Have received several e-mails as below.
They are comimg from an odd e-mail address
Is it for real ?
Prise en charge de votre dossier
cher(e) client(e),
À partir du 20 décembre, les ampoules halogènes seront interdites à la vente en Europe, jugées trop gourmandes en énergie. Les consommateurs devront alors investir dans des ampoules LED (diodes électroluminescentes) ou fluocompactes (FLC).
EDF et le Ministère de l’écologie, du développement durable, et de l’énergie ont présenté ce 2 décembre 2022 une convention pour la distribution gratuite par EDF d’un Milliard d’ampoules Avec cette opération, EDF poursuit son action aux côtés des territoires engagés dans la transition énergétique.
Suite à cette décision EDF vous propose de recevoir 25 ampoules LED à économie d’énergie.
Des ampoules LED qui répondent aux Exigences Européennes:
Classe énergétique : A
Allumage instantané : en moins d’une demi-seconde
Sans mercure
Durée de vie de 15 000 heure
Nombre de cycles de commutation : 30 000 on/off
Nos ampoules durent de nombreuses années et sont recyclables
vous aurez régler 1,95euro de livraison.
Les personnesqui ont déjà participé à l’offre précédente (en commandant de 1 à 3 packs) peuvent profiter de cette nouvelle offre.
Undoubtedly a scam. I found this old EDF text from 19/01/2016…
Avec cette opération, EDF poursuit son action aux côtés des territoires engagés dans la transition énergétique. La distribution d’un million d’ampoules LED par EDF se déroulera en 2016 et 2017 dans les collectivités qui lesouhaitent, situées dans les « territoires à énergie positive pour la croissance verte » de moins de 250 000 habitants.
I did sign up for the free lightbulbs when this first came out some years ago, had to pay €1 but got a good 40 different bulbs sent to me. The idea of the offer was only for those on low incomes and it came via a government letter which had my SS number and CAF number on it and it wasn’t a scam. However…we all know now how sofisticated scammers are getting so please be careful, even make a phone call to the supplier of the bulbs which is how we checked it was genuine as well and they had a website. We are all vulnerable these days so warnings are very welcome.
This one does seem to be a scam - a good one as it leverages a previous genuine campaign.
I find myself wondering if LED lamps aren’t a bit of a scam themselves though.
They boast impressive lifespans - 30, 50 or even 100,000 hours which I find a bit odd as many contain small switch mode supplies which have at least two aluminium electrolytic capacitors - even the best, highest quality brands of which offer a maximum of 9000 hours - and most cheap Chinese LED lamps are not going to be putting Samsung, Panasonic, Rubycon or Nichicon capacitors into their lamps.
Basically the lifetime quoted is that of the LED in isolation, not the whole unit.
The power supplies are normally crammed into the lamp base and so run hot, further reducing the lifetime of the components within - I have a drawer full of LED modules from these things where the power supply has failed but not the LEDs.
I have never seen an analysis of what the real-world lamp lifetimes are, a few sites make the same point as above but have no actual figures.
When you factor in the e-waste they produce when they do fail and need replacing I’m not sure how they actually fare - maybe a bit better, but nowhere near as beneficial as the claims.
This is not to say I don’t prefer LED lamps in almost all applications, I just don’t think (as with a lot of stuff) they are actually as eco friendly as they are cracked up to be.
the French Govt has warned that there is a “good fake site” out there… you think you’re on the correct govt site… but no, you’re not.
Which is why folk are told never to use any link given in email/sms etc .
France tells us that Government sites should be accessed by the User via their own tried and tested methods…
Like you, I’ve noticed LEDs failing far sooner than they should, though less quickly than the halogen spots that were the first bulbs I replaced. It’s obviously the power supply, as you say, from the flickering or flashing mode of failure.
As for preference, I’d take incandescent bulbs every time if power consumption and reliability were the same. They offer a much kinder, more comforting light to my eyes.
Agree completely that it is preferable to enter URLs by hand and not follow links.
But most desktop browsers should show you the destination of a link if you hover the pointer over the link itself - so you should be able to see, for instance that this https://impots.gouv.fr apparently innocent link to the French tax site is not all it seems before clicking - and if there’s an obviously scammy link you know what is going on.
Harder on phones, of course where the concept of “hover the pointer” doesn’t really exist.
The point I’m making is that if you are unsure, but can do some basic checks on the validity of what is in front you you, then you might be able to remove any doubt that it is indeed a scam.
As I think I’ve mentioned elsewhere… a very astute friend admitted he’d fallen for a scam…
All looked good… clicked the link… gave info without a care in the world…
then swiftly realized what a twit he had been… cancelled his card and all was well…
But if he who is bright as a button can make the mistake… so can any of us… unless we follow the advice of NOT touching any link etc…
Err on the side of caution is probably best… all the bona fide sites tell us they will never, ever ask us to use links/give info… etc etc… yet still folk get duped by the baddies…
although that said, some players are getting quite clever as disguising characters in an otherwise valid looking address to spoof you in to believing that the address is valid.
I fully agree with all that. Also, they are very cheap to manufacture, don’t give a waste disposal problem, do not use limited mineral resources, and can be very bright but also dimmable. Simple technology…
If the right lamp is used, of the correct colour temperature & maybe dimmed then I have to disagree. A modern LED can be undetectable as such.
Unfortunately there is mass ignorance about colour temperature & retailers are also guilty of not flagging up the difference properly.
Whenever I’ve come across someone moaning about their LED lamps it’s invariably because they have unwittingly acquired too high a colour temperature unit.
