A few months ago, I purchased a 473nm laser @ 200mW from this company
at a cost of $590 + shipping. The laser ran for *maybe* 2 hours at the most
and then died. They told me to ship it back to them and they would repair it
at no cost if it was a manufacturing defect (or *at cost* to me if it were due
to some negligence on my part).
When they received the laser, they told me that the TEC was burned out and
that this was due to my running the laser outside (we had previously discussed
that I ran the laser for about 1 hour indoors and 1 hour outdoors). So now they
want an additional $10 for the TEC + $40 for repair.. which I find to be complete
bull-crap!!
First of all, the laser head *and* power supply were mounted to a 10" x 12"
Thorlabs optical breadboard (1/4" thick). Secondly, the laser head *and* the
power supply both came with cooling fans already installed from Lasever. And
third, the difference in temperature between indoors and outdoors was *at most*
10°F hotter outside, as the test was ran during the night (for obvious reasons).
Am I the only one who clearly sees this as a scam?! They are merely trying to
find any excuse for covering the cost of repair for their own faulty equipment.
This is both illegal and immoral. Of course, being based out of China, there is
probably absolutely nothing I can do about it other than tick them off and
possibly never see my laser again. But I still think it is disgrace when a company
uses dishonest practices like this. I shall certainly *not* be doing business with
them again in the future.
Comments? Suggestions?