A
Adam W
I recently ordered some LED tape to try out at home; I've used it at work and it can produce a nice, subtle effect.
After shopping around the net I ordered it from a company called 'SimpleLighting', or 'Trade Lighting'.
According to their website they do next day delivery if ordered before 3pm and if you call them they'll solder the ends for you, otherwise you'll get a continuous length up to 6m. If you spend any length of time on the website a box pops up and someone asks you if you need any help, like an annoying shop assistant. I asked about part lengths and they said it'd be easier to order over the phone.
The guy on the phone didn't seem to know what he was talking about - he had to keep going and talking to 'the technical team' and he right royally stuffed up my order. He said they used tri-rated singles and not flex (or rather I asked), so I said I'd do the soldering myself. I asked if they could send me a bit of heatshrink but they said no they don't sell it separately.
I ordered 3m warm white, 1.65m IP65 warm white, 4 surface mounted extrusions, 1 recessed extrusion and end caps for each length.
They sent a confirmation of the order which had the wrong lengths of extrusion on it, which they said they'd change and refund accordingly. There was nothing on the order summary about cutting or soldering, and the LED tape was described as 'warm white/white/blue'.
Even though I ordered just before 3pm Thursday I didn't get the order until Saturday, which isn't the next day.
They sent separate 1m lengths of LED tape, 1 warm white (not IP rated) with a tail soldered onto it, and 4 blue, stuck into the extrusion with tails soldered on with about 10mm insulation showing out of the ends, which isn't what I wanted at all. Fair enough they're 12v SELV, but it just looks unprofessional. They didn't send any end caps for the recessed extrusion and the others were wrong.
I let them know about all the mistakes which they put down to 'a strange miscommunication', and it was agreed I'd return the whole lot for a refund but I couldn't just take it into a Post Office or delivery depot, I'd have to wait in for them to collect it between 9 and 5, which is what I'm doing now. I explained it would be inconvenient but the guy wouldn't do anything about it, he just kept apologising.
In the end I got the impression he wasn't taking it seriously.
I tried putting a review on Trust Pilot but it wouldn't accept my order ID. Strangely enough they have a satisfaction rating of 9.6....
I'm certainly not going to use SimpleLighting/Trade Lighting again; can anyone recommend a decent supplier of LED tape?
After shopping around the net I ordered it from a company called 'SimpleLighting', or 'Trade Lighting'.
According to their website they do next day delivery if ordered before 3pm and if you call them they'll solder the ends for you, otherwise you'll get a continuous length up to 6m. If you spend any length of time on the website a box pops up and someone asks you if you need any help, like an annoying shop assistant. I asked about part lengths and they said it'd be easier to order over the phone.
The guy on the phone didn't seem to know what he was talking about - he had to keep going and talking to 'the technical team' and he right royally stuffed up my order. He said they used tri-rated singles and not flex (or rather I asked), so I said I'd do the soldering myself. I asked if they could send me a bit of heatshrink but they said no they don't sell it separately.
I ordered 3m warm white, 1.65m IP65 warm white, 4 surface mounted extrusions, 1 recessed extrusion and end caps for each length.
They sent a confirmation of the order which had the wrong lengths of extrusion on it, which they said they'd change and refund accordingly. There was nothing on the order summary about cutting or soldering, and the LED tape was described as 'warm white/white/blue'.
Even though I ordered just before 3pm Thursday I didn't get the order until Saturday, which isn't the next day.
They sent separate 1m lengths of LED tape, 1 warm white (not IP rated) with a tail soldered onto it, and 4 blue, stuck into the extrusion with tails soldered on with about 10mm insulation showing out of the ends, which isn't what I wanted at all. Fair enough they're 12v SELV, but it just looks unprofessional. They didn't send any end caps for the recessed extrusion and the others were wrong.
I let them know about all the mistakes which they put down to 'a strange miscommunication', and it was agreed I'd return the whole lot for a refund but I couldn't just take it into a Post Office or delivery depot, I'd have to wait in for them to collect it between 9 and 5, which is what I'm doing now. I explained it would be inconvenient but the guy wouldn't do anything about it, he just kept apologising.
In the end I got the impression he wasn't taking it seriously.
I tried putting a review on Trust Pilot but it wouldn't accept my order ID. Strangely enough they have a satisfaction rating of 9.6....
I'm certainly not going to use SimpleLighting/Trade Lighting again; can anyone recommend a decent supplier of LED tape?