Cheap Amazon Magnifying lamp, no longer working!

[pjgtech]

I bought this cheap Amazon lamp, it does not have a makers name, and it worked fine for three weeks.
I was using it for small parts, painting very small areas, etc and it worked fine, the mag is x10 I think.
It does come with a usb lead, but no plug, or it can be powered via batteries.
But, after three weeks the light started flickering, just a bit.
Then over the next week or so, every time I used it the flickering just seemed to get worse. A few times the light would not come on, so had to fiddle with the switch and it would then come on. Now it just flickers constantly, so is pretty much unusable!
I have taken the outer light frame off, as thought it might just be a loose connection, but could not see anything obvious.

Unfortunately, the Amazon return date window has now expired, and I've also thrown away the original box/packaging as it was working ok for the first couple of weeks, so I thought it was ok! As it does not appear to have a maker and did not seem to come with any warranty, it looks like I'm stuffed?
EDIT, just checked the Amazon website again and it looks like I can return this, albeit without the original packaging, so will give that a try.....

This cost me about £14 I think, so its the old saying of "buy cheap, buy twice", as I have now invested in a better quality magnifying lamp (Artdot).
Its a shame as it was a nice little lamp.

[Gern]

I've lost count of the number of assorted cheap tools I've bought over the years - now residing in landfill somewhere.

Buy cheap, pay twice seems absolutely right! Gotta be careful though. High prices today don't necessarily mean high quality.

[pjgtech]

I've lost count of the number of assorted cheap tools I've bought over the years - now residing in landfill somewhere.
Buy cheap, pay twice seems absolutely right! Gotta be careful though. High prices today don't necessarily mean high quality.

Yep, as an ex plumber, I also learned the hard way about buying cheap tools. As a tradesman, you rely on your tools and you want something that will be good quality and last.
I only bought that lamp as it was the only one I liked the look of. I have now bought an Artdot one (a hobby lamp, bit larger than the dodgy one), if I had seen that first time around, I would have just bought that at the time, but hey, we live and learn! Cheers

[pjgtech]

After some time, I finally got to speak to someone at Amazon, and arranged a return of the item, (broken mag/light), but they don't make it easy!
As I had past the return date, whenever I tried to return an item via the Amazon website, it would not show the lamp, so I could not proceed.
I looked to see if I could contact the seller direct, but no contact details for them either, Aaaarrrhhh!
AFAIK there is no actual telephone number or email to contact Amazon direct, (handy that, NOT!)
Eventually I googled "UK Amazon telephone number for customer support" and found one online (if anyone needs it, here it is - 0207 0847911) and called them, Even that number tries to direct you back to the website, but eventually if you ignore all the options, they will then put you through to an actual human. (They really don't like talking to you do they?)
After explaining, the person I spoke to said although it was past the return date, it was still under warranty, and they would arrange a refund when the item was sent back and then sent me a QR code via email.
I packed the lamp up, went down to my local post office, quick scan of the QR code and it is now winging its way back to Amazon/supplier.
A pain to organise, but at least I should get my money back.

[Gern]

Amazing how many organisations rely on websites to sort out customer queries! I only dealt with Amazon once and it took me three days to close my account. But they're lightweight amateurs compared to ebay!

[PaulTRose]

Thats amazon for you lol

Last week i bought 2 recipe book that looked just what i wanted...was only 3 quid each and free delivery cos id bought a few other things......turn out to be useless for what i was after......really poor......if i wanted to return them it would cost me 2.99....to get 3.01 back!.....so whats the point?....wrote it off to experience and sent to charity shop

[Miko]

This cost me about £14 I think, so its the old saying of "buy cheap, buy twice", as I have now invested in a better quality magnifying lamp (Artdot).
Its a shame as it was a nice little lamp.

Your statutory rights as a consumer is if it's faulty you can return it for a full refund, whether it's 'cheap' or not, an item needs to be fit for purpose. But, as mentioned, buying cheap can be false economy. Amazon is brilliant for the consumer with their system of buyer reviews and recommendations along with their returns policy, I've used amazon to buy kits where sometimes they have the best price and being a 'prime' member the postage is free and usually delivered in just one day!

Miko (the downside to the huge retail giant that is Amazon is it's done untold damage to the traditional high street shopping experience)

[pjgtech]

Yep, have now returned it and already got the refund, cheers.