I told him that I had checked with Philips. I also told him that Philips were pressuring me to hand over 'evidence' (invoices, photographs, etc) ... which was true. I said that I was reluctant to do that and was willing to give him a chance to 'make good'. He promptly arranged (and paid for) collection of the fake bulbs and sent genuine bulbs in return. In the end I acquired genuine bulbs a fair bit cheaper than they were listed elsewhere.

I've ordered some replacements from Powerbulbs, the GEN 2 version as recommended by Mark (Moltuae). Powerbulbs seem to "tick all the boxes" re authentic products so I'm hopeful.
They have a 20% discount offer at present (code: BULBLOVE) so "only" cost me just over £58 each delivered, less than £10 each more than the fakes.

Meanwhile I've kicked off the return/refund process for the counterfeits via eBay. No "name and shame" until that's done and dusted.

Edit: No response yet from the eBay seller, but my Powerbulbs order will arrive tomorrow morning. Knowing which courier it is probably about 9am!

Turns out they are not, I found out that I replaced those soon after I got the car, about 4 years ago so they must have been terrible.
The current ones are Osram but "only" a +20% variant; the Philips "Racing Vison" ones I've ordered are nominally +150% so should be around twice as bright. :cool:

Looks like I'll soon have a surplus of spare H7 bulbs; can't even keep them for the fog lights as I think they are H3's.

All bulbs arrived, both deliveries within 10 minutes of each other, DPD (fast) and Hermes (slow).

And strangely they came from different trading names but have the same address, so presumably the same warehouse just "marketing" brands on the web:
Powerbulbs for the D2R ones which definitely look genuine and have unique codes on them. Check out OK too.
Upgrade Bulbs for the H7, which Powerbulbs didn't list. :Confused:

Drizzling here so fitting can wait. :ROFL:

The fakes are on their way back now paid for by the seller; return request accepted without question..... :tuttut:

Glad you got sorted +++

I don't think there are any fake Gen2s (yet). Mine came in well-presented retail packaging like this that immediately looked genuine. Not that packaging like that can't be copied/faked too of course but the simple cardboard box of the Gen1s is just so cheap and easy to reproduce.

I think you'll be impressed with the X-treme Gen2s. The difference isn't so noticeable on well-lit roads but on dark country lanes they really shine (pun intended), or any unlit road for that matter. I was out driving on an unlit motorway last night, thinking how much better they were than they old bulbs I had. Makes night-time driving so much more pleasurable.

Just in cardboard boxes now, but all looks genuine and the hologram works as it should.

Edit: Job done, all fitted and working well. Bulb had exploded so my offside light unit is full of broken glass and metal from the shutter.
Not sure if I can somehow suck that out through the bulb fitting hole with a small tube attached to a vacuum cleaner or will need to dismantle it.
Is dismantling a reasonable job?

I did remove the air intake pipe but that only slightly blocks access for the H7 and probably makes no real difference.

Maybe a bit of "vigorous" driving will shift the debris out of harms way?

Hi Andrew

Dismantling is relatively straightforward, but the unit does need removing from the car before you can take the lens off. It's covered in the refurb thread I did on the bi-xenons.

It would probably be wise to have the alignment checked after refitting as there's reasonable movement on the fixings.

A

Thanks Adrian, I'll save that for the summer unless I have a problem meanwhile. My lenses are OK so no need to dismantle to clean them.

The hovering method isn't feasible due to metal shielding blocking access; I did try.... :-(

You're welcome to pop down if you want a hand doing it - I've got recent-ish experience of getting them out +++

Thanks Adrian, good excuse for a spring mini-meet when the weather warms up?

Just been out in the twilight; it's all good and a lot better than before. +++

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Especially Mark. :cool: