Hi Zane (& Andrew of A-A), Just to provide a bootnote to the D25C issue I was having for the benefit of others on the forum:
I received the replacement D25C just in time for my return home, and have only just had a proper opportunity to properly use it.
The new one is functioning perfectly first time and also does not have the weird reflector defect present before.
On the old one, half the reflector had a much stronger orange-peel, whilst the other half was very light almost smooth. This affected the beam profile and made the hotspot appear like the emitter wasn’t correctly centred. The new item has a perfectly consistent reflector, closer to what looked smooth. Photos below taken from the old item before it was returned to illustrate:
Orange-peel half (left) / Smooth half (right):
Orange-peel half (left) / Smooth half (right):
The original item was already put back in the US post prior to receiving the new one, so you should have received it last week.
Apologies in advance that I needed to remove the clip in order to properly unscrew and re-screw the tail cap onto the body whilst trying to resolve the intermittent failure. I didn’t have the proper tools to re-attach it, so it is loose in the small plastic bag with the lanyard and spare o-ring.
The USPS service was bizarre - I put “RETURN TO SENDER” on the package to return, expecting that this was the way the US postal service operated for unwanted items, incorrect recipient, address unknown, etc. (Something learned from Elvis I guess!).
But they said I would need to pay for the full return postage because it looked like the item had been opened. Well of course it had, else how would anyone discover that it needed to be returned to the sender?! So I paid the postage and assumed that swapping the words ‘To’ and ‘From’ on the original shipping label would give them just as clear address details as when it was sent to me the first time. Nope! They insisted I purchase a brand new totally blank USPS label to stick over the existing label, on which I would just write the exact same details again! Anyway in total it ended up costing me just short of $5 extra to return the other item to you. Are you able to PM me please to kindly agree reimbursing that small amount.
Again many thanks for such great customer service and the speedy resolution. I’m sure my initial experience was just bad luck and everyone on these forums knows these exceptions do occur. What differentiates these occasions however is the way in which the seller or retailer handles the issue and goes about rectifying it. From my perspective Andrew-Amanda has been flawless from the initial contact of making an offer on the web-site (a great unique feature), through to receiving and replacing the item. I am delighted with the new light and will certainly use your store again.
Many thanks and all the best,
Adam