Anyone familiar with SL customer service? My Strion died.

Well, technically, its battery is the main thing that went wrong, but the contact springs inside the battery compartment looks damaged.

The other night I had taken the battery out to clean the contacts with a q-tip, and replaced it without incident. Or so I thought. About twenty minutes later I picked it up again, and it was very warm. I don't think I'd accidentally turned it on when screwing in the tailcap, as I would have noticed my wall lighting up under the general darkness of the room with just my desklamp on. I removed the battery quickly, and noticed the thin rib of plastic between the two terminals on its end was heat warped. Inside the light, the center contact spring is also warped to the side. I'm not too sure what happened, but something in there shorted out. Now, with the deformed spring and terminal's rib, the battery won't sit in the light properly anymore, and I'm afraid to tamper too much with it, after seeing the Pelican sticky thread about what can happen when li-ions explode.

I think this issue can only be properly addressed by Streamlight themselves, but if anyone has an explanation for what may have happened, please enlighten me. So, in closing, as I will be dealing with SL's customer service, how are they? What should I expect? I wouldn't even have bothered asking this question if it weren't for the other post(s) about a top notch manufactuer (like Surefire) providing sub-par customer service.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. -My Strion (and its battery) should both still be under their warranty...but...I never registered my light when I bought it. Does that disqualify me?

won't know till ya try now will you....

have had streamlights for over 20 yrs - never had a problem or questions when I needed a repair... start with your local police/fire supply etc (who usually is also a SL repair shop), otherwise call SL on phone or email them and they will probably take care of it for you (the battery causing the issue may be a concern?)

I see 6 places listed near you...
http://www.streamlite.com/locator.jsp

Sounds like one of the springs in switch kit shorted against the battery terminals (as they're both on the same side of the cell).

You need a new switch kit (pt #74051) and probably a new battery (pt #74175).

SL has stellar C.S.

--dan

Oh yeah, you're in trouble now. You'll have to pay for all of the repairs 'cause you voided the warranty ... <Just Kidding!>

I've never registered a SL product in over 25 years of using their products, and I've never encountered any difficulty in getting a warranty repair, even with SL products that I've acquired 2nd hand. And like Lebox says, "not even a question."

Closest repair station to you is probably Triple A Tools in Torrance. But if you don't want to drive into the city, you can always send directly it to Streamlight, no RMA needed, just send it in with your shipping information and a description of the problem of an enclosed piece of paper.

Razor said:

P.S. -My Strion (and its battery) should both still be under their warranty...but...I never registered my light when I bought it. Does that disqualify me?

Click to expand...

Thanks, everyone. I called their main office today, but they were already closed. Guess I'll try again tomorrow and see where they recommend I send it, whether to their factory or just some local place.

Thanks again for the advice.

I just received my stinger back from the factory for a new switch. I sent it in the firiday before last by first class mail and received it today from UPS. I had to send it in because the beam had become sickly yellow even on a fully charged battery. They told me to just send it in and didn't ask what was wrong with it, just to send a note saying the switch needs to be replaced. It has brought new life into the light and they even gave me a new bulb. The best customer service I have ever delt with.

Only experience I've had with Streamlight customer service was about a month ago and it was a positive one. The security car at work has a SL-20X. The lense to me looked melted and frosted. So I emailed their customer service and asked about a replacement lense. They asked me for the serial # of the light and then mailed out a free replacement lense and it arrived within a few days. It's better now.

So far all positive with Streamlight.

SL customer service is tops. I had a 15X the switch died and had it replaced at the local repair center. Later found a crack in the body sent it back to SL and about 2 weeks later I got a brand new 20XP in the mail. Streamlight will take care of you no dought. That is why they have a large portion of the police market, is because of 1. fantastic lights, 2. Great customer service.