Monday, April 18, 2011

Oh General Electric, You Have No Idea Who You're Messing With

I just bought 2 60-lumen, 2W LED candle bulbs, at... $11.99 a pop.

By way of comparison, a 6-pack of 40W bulbs (which are way, way brighter) was $4.89.

Even if the LED bulbs last the full 8 years (more on that in a sec), I'm pretty sure there's no way I'm saving anything unless the price of electricity goes way, way up.

It was an impulse, something in the way of an experiment in green buying (not to mention a mistake -- I thought they were CFLs, not LEDs)

Now, the silly thing is not that the bulbs are guaranteed for four years (at four hours per day), but their warranty claims process is this:

"If this bulb does not last 4 years, return UPC and register receipt along with your name and address to GE Consumer & Industrial, Product Service Dept..."

Leave aside the fact that most receipts these days are printed on thermal paper, which isn't going to last anywhere near that long (not without some CSI-style *ZOOM-ENHANCE* shenanigans)... I mean, what kind of hoarder would keep a receipt and UPC for four years?

Oh, GE, you have no idea who you're messing with.

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