I would imagine they are still are with Ryan in charge. Art was always ready to make things right, even though he said he's only had 2 bad LEDs out of thousands or something like that

ryanwanger will clear this up with you as soon as he can I'm sure. A few bulbs not working and a few hours of business hours probably doesnt call for a thread saying there are issues with Comet tho.

Of course. We'll replace anything defective for free, no questions asked. Greg or I will get back to you shortly via email and replacements will go out today.

3 out of 80 is unusually high - so sorry that happened! Thanks for not being too upset.

I've ordered a lot of bulbs from Comet and never had a defective one. However, I often have to adjust the wires to get a good connection.

Are they 555 base LED's? Sometimes the wire leads need to be bent out a little to make good contact.

99.99% chance this is the issue. I'll leave 0.01% to "package run over by delivery truck".

I usually do this to all wedge bulbs before I install them. I've found the best way to bend them is like this:

wedgewires (resized).jpg

I'm sorry if this makes me sound like an ass but GOOD LORD. You E-mailed them last night and this morning are posting on a message board about "Issues" with them? I know this isn't a bashing thread but in the days of social media even things like this can hurt a business.

First - Are you sure they are defective? A lot of times you have to move the leads out a little bit to make good contact on LED bulbs. That's pretty common and solves non working bulbs most of the time.

Being they are mass produced and can't possibly all be tested some defects will happen. They will take care of you but just give them some time.

I'm still waiting for something like this to happen. In the first week or two after JackpotJanet and I took over, we didn't quite understand that you can't leave a bunch of empty space in large boxes. Someone sent us a picture of an order that looked like someone had sat on it. The bulbs were fine, but it was still pretty embarrassing.

man kind of a D move if you ask me. Guy receives bulbs which don't appear to work (3 out of 80 - prob work they just need to be bent) then emails last night and this morning already alerts the forums with a topic that is very misleading targeting a company that is well respected? How about give the guy a chance to respond.

Again D move man. Maybe it wasn't your intention and if so, change the topic title or delete this thread entirely.

Thanks for sticking up for us guys. Not a huge deal, but of course we'd prefer the chance to handle it in private first.

We may not always respond on the weekends, but issues like this always get responded to before we ship out bulbs for the day. We want to be able to send a replacement right away if there is an issue (which is rare, but it does happen).

Now...l'm going to stop bumping this thread.

I've been in this hobby a relatively short time. I've ordered hundreds of bulbs from Comet LEDs. If I find one that's flaky, I bend out the wire leads and check it in a KNOWN working socket. If it's still flaky, I throw it out, and grab another one, and move one. In the big scheme of things, $.60 out of 200 bulbs is not a big deal, imo. If it were an order of 3 or 4 flashers, then yeah, maybe send them an email. But between the candy, fast shipping, and awesome shipping notification emails, a few bulbs every now and again is completely worth the service. Keep up the great work ryanwanger !

It doesn't make you sound like an ass......

Comet has always been a fantastic company to deal with. From the awesome Art, to the smooth transition to Ryan and Janet. Always great products and exceptional service. To call them out over $3 in bulbs and with time differences probably less than 12 hours to respond back to you is plain silly. I just call notice to the OPs screen name. Nuff said.

The initial post was definitely a dirtbag move.

Kudos to Comet.

Out of the hundreds (maybe thousands at this point?) of bulbs I've installed so far, I don't think I've seen one that was actually defective.

The 555/906 bulb leads just sometimes take a little fiddling in order to make proper contact with the socket. I've also noticed that these bulbs are a little thicker than original incandescent bulbs, so it actually helps fix flaky sockets where the contacts have lost some tension/springiness.

Just living up to your name I guess OP.

jeeze you guys... am I the only one that read this part of the post?

the OP's question was are they good about replacements... unless I missed something or read it wrong... I have seen flame threads on this forum, and this DOESN'T appear to be one.

just my .02

and I agree, COMET rocks!!

given the OPs history, this thread was started to try and start shit.

Reality is Comet is so awesome that they will take care of even their dumbest and biggest Ahole customers.

"Issue with Comet LEDs" as a thread title does a real disservice to Comet.

Almost no chance that 3 out of 80 are bad. Probably bad sockets.

OP and I have been exchanging emails. He has been lovely. So has everyone in this thread.

Call off the dogs! Time to hold hands and sing in harmony.

I can't even count how many thousands of 555 bulbs I've installed from COMET and have yet to have one that's bad. Like others have said, sometimes the metal tabs inside the 555 sockets have lost their tension with time and don't make contact with the 555 LED/SMD bulb leads. Simply spreading out the open lead on each side of the bulb and letting it naturally compress in the socket resolves that issue 99.9% of the time.

would go a long way to change the title of the thread
glad its all working out for everyone.

I like the revised Beatles song and things to do while waiting for your comet order. Seriously though I have gotten 3 or 4 bulbs over the last few years that did not have the little nodules at the bottom to hold the bulb on. Once I put one in and it sprang up and hit me in the face, true story, made me laugh.

Comet has some really great customer service. They always respond to me right away.

+1

I’ve done that for a long time as well.

Ryan, maybe an idea to put tips like that on your website, with pictures.

Another is to use a small screwdriver to push the bulb contacts together in the plastic 555 holders. And push up the side contacts as well.

Or to use some fine sandpaper on old 555 lamp holder boards contacts.

Also add in to examine the 555 lamp boards molex connectors for cracked headers while they’re at it. Surprising how often these are cracked and need re-soldering.

rd

Another good tip. Going to put the disclaimer on here for you and Comet as you know some nincompoop will try to do that with the power on. If you do this please turn your game off first. If you don't and blow a board that's on you

Another solution, instead of going cheap, why not make the wire on the bulb quality like traditional bulbs? No fuss, no muss.

40783amd (resized).jpg

Comet is the only company I buy my bulbs from. Always fast and always high quality.

What, this thread isn't for an overpriced roached out machine with OP insulting his (or her, don't want to be sexist) target audience?

Well I'm gone.

I run into defective bulbs from time to time. Bulbs are cheap, even LEDs. It's not worth even asking for a replacement unless your time has a negative value. Always order extra and toss out the rare occasional defective bulb or other cheap thing-a-ma-jig.