Consumer rights and Christmas lights

Mine (first gen) failed in exactly the same way, but after 18 months. John Lewis tried to pull the line of “we only give a three month warranty on light bulbs”. I went down the same road as you and argued that a set of lights costing close to £200 should be expected to last a reasonable amount of time.

Eventually they agreed with me and replaced them with a set of second generation lights. Stand your ground.

I've never dabbled but I wonder if you could create a controller using an Arduino? Obv it won't be app based but may keep little spuds amused even if it just changes the colours.

(Controller might also be repairable by someone who knows how to check capacitors/diodes etc

I think it's worth a further call to JL customer services but would be surprised if they improved the offer.
Without checking any of the regs I doubt they're under any legal obligation to do anything about a product that's more than 2 two years old - unless there is a guarantee or warranty providing more coverage.
'Stand your ground' is fine but, unfortunately, I don't think there is any ground to stand on.
You could attempt to make an argument that the first gen model had a technical fault and should not have been sold with a 'known' problem.
Also ask how long the controller should be expected to last as it should have gone through factory testing to determine this.
Unless you want the same product again, ask for the offer to be either offset against different lights or take it as card refund.
Good luck!

Can just be the first to say.

£190 on lights that you use only a few weeks a year? ****ing hell.

Welcome to the 1st world.

Is there any consumer regulation that covers this? Feels like they aren’t really fit for purpose.

Yes, you're covered for three years by the CRA, however, you're outside of the six months in which you're actually covered which is to say you now need to prove they were faulty at point of sale.

I'd be speaking to JL and seeing what you can get from them. I'm guessing by Speaking to the company they have offered us a new set of lights at 50% off." you mean the manufacturer not JL. You've not really any rights with the manufacturer as you didn't buy from them.

Arguing to JL there's a fault with the first gen ones might get the response you're looking for but not because they have to, just because you're the squeaky hinge, equally it might, entirely reasonably get a "and you've proof for that?", one other person on the internet isn't.

Also what drac said.

Mine (first gen) failed in exactly the same way, but after 18 months

How did you notice after 18 months, I mean, Christmas lights go up for two weeks at Christmas, which is once every twelve months?
That said at £200 I guess they're also Eid, Easter, birthday, Hanukkah, Diwali, Chinese New year and every other Thursday lights.

Surely it could be argued that fit for purpose would mean they should last for many many years rather than a couple. Given they are designed to be used for only a few weeks a year

But yeah..190 quid for Christmas lights..😳

I was quite happy with the string of 200 lights we got for the garden £6 from Tesco. £190!

I'm in the after 2 years you'll be struggling camp. Nothing ventured nothing gained I suppose.

fit for purpose

Would be a design fault, it is not a problem with individual items failing before the average life span. (which might be an assembly fault for instance, it might be dumb luck, or misuse, poor handling etc etc etc)

If all (or significant %) of the product fails prematurely or otherwise doesn't do what is supposed to that's not fit for purpose. If two or three % die a couple of SD from the mean expected life span that's perfectly normal. Sucks to get one of those units but equally people don't want to send stuff back because it's lasted 17 years not 10...

Can just be the first to say.

£190 on lights that you use only a few weeks a year? **** hell.

Married? Like having a happy wife? They are very impressive and make her and bijou spud very happy.

Fwiw I think they are expensive as well. But nice things sometimes are.

I’d tell my wife to **** right off if she wanted £190 Xmas lights! Then again she’d say the same to me.

For the OP - I’d keep pushing for a full refund or exchange in your shoes.

Yes I’m married nice things can be expensive but £190 for Xmas lights. As much we spend freely that I wouldn’t. I’d also have no problem telling my wife they’re too expensive.

Like having a happy wife?

For 190 quid on lights, I am ambivalent about my wife's happiness.

I suppose another way to look at it is compared to an unhappy wife £190 is a bargain.

The advantage of cheap lights though is I can write them off if they fail. £190 is a big enough hole in my pocket I would need the hassle of trying to get my money back.

Back on track though, it is worth pushing with JL rather than the manufacturer.  But, after 6months you have to prove they were faulty when you got them which clearly they werent. Otherwise you have to prove they weren't fit for purpose which will be tough to do as certainly isn't worth 90 quid of your time I woukd think.  JL is the way to go.  The manufacturer has no idea how you stored to hem or how you have treated them and although I'm sure for 190 you treated them carefully, you would need a lot of data to prove the fault is inherent.

I’m of the mind that a near £200 quid set of lights should last a good few seasons. Is there any consumer regulation that covers this? Feels like they aren’t really fit for purpose.

I'd say yes.

Under CRA goods have to be (amongst other things) of "satisfactory quality". What this means, broadly, is that if a £3 set of lights failed after two years then too bad, you'd probably had more than your money's worth; a £190 set of lights failing after two years of light (ho ho!) use perhaps not so much. You can claim against this for up to six years. Note that your claim under CRA is with the seller, not the manufacturer. Don't confuse a manufacturer's warranty with your statutory rights, you need to get onto John Lewis or wherever you bought them from.

A lot of English law is tied up in wooly language like "reasonable." Is it reasonable to expect those lights to have failed after being run for two Christmases so, what, about three months?

John Lewis tried to pull the line of “we only give a three month warranty on light bulbs”

That's fine as far as it goes in that light bulbs could be considered to be consumable items. But it's not a light bulb that's failed, it's the controller for a set of them.

our 2yo mains powered lights have half failed, but it just means the blue and green dont work leaving the red and oranges....i think it looks better.
I explained your conundrum to my wife who was sympathetic, till i told her how much they were.

its your money, but to give you some context the total bill for christmas in this house is in that ball park; presents, food, drink

Given how rigorously the price of high end bikes are defended on here I'm surprised the up is getting flack for spending a mere £190 on lights! 😜

Also I'd expect them to last many years too.

Given how rigorously the price of high end bikes are defended on here I’m surprised the up is getting flack for spending a mere £190 on lights! 😜

It’s about the same as a few quality bottles of wine or a meal out for some on here 😉

I saw people spending £100 + on real Xmas trees when we picked ours up . And they only last a couple of weeks 🤔

Not that I want to point fingers but criticism for buying shiny and ultimately useless items is a bit rich on this particular forum considering that most members gather around anodised steerer caps like moths around a candle.

The same lights are actually £70 from Argos.

However they’re still quite pricy vs normal chrimbo lights and

I’ve never dabbled but I wonder if you could create a controller using an Arduino?

It is pretty laughable that people on a bike forum are criticising expense on a non-essential item

We've bought quite a few via relatives electrical shop, and mostly the transformers pack in. Lucky to get a season or two.

mostly the transformers pack in

These Christmas lights? Why yes, yes they are..

You can’t compare Xmas lights to bikes on a bike forum! Bikes aren’t used for only a fortnight per year are they? Shit, forgot where I was posting, carry on.

I’m surprised the up is getting flack for spending a mere £190 on lights!

This!
I have some 'pro' connectable lights that have been up at least 12 years (left up all the time).
I keep adding a bit if strings get broken by a tractor/van and I think we're up to about 80m in total now ... Supposedly £20/5m string but I've just bought 2 strings @ £10 each.
I'm sure they were cheaper when I first bought them but if course that was a while ago.
I fully expect them to last another 10 years.

OP I think you're stuffed I'm afraid.
Can you remove the controller and just have them single colour?

I’m sure they’re really whizzy n’all, but all I want from fairy lights is they light up when they’re turned on. No flashing on and off, sequential, colour changing, or any of that crap. I’ve got a set around the kitchen window, put them up about fifteen years or so ago, decided they worked well as a supplementary light for when it’s dark, so they got left on all the time.

Seems a lot of money for something that isnt working.

I've had a set of £4.99 on the outside tree for the last 3 years(too lazy to undo it all), and I plugged them in the other week to find 80% are still working.

These are the cheapest of the cheap and lived outdoors for 3 years in a harsh Scottish climate. Yet they're still mostly working.

So maybe spending all that has proven to be a false economy and you should stick to cheap.

John Lewis say, "Guaranteed for longer. Minimum 2 year guarantee now included on all electricals, 5 years on TVs. All at no extra cost."
You'd hope that JL see Christmas lights as a special case, particularly if they didn't work at all on Christmas Day '22 (YMMV)
What do you have to lose? Get that e-mail in and include a summary of conversations with the company

Ideal local newspaper sadface story about how Christmas has been ruined, standing next to your unlit tree.

Put a post on the JL site about how they've failed and in googling you've identified a few others failing in the same way, does anyone else have the same experience - create either a 'class action' where you can show they have an inherent fault, or create enough smell that JL will try to shut you up anyway.

Even better than that. Create a video of you and the family being sad next to an unlit tree whilst a really bad cover (in a minor key) of a great song plays over it. Beat them at their own game.

I can sense you'd have hosted some orphans too but now you can't because Christmas without twinkly tree lights is worse than spending it scavenging in the bins behind Asda in their horrible northern town where they don't even have a Waitrose.

I’ve got a set around the kitchen window, put them up about fifteen years or so ago, decided they worked well as a supplementary light for when it’s dark, so they got left on all the time.

Same.

We (she) bought a string of lights half a mile long and wanted them up around the front room windows. Me being me, I spent an afternoon plotting the optimal run and then pinning them in place. Post-Christmas I thought "I'm Donald Ducked if I'm taking them down just to put them back up next year" so they've stayed in place. They're on a smart plug now, they come on as a nightlight when it goes dark. They're nice, I likey.

I wonder how many people here moaning about the price of the Christmas lights have what to most people have ridiculously priced bikes. £190 was the price of a GX cassette a few months back.

When I read thread earlier I had check with the wife how much our lights are as wouldn’t have surprised me if they’d have been £200. Turns out they were £50 reduced from hundred in the January sales.

On the subject of "just say no" to family, when our kids were little I was coerced into putting up lights in the tree in our front garden.  Took ages and was quite a painful experience, what with it being A ****ING HAWTHORN !!

Lights stopped working a while ago.  Still in there, obvz - I'm not THAT stupid

@cougar did you not change the diode in a set of lights at one point? I seem to recall a similar thread where you said it was the [X Type] diode that would need replaced. Of course that was probably dumb lights...

It sounds like the sort of thing I'd try and do but no, I don't think that was me in that particular instance.

Well well, the supplier has come through. A courier will pick up the lights and supply a new set this week. Hopefully any technical issues in the product have been ironed out over the last couple of years production!

Awesome news, just in time for, erm, new year.

Given how rigorously the price of high end bikes are defended on here I’m surprised the up is getting flack for spending a mere £190 on lights!

I'm not likely to do more than £20 on Xmas lights myself, but £190 is loose change compared to what some people spend on Xmas decs. One mum at school had an £800 Santa that they stuck on the side of the house.

£190 on Xmas lights!

Do they match your lexus?

i want to know if the £800 santa...... has both gps and 5g and bluetooth so i can stream my choons while i go on a massive adventure

£190 on Xmas lights!

Do they match your lexus?

No. I drive a 2004 Suzuki Jimny.

Good result there potato!
I (probably) wouldn't spend £190 on Christmas tree lights but...it's not my money.
Just ignore the critical or questioning posts.