Amazon Faulty LED bulbs return?

Jibber123

I purchased a pack of coloured 24 LED golf ball bulbs to use in some festoon lights. They were advertised as 60,000 hours lift expectancy. After less then 100 hrs use several of them have failed or become very dim. Amazon are refusing to offer a refund as it's outside the 30 day window and light bulbs are classed as consumable items so not covered by their returns policy.

Grumpy_chap

What was the price paid?

I purchased a pack of 32 light bulbs from Amazon for £30.  Similar light bulbs in Tesco £7 each.  Some of the bulbs in my pack had short life.  They should last longer, but I accept that I get what I paid for.

robatwork

I once dipped into Big Clive on youtube who reviews/tears down household electronics. His videos on LED arrays are an eye opener - particularly the cheap Ebay ones which you can draw a direct parallel with to cheap Amazon units. 

It's a youtube rabbithole I still haven't come out of. Mainly as his voice helps me sleep   

The conclusion is - the cheap LED arrays have a huge percentage of LEDs that fail immediately or just don't work to begin with. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Is it the blue ones that have failed, by any chance?  I have bought two sets of retro multicoloured Christmas lights in the last three years.  They're lovely, but on both sets, it's the blue LEDs that go dim and then eventually fail.  I did some reading into it and I recall reading something about blue LED technology not being as mature as that used in red, green and other colours, so they're manufactured to meet a price point and aren't as reliable.

Jibber123

its mainly the orange and now some green that have failed. These are BC22 Golf ball LED bulbs. I think I paid £2 ish per bulb so £49.99 for 2 packs of 12. I understand that a couple will go early, hence I brought 24 only needing 20 but 10 have gone in just over a month and we only have them on for an hour or so in the evening if we are sitting outside. Amazon said that bulbs are a consumable item and not covered in there extended warranty after 30 days? I also watch BigClive on YouTube he's got a very pragmatic outlook on life and certain Chinese manufacturers?

y3sitsm3

I don't think Amazon sell these so it's probably a third party seller, who I expect are purveyors of the finest Chinese tat.

born_again

So they are outside & running in the cold. No doubt that condensation is the cause of the issue as they cool down moisture forms inside and shorts out the circuit boards.

Alderbank

Jibber, exactly when did you buy them?
Amazon's warranty excludes you but you still have your consumer rights. 
These bulbs are described as 60,000 hours expectancy. At 3 hours a day every day that is 60 years! That is an average so to be generous each one should be expected to last between 30 and 90 years on the seller's own claimed figures.
You don't have a claim for the ones still working but the failed ones are substantially not as described and you are entitled to replacement.
The flaw with the Consumer Rights Act route however is that the only remedy is to claim via small claims court which is not practical for such small sums

mikb

born_again said:

So they are outside & running in the cold. No doubt that condensation is the cause of the issue as they cool down moisture forms inside and shorts out the circuit boards.

True, it is not an ideal environment (same goes for CFL lamps in outdoor fittings) -- if only someone could invent a type of lighting that also created heat, to prevent this problem.

Jibber123

Yes they are outside but under a roofed area so out of direct rain. I didn't think they would condensate that much to cause a problem. If they are fazing out incandescent bulbs and CFL's what are we supposed to use outside?