Official Thread for COMETA Refunding - Problem solving

I am not at home for the next couple of days & don”t have the Cometa”s with me as none work at the moment, I will have to post a picture next week.
While I am online anybody have any suggestions to what driver would be suitable to replace the original drivers & where to get them from (I am in the UK so shipping costs from the US may be prohibitive).
Probably something with just low, medium, high & turbo.

I haven’t seen anyone else report getting a refund, so if someone actually knows and has been keeping track, consider reporting on what people did that worked.
It may be purely random luck getting the attention of someone there who can create a refund.
As I’ve said I’m not happy with the method — once I got the refund, I was no longer able write reviews on the sale page (which I’d done a couple of times just before they refunded my payment.)
I’d intended to keep re-submitting the same review patiently figuring it would eventually show up — it would have cut down the “five star” review rating they had (have?) up on the sale page.
I haven’t looked lately to see if they’re still showing nothing but positive reviews.

Anyhow, dinging that “five star” rating would have happened if they’d accepted the reviews I tried submitting. That’s my guess why they sent a refund, to get me off the list of buyers.

Hank, would you characterize the repeated posting of negative reviews on the light’s product page as part of taking the high road of politeness and diplomacy you were advocating in post #101?

I ask because it seems like you are suggesting in post 3109 that it was the squeaky wheel approach that encouraged them to get them to offer a refund to you and not sweet as pie correspondence that won the day for you.

I wrote a straightforward review, calmly describing the known problems and giving links where to read about them.
If it had appeared it would have knocked the “five stars” rating down considerably.

When my review hadn’t appeared after a week or so I tried posting the same again.
I hadn’t done any email or PM contacts at all about the light.
I basically said no naive user get should one without understanding the issues.

At some point I ’oogled “cometa” and found that “forum” page for the product.

Someone there had the thread saying he’d tried to post a review, complaining the review was not appearing.
(last time I looked that was still findable by a search, and it includes the same pointers and cautions)

I commented in that forum thread, saying I had the same problem with a bad review not appearing.

Shortly after that, I got mail saying they’d refund the purchase, and they did.

So basically that’s three little squeaks. No angry email, no PMs, no demands.

I’ve not been particularly surprised or upset.
I’m well aware of “quality creep” as an issue.

I care about solving that before people move up from cheap flashlights to building nuclear plants and big buildings.
Seriously.

The US went through this in the 1800s. Nobody else should repeat that grim history. We know better ways. Checklists, QA, QC.

I am very sure there are people trying hard to solve these problems.
I am very sure it’s damned hard to get past the cheap fast profit approach.
The US did that to some extent, very slowly, with a lot of misery and it’s still not done, it takes constant attention to do reliably good work.

As Bradbury said, “I don’t write to predict the future. I write to prevent it.”

Found… http://forum.banggood.com/forum-topic-171246.html

The Banggood behavior is unacceptable, after producing a dangerous torch, not working, and mechanically low-quality; You do not want to refund users!
and does not admit mistakes propi! with their community of enthusiasts flashlights earn much money, maybe they do not understand that they are the same customers who buy torches like this.
Such conduct must be reported! banggood | Leggi le recensioni dei servizi di www.banggood.com do our part,
can not make fun of us and of our money;

on 5/11/2016 i sent the following email to banggod

After reading all of the dangerous problems related to this product, I have removed the battery for feAR OF AN EXPLOSION.
I am not willing or able to make modifications to this flashlight to make it safe.
Please refund my purchase.
regards, frank richards

here is their response:

Dear Frank,
Thank you for your email.
I’m sorry is there a problem with item CPFItalia COMETA 2016 Cree XPL HI 1300LM 26650 LED Flashlight in order 14076750?
If so, could you please send us a picture of the shipping label and a short video to show us the problem?
If not, I’m sorry we cannot refund you the money.
Hope for your kind understanding.
Best wishes,
Ruth

I did not have the shipping label and was unwilling to waste my time shooting a video. A “shipping label”… really?

My Cometa works. It has a chipped lens and rattles when zooming. I installed a washer. It is not what I expected. I do not use it. I have chalked this up to a bad experience.

Here is a picture of what bella-headlight was talking about.
Like he said, the O-rings are placed between heat transfer/cooling fins… not in the zoom threads.
bella-headlight said he did his between every other one.

I am sure they would / will interfere with heat transfer to some degree. But to what degree I have no idea at this point.

You will notice on the pictures below the o-rings are between every third heat transfer/cooling fin.

Approximate actual size.

Enlarged

Hi Banggood as your user status shows you are on the site now I repeat the question I asked yesterday
“Hi Banggood, as it has now been 10 days since you posted the above statement & we have heard nothing further, can I politely ask if there has been any progress made on finding this “best solution for you” that you mention ?
Thanks in advance.”
Obviously it has now been 11 days since you posted this
“Banggood wrote: Sorry, just saw this thread. we are talking with manker and Cyberscudo, we will find a best solution for you.”

Sigh

When I asked this question to Cyberscudo no more post was done from him/her

what was the sample that was OKed compared to an original Z1?

Others have said it.
I have been trying to get an answer via PMs with Cyberscudo, Wonwuster and Budda but this is simply ignored.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the effort of CPF Italia staff to get a solution.
But I must say this one big piece of the puzzle is simply missing and I think no general solution can be found if it is not presented to us.

Why?
From the facts we do know it seems Cyberscudo has OKed a sample not as asked for yet OKed nevertheless.

And, this is very important, from BG perspective there is no fault made.
Yes there are issues, and people get replacement parts, new lights, a kit to deal with most issues
Yes this goes via the agonising CS.

A full and swift refund now asked for can only be expected if the OKed sample was indeed a Jaxman Z1 host and organisers OKed something different then was delivered.
In this case the negativity BG has to endure has a just foundation.

Yet, the actions of BG look more like they acted honestly. Do not forget the warning for big button tops was on the product page when we ordered.

The fact that so many of us try to get what that final OKed sample was like and we still not know it makes me fear the worst.

The fact that Manker has stated “we produced what was ordered” also is a strong indication organisers have OKed something that should not have been OKed.

The fact that Cyberscudo had gone silent and CPF Italia staff does not want to answer this question make me fear a fault of the organisers even more.

So besides the issues that are indeed legit and should have been dealt with better PLEASE CPF Italia answer the question about that OKed sample and I so hope you can prove all your words for a good solution can be backed by a foundation for demanding that.

None of us, nobody from CPF Italia can say something sensible (except our own experiences) before this question is answered.
Only the person that can tough that final sample can make the puzzle complete.
So I urge CPF Italia to really help getting to a solution by providing the missing piece so we can stop assuming, guessing and move forward.

Interesting point; I ordered before that problem was discovered (and so before they put the warning on the page)
and I got a refund quietly and quickly.

I gather others have gotten refunds, and that makes me wonder if there’s any correlation with when that warning appeared.

Also a good point. They got fooled.

It was naive on the Italia side to be fooled, but they were new to the game and didn’t understand that this stuff happens.
Too bad about that, but it does happen regularly and predictably, as well documented, for everything, not just flashlights.
After several experiences with it people at BLF got over their “this can’t be happening” and now “don’t be fooled again” is the standard caution at BLF.

Or so it seems to me. Only to me. Your opinion will differ. No, this isn’t an attack on the PRC or any ethnic group, or any religion or school of economics.
Just a thought.

P.S.: worth reading:

Note especially

+1 the Miller
Cyberscudo stand up and tell us what happened!

Cyberscudo told CPFItalia staff on the 14 of June that he was working with Neal for sending all the members a kit, containing a new pill, new driver and new emitter, with all the insulation needed, oring for the thrads, remembering Neal the original specs of the pill. According to Neal, this solution cost of the pill for BG is 13$ said to Cyberscudo.
Let me remind you that new lens are still out of the proposed solution. They were not mentioned.

Me and other members wrote that We were moving in the opposite direction: the kit is fine BUT for who doesn’t want it, we want a full refund. They can send 1,2,10 new cometa if a user agrees to these condition. But all the members should have the refound offered.
I remembered cyberscudo that the kit still won’t address many problems, like the lens, and the DOA tailcaps; also the KIT should be already soldered, not sent with the components apart since the members paid for a complete working light, and not for a DIY long term project.

Finally, I asked Cyberscudo if he found so strange, so unbelievable, that the members could get the full refund as an option, for getting a light what don’t work.

Cyberscudo never replied to that message. He has not connected to our forum since my last message.

Me and WonWurser have been contacted here on BLF by some members asking about Cyberscudo pics and other question about the final sample. Other members have expressed publically the same questions.
We are not Cyberscudo, the only one who got the pics, and we can’t reply directly to your questions.
So we asked your question to Cyberscudo on CPFItalia.
He did not reply to us, and has not connected since my message (the one above).

Given the lack of answer from Cyberscudo, we asked to the only other involved part who could answer us: BangGood.
After many more mails, Neal said that they “sold” the sample to Cyberscudo, and “manker change a little the production, like the 20 mm wires”. That’s all we got from Neal regarding these questions.

Summarizing, we have been told by Neal that the Cometa are:

- Fine

  • Fixable with an insulator
    … now it’s suddendly manker fault?

I’d like to remind you these 2 posts:

It’s interesting to see how some parts (BG and Cyberescudo) have proposed solutions that are useful to Banggood (= cheaper), but less useful for the members (problems remains).

In my years of flashlight disease I got some bugged light. They displaid mainly a BIG (often dumb) problem, that came from bad design/project, or machining. For example: a light with too high parasitic drain, or a light with too thin threads (like the nitecore D10 I snapped in half)…
The problem was on all the samples, until it was fixed in the production.

Someone said that the cometa problems came from bad desing… But here I see that all these lights are affected by a BROAD RANGE of problems: some broke lens, some o-ring damaged, some light work, other are DOA, other have broken tailcap, other have a short here, other have a short there.
Also, NOW the fact that this light are affected by serious issues is known to anybody who is wiling to google “cometa flashlight”, and for sure BangGood knows that for sure…. and they are still for sale on BangGood.

We are tired of going after BG without results, and seeing members getting asked AGAIN countless pics and videos. BG service asked many members to close their paypal dispute, in other to get helped because they can’t do anything until the dispute is open.
This is a trick used by sellers: once your dispute is closed paypal can’t work on the case (for or agains you), and you are left at the “mercy” of the seller.
Bella-Headlight was promised a working cometa for his broken one, so he closes the dispute and receives a new cometa that doesn’t work either.

We know mistakes can happen. But the customers should never pay for a mistake.
They pay for the product, and they deserve the rightful assistance.
In any case, the customer problems should be addressed.
Many things can go wrong making a product:

- if it is the company who manufactured the lights, BG should take care of the matter with them.

- if it is the guys who designed the light, BG should take care of the matter with them.

  • If it is the guys responsible for the QC, BG should take care of the matter with them.

There is a problem? let’s address it:
1Stop the sale of the lights UNTIL we identify the problems
2Write to ALL the buyers, asking to wait until using the light unti the problems have been sorted out
3Work to a fix, and if a fix is found, deliver it to the customers who bought the light (do the customer really have to ASK for it, when BG already knows name, address and data of all the buyers?)
4If fix is not found, find an acceptable solution.

We suggested BangGood to consider giving the members, as an option other than full refund, a BangGood credit, with a value higher that the cost of the cometa light.
Personally, I spend a lot of money on BG and other stores every year, and if I got the money back from a cometa, I may end spending them again on BG or somewhere else.
We have not received an answer on this idea.

The bottom line is that users don’t have to pay for someone mistake.

No sign of a search of an acceptable fix has been made from BG to us or BLF.
Cyberscudo came up with fixes that are favorable to BG (=cheaper), and not for the members.
At this point We believe Cyberscudo and BangGood, in the person of Neal, have not told us (BLF and CPFItaly) all the part of this story, and this led us believe that there has been some undisclosed details between them, that they prefere to keep private.

WE trusted a member who was an active part of our forum from years, and a seller whom we had a great relationship and service.
Once we realized the problems We made all we could to solve the problems that the members had, not for our fault.

We know that the Customer care guys of BG are behaving as instructed by their superiors.
We red that many members have stopped doing business with BG, and we know thay this will effect the job of many people who work for BG and have 0 responsability in this story.
BG blind behaviour is hurting them, also.

We have been on this story for a lot of our free time, in order to get things right for you guys.
We believe there is nothing else we can do.
According to what the hear from CPFIalia members and BLF members, refund are very rare for the light, returning the light in most country costs more than the light itself (why returning a defective item that can’t be fixed? I don’t have an answer), the replacement lights are also faulty… And the kit received by a member has other problems (and still won’t fix the lens, and the tailcap problems).

At this point, we may suggest to the members who are not happy of Bangood Service’s to leave a bad review on sites like Trustpilot.
All sellers are good when the transaction is smooth, but when problems emerge, the differences in what I believe is BUSINESS CONDUCTION emerge.

I understand that on many forums BG is helping members getting their custom flashlight done, I believe that this opportunity make some members very partial towards BangGood, as they want to redeem the reputation of the seller which has been deeply damaged by this story.
I’ll be very afraid myself to conduct myself a project of similar magnitude with a seller with such aftersale behaviour.
Of coutse this is just my point of view, and I don’t want to persuade anyone to adopt it.
I trust the members judgement.

We hope that this horrible experience works as a big warning for all the future initiative like our one.

Buddha you are right in soooo many things.
We want to learn from our mistakes and therefore it is necessary to see all sides of the problem before we make an accusement. There is no court and no judge.
Maybe Cyberscudo should send the final example to you or any other member of your staff.

Thanks Budda for making clear that the IMHO most important question probably will not be answered.

For what it is worth I am going to fix mine and like it.
Not only because the work involved but also because I know this has reached me a lot of useful knowledge for the Q8 project

Thanks for clarifying and the efforts.
Personally I will treat mine as something I will deal with and that seems the way BG is treating it too.

This has always been the part that really bothers me. BG knows exactly who purchased the light, what our email address are, what out PP accounts are, etc. Yet they need to see a shipping label? What for, pray tell?

Then they need a video of the problem? They are a member here. They have seen countless posts, pictures, and videos of member’s lights. This isn’t one person with one bad light, this is basically every purchaser and all the lights.

It would be laughable if the joke wasn’t on us.

time to boycott BG

I am boycotting Manker! Funny people have problems with them making bad lights but still take samples to review? How serious are you of finding the solution? Manker is the problem here not Banggood! Manker released the light to the public with all these faults and quality issues! Not Banggood how does a regular working at Banggood know whats right or wrong with a light? They are not experts!

Tell us how you really feel about Manker.

Mate i am stating facts :innocent:

A magical fairy didn’t make the light and banggood didn’t make the light either. A magical fairy might as well of made the light probably be easier to contact for a fix….