Product Princess Auto shop lights not ETL certified

[Mike R]

So - I decided to buy some more of those petal type LED lights that screw into a standard bulb socket. Wanted them for the garage.
Amazon is a hot mess of untested and uncertified products so I decided to go instore to buy some. Princess Auto had some at an amazing price of $19.99 so I grabbed them as they had the ETL listing marked right on the front of the package. When I got home, I thought I should double check and did the search then, only to find out a week later after I had installed them that the use of the listing mark was "unauthorized".

I had been waiting for Princess Auto to get back to me but its been a week, and they still had them listed for sale on their website just now and no follow up email after they acknowledged they got my message, so I'm posting here to warn about them.
This has broken my trust of Princess Auto as a retailer, I won't believe any certification on any product from them, I'll be verifying everything that plugs in (or not buying it from them). I would expect that they perform this check before they put the product on the shelf, not me needing to do it.

 

[YotaBota]

This has broken my trust of Princess Auto

Did you return them yet?
I don't trust any of the discount type stores, but that's just me. Half the time you can't trust any of the other stores either but when you need/want something you do your research, pay your money and keep your fingers crossed all works out well.

 

[slow-poke]

Way too many of these M.I.C. products have fake stickers. When you look up the listing number it’s for some other product usually somewhat similar but definitely different than the device the sticker is on.

Good on you for checking it out.

 

[Mike R]

Did you return them yet?
I don't trust any of the discount type stores, but that's just me. Half the time you can't trust any of the other stores either but when you need/want something you do your research, pay your money and keep your fingers crossed all works out well.

Yes, returned them today, no hassle returning them but now the hassle of finding a suitable replacement begins.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

PA has been handling an increasing number of those GRIP items the last couple of years, Grand Rapids Industrial Products, an American company but the stuff is still made in China. Says it's certified to CSA standards ?

 

[Mike R]

If the ETL mark was legit then you know its tested to CSA standards.
In this case the use of the mark is "unauthorized", which could be many things - they didn't pay ETL, the paper work is hung up on some technicality and not fully released, the product didn't pass testing, or they just made up the whole thing. No easy way to tell. ETL won't share anything other than a yes its legit or no its unauthorized. I could try following up with GRIP but frankly, that is Princess Autos job not mine as the consumer.

 

[djberta]

At my one company we were looking for an alternative to carling for our switch breakers. One company sent us some samples, looked good, all the dimensions matched. Ran the ULC number and it came back for a clock radio. SO one has to do their diligence. Even then the ABB rep told us that counterfeit electrical equipment is out there. Looks exactly like the ABB part. Best way to know is price. You can not buy an ABB esd mushroom switch with contacts for 10 bucks. If the price is to good its fake. As to buying things at CT, Walmart, PA its a coin flip these days.

 

[DPittman]

I could try following up with GRIP but frankly, that is Princess Autos job not mine as the consumer.

I agree and I wish we as individual consumers had some sway or push in that regard. Its just too easy to ignore one complaining consumer, give them a refund and then sell 50 more to the next unknowing consumers.

 

[someidiot]

That's absolutely appalling. We know what we're getting when we buy from Princess, but that shouldn't extend to fraudulent advertising and certification marks. My last serious beef with them was over a hand-crank winch (for raising a mast) a couple of years ago. It was the bidirectional style with a lever on the pawl that selected whether it would rachet while raising or lowering. Seemingly randomly - while cranking - the pawl would get dragged past the crank pinion and stop ratcheting, allowing the gears to freewheel unless I held the crank (see photo).

The culprit was poor manufacturing tolerances - the space between one pair of teeth was slightly greater than all the others, and that allowed the pawl to skip out. I took the complaint to PA's head office, explained that it was dangerous garbage that should be taken off the shelf immediately, and that - having been informed of the defect - all the "not to be used for lifting" disclaimers in the world wouldn't help them if there were ever serious damage or injury resulting. I went back and forth (via email) with one of their guys over the span of about a week, and he promised to bring it to the attention of all the relevant team leaders yadda yadda yadda, but they never did pull them.

I got my money back and bought another chinesium winch from Canadian Tire for about the same money, much better built.