Blown Bulbs on PIR Security Lights

[ianphilip007]

Hello there need some advice

Had a call today from a customer who, i fitted a replacement PIR security light (120w halgoen), early November 2011. He informed me that the light had suddenly just stopped working. i asked him if he had checked the bulb to see if it had blown and he said that he had and the bulb was ok. So i assumed that the actual fitting or pir sensor must have failed so i arranged to go out and repair or replace the fitting as it was still under warranty from manufacturer and my own 12 month workmanship guarentee. When inspected it actually turned out to be a blown bulb. Now i changed the bulb on this occasion as customer had a replacement but did not charge any fee.

after some advice for the future as although i gaurentee my workmanship and the fitting/ matierials used are covered by warranty from manufacturer i dont believe you can gaurantee a bulb just wondered what others do in this situation ???

1/ advise customer to change bulb themselves if they can ?

2/state that a charge will be made for coming out to change bulb

3/or consider the bulb to guranteed and go out and change for free?

 

[telectrix]

all depends on the client. if he's a regular client, giving me repeat work, then i either do something like that for free or a nomimal charge to cover fuel.

 

[sxsparky]

1, tell the customer to call you, then charge him
2, State your going to charge him
3, make it clear that flood light bulbs are not the best and blow, if he dont want to pay for you to replace them he should get led's

Hello there need some advice

Had a call today from a customer who, i fitted a replacement PIR security light (120w halgoen), early November 2011. He informed me that the light had suddenly just stopped working. i asked him if he had checked the bulb to see if it had blown and he said that he had and the bulb was ok. So i assumed that the actual fitting or pir sensor must have failed so i arranged to go out and repair or replace the fitting as it was still under warranty from manufacturer and my own 12 month workmanship guarentee. When inspected it actually turned out to be a blown bulb. Now i changed the bulb on this occasion as customer had a replacement but did not charge any fee.

after some advice for the future as although i gaurentee my workmanship and the fitting/ matierials used are covered by warranty from manufacturer i dont believe you can gaurantee a bulb just wondered what others do in this situation ???

1/ advise customer to change bulb themselves if they can ?

2/state that a charge will be made for coming out to change bulb

3/or consider the bulb to guranteed and go out and change for free?

 

[telectrix]

3, make it clear that flood light bulbs are not the best and blow, if he dont want to pay for you to replace them he should get led's

and hope he doesn't sue you for falling over in the pitiful light produced by these

 

[ianphilip007]

so you would consider the bulb to be covered by the warranty (eg 12 months) same as fitting ???

 

[ianphilip007]

personally i agree that floodlight halogens bulbs like most bulbs are not reliable and can blow for a variety of reasons, so i never offer a gurantee on the actual bulb for any fitting i fit. if it blows and you cant be bothered to change it yourself then there has to be a £20.00 charge ( labour/replacement bulb and petrol) discretion for lil old ladies of course i do have a heart lol

 

[Dave 85]

Yeah 500w flood lamps are a nightmare. Warn people this before you supply them. This guy was either lying about checking the bulb or not fitting the new one correctly (not uncommon in my experience). Weather you charge him is up to you. If it wasn't far out of your way and he's a good client, dont bother.

 

[ianphilip007]

i agree dave, i dont think he checked the bulb at all but told me that he had so that i would come out. He was only 5 mins drive away just felt like id been conned when it turned out to be a blown bulb even though he had told me the exact opposite when asked . usally i advise customer to replace bulb and then call back if light is still not working.

 

[Marvo]

It's a sticky one. We've also been run ragged with warranties for lamps in the past and the wholesalers aren't always happy to hand over an exchange after a month or two.

What we did at one stage was to build the price of the lamp into the price we charged for the fitting then we 'gave the lamp for free' on the invoice but stipulated that because it was a gift there's no warranty on it.

 

[ianphilip007]

thanks for the replies, general view appears to be that the gaurantee doesnt extend to the bulb and replacing incurs a charge .

 

[vernam616]

Id of charged him, you simply cannot guarantee lamp life, that light could be burning constantly for all you know

However a common mistake electricians make is when fitting these lamps they are not careful enough to avoid touching the glass, which will shorten the lamps life dramatically

 

[oldtimer]

I had the exact same thing a 400w flood and independant PIR that I put in as a replacement for a letting company and 10 months later its not working so I went out and I think they were bracing themselves as they said its still under 12 months warranty and yep it was the lamp and I changed it free of charge because it came under the warranty as far as I was concerned plus it was good PR for me as this was an isolated case
for me ie no use cutting off my nose etc

 

[ianphilip007]

good point Marvo one i have thought about with reguard's to warranty and to time /petrol costs. As you have said there are not many wholesalers who would exchange a blown bulb at all let alone a 3 or 4 month old bulb and with respect to actually changing a blown bulb there is the time and associated costs. due to the many reasons why a bulb may blow i just feel that it is impossible to include the bulb in any gaurantee or warranty and this must be explained to the customer to avoid confusion.

 

[ianphilip007]

I had the exact same thing a 400w flood and independant PIR that I put in as a replacement for a letting company and 10 months later its not working so I went out and I think they were bracing themselves as they said its still under 12 months warranty and yep it was the lamp and I changed it free of charge because it came under the warranty as far as I was concerned plus it was good PR for me as this was an isolated case
for me ie no use cutting off my nose etc

totally understand your point re PR and not cutting your nose off and keeping your customer happy. Just feel that with the general unreliability and various causes for bulbs to blow to include the bulb in the 12 month fitting warranty is not really practical, especially when the wholesaler wont exchange or replace the bulb under warranty. so i dont see why we should incur the cost of replacing and fitting (discretion and common sense applied of course)

 

[alarm man]

lamps are consumable items,stick it on your t&c's to cover you