UK - LED Bulbs Efficiency

[Deepgreen]

Of the few hundreds of LEDs I've installed (none of which came from Wickes), the few that have failed prematurely, have done so on first switch on or in the first few hours of life. Once past that point, most live to, or exceed, their rated life.
Don't worry about the receipt - take it back anyway. Good customer service reviews are essential to this kid of retail shed.

This Wickes bulb was fine at first and now sometimes comes on at a very dim level (almost impossible to tell it's on) and sometimes at full brightness. I have checked the fitting and all is well there, so the bulb is faulty.

BTW, good customer service appears to be far from the top of Wickes's priorities as they ignored my query and just sent me a 'how did we do?' satisfaction survey instead! B&Q's customer service people similarly failed to address my query and twice simply directed me to my local store, which was completely pointless! These "sheds", as you rightly call them, are just that - widespread and convenient, and very unconcerned about individual reviews (which are always subject to doubt anyway) - there is a constant stream of customers out there who just go there because their outlets are everywhere. It's a common feature of UK retailing these days, sadly.

 

[Deepgreen]

But that's surely the idea - to persuade the public to buy more energy efficient versions, even if they don't have an understanding of the ratings! Or to look at it another way, to persuade manufacturers to produce more efficient lamps, so improving (or at least maintaining) their sales compared with their competitors?

I think we may be at cross purposes here - my take on it is that, playing devil's advocate, if I see a product with a low rating (on whatever scale is being used at the time) I will assume it is not good and will avoid it (especially in the absence of any explanation of the scale). Thus, I may well stick with my existing halogen, fluorescent or whatever type, rather than change to LED. I am sure most average customers have no idea there is a special rating scale for LEDs or that it has changed recently (I certainly didn't), and that there are seemingly different scales for other electrical products. In short (again, playing devil's advocate) - I see an E or F rating and am not interested.

 

[Avo Mk8]

I think we may be at cross purposes here - my take on it is that, playing devil's advocate, if I see a product with a low rating (on whatever scale is being used at the time) I will assume it is not good and will avoid it (especially in the absence of any explanation of the scale). Thus, I may well stick with my existing halogen, fluorescent or whatever type, rather than change to LED. I am sure most average customers have no idea there is a special rating scale for LEDs or that it has changed recently (I certainly didn't), and that there are seemingly different scales for other electrical products. In short (again, playing devil's advocate) - I see an E or F rating and am not interested.

Fair enough. But if everyone does behave like that, a manufacturer who sticks with E or F won't make any sales, so those products disappear. Which I would argue is a good thing (as long as someone is making C or D versions!)

 

[brianmoooore]

The idea is to encourage the improvement of the breed. In my post #5, I started my search for a fridge freezer intending to buy one with a A or B rating, like the last one I bought (I buy for 5 properties, so I'm in the market for one a bit more often than the average person), but found that there were very, very few available with this rating, especially at a price that I was interested in.
That's when i did a little digging, and found that E was the new B.
I expect that by the next time I buy one, there'll by fewer 'E's and a lot more 'A's and 'B's

 

[suffolkspark]

Just to add for bulb/lamp labelling, some places seem to have recently switched the naming convention were all used to with regards to colour temperature, with some 4000k lamps/bulbs now being described as daylight, and 6000k being described as cool white! Toolstation had some integral branded 4000k called cool white, and a 5 pack 4000k called daylight ! Annoying. I kniw ledhut used to do this but now its getting more common

 

[brianmoooore]

How to confuse Toolstation counter staff.
Return a pack of 4 LED lamps, with only 1 (dud) lamp in the packet. No good - could only exchange full box, but I wasn't going to remove 3 perfectly good lamps that I'd already fitted for a customer, especially as they were high up in a vaulted ceiling.
Same lamp was available packed singly, but that wasn't any good, because it was a completely different part number.
Ended up asking the staff member to look the other way while I swapped a lamp in a new single packet with the dud one in my box, told him to book the single lamp out to me, then immediately credit it back as a dud.