I am installing a couple of chandeliers in the newly restored drawing room. I purchased these from eBay near the start of the project. This is a long, long time ago. :-)
If memory serves, I picked them up in person from Bridgenorth. The seller was also disposing of a vast quantity of second-hand lighting, and being able to inspect the goods in person, I took the opportunity to stock up. I was aware, even then, of the high cost of large light fittings. I only regret one of the pairs of ceiling lights I bought, which look too much like 1980's reproductions and have such dark brown shades that their illumination is very poor.
Anyhow, the chandeliers require 12 matching shades. Glass shades of the appropriate size start from £80, making a minimum spend of £960. Eeeek! I found an suitable acrylic shade on Temu at £11 , so ordered a couple to assess the fit and the look.
The critical dimension is the brass gallery which holds the neck of the "glass" shade. I have a 4 1/4" gallery, obviously designed to take a 4" (102mm) neck. However. the Temu neck was just 95mm, so I was uncertain. Anyhow, the samples arrived on Saturday and thankfully the look and fit are great. Once installed on the ceiling, there's no way to tell the shades are not glass. The shade neck is indeed a little narrow, but I suspect no-one will ever notice.
I went to order the other 10 shades today and found out that Temu has increased the price to £17 and only 9 were left in stock at this "discounted?" price. I suspect this is a deliberate scam to catch repeat customers. I went in under another account and still saw the price hoick, but I am pretty certain there are other ways of knowing that it is still you.
Anyhow, I had to start a separate order item for the remaining shades at "full price", but the full price was still £17. Then Temu added on £27 import tax. Is this legitimate? I felt like I had no choice but to go ahead with the order, on the basis I was still winning on overall price.
Some later research showed that Temu orders over ~£130 do incur import tax, so I will know in future to break up a larger order and indeed to avoid repeat orders. It should have been simpler. Given that Temu market so aggressively, I was very nervous of an aggressive pricing structure once they have got you hooked.
Anyhow, looking forward to completing all the finishing touches in the Drawing Room. Gregor, my builder, says he will start laying the oak floor after he returns from a holiday in Malta.
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| Temu shades on 1980's reproduction Victorian chandelier |
