Funny you should post this. I just sent them an e-mail. We bought a Tree Classics tree three or four years ago because we had heard so many good things about them. Spent a lot of money, but we felt confident.

The tree came, and it was lovely. It also came with a great storage bag. So, rather than pack it away and store it in the crawl space, we left it standing, pulled the bag up around it, and found a safe corner for it in the laundry room.

Imagine our dismay the next Christmas when we unzipped the tree bag, and plugged in the tree. Fully 25% of the lights didn't work. We followed the troubleshooting guidelines, checked connections and lights, and nothing. When I checked on the website, they noted that they did not warranty the light bulbs, and so we would have to order bulbs from them to replace ours.

I wrote to them, but because it was within their Christmas window, they did not respond - ever. The tree that we paid hundreds of dollars for stands in the laundry room.

We use a little tabletop tree, because we can't afford to spend more money on a big tree and lights, etc.That also means that we don't get to put out the dozens of ornaments that we have collected over the last 26 years, including the ones the kids made in school.

Yesterday, I got an e-mail from the company, talking about how the old company went bankrupt, and they have taken over the business, improved everything, and now have a 2 year guarantee on lights. And would I like to order a tree and get 10% off?

Needless to say, I wrote them and related this story. Let's see what kind of response it gets me. Anyone taking bets on this?

Lights are pretty cheap. If the tree is nice, I would get a wire cutter, remove the old add your own new. Once done they can stay on your tree in the laundry room. They will last for YEARS!! The company is defunct, you really have no other option. I have watched many many friends and relatives with these pre-lit Christmas trees and I have heard of none that lasted long enough to warrant their hassle or price. This year we replaced our tree (no lights) with a thinner model. The old tree now 17 years old was still very nice, it just is too big for our space and we got tired of the furniture re-arranging it takes. Let it go, put the time in this year and for the next decade you will be all set.

Our story mimics Les this year. Although we couldn't find the bulbs we need now, so Dh spent two days removing lights and we strung new ones on, but I understand that if on a tight budget this would be hard as one string of lights doesn't cut it and several strings add up.

I'm not sure when new ownership happened though. So sorry no help on that. I'm very happy with the quality of our tree itself and it looks more real than any we found in stores when we were looking in 2006. DH was super picky and when this arrived he was happy,

Les, you may want to try to light keeper pro as it worked with the lights on my tree but mine is a GE tree. What a shame to spend that kind of money and get problems like that.

we've had our tree for 5 years. No problem with lights. In fact the lights were my favorite feature of the tree.. I love how easy the pieces connect and love the foot button. They send you plenty of extra bulbs. We have the type of tree that the branches open like fingers. I noticed this year that it was really taking a lot of time to get the tree set up and looking filled out. Branches aren't as strong and the metal is fatigued. I bought this tree on sale for about $250. it was 7' 5" tree. I got 5 good years out of it. We were spending

$120 -$150 yearly on real trees. I bought a new tree for next year. I will donate the old one. I wouldn't NOT buy one over concerns with lights. I think this company is better quality than what you find in most big box stores

Tree Classics was an awesome company and their trees were made to last a lifetime. Sadly, Balsam Hill is not in the same league.