Home Depot Rip Off - Cree LED bulbs

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peakbagger

Minister of Fire
Jul 11, 2008
8,845
Northern NH
I had read recently that Cree has come out with new 60 Watt equivalent LED bulb that has good reviews. When I searched Home Depot.com, the price was $4.98 each

I needed a bulb for my garage so stopped by the Home Depot in Tilton NH. The cost for the new bulb was $9.97 with a $3 PSNH utility rebate. I needed a bulb and picked one up and thought I was confused or that the stock hadn't hit the store.

My ISP is based in Maine when I search websites, they assume I am in Maine. I looked up the new bulb

60W Equivalent Soft White (2700K) A19 Dimmable LED Light Bulb

at "my local" Home Depot the bulb is listed at $4.98 for in store pickup only. I swapped my Home Depot location to a couple of other Maine Home Depots and they all list $4.98. I then swapped my location to a NH Home depot and the price is $9.98. I then swapped my location to VT and the price went down to 4.98.

Note neither Maine or VT home depot have any sort of note that this is utility rebate deal so I expect Home Depot is playing games. The bulbs in ME and VT would cost 0.25 more due to sales tax.

I wonder how many other states they are playing the scam on?
 
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This isn't a scam. These bulbs are sold by Home Depot in Maine for $4.98 because "Efficiency Maine", in cooperation with retailers, provides a subsidy to encourage Maine consumers to switch to more energy efficient lighting. I bought a couple of them a few days ago and the "Efficiency Maine" shelf-talker was right there on the shelf with the bulbs.
 
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There are stickers in the Biddeford Home Depot everywhere for "Effiency Maine".


That said I bought 6 of the 40w Cree bulbs. Took 5 of them back they buzzed very loud. Much more then other brand LED bulbs I have.
 
If $4.89 is not cheap enough, I bought a 4 pack of Cree 60W equivalents for $18.97 in Bangor, Maine while I was on vacation. Contrary to what you might think, I carried them back to camp and replaced two incandescent bulbs. It seemed a little ridiculous using 120W when I could get the same light from 18W. Although, it seemed ironic that the heat byproduct from the incandescent bulbs was lowering my propane use ever so slightly. Before the entire state of Maine jumps on my case, I'm an Emera customer, in addition to having a Florida Power and Light account.

In Florida, I have to create my own rebate by finding efficient products, buying them for full price, and reaping the benefits to generate a "rebate".
 
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moey said:
There are stickers in the Biddeford Home Depot everywhere for "Effiency Maine".


That said I bought 6 of the 40w Cree bulbs. Took 5 of them back they buzzed very loud. Much more then other brand LED bulbs I have.
Click to expand...


Do you have them on dimmers? I have the same bulbs and on dimmers they're objectionably noisy. I switched them to simple on/off switches and they're utterly silent... go figure!
 
Where2 said:
If $4.89 is not cheap enough, I bought a 4 pack of Cree 60W equivalents for $18.97 in Bangor, Maine while I was on vacation. Contrary to what you might think, I carried them back to camp and replaced two incandescent bulbs. It seemed a little ridiculous using 120W when I could get the same light from 18W. Although, it seemed ironic that the heat byproduct from the incandescent bulbs was lowering my propane use ever so slightly. Before the entire state of Maine jumps on my case, I'm an Emera customer, in addition to having a Florida Power and Light account.

In Florida, I have to create my own rebate by finding efficient products, buying them for full price, and reaping the benefits to generate a "rebate".
Click to expand...

I don't see any issue with it - it's not like there's a sign saying "for Maine citizens only" on the shelf ;-) I probably should have worded my reply somewhat differently...e.g. Efficiency Maine subsidizes the purchase of certain efficient light bulbs sold in Maine.
 
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dznam said:
Do you have them on dimmers? I have the same bulbs and on dimmers they're objectionably noisy. I switched them to simple on/off switches and they're utterly silent... go figure!
Click to expand...

Yes they were on dimmers. DIdnt try in a non dimmer. Funny thing is I bought a 60w Cree dimmable and its pretty quiet. I could hear the 40w Cree bulbs from 6 ft away.
 
i bought a dozen at a pa home depot, they are working great, and the cheap price rung up just fine at the register. that was last year, so far they have worked great this past year.
 
I have 10 of the Cree 60w equivalents, and two of my sons have about 10 each also. Probably 2-3 out of 10 have an audible buzz. The buzz is not related to a dimmer. I have been buying SunSun led's from EarthLED and have had very good experience with those.
 
They had the crees even cheaper this summer here in CT. they had the same state progam discount thing. They were 3.97 for the 60w equivilent. I should have bought more before they were back to normal price. They just put the Phillips slims on sale for the same price, they use 1w more for 60w output. I do like the color better on the Phillips. It's slightly warmer( more yellow)
 
If you think that is bad, try using a different browser, or even clearing your browser cache. There are several studies out showing some retailers show you a different price based on what browser you use, or what sites are in your cache when you visit their store. Not saying Home Depot specifically does this, but some others do.
 
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