Hi there,

I have to tell you about a situation I had this afternoon.

It made me laugh and put a huge smile on my face but really it is quite a serious subject

One of my customers called me to tell me that the fittings he had received in the mail today were faulty. He went on to explain that for some strange reason the hole was not big enough for the GU10 CFL globe to fit into the housing and that the globe was sitting proud of the fitting. I asked him if he had removed the front twist lock and he assured me he had but it still wouldnt fit in. I said that it was very strange and to try the other 5 fittings we had supplied and see if they were any different but he told me that they were exactly the same and short of using a hammer they just would not fit in.

I assured him that if the fitting was faulty that my supplier for this fitting (Crompton Lighting) had extremely good customer service and one way or another we get the problem sorted out. In the interim I suggested he send me the photos of the fittings and the problem.

Here are the photos he sent.

The email that came with the pictures said “As per our telephone conversation earlier today all 6 are exactly the same. So either the globe is too big or the housing is too small. Or I have got something wrong? Please advise.”

This alarmed me. Here was a guy at home that got online and ordered some light fittings and thought he could fit them himself. So apart from trying to put the globe in from the wrong side of the fitting (the globe should be sitting on the rear of the twist lock face) this guy was obviously also going to do his own electrical work as well. In Australia any electrical work must only be done by a qualified electrician. Dont get me wrong there are some electricians that wouldnt know which way to put the globe in either but hopefully he has a good idea on how to wire it safely.

There are some things you can do yourself without getting into too much trouble hopefully. You can mark holes, drill the cut outs and even run some wire if you like but when it comes to attaching the wire to the mains power this job should only be done by trained professionals.

If the fitting is sold a DIY fitting then you dont need an electrician. But if you dont see DIY in the product description or on the box then do as much as you can and then call the sparky!!