# TMC Tiles LEDs Out



## forever (10 Jun 2015)

So whilst cleaning the TMC tiles today I noticed that on one tile two LEDs are not working and on the other three !!! Are they repairable? Only had them 18 months or so, pretty poor effort given the amount they cost!!!


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## Andy D (10 Jun 2015)

Probably worth contacting TMC. Don't they have a 2 year guarantee (or maybe longer?).


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## forever (11 Jun 2015)

Andy D said:


> Probably worth contacting TMC. Don't they have a 2 year guarantee (or maybe longer?).


They have 5, but because i no longer have the receipt its a no go, sad really . They offer a repair service at a max of 85.00 if they have to replace everything so its a case of do i buy new or go for the repair.. TBH, i am not impressed with the fact that they have gone so quickly... My homemade Chinese LEDs are still go good ...


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## Julian (11 Jun 2015)

forever said:


> They have 5, but because i no longer have the receipt its a no go, sad really . They offer a repair service at a max of 85.00 if they have to replace everything so its a case of do i buy new or go for the repair.. TBH, i am not impressed with the fact that they have gone so quickly... My homemade Chinese LEDs are still go good ...



Just make up a fake receipt in Word? They don't do anything special, it's just a bit of paper.


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## forever (11 Jun 2015)

or if someone has one i can have a copy of


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## forever (22 Jun 2015)

So to close this out i have the option to return to them, if its the controller it will cost me £35 + postage, if the seals etc cannot be reused its capped at £85.00 plus postage, TBH it pretty poor form that these so called premium lights are not worth the premium (or rather don't lose your receipt!!).
So my advice if looking at the TMC lights is don't!!!
I think I am just going to run them until they all go out, TBH i cannot really tell when they are over the tanks that some are off..


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## l33yds (22 Jun 2015)

There's a fair few been going on eBay over the last couple of months with leds out. I reckon I've seen at least 12 or so. It's culled my interest in them...


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## forever (22 Jun 2015)

true i have also seen that, must be some kind of issue given how long they should be lasting....


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## Andy Thurston (22 Jun 2015)

If you had registered your tiles when you bought them this wouldn't be an issue.
lots of tiles on ebay have had components removed to stop high pitch whining. this invalidates the warranty and increases the risk of led chips failing


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## Sk3lly (22 Jun 2015)

In my opinion its your fault for a) not registering, or b) not keeping the receipt

Things go wrong with electrical items. It just happens. What matters between products is warranty, and if it is 5yrs like mentioned, then this is pretty decent. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## forever (22 Jun 2015)

TBH its still rubbish, they have a manufactured date on them so its not as if they don't know how old they are..
And the fact they have a high pitched whining when new goes to show they have not been manufactured correctly...


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## JohnC (1 Jul 2015)

have you contacted tmc or just the seller?


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## forever (1 Jul 2015)

contacted TMC the above is the advice they gave


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## Andy Thurston (1 Jul 2015)

I think dissing a company on open forum when YOU lost your receipt is pretty bad form. My experience of tmc customer care is very good. they were more than happy to replace my faulty units. they even came the very next morning. They are a forum sponsor, why don't you air your complaint in their sub forum where they can have their say too


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## forever (1 Jul 2015)

TBH, I don't care if they are a forum sponsor or not, regardless of whether I have the receipt or not they have a manufactured date, and its clear they are within that period.
Also judging by the fact there are numerous cases of failed LEDs with these units tells a story.
I have not been over the top or abusive, its a public forum and I am sharing my disappointment...


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## Andy Thurston (1 Jul 2015)

forever said:


> Also judging by the fact there are numerous cases of failed LEDs with these units tells a story.



how many have been modified, by unqualified people, to stop a whining that isn't really a problem.  It doesn't really tell an accurate story does it? and when people try to make things seem much worse than they actually are isn't really fair to the manufacturer is it?



forever said:


> TBH, I don't care if they are a forum sponsor or not, regardless of whether I have the receipt or not they have a manufactured date, and its clear they are within that period.


does that translate to "Talk to the hand" or "Am I bothered"


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## Rahms (1 Jul 2015)

Big clown said:


> how many have been modified, by unqualified people, to stop a whining that isn't really a problem.  It doesn't really tell an accurate story does it?



But if they're willing to repair them for him if he has his receipt, this is kinda tangential.  Presumably they've got some sort of tamper seal on it so they can tell if the unit has been modified. This isn't the reason they aren't offering to repair his unit.  I think everyone at some point has had an item break within warranty only to realise they've lost the receipt.  Chalk it up to experience and start scanning them!

Obviously they're a business and this is one way they can save some money.  If they offered to repair everyone's they may end up having to charge slightly more (customer satisfaction is obviously valuable though). Rather than hoping for change, you just have to make sure you're not one of the people getting done


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## forever (1 Jul 2015)

Some of it also comes down to how you stand by your product. I had a LG TV develop a fault called them up they repaired based off the serial number and manufactured date. I don't see why if you are confident in your product you would not offer the same.
Anyway as a forum sponsor I am sure they can comment on this thread if they so wish .


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## John S (2 Jul 2015)

How did you pay for your lights? If it was by card or paypal you could get a copy of the transaction?

I agree with your point about a manufacturing date or serial number. One of my Eheims had the pump head repaired for free as they could tell it was in warranty even though I'd mislaid the receipt.


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## forever (3 Jul 2015)

it was on a credit card, but it just says the vendors name (which is a garden center with a fish shop ) rather than what the item was


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## terry82517 (5 Jul 2015)

Big clown said:


> how many have been modified, by unqualified people, to stop a whining that isn't really a problem.  It doesn't really tell an accurate story does it? and when people try to make things seem much worse than they actually are isn't really fair to the manufacturer is it?
> 
> 
> does that translate to "Talk to the hand" or "Am I bothered"




Isn't really a problem... I massively disagree, how a product could go to market with that kind of noise coming from it is beyond me. Completely unusable for me and many others without the mod.


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## Andy Thurston (5 Jul 2015)

terry82517 said:


> Isn't really a problem... I massively disagree, how a product could go to market with that kind of noise coming from it is beyond me. Completely unusable for me and many others without the mod.


there are much louder household items than the tiles also on the market people used to manage to get sleep with ticking clocks ffs. fridges freezers and combi boilers are all much louder than the tiles and most people manage to live with those too


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## terry82517 (5 Jul 2015)

The noise is obviously subjective, but to me it was unusable without the mod, an extremely annoying high pitch whine. 
Yes I agree other things make noise, but not anything like this kind of whine, Far more irritating than any other household appliance. If I had a fridge that made that kind of noise, it would go back.
other led manufacturers can make their unit silent, so it's not like it can't be done.


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## John S (5 Jul 2015)

A poor comparison. You are also more than aware when you buy those items they will admit some noise which is why most of us don't have boilers in our front room.


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## forever (5 Jul 2015)

I think Big Clown must be on the TMC payroll ..


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## Tim Harrison (5 Jul 2015)

I think that recently LEDs have started to truly come of age, and there are much better more controllable, more reliable models on the market, for similar or less money.
TMC produced market leading LEDs for a while and perhaps the unique (at the time) benefits outweighed the downside.
But technology moves on at an ever increasingly startling pace.
I think now we expect much more for our money and it's not OK to have lights with high pitch whines and failing diodes...in other words by recent standards they are unfit for purpose.
Further, to add insult to injury, TMC displace responsibility for these faults on to the consumer through voided warranties, which is simply unacceptable.
At the end of the day the consumer will dictate the fate of companies like TMC especially with shared information on forums like this one. They have an option to do the right thing by their customers and stay in business, or alternatively loose a large proportion of their market share to companies with better customer service and innovation...companies like Kessil and Ecotech...the consequence of a free market economy. 
I know this is very little consolation to those who are currently suffering sub-standard equipment..but perhaps TMC would do well to be mindful of these facts...


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## terry82517 (5 Jul 2015)

Well said troi


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## pepedopolous (5 Jul 2015)

The TMC 1000/1500 Aquarays use powerful Cree LEDs yet only passive cooling (heat sinks, not fans). I wonder if that has been a problem.

P


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## JohnC (8 Jul 2015)

TMC got a lot of flack for the failure rate of their original led units, so much so that a lot of shops wont even touch them now. they did respond with longer warranties on their products and taking stuff back that was past the original year too. i do believe their products are better now but still you would think in the era of "the internet remembers everything" a greater consideration for customer satisfaction would be obvious.

for the record thou it's not just TMC that had issues. The LFS has returned 3 arcadia OTL's from their shop plant tank over the years they have had it. The issue he highlights is the classica range was the budget Chinese made range where the more expensive led's they did are european made. I suspect both TMC and Arcadia have suffered at one stage or another from variable quality control in the factories pumping out their "value end" products.


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## Andy Thurston (8 Jul 2015)

controllers and psu's have a 2 year guarantee and the tiles and aquabars have a 5 year guarantee if you read the instructions it states that you need to register the tiles to activate the 5 year guarantee and you will need proof of purchase to claim on the guarantee (all of this is pretty standard guarantee stuff and has been for years). so if you don't do either of these you deserve to be out of pocket. Unfortunately most things we buy these days are made in the far east and of very low quality but thats what happens when you lower our standards to allow these countries to compete in our economy. we should bring back the BSI kite mark and get rid of the CE(crappy european) stamp


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## John S (8 Jul 2015)

Big clown said:


> controllers and psu's have a 2 year guarantee and the tiles and aquabars have a 5 year guarantee if you read the instructions it states that you need to register the tiles to activate the 5 year guarantee and you will need proof of purchase to claim on the guarantee (all of this is pretty standard guarantee stuff and has been for years). *so if you don't do either of these you deserve to be out of pocket*.



I take it you don't work in customer service. It's unfortunate if you forgot or have lost your paper work, but you don't "deserve to be out of pocket". You would still expect  to get a reasonable life from your product. Lets take TMC out of this, there are lots of companies that will still use a manufacturing date or serial number. I've had replacements from companies where the guarantee has just run out - it's called a good will gesture. I know they don't have to do it but it is an option. After all, one of the so called benefits of LED lighting is extended life.


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## forever (8 Jul 2015)

Like I said Big Clown must work for TMC , my other bigger gripe is even if I paid TMC to fix the lights they would still not give me a warranty !!! Now that's really poor..


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