I am an electrical contractor ... from many years of experience I have learnt not to supply light fittings ... no 2 people are the same so trying to choose lights for a customer ... not a good idea ... rather find someone who specialises in lighting.
I search the wild web for a lighting supplier ... one companies keeps popping up ... lots of pretty pictures ... branches all over country and if I recall the company was mentioned on this platform.
So I contact the company and get one of their specialists to come to site and offer advice and supply all the lights as per their recommendation ... the company sent a quote for their recommendation ... the customer accepted the quote and paid in full.
The lights eventually arrived short a few items ... it was time for me to install ... and that where the wheels started falling off ... When I contact the rep ... his response is simple the customer accepted the recommendation ... its not his problem.
Lets start with the water feature - A short piece of IP 67 rated strip light ... just over a meter long supplied with a 24 VDC 250 Watt driver ... WTF ... firstly why 250 W for 1 m long strip light ... secondly why weatherproof if it is being mounted inside a junction box inside the building.
The under counter lights which run around the profile of the counter tops - they supplied lights which dont bend ... now we have to fit clips to try hold the strip from popping off the double sided tape as we attempt to bend the strips to follow the profile of the counter tops ... but heres the kicker ... because the lights have to follow the 90 degree bends ... the warranty once again falls away because the lights are not designed for that type of application ... really ... once again all the power supplies are short 250 mm long with a 2 pin plug top.
The outside step lights - 6 m straight runs supplied with flexible strip lights ... huh and no stock of profiles for the strip ... it doesnt end there ... the lights are supplied with 230 V power supplies with 5 amp plug tops ... I have no idea where they thought we were going to plug in a 5 amp 2 pin ... outside and I am told that if I cut off the plug top or the power supply which has to be mounted in the weather proof junction box ... we loose the warranty on the lights ... so basically every single strip light supplied is not covered by the warranty because the power supply and 2 pin plug top is only 250 mm long![]()
Then we move over the the recess strip lights ... only 12 V ... yet they are 10 m longer than the 24 V strip lights supplied ... something to do with volt drop ... with only 50 watt drivers ... huh ... but that not all ... we fit all the aluminum profiles ... and try fit the covers ... well thats when my fuse blew ... the profiles supplied were from 2 different suppliers ... so the covers dont fit ... we had to remove all the profiles ... return them to the wholesaler who then supplied the same brand with the covers ... anyone who has installed profiles will know the mess when you remove them ... paint off the walls the works![]()
At this point I get the feeling that this design wasnt very well thought out ... so I contact the supplier and inform them that they might have made a small oooops ... I feel they should either offer a better solution or return all the lights ... I am told there is a 15 % handling fee.
I havent mentioned the companies name because maybe I am being unreasonable.
What do you think.
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