With the weather stormy and rainy in Holland, where I am at the moment, it made me think of an issue that plagued one of our hospitality projects in the Maldives recently. The link? Water! The main public pool has linear under water lights which outline the pool beautifully. That is if they work!

Shortly after opening, a few lights stopped working. As the rest of the linear under water lights were still working, it was an obvious case of a faulty light after all connections were checked and find in proper condition. As it was only a few months since opening, this should be a straight-forward warranty issue.

This is where it becomes more complicated and where you will find out how good your supplier/ manufacturer is in servicing legitimate warranty claims, specifically from a remote place like the Maldives! 

Initially the supplier was slow to respond to the site engineer with the usual pushback when they eventually did. The back and forth apparently lasted a few months after which the operator contacted us for assistance to resolve this now lingering issue. We first intervened with the local supplier/ representative but when that failed to illicit any quick action, we contacted the manufacturer’s head office directly to make them aware of the situation and urged them to take responsibility immediately and rectify the situation at their costs without further ado.

The proper way for premium brands is to take back the faulty fixture, no questions asked, replace it and figure out the fault from the returned fixture. Any financial implications to be settled afterwards. A client’s satisfaction and appreciation is key to long term relationships! 

It still took another 2 months before it was finally resolved, replaced and reinstalled to its full glory and to the satisfaction of the client, but while the manufacturer finally did the right thing, it should not have necessitated our intervention and the nearly a year (!) to get it fixed! The happiness of the client was shown by the pictures of the restored lighting they happily sent to confirm it was now all ok! 

Maintenance and service, specifically from premium brands are an inherent part of the lighting specifications we do. We specify these brands and their related premium price, exactly so that a client can have a peace of mind that when something happens the manufacturer will replace it without questions asked. Let me know if you also have any “horror” stories when it comes to service and honouring warranty!