LED's not as described on Ebay

zaphodbeeb

Hi,
appreciate a little direction and help with this problem. In June 2017 I purchased 16 LED bulbs for replacement kitchen lighting. By this xmas all but 3 had failed. The advert clearly states that they should last 50,000 hours. This is why I purchased them. Am I entitled to a refund as the goods are obviously not as described in the advert.
Because the purchase was more than 6 months ago (but less than 50,000 hours) can I get a refund?

Carrot007

* Could last 50,000 hours is what you mean.

However it depends on what you paid for them. ebay won't help you now and it will probably be more than it's worth to persue the seller unless they are nice.

Have you tried contacting them?

syncline

While I largely agree with Carrot007's assessment, if an advert does say something even similar to what the original post says, then the product does not meet the specification or they have not been used appropriately (I'm not suggesting you did misuse them, zaphodbeeb). Probabilistic statements are not empty statements, after all.

Still, I'd be inclined to contact the seller and ask politely for a resolution, and if no response is forthcoming, leave a negative review if I can and move on.

eddddy

It sounds like one of those really annoying situations where the supplier has breached the contract (i.e. goods not as described), but it will be probably be very difficult to get a fair outcome.

As others say, you can try approaching the supplier.

FWIW, even if the LEDs were described as "Up to 50,000 hours", I'd say that a "reasonable person" would expect LEDs described that way to last longer than 4,500 hours - so you'd still have a valid claim for breach of contract.

theonlywayisup

What did the seller say?

Are they based in the UK?

paddyrg

Were you replacing 12v Halogen/dimmable bulbs? The drivers are not directly compatible and this may cause premature failure

lincroft1710

How much were the bulbs?

KeithP

Because the purchase was more than six months ago then legally it is for the consumer to prove that the goods are inherently faulty.

That may be difficult, so as already said, the best advice is to ask the seller nicely for a resolution.

agrinnall

If you want to read up about the expected life of LEDs (Mean Time Between Failures) this might be useful.

http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/data/semicond/leds-light-emitting-diodes/lifespan-lifetime-expectancy-mtbf.php

Manxman_in_exile

I bought a couple of LEDs for a pair of floor lamps in November 2016. They had an advertised life of "up to" 15,000 hours.


The first failed in July this year after (my estimate) less than 1,000 hours. The second failed in either September or October. I didn't realise when I bought them that (fortunately) they were covered by a three year warranty, so they were easy to replace. But I'm waiting to see how many times they'll need to be replaced again in the next two years.


(I also remember a statistics lecturer emphasising to us that any phrase like "up to 15,000" includes every number from zero up to 15,000.)

Manxman_in_exile

agrinnall wrote: »

If you want to read up about the expected life of LEDs (Mean Time Between Failures) this might be useful.

http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/data/semicond/leds-light-emitting-diodes/lifespan-lifetime-expectancy-mtbf.php

That's interesting. If I read it correctly, I can only conclude that the OP and I have been unlucky in our experiences of LEDs. Are you aware of any available distributions of LED failures? Like a normal distribution or whether skewed one way or the other (although I presume it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer)?


Or it may be I didn't purchase a particularly reliable brand. After replacement I did notice that they didn't fare particularly well in "Which?".


EDIT: Or I did wonder if the two failures stuck in my mind, and I wasn't remembering all my other LEDs that haven't failed..But I don't think we've got any!)


2nd EDIT: Doh! Silly me! Of course we've put LEDs in every room in the house over the last couple of years. None of them have failed - just the two floor lamps.