replacement sufficient

rafhelp

I bought a pack of 4 screw fit pearl candle bulbs, about £3.
First bulb lasted few months. one day I turned the lamp on and the bulb went out. I realised it was broken so i decided to change it. I took out the replacement bulb & switched off the lamp. I then grabbed the old bulb, but as soon as I started turning it, I heard a loud pop/bang and the bulb exploded in my hand, like a firework/rocket. The glass section came clean off the fitting and broke up a little. I threw this away.

Now I actually got shocked but also felt a little physical shock. i was left trembling for a few minutes. After I calmed myself down I realised all the electrical items had switched off. This included my PC which was on at the time. Im not sure if it affected my PC but i did have a few problems with it since then. dont get me wrong im not being a wuss about it but the fact that it was so unexpected was what caused the shock and the fact that i was half asleep.

The lamp is now not working. the store replaced these with new 4-pack but im not happy with just this.

Now the situation could have been worse but it wasnt, the bulb could have flown into my face, eyes etc.. and caused damage but at the time it was pointing towards the floor. I could have got a shock from the sparks. Other electrical items could have been damaged due to the power switching off. These are things which are considered during product design and quality testing.

I was told that I should have swithed the electricity off from the mains. But I have changed a lot of light bulbs, I have seen electricians change light bulbs and shop owners and at no point have I ever seen anyone switching the power off from the mains to change a bulb. The item in question here was a desk lamp which was plugged into wall socket. I have changed room lighting plugged into mains which had been on (due to being more than one switch) and not having exploding bulbs. So that is not the cause. The point is regardles of whether the power is still connected the bulb should NOT explode. In my case I had switched it off via the switch on the lamp itself. The lamp was in perfect working condition at the time.

The problem was clearly with the bulb manufacturing, maybe a faulty batch or bad design Im not sure. It seems the fitting did not hold and with just the slightest pressure it came exploding off. Maybe over time and due to heating/cooling the glue or fitment wore out, which it shouldnt have.

I was also told at the store that these particular kind of bulbs (pearl white) had actually been discontinued and they only sell the crystal clear bulbs.

Now I am glad that the manager replaced the old packet with a new 4-pack crystal white screw fit bulbs however I still feel a little bit insecure about using them due to the bad experience. I will have to by a new lamp for these now.

I did not keep the receipt because I really did not expect there to be this kind of problem with the bulbs. and it has also been a good few months since I bought them.

This maybe something of a rare incident however it was still a health hazard and bad quality.

What are the consumer right regarding this sort of situation (without necessary going OTT)

wealdroam

So OP, just to clarify, are you asking what rights you have to compensation for all the things that might have happened?

You have already confirmed that you were "half asleep" at the time.
So half asleep probably means you have to take half the responsiblity and so the compensation due is already reduced by a half.

It could easily be that the wiring in the desk lamp or plug (was the lamp supplied with a fitted plug?) is faulty and this led to your electric shock.
It's not too clear from your whether you did receive an electric shock or not.
This fault (if present) would not be noticable in normal use. So your statement "The lamp was in perfect working condition at the time" is not unreasonable.

It sounds like you have destroyed or thrown away all evidence of anything untoward having happened.
You may well find it difficult to claim anything more that the replacement bulbs that you already have.

arcon5

Is it ever recommended to change a light bulb without turning the power off? Just because you have done it many times before doesn't necessarily mean it is safe.

You tripped your electricity and maybe burned out the fuse of the lamp (or maybe wiring) as a result.

Its happened to me a couple of times, now I always turn the switch off. I've always assume it to because the connection points wasn't properly connected when power starting flying through it.....

HOW TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB

Sorry, the more I read this, the more it makes me laugh. What exactly do you want from them?
:rotfl::rotfl:

visidigi

coulda, woulda shoulda scenario....buy a lamp, use the bulbs...or save the world a little bit and buy energy saving bulbs.

meer53

OTT ? Absolutely.