effect your credit rating.

Rab has a pretty good warranty policy. If the whole fixture should have been swapped out, the salesman should have told you that from the get go. If you put the ball in his court this way, he will be forced to either settle this with Rab or eat the cost of the ballast himself.

 

[danickstr]

If I recommended the light/manufacturer, I might go and mess with it for free. but if it is something they picked out without my input, I will not touch it for free, unless they suspect it is something I did, in which case I will tell them that I will inspect it and charge them if it is not installation related.

If I ordered them a light with an indoor ballast and then it froze out, I will replace it for free.

I remind them that ultimately they are the beneficiaries of the working light. therefore the brunt of the responsibility remains with them for dealing with warranty and repair due to poor quality.

Again if it was a recommendation by me, I would (fix it, then) contact the manufacturer and tell them that I recommended this stuff, I am a EC, and I expect to be treated right or they will never be recommended by me again to anyone, and I may even tell other people/tradesmen how much I dislike their product.

Usually does the trick, since it is hard to fight bad word of mouth with advertising.