Good Earth WiFi Panel Light will not connect to WiFi
I purchased a Good Earth Lighting 4' LED panel light for my vacation home. I had an electrician install it and paired it's WiFi to my home router. While it functioned, it was very nice. I could set a timer to have it turn on and off, and also adjust things like color temperature.
I returned to my home some months later to find that the light was no longer connected to the WiFi and attempted SEVERAL times to re-connect it. After several months attempts to re-pair the light to my router (same router, same internet, same everything), I finally contacted the company and requested assistance. They referred me to their engineering support company. I spoke with them and we worked on the pairing issue for at least an hour. Finally, the engineer (Danny) suggested that I download Smart Life App (versus the Good Earth App) and attempt to pair the light that way. Because it was just before Thanksgiving, I told him I would download the App and try it. After several more failures, he suggested that I be sent a new light. He said that he made that request to the Customer Service Department. A few days later, 12/06/2022 I received an email from Aileen in Customer Service. She advised that in order to process the warranty claim, she stated "In order to process a warranty claim, I will need a photo of the fixture, a copy of your receipt and your mailing address." I replied that I do not keep receipts for small ticket items (<$500) but that I could send her a picture and the other requested information.
She wrote back and over a couple of emails said that I would need to de-install the light, take pictures of the SN and other information and upon receipt, she would be able to complete the warranty claim. I told her that I felt that that was an onerous request, and that I would be unable to take the unit apart. She then stated that without said photographs, she would be unable to complete my claim.
As I am 900 miles from my vacation home, and have been relegated to using the light in an ON/OFF mode only, I told her to forget about the claim. I further explained that I had spent many, many hours attempting to re-pair this light with my WiFi. What I didn't share was that I would attempt to pair it so often that my wife would chide me for my vain efforts.
At one point, she suggested that many manufacturer's light look similar and that they have no way of knowing that the light pictured was indeed a Good Earth Lighting, device. I suppose that the insinuation here is that I was trying to get a free light! That is the way that I inferred this statement.
I don't think that it has occurred to this company that I would NOT have spent hours with their engineer trying to pair ANOTHER manufacturer's light!! Does that make any sense???
I am deeply disappointed with this product and with the lack of support. I don't think that many people retain receipts for such items and having to remove the light, take pictures of labels, send the pictures and wait for a new light is reasonable. And of course if it is a vacation home, so such a request is impossible at best and impractical at least.
Good Earth Lighting should review their return policies!
December 6, 2022
Unprompted review