Banggood won't honor warranty

I feel your pain. That’s why I threw my Astrolux FT02 in the trash. I had enough of the baloney going back and forth, so I ate my losses.

Not to sound snarky (I’d be pist, myself), but even though NC has a 5yr warranty, what would anyone expect BG to do after 1yr, let alone 4yrs?

They don’t have their own repair center, chances are the light won’t even exist by that time, you know you won’t get any bux back, and if those retailers might even insist you send back the light to China (costing you 50bux or more in fully-trackable shipping) even for a DOA, what would anyone expect them to do? People gotta sic PP and their CC issuer on them for a light that’s DOA right out of the box, and people would expect them to honor warranty service??

Those retailers, once they get hold of your bux, they ain’t ever giving it back without a fight to the death. Even if an item doesn’t even ship, or gets lost in transit, etc., they just expect you to eat it, vs giving back a dime. And then it’s off to PP or your CC issuer to have them duke it out with the retailer.

Naw, I’d go to NC directly and explain to ’em the sitch. Maybe they’ll do something. I think that’s pretty much the only chance you’d have.

Exactly what i was thinking Lightbringer!

You really can not expect any service from a Chinese webshop after succesfully using a light a couple of years.

This.

Also, as the purchase was outside of Banggood’s warranty I would expect that you should go directly to the manufacturer. I think it unreasonable to expect a discount webshop to provide lifetime service on their own. Especially, when pretty much all they could do if you shipped them your light is to forward it onward to the manufacturer anyways.

Your beef is with NC my friend. BG has nothing to do with this.

Good points. I did think that since NC has a policy that retailers handle warranty that it meant their retailers had agreed to that, but after a little thought I realize there’s no reason to really assume that…

All authorized dealers and distributors agree to provide the warranty support. This is a deal they make with Nitecore, they cannot be a dealer if they do not agree to it.

This means Banggood are probably not an authorized dealer, they are selling fakes. Thanks for the warning, nobody should buy Nitecore from Banggood !

I highly doubt bg sells fakes, but guarantee is a whole other story.

They just want to make quick money and the cs reputation of them is already poor when it comes to defects or DOA’s or empty packages or whatever.
So if your light was working for over e.g. 2 years and died, you might be technically correct to contact them for warranty.

But i want to bet that you won’t get any

I purchased a USB meter/analyzer in early 2019 and it stopped working before Christmas. Contacted BG CS and they offered me a partial refund. I took it because the device was almost a year old. so… while this isn’t a “real warranty” but at least it was something.

Didn’t some mfr get a solid thrashing here a few months back after “announcing” that they’ll only honor warranty work from authorised resellers, only most of the usual channels were not “authorised”? So basically you’re SOL.

Mightta been Lumintop, but don’t quote me on that. (Yeah, I know… some wiseass will stick that in a quoteblock.)

Anyway, that’s why I tend to not buy pricey lights. “Warranty” or not, if it breaks down the road, you’re largely SOL. You’d have to pay shipping there and possibly back, if it’s “abused” they might not fix it at all, or fix it only if you agree to pay for it, etc. Conditions, restrictions, exclusions, etc. Warranties are usually garbage.

So, you wanna buy a 500buk or even 100buk light, accept that you’re largely on your own.

I don't remember which company it was, but a thrashing they did get.

I believe the thread was deleted as per request of the company.

About 7 years ago some guy was selling lots of new lights hereabouts (Bob, aka “kuma bear”). He had a large number of Thrunite TN36 (around $135 I think). I bought one - it worked for maybe 4 hours over a couple months. Thrunite said he wasn’t an authorized reseller (so they would do nothing) and kuma bear had disappeared, so I was SOL. Still have it, hoping I (or someone) will be able to use it as a host someday…

More than likely, even if BG agreed to warranty it with it being older, that be the last time anyone ever seen it.
I remeber someone on here sending a light back for warranty work and the seller claimed they never received it.
I”m not saying that would happen, just it is a possibility.
Go directly to Nitecore, if nothing happens, cut your losses and fix the light yourself or buy another similar light from a local reputable seller.
Its hard to swallow, but sometimes its best to move on and in hopes that karma will eventually kick in.

Thanks for the tip. I had actually already emailed thrunite. They responded promptly, indeed asking for serial number (along with info on my batteries, their voltage, chargers). Awaiting their response, Hopefully my experience with them will be as positive as yours - I’ll follow up…

KLARUS

This thread might interest you if you end up keeping the light, might even be better than original.

Klarus is one company that did this, and then another company did it more recently, if I remember correctly.

It may have been Lumintop, as Lightbringer said.

Ah, that’s not entirely true.

I’m an authorized distributor for Sofirn, Fireflies, Convoy, Mateminco, and shortly Skilhunt. I am able state my own warranty period, no matter what’s mentioned on their website. This warranty period has to be in line with the countries consumers guarantees act though. I provide 12 months for most or if I’m clearing out stock for super cheap I go 3 months.

Fireflies give me a 2 year warranty but to avoid issues I only provide 12 months. I get a bit nervous with all the aux lights and leds used.

Also if a manufacturer states a 1.5m impact resistance, I choose what I advertise it at, can’t always believe every single spec.

What I stated is true. To be a Nitecore dealer, you agree to handle warranty claims.

This is a very common arrangement that many brands have with their dealers and distributors network. Since the dealer may be geographically closer to the customer, the warranty claim can be handled by the dealer.

In most cases the brand would look very poorly upon the dealer refusing to handle the customers warranty claim, since it is an agreed arrangement.

Most of the brands you mention are small Chinese brands and so do not operate in the same way as large international brands.

For all intents and purposes, Banggood should take care of ANY Astrolux valid product complaint, considering it is their very own brand.