SJ replaced his Volkswagen’s bulbs with Sylvania Silverstar lights that were twice as expensive, only to watch them fail after three months of use. Disappointed, since the standard bulbs lasted for three years, SJ wrote to Sylvania telling them that he expected, at a minimum, a voucher for new bulbs. Sylvania’s response managed to brighten his day…

SJ writes:

I borrowed some of your tips on how to write a letter to a company earlier this month, and it worked. I just wanted to give credit where credit is due, Consumerist and OSRAM Sylvania.

4 months ago or so, the 3 year old headlights in my Volkswagen finally started to go out. I always swap in pairs, and decided to try Sylvania Silverstar bulbs for both my high and low beams. They’re not exactly cheap, but the performance I got from the bulbs was more than worth the price. After 3 months, one of the low beams fried, then the other. I wrote an email to them via a web form on the site…

“In late October of 2008, I purchased 4 Silverstar bulbs at Autozone for my 2005 Volkswagen GTI after the OEM low beams had begun to fail. The original bulbs lasted over 3 years.

Unfortunately, your product has not performed well. After a little over 3 months of use, last night one of the low beams failed. This was astounding to me considering the Silverstar bulbs cost twice as much as the OEM replacements. I have now replaced both low beams with standard OEM replacements.

To resolve the problem I would appreciate either a coupon or voucher that would allow me to obtain new Sylvania bulbs when the remaining bulbs in my vehicle fail. The only numbers on the base of the failed bulbs are (OSRAM 64210ST / H7U).”

At this point I didn’t have the receipt anymore, but the next day they advised me to send the bulbs back with a copy of their response. I sent them out last week, and got not just one, but two pairs of Silverstar H7 bulbs for my VW today in the mail.

Thanks again for the tips on how to talk to a company about a product that didn’t meet expectations, it worked perfect! My faith in Sylvania is restored as well.

Good work, Sylvania! Although once again, we’re reminded that price and quality don’t necessarily mean the same thing.

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