TrustFire AK-47 Did lightmalls sell me a fake one ?

So I placed another order with lightmalls, first time was 2 years ago I ordered TrustFire AK-47 I also ordered this zooming flash I choose express post instead of free thinking they have stock and delivery would be 2 to 3 days. order kept sitting in progress for days until I sent email asking why there is no update. I ordered on 1 March and ended receiving the box on the 13th of March almost 2 weeks to Australia. 1-The zooming flash wouldn’t work within the first few minutes of trying, turned itself and wouldn’t turn on, I looked closely and I can see the led very very dim when pressing the switch on, but would not light on. 2-The Ak-47 suddenly and after a few days on the third time I used and only for a few minutes, shut itself as well, and wouldn’t turn on, I tried to tighten the switch thinking it might be not making good contact, then I realized there is parts rattling loose at the head part of the flash, when I opened it I found 2 parts like IC and resistor loose inside like the legs were desoldered themselves while flash was on and that is the cause of flash not turning on, parts melted . I am appalled by the quality of a flash that cost me such a high cost , but burns its internal parts for no reason but being turned on to be used, I have tried contacting lightmalls for support, but they playing dumb and telling me to check the switch and use unprotected batteries when the problem as I mentioned early is de-soldered parts that came loose from heat and poor quality. I send them several emails asking them to look at the pictures and that it is not a switch issue but parts that burned itself, they did not reply and went silent. I would have been happy to take the flash to a shop to solder back these 2 parts to solve the issue , but I don’t know where they go on the board, lightmalls didn’t bother help me with that information let alone providing warranty or support. I got ripped of US $97.61 for 2 flash lights that don’t work after few minutes or a few times of operation.

please see the pictures attached of Trustfire AK-47 loose parts and board and let me know if you think I got a bad quality assurance unit or a completely fake AK-47

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Sorry to hear about the lights, oki. It sounds like terrible QC. Can you post clearer pics of the soldering?

Did you pay by Paypal? Maybe there is still time to make a claim.

Welcome to BLF! :party:

thanks for your reply

yes, I have a dispute opened with paypal, lightmalls only responded once saying they would need items back for which I answered refund me first, then you can take back your defective items.

I think since they charged me express post and ended sending it after 2 weeks, and since they sent me a low quality items, they should pay for the return post this time or use the credit of the express post they charged when I ordered.

I have until the 30th ( tomorrow Australian time ) to escalate the dispute to a claim.

I have been on ebay and paypal since 2005 and had hundreds of paypal transactions, this is my first problem with a purchase, not sure whether paypal cover low quality , bad warranties from bad sellers

or is it only if item is not received.

anyway, here are the pictures you’ve asked , hope they are more clear.

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The smaller IC has the following written on

12cw004FN
I (some symbol)R707G
F0Z1

googling lightsmall came up with a number of others who had bad experience with that merchant

problem1

problem2

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I’ve ordered six different items from Lightmalls and not a single one was the item I ordered. They don’t have a single thing you can’t get somewhere more reputable, for cheaper.

thanks for sharing your experience, if I knew about other people experience with lightmalls, I wouldn’t have dealt with them, hopefully, this will be helpful to others in the future.

STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU SHOP ELSEWHERE!!!
MISLEADING ADVERTISING, ARROGANT AND RUDE CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!
ALL OVER $5 WORTH OF BATTERIES!!!

I ordered 2 Boruit headlamps from lightmalls.ca on 1/5/21

With a website that ends with “.ca” one would think it was a Canadian site, not so.( They are now lightmalls.com, they dropped their “.ca” website)
Only after ordering was it revealed they were being shipped from Shenzhen, Guangdong province China That, was misdirection #1
Package finally arrived 1 month later on 2/5/21

Both packages had crushed corners, so i carefully opened and discovered no damage to product However, this is where the trouble started 1 of the headlamps arrived without batteries, so i rechecked the ad. It stated “2*18650 battery”. According to their customer service, this means it TAKES 2*18650 batteries and those DO NOT come with the purchase.BTW these are 3.7v rechargeable batteries… Not something readily available in Canada When questioned regarding their “misleading” advertising their customer service rep claimed i threatened them ( which i did not, i Only stated that my reviews of their business would reflect the transaction appropriately), they had “ dealt with people like you” before and did not “accept” my threats Several emails later it was agreed they would send me 2 batteries, however, it was Chinese New Year and all shipping was closed and they would address this when they came back They “ addressed” it all right The ads now state “Does not include batteries” which was not stated at the time of the transaction I have been told i can order new batteries from their store OR they would ship me batteries with my next order
A wise old man once said to me “ water…is at once, the most yeilding of elements…yet the mightiest of eroding forces” By selling us cheap and inferior products, refusing to stand behind their misleading business practises ( BTW, Paypal has no recourse for Chinese products)… We are slowly having our Canadian standards of business eroded away

Do a quick search for “lightmalls.ca reviews” and see for yourself.

PURCHASE FROM LIGHTMALLS.COM AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

Nuff said

erm i dont want to sound harsh but ‘a fake trustfire’? hope you dont buy the batteries too….teh-chy.

is there actually a real trustfire left on the planet? maybe in a museum or some old guy hording one in his loft…just a thought.