Inlighten Studios

We've had great experiences with Inlighten. I believe they have unfortunately closed permanently

Very interesting custom design lighting studio. Unfortunately, according to recent sounds I've seen, they are going out of business.

Inlighten Studios damaged my historic lamp, took nine months to fix it poorly, never returned calls and blamed me. The fluorescent tube in my mid-century floor lamp, which takes a tube in the triangular base and a screw-in bulb at the top, quit working. I suspected the fluorescent ballast was bad and needed replacing. The lamp is a collector's item, so I wanted a professional repair job and took the lamp to Inlighten Studios.

After dropping off the lamp, I got a call from Eric, the repairman, saying that the ballast was indeed bad, but that no appropriate replacement was made anymore. He said he could replace the fluorescent with an LED that would look just as good or better and wouldn't cost too much more. I've replaced most of the bulbs and fixtures in my house with LEDs, so the idea of putting an LED in my lamp was appealing and I agreed to it.

A few weeks later I got a phone message saying that, in the process of working on the lamp, Eric had broken the plastic. He wasn't sure he could fix it and said, if he couldn't, he'd replace the lamp with another from the store or figure out a way to compensate me for it. I returned his call, but didn't get him on the phone and left a message. I didn't hear back for a week or so so I made another call and left another message.

And so on. Eventually, he answered the phone and I was able to discuss the situation with him. At that point, he said he'd begun working with a friend to get the materials to fix the plastic and was sure he could do so. In the meantime, I'd looked into the value of the lamp with a friend who runs a lighting store on the East Coast who couldn't give a firm price, but thought the lamps was quite valuable.

Perhaps that's why Inlighten, in the end, insisted on a repair rather than compensating me at market value. I agreed to let him proceed with the repair. After a few months I called to ask on the progress, but he didn't answer so I had to leave a message with the person who did. I made, by my count, six calls over a four month period and left a message every time.

None of the calls were returned. Several of the people who answered mentioned knowing what lamp I was calling about (it does stand out) and assured me that someone would call back to update me on the progress of the repair. Crickets. Eric eventually answered the phone again, about seven months after I'd dropped of the lamp. He assured me that the repair was progressing and he was just waiting for materials.

He said it would be done within the month. About two months later I got a call saying the repair was done. I picked it up earlier this month. While the crack in the plastic has been sealed and covered, the fix has not restored the lamp to anything like its original condition. The damage Inlighten Studios did to the lamp is a quite obvious and in a very noticeable part of the lamp.

As compensation, the studio said they only charged me for the cost of parts - $100 + - but not labor. To add insult to injury, the woman who brought out the lamp (I believe she was a manager or the owner, but I was so steamed I failed to get her name) said that they were instituting a new policy that people who brought lamps in for repair would have to dismantle things like faceplates themselves to avoid problems like this one - as if, somehow, I was responsible for the damage Inlighten Studios did to my property.

While I've taken the lamp apart myself and would have done so had they asked, the damage was done (at least according to the original story) after I had been told the lamp was already disassembled, they had discovered that the ballast couldn't be repaired or replaced and convinced me to let them modify the lamp. All told, the "repair" took about nine months, during which the studio was completely unresponsive to my repeated calls and inquiries about the repair.

Then they returned a marred lamp to me and tried to blame me for the damage they did. The LED does look terrific, but I found their repair work on the damage they did substandard and their handling of the situation both unprofessional and unethical.

A fairly broad selection of nice lights. Not horrible prices. But very inept service and incompetent, if not dishonest, business practice. I would definitely avoid this place. My wife and I purchased two ceiling mount lights. We took a long time deciding because the salesperson wasn't able to provide much useful information or advice. She didn't really know the products.

We paid a deposit of half the price. Two weeks later the lights came in and I went to pick them up. The remainder of the bill seemed high. The inept service got confused and ordered more bulbs than we needed, but that was soon sorted out. The price still seemed high, but I let it go. When I got home I discovered that one lamp was not the color we had ordered and the other was missing the mounting hardware that was supposed to be included (I had to figure this out myself by wasting an hour trying to mount it and then finally searching the internet).

What is more, I compared to the original invoice and discovered that they had overcharged me for one lamp by more than $100. I called. It took several back and forth phone calls before they agreed to swap out the wrong color lamp, order the mounting hardware for the other lamp, and refund the overcharge. Another two weeks go by. Finally, I hear that the correct lamp is in.

I go to the store. At first they can't find it, but eventually they do. At this point they have still not refunded me for the overcharge. They want to charge me shipping again to swap the lamps even though they made the mistake and ordered the wrong color. The owner tried to tell me a story about how we wanted the white not the red lights to match the kitchen, but the light is nowhere near the kitchen.

She also couldn't understand how she overcharged me. When I said it looked like she was trying to rip me off, she said it wasn't her but quickbooks that made the mistake. What? Ultimately she swapped the wrong light without extra charge and refunded the overcharge. She actually refunded an extra ten dollars because that's what quickbooks supposedly said after she spent five minutes futzing around on the computer.

She was unable to do basic arithmetic. The owner continually insulted me throughout the process while also questioning my integrity when it was a matter of simple arithmetic. I am very glad the prolonged experience is over. I will never shop there again, and I recommend you don't either.

Beautiful selection of unique lights! I was amazed at the store's diverse selection. These lights are not the typical lights you find at a big box store. But, they were still surprisingly affordable - based upon your preferences- of course! Most importantly- the staff was incredibly helpful, patient and knowledgeable!

Cheryl, Rhonda, and everyone are efficient, easy to work with, and really know their stuff. Their knowledge of building codes alone puts other places to shame. They very carefully vet the products they sell and have not steered us wrong.