ETL certifies sketchy stuff? Funny, most of the unsafe products in the recall section of this forum have the UL mark on them. It is true that Intertek will get a job finished (pass or fail) faster and cheaper than UL, so on projects where cost is critical UL may be excluded from the running. I've personally found Intertek/ETL to be very tough when making technical judgements. Too tough sometimes. I've frequently heard former and current UL employees state UL's superiority over Intertek (never with concrete examples cuz they pulled the criticism out of their butts or employee training manual). Having dealt with incompetence and sloth at UL, I find it pretty laughable. I can get a project completed at Intertek in less time than it takes to get a quote and a schedule from UL. And I can actually talk to the lab technician or engineer that is working on my project - direct dial even. Its almost as if the people at Intertek know how to pick up their feet when they walk. Or maybe they just have a clue on how to run a business. If you happen to visit a UL office while your product is being tested, don't bother asking the technician if a particular test passed or not. He isn't allowed to answer that kind of question, but he is allowed to tell you he can't answer. And don't count on the answer and advice from his boss being correct either. Certainly don't redesign your product on his boss's verbal input...just sayin.
Damn, there goes my future with UL...
