Struggling LIFX light bulb manufacturer Buddy Technologies that was placed into receivership earlier this year has been sold to a US lightbulb Company as complaints about the LIFX product mount in Australia.
Back in April 2022 ChannelNews exclusively reported that David McGrath and Christopher Hill of FTI Consulting had been appointed as Receivers and Managers of Buddy Technologies Ltd, who were struggling pay their bills with manufacturers in China refusing to do business with them.
One manufacturer ended up selling LIFX stock to another Company during COVID shutdowns because of unpaid bills.
In August Buddy Technologies along with the LIFX brand and certain of its subsidiaries was sold to Feit Electric Company, a US based business that has been around for more than 40 years. No purchase price was disclosed.
Feit Electric’s claimed at the time that they would provide app and platform support for existing LIFX products and to further develop and expand the LIFX product range which is sold at JB Hi Fi and Bunnings and in the USA at Best Buy.
They have also appointed a new distributor for LIFX products in Australia and New Zealand.
Alan Feit, President of Feit Electric claims “LIFX focused on the user experience, saying we deserved something better than the boring old light bulb” resulting in the development of the overpriced LIFX smart Light bulb.
The only problem is that the LIFX user experience is getting slammed by consumers who purchased the LIFX product in Australia.
A visit to the Product Review web site revealed that the much acclaimed LIFX light bulb has only managed a ranking of 2.3 out of 5 with 37 of 62 people who supplied reviews only giving the LIFX bulbs a ranking of one.
Alex from Queensland wrote “Buy a $5 bulb instead, software is outdated by years, complete waste of money. Purchased in January 2022 at Bunnings Warehouse Retail Stores for $69”.
Christopher J of Sydney wrote “Would be wonderful if they worked. Owned a set of LIFX lights for about a year and they have never stayed connected for longer than two weeks”
He also indicated that the LIFX app failed to find the lights.
He concluded “Completely unreliable and frustrating. Will be removing them all and replacing with another brand. Do not buy lifx. Ever” he wrote.
Another Queensland consumer wrote “Now I know why JB had them $100 cheaper”.
“Bought the mini 4 pack starter kit, connected them and started having issues about 20 minutes later. My living room group was out of sync initially, then the other 2 globes randomly connected and disconnected”.
“I’m not going to waste my time on them. I could buy the Phillips Hue, but 299 for a starter pack seems high considering people say the app isn’t great”.
“My biggest question is how these products are allowed to be sold with so many reviews stating they don’t work the way they’re described”.
Darren from Victoria wrote
“Terrible Product, even worse support. After months of getting the run around by LIFX Support, they finally confirm the issue with my bulbs is a known firmware problem. No resolution though, and no refund/replacement offered”.
The Feit web site does not have any listing for PR services. With their press releases stating ‘Written by Feit’.