Last week I bought a Streamlight 1L-1AA flashlight from Amazon. This light uses CR123 or AA batteries which is why I bought it. It was an Amazon Prime item which sold and shipped from Amazon.com, LLC so it was Amazon outright selling it. It was a counterfeit.
I contacted Streamlight and got an initial response back the next morning from their General Council. That got my attention as I was just inquiring if they thought it might be counterfeit. I wasn't concerned either way since Amazon's return policy is really good and told this to Streamlight. I'd just send it back and get one from another vendor, so no big deal. Well, big deal! They are going to try and prosecute from the sounds of it if they can. After several attempts to send photos we finally gave up on them getting them and they sent a call tag, their system was blocking the emails with attachments or stripping them out. I shipped it out Tuesday, I think, and it's not even there yet. Today UPS unexpectedly pulls up and has a replacement direct from Streamlight on my porch. The one I got from Amazon was definitely different.
The differences I noted:
O-ring seal was thinner and not orange in color
Rubber switch cover was not embossed with the Streamlight logo
Positive battery contact inside was different
Switch is very stiff to operate
AA battery insertion bent the spring because it was so stiff to actuate
No batteries shipped with light
Note that the packaging and manual was basically a spot on perfect copy and except for not having a means to include batteries in said packaging I would probably not even checked it out. It could have came from Streamlight as far as I would have known. It was that good. I have several Streamlight items and compared it. The light itself externally looked to be very good quality just like you'd expect. Inside there were the differences above.
After receiving the real deal from Streamlight today and comparing I sent Amazon customer service an email and gave them the whole story. I wasn't requesting a refund, return, etc. since I got what I bought in the end. I was only letting them know and expecting them to make an effort to make ensure they weren't selling counterfeit stuff to their customers. They didn't even address that part, they stated that since the product did work they would refund half my money since I wasn't satisfied which they have done. Well I'm still not satisfied since my whole request was for them to ensure they are selling legit stuff! I guess if their customers are satisfied and ignorant of the fact they have a cheap point of sale light they can buy anywhere for $5 that Amazon is fine with that.
So if you are buying higher end stuff, be careful what vendor you use. I'm scratching Amazon off my list of known legit sources. Streamlight customer service was absolutely top shelf. I'll remain a customer.
I contacted Streamlight and got an initial response back the next morning from their General Council. That got my attention as I was just inquiring if they thought it might be counterfeit. I wasn't concerned either way since Amazon's return policy is really good and told this to Streamlight. I'd just send it back and get one from another vendor, so no big deal. Well, big deal! They are going to try and prosecute from the sounds of it if they can. After several attempts to send photos we finally gave up on them getting them and they sent a call tag, their system was blocking the emails with attachments or stripping them out. I shipped it out Tuesday, I think, and it's not even there yet. Today UPS unexpectedly pulls up and has a replacement direct from Streamlight on my porch. The one I got from Amazon was definitely different.
The differences I noted:
O-ring seal was thinner and not orange in color
Rubber switch cover was not embossed with the Streamlight logo
Positive battery contact inside was different
Switch is very stiff to operate
AA battery insertion bent the spring because it was so stiff to actuate
No batteries shipped with light
Note that the packaging and manual was basically a spot on perfect copy and except for not having a means to include batteries in said packaging I would probably not even checked it out. It could have came from Streamlight as far as I would have known. It was that good. I have several Streamlight items and compared it. The light itself externally looked to be very good quality just like you'd expect. Inside there were the differences above.
After receiving the real deal from Streamlight today and comparing I sent Amazon customer service an email and gave them the whole story. I wasn't requesting a refund, return, etc. since I got what I bought in the end. I was only letting them know and expecting them to make an effort to make ensure they weren't selling counterfeit stuff to their customers. They didn't even address that part, they stated that since the product did work they would refund half my money since I wasn't satisfied which they have done. Well I'm still not satisfied since my whole request was for them to ensure they are selling legit stuff! I guess if their customers are satisfied and ignorant of the fact they have a cheap point of sale light they can buy anywhere for $5 that Amazon is fine with that.
So if you are buying higher end stuff, be careful what vendor you use. I'm scratching Amazon off my list of known legit sources. Streamlight customer service was absolutely top shelf. I'll remain a customer.
The only USA made Streamlights are the rechargeable Stinger series. The ProTacs, TLRs and all others are from China.
