Tigerlight disappointment - Resolved by TL

After months of saving and anticipation, my tigerlight finally arrived today - boy am I unhappy. This will be a great opportunity for the customer service to shine - and I hope that it does when I call them in the morning. So, to be fair - keep in mind that I've just opened the box and they don't know anything about this yet.

First impressions - I'm satisfied with the light - though I actually like the feel of the SF G2 material better - but that may be because I've had it longer. I immediately notice that a small flake (1mm x 1mm) is missing from the reflector head - but I'm not concerned because it won't affect the way the light operates. The other things I've noticed is that the charging units feel cheap - I don't know what goes into them - but the plastic that it's made of feels cheap. There's also no mention anywhere on the charger that they are the rapid chargers that I ordered vs. the standard charger. Then I notice that they didn't even include 2 screws and anchors for mounting the charger on the wall - especially since the instructions specifically mention charging the light upright. Ok, I'm a bit irritated and feel nickeled and dimed. Then I notice that they sent me the wrong OC canister. I had requested Sabre Red when I ordered it... but I don't see any mention of a specific OC on my order history - and I didn't print out my order at the time. OK - I could live with this - I plug in the charger, insert the light - and nothing... the house charger is DOA. I take the car charger and insert the light into that and presto - i see charging. Unfortunately, I don't plan on draining my car battery to charge the light. What's worse than waiting months for a tigerlight - having one and not being able to use it because the charger is DOA. :mecry:

If the customer service is what I hope it to be - they'll have a loyal customer - despite the initial experience. If the customer service is lacking in any area...

I really hope that they have great service because I really want to like their product.

Re: Tigerlight disappointment

Customer service for Tigerlight has always been good to me. Call them and let them know you are PO'ed. I think they'll make it right.

I have a Tigerlight, just upgraded to the new lamp and battery pack, and it is great. Oh yea, the OC works pretty good, too!!!

Re: Tigerlight disappointment

hquan said:

I plug in the charger, insert the light - and nothing... the house charger is DOA. I take the car charger and insert the light into that and presto - i see charging.

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while charging with the smart charger the led on the charging cradle will not light up. while smart charging the multi-led on the smart charger indicates your charging.

while charging with the car charger the smart charger will be bypassed and it will charge "normally". the led on the charging cradle lights up in this case.

marc

Re: Tigerlight disappointment

hquan,

What makar said!

The current fast-charger only uses the plastic cradle that grabs the light as a way to connect to the light. It is a direct connection and by-passes the cradle's own slow-charge circuitry. SO THE LED ON THE CRADLE WILL NOT LIGHT UP WHEN USING THE FAST CHARGER. I'm going to send off an email to Michael and Eric right away letting them know that they NEED TO TELL PEOPLE THIS. This is like the third time that someone has posted and been confused by this issue. So, obviously it is an issue. I'm sorry for the confusion.

OK. Moving on. So when you use the car charger, it is NOT by-passing the cradle circuitry, and thus the LED will light up.

Next, the TL gold system lights couldn't be made of Nitrolon due to heat conduction issues.

The flake of HA missing from the head is a cosmetic issue, which TL CS will address if it bothers you. All the new in box TL's I have seen (8 or so) have all had perfect HA. So, FWIW, I think this is not by any means a common occurance

The plastic of the cradle and fast-chargers is fine plastic. I can't comment on your personal impressions of them, but I can tell you that I have drilled it and abused it and abraded it, and it is not brittle or weak. I personally don't see why you would have any reason to complain about it. But, personal taste is not disputable, so . . . I'm sorry you dislike the plastic of the cradle and fast charger.

I do not remember reading that you have to charge your TL upright! Is that in the instructions? Really? As far as I know, you can charge the TL in any orientation you want as long as the contacts mate up and stay mated up, which they will--that's a pretty darn strong spring as you've probably noticed. I have always charged my light horizontally on a table, or with the light standing on its bezel on the table and the cradle just lose, attached to the light.

As for the lack of mounting screws, mention it to TL CS. I think that they don't provide any because the length and type of screws will depend on your specific mounting requirements.

As for the type of OC, I would bet that you got what you ordered, although, I agree that that should have been indicated on your order form.

Oh, and BTW, the fast charger says right on the back information that clearly indicates it is a fast charger.

And not just any fast charger, but a three tiered fast charger. That is, it will go into a fast charge phase, where it is charging at 1.3 amps, then a top-off phase, where it gently brings the pack to full charge at a lower rate in order to keep the pack as cool as possible, and then, finally, it goes to a trickle charge rate that will keep your pack topped off, and is low enough that you can leave your light on the cradle as long as you want and not risk any harm or long term degradation to the battery pack.

And it is 90 percent charged after 90 minutes. So if you are in a real hurry, you can grab it as soon as it goes to top-off, and have an almost full pack. Or wait the full 2 1/2 hours until it reaches 100 percent.

I tested one of these chargers before it was offered for sale, and I was pretty impressed with it. Obviously, needing both the fast charger box AND the cradle and not being able to use the FC in the car are both draw backs. All I can say is that we are well aware of this.

Re: Tigerlight disappointment

Ok - I just got off the phone with TL - I spoke with Eric.

He did explain about how the smart charger worked - but mine still didn't work - the smart charger never turned red. So, they are going to send out a new cradle with a return slip for the bad one. If things still don't work, then they'll exchange everything.

I also mentioned to him that step 2 of the instructions on charging state:

"The charger is designed to hold the flashlight in a generally upright position with the weight of the flashlight pressing down into the cradle"

To me, that sounds like a vertical mounting. I suggested including the anchors and screws or changing the verbiage.

Over all, I was very pleased with my interaction. The support was good and he was very open to suggestions.

I took another look at the cradle - in the daylight. And although my initial impression was that it felt cheap - the plastic is pretty sturdy. I guess it boils down to it being a matter of personal taste. It still feels cheap - but I am much more confident in it's sturdiness (after I tried squeezing it hard).

So, kudos to eric for turning around a negative first impression. Now, I just have to be patient for the new cradle to arrive some time at the end of next week.:sweat:

Re: Tigerlight disappointment

hquan,

Sorry this happened to you and I hope that the new stuff fixes the problem!

hquan it's a pleasure to help you
js thanks for the explanation.
Marc

I'm glad you got it resolved, but can I just make a general comment here for everyone? If you've just gotten a product, don't publicly ***** about it until you've tried to fix things! In addition to possibly unfairly denegrating a company it's just plain tacky.

ABTOMAT said:

I'm glad you got it resolved, but can I just make a general comment here for everyone? If you've just gotten a product, don't publicly ***** about it until you've tried to fix things! In addition to possibly unfairly denegrating a company it's just plain tacky.

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I agree with you to a point. Part of the forum is for people to express how they feel about things to other people who would understand. Look at how many people post about receiving new lights and being overjoyed. If you receive a light and are unhappy - you should be able to express yourself - within boundaries. For example - make it clear that the company has not been contacted and that these are first impressions. Make sure that you keep the post to how you feel and about the specific product vs. generalized statements about the company. Also make sure to rapidly update the thread as things change.

I think that posts that start out negative and rapidly turn positive actually reflect very well on a company and improves their reputation. Everyone knows that mistakes get made, that stuff happens - but how well the company handles the issues is what sets them apart.

As I've stated in my original post good customer service in a bad situation will create loyal customers. TL has my vote.

hquan: To specify my point which is different from abtomats: If someone like js writes you a long thread to help you with your problem you could at least adress one little line in his direction to show him that you appriciate his contribution.
MArc

makar said:

hquan: To specify my point which is different from abtomats: If someone like js writes you a long thread to help you with your problem you could at least adress one little line in his direction to show him that you appriciate his contribution.
MArc

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Excellent point.

JS - I apologize that I had not posted that I had read your very helpful post. I certainly appreciate the time that you took to write out such a detailed response. It was especially good to know that you don't have to wall mount the charger - given the strength of the spring that provides the gripping power of the cradle, I was concerned that I'd be ripping out chunks of dry wall every time I went to remove the light. Once again, Thanks! :goodjob:

hquan: :thumbsup:

hquan,

You're quite welcome! No apology needed.

However, I also want to apologize if my discussion of the question of the quality of the plastic of the cradle and FC was a bit off-putting and offensive. I didn't intend it that way, but re-reading it now I got worried.

I'm not trying to say that it is the best plastic in the world or anything, I can see why someone might prefer it if it were different. I was only saying that however it may appear at first glance, it's plenty tough enough to do the job being required of it.

But anyway, sorry if I came across as a bit of a jerk on that part.

I've had the new charger AND sabre red OC come in. Totally didn't expect the sabre red as I hadn't asked for it. Here's a link to Cheers and Jeers that is a copy of a Cheers email that I had sent to tigerlight.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1249551#post1249551

Alls well that ends well!